View Full Version : why is my computer so loud?!
jamesmonkey
02-03-2005, 02:12
Ok, this pc SHOULD be very quiet!!!
I have an antec sonata, a 40gb maxtor IDE (its very quiet!)
On the front and back of my sonata I have 120mm SilenX fans. For cpu cooling I have a swiftech cooler with a 92MM SilenX fan attatched to it.
The psu is an akasa 460W psu, which is supposed to be pretty quiet.
Thats all the sources of noise within the system.
But its still all very loud!
I dont understand it. I plan to cut off the grill on the back of the case to make less noise there, but also, could the fact that the air is being blown down into my cpu cooler from the fan on top of it make it alot noisier?(not that theres anything I can do about that)
I'm just getting fed up with trying to silence this computer when nothing seems to be working....
What about your graphics card?
How fast are you fans spinning?
Try stopping each fan one by one while the system is on (be gentle!) By a process of elimination you should be able to figure out which one is causing the noise (if any). It should be ok to stop each fan for a few seconds (even cpu).
It could be just the sum of all the fans & hard drive together causing the noise...?
Cable Monkey
02-03-2005, 07:19
What sort of noise are you experiencing? Your PSU is rated at 18dB(A) at normal load, but more information would determine if you are perhaps pushing your PSU beyond the range of 'normal' use.
mrochester
02-03-2005, 12:04
You're never going to have a 'quiet' computer when using so many fans.
Cosmo_1847
02-03-2005, 16:10
in my computer i have 5 fans
CPU, Graphics, PSU, blowhole and exhaust
the CPU and PSU are always on the lowest setting (cpu <2000rpm)
to make the computer as close to silent i can get (pritty quiet) i put the graphics fan on low and unplug the exhaust and blowhole fan.
Euphoria
02-03-2005, 16:13
If you remove the top fan it will quieten down no end. Mine did!
Cosmo_1847
02-03-2005, 19:26
my top fan make a annoying clicking noise if its not facing upwards, and it slows down when windows starts for some reason.
Euphoria
03-03-2005, 12:17
my top fan make a annoying clicking noise if its not facing upwards, and it slows down when windows starts for some reason.
Could be lack of power...
Cosmo_1847
03-03-2005, 17:04
i think becaus on the bios i have the fan control option turned on.
jamesmonkey
04-03-2005, 02:22
SilenX fans are supposed to be barely audible right?!
I turned one of them off in my case, and i blocked my psu fan from running just for the test, all that was left running was:
120mm SilenX fan on the back of my case (rubber mounts, not in conact with case, also on an antec sonata so not much grill blocking it as sonata's have a smaller grill area)
92mm SilenX fan attatched to a Swiftech MCX462-V
and it was still loud!!! dodgy silenx fans perhaps? i always assumed it was my PSU making all the noise, but apparently not!
mrochester
04-03-2005, 02:24
I think I read somewhere else that the noise levels of SilenX fans are measured in a vacuum and as most people tend to not be using their computers in a vacuum, the sound level is actually much higher.
jamesmonkey
04-03-2005, 02:36
they can't measure sound levels in a vacuum, sounds doesnt travel in a vacuum :confused:
they can't measure sound levels in a vacuum, sounds doesnt travel in a vacuum :confused:
The cynical among us would suggest that is the reason that the SilenX quoted sound levels are so low ;)
Besides, you can measure sound in most vacuums, but it is heavily attenuated. It just depends on how big the sound source is compared to the mean free path of an air molecule (sorry for the technical gibberish, but I'm a development engineer for a manufacturer of vacuum pumps...).
Besides, in pracice vacuum pumps are fairly loud (I measured one place I work in the lab next to a pair of them at 73 dBA last week), so measuring fan noise accurately in a vacuum won't work.
Euphoria
04-03-2005, 10:04
Well how loud is loud... can you hear your PC over your music... probably ain't that bad! Mine isn't the quietest of things but if I turn all the fans on low with my fan controller it is pretty much silent!
daniel_owen_uk
04-03-2005, 10:17
The cynical among us would suggest that is the reason that the SilenX quoted sound levels are so low ;)
Besides, you can measure sound in most vacuums, but it is heavily attenuated. It just depends on how big the sound source is compared to the mean free path of an air molecule (sorry for the technical gibberish, but I'm a development engineer for a manufacturer of vacuum pumps...).
Besides, in pracice vacuum pumps are fairly loud (I measured one place I work in the lab next to a pair of them at 73 dBA last week), so measuring fan noise accurately in a vacuum won't work.
There is no sound in a vacuum, there are no particles for the sound to move.
The pump on the outside of a vacuum may be loud but the actual vacuum will be silent.
In space, no one hears you scream.
mrochester
04-03-2005, 10:41
Well however they measure it, they measure it wrong.
There is no sound in a vacuum, there are no particles for the sound to move.
Sigh. Why do I have to be corrected by complete f***wits who don't have a clue what they're talking about.
The official definition of a vacuum is "a space where the pressure of gas is less than atmospheric pressure (1013mb)". Hence, any reduced pressure area will be a vacuum.
As for no particles, that isn't possible. The best quality vacuum ever created on earth had something like 2000 particles per cubic metre, while the best in existence (some patches of deep space) will have around 4 particles per cubic metre.
To get pressures giving as low as a few thousand particles per metre involves a hell of a lot of expensive kit (the pump I'm currently working on is only good to perhaps 10^-10mbar on a good day, and that is over £2000) and a lot of effort.
The key to sound transmission (like in fact I said in my previous post) is whether the flow regime is continuum or molecular flow. Or in other words, how big the mean free path is compared to the sound source. Like I said.
In continuum flow, the gas behaviour is identical to gas at atmospheric pressure, there is just less of it. Hence, it doesn't transmit sound very well, but is capable of transmitting sound. Any school physics experiments you have seen demonstrating "sound doesn't travel through a vacuum" will have been demonstrating this (actually, they will have been demonstrating that sound attenuatino across a barrier is proportional to the mass of 1 wavelength of air divided by the mass of the barrier, but they don't bother telling you this)
Molecular flow (which requires special pumps) won't transmit sound, as the molecules are hitting the walls of the chamber before they hit each other, so there is no "sound wave" as such.
Sigh. Why do I have to be corrected by complete f***wits who don't have a clue what they're talking about.
The official definition of a vacuum is "a space where the pressure of gas is less than atmospheric pressure (1013mb)". Hence, any reduced pressure area will be a vacuum.
As for no particles, that isn't possible. The best quality vacuum ever created on earth had something like 2000 particles per cubic metre, while the best in existence (some patches of deep space) will have around 4 particles per cubic metre.
To get pressures giving as low as a few thousand particles per metre involves a hell of a lot of expensive kit (the pump I'm currently working on is only good to perhaps 10^-10mbar on a good day, and that is over £2000) and a lot of effort.
The key to sound transmission (like in fact I said in my previous post) is whether the flow regime is continuum or molecular flow. Or in other words, how big the mean free path is compared to the sound source. Like I said.
In continuum flow, the gas behaviour is identical to gas at atmospheric pressure, there is just less of it. Hence, it doesn't transmit sound very well, but is capable of transmitting sound. Any school physics experiments you have seen demonstrating "sound doesn't travel through a vacuum" will have been demonstrating this (actually, they will have been demonstrating that sound attenuatino across a barrier is proportional to the mass of 1 wavelength of air divided by the mass of the barrier, but they don't bother telling you this)
Molecular flow (which requires special pumps) won't transmit sound, as the molecules are hitting the walls of the chamber before they hit each other, so there is no "sound wave" as such.
I really do enjoy watching someone getting torn into someone else on the forums. Nice post :)
jamesmonkey
04-03-2005, 18:30
Sigh. Why do I have to be corrected by complete f***wits who don't have a clue what they're talking about.
Temper Temper :)
he was just saying what he thought was correct, after all it was what he was taught growing up, as was I at A level physics, I mean, correct him all you want its fair enough, any need for that tho?
Temper Temper :)
he was just saying what he thought was correct, after all it was what he was taught growing up, as was I at A level physics, I mean, correct him all you want its fair enough, any need for that tho?
Telling off a vacuum engineer warrants that response :)
No harm done of course, and I'm sure everybody is smiling.
Telling off a vacuum engineer warrants that response :)
No harm done of course, and I'm sure everybody is smiling.
Yeah, but for the fact he had to have read my comment that I do this sort of thing for a living I would have been a lot more polite. Still, this is the internet and a certain level of flaming is to be expected ;)
As an aside, getting very high vacuum levels ends up with some interesting problems. Like, the average time a Nitrogen molecule sticks to steel for in a vacuum is 10^9 years (a billion years). How do you get rid of them, because if you don't some will randomly ping off an spoil your vacuum every now and again?
jamesmonkey
05-03-2005, 02:30
lol I just realised how slightly off the topic this thread has become.
Euphoria
05-03-2005, 15:20
lol I just realised how slightly off the topic this thread has become.
Be moving onto hoovers soon!
Sorry - LAME!
stormcr0wfleet
05-03-2005, 20:06
Be moving onto hoovers soon!
...................... LOL :p
vBulletin® v3.8.1, Copyright ©2000-2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.