noisey computer?

[plui31]

do you guys have AMD CPU's? I have an Athlon XP 2000. I don't know if it's the CPU fan that came with the CPU is making the noise or the fan from the power supply...do any of you have the same experience? if so, any suggestion? it sounds like a helicopter is landing right by me!

[bosox79]

Originally posted by plui31
do you guys have AMD CPU's? I have an Athlon XP 2000. I don't know if it's the CPU fan that came with the CPU is making the noise or the fan from the power supply...do any of you have the same experience? if so, any suggestion? it sounds like a helicopter is landing right by me!

see my sig for my hardware but my box is kinda loud too, but I know it's the fans so I don't worry to much:cool: when I don't hear the box humming along is when I worry:D

is your box well ventilated eg nothing is covering any of your vents & all your components are spaced well to allow for good airflow inside your case? do you hear a load humming/buzzing sound? or does the fan just sound a little to load? if it is the latter then your fine:D

[plui31]

i THINk they're well spaced...not too sure thought since it's kind of relative...it shoulds like a buzzing noise i suppose. it's so loud i can hear it from a floor up! may be i can record it or something...
but is there a way to reduce the noise? i find it pretty unbearable...

[bosox79]

Originally posted by plui31
i THINk they're well spaced...not too sure thought since it's kind of relative...it shoulds like a buzzing noise i suppose. it's so loud i can hear it from a floor up! may be i can record it or something...
but is there a way to reduce the noise? i find it pretty unbearable...

did you build your box is it a whit box? or did you get it from an OEM? I would open up your case & check to things 1. make sure your fans are not loose eg make sure they are firmly in place. This goes for anything else that may also be loose eg your sound or video card. you may have a loose component thats causing your problem

2. check to see if there is a large amount of dust in the case most importantly directly on top of your fans. if there is a far amount of dust you may want to use a can of compressed air to clean the box. You could also use a pc vac:D

[Darksamurai]

If you're serious about silencing your rig, there are several steps you can take...

One of the more expensive and time-consuming methods to set up is getting some sound dampening material and doing the inside of your case...

The easiest is to buy some Silencers (or other low decibel fans), a "quiet" PSU (I have two Enermax "Whisper" PSUs that are fairly quiet) and a low-decibel heat-sink.

The other other option... I have a 1.5@1.62 Ghz P4 using a TT Dragon Orb 478 heatsink... this thing sounded like a vacuum cleaner until I hooked it up to my Rheobus (A device that allows you to control power output to things like fans)... You have to be careful to make sure you set it to where it's running fast enough to provide cooling, but quiet enough to not be too obnoxious... Going up with power isn't a problem, dropping it too low could burn your proc and board (I just remember it's on Channel 1, and I don't touch it).

AMDs run warm... as it is, I'm water-cooling my 1800+ to reduce noise while keeping maximum cooling. I'm running at an average of 25C... 27C under load.

There are a lot of options to reduce noise!

[RWiggum]

I just went through a PC-silencing project on my Athlon 1.53. I went from a cheap Cooler Master HS/F to an Alpha Pal 8045 HS and a Thermaltake A1357 fan. The A1357 is actually intended to be a case fan but at the right setting will put out more CFM than some CPU fans. It's also fairly quiet at low RPMs. I also upgraded to a high-end Antec case with a quiet PSU in it. It's still loud compared to other machines I've built, but it's not annoying like it used to be.

If the noise you're hearing is continuous, it's probably just the combined noise of all of your fans. I tried isolating which one of mine was the loudest, but it turned out to just be too many at once. If you have a lot of fans, I'd go after them in this order - PSU, CPU, case fans. A lot of cases have el-cheapo fans in the PSU and in the case, and cheap means loud.

If you're willing to upgrade cases, check out www.directron.com. They have a whole section on "Silent PCs" that includes low-noise PSU's and case fans. They also give you the option to upgrade your PSU if you buy a case. They give you credit on the PSU they remove, and don't charge labor, so you can get a really good PSU like an Enermax Whisper for just $10-15 over the case price.

I really like the Thermaltake A1357 - Newegg has it here (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=thermaltake+a1357) for $15. It has a thermocouple that you can attach to things like heat sinks or hard drives, and it slows down if everything's running cool. You can also attach a little speed control knob and manually set it to the speed/noise level you want. Even at full speed, they are quieter than a lot of other fans. I have one on my CPU (overclocked - so I use the knob to set it wide-open) and another for my SCSI hard drive, with the thermocouple taped to the disk spindle.

Like Darksamurai said, AMDs just run hot. That means you need a lot of air cooling, and that mean noise. The best you can do is just put the best components you can find in your cooling setup and then live with it. I have 6 80mm fans running in my box, so no matter how quiet each one is the noise just builds up. Even with all that cooling my CPU runs 41-45°C under load. Clocking it back to its stock 1.33GHz doesn't help much, so I just leave it at 1.53GHz.

[Hayl]

i just did a sh*t-load of qieting on mine including replacing all the fans, buying hard drive-silencing enclosures, and installing noise insulating material in my case.

here is where i got most of my stuff from. there is an internation link on that site for the american site, etc. they have excellent products.

http://www.quietpc.ca

[Stween]

Originally posted by plui31
do you guys have AMD CPU's? I have an Athlon XP 2000. I don't know if it's the CPU fan that came with the CPU is making the noise or the fan from the power supply...do any of you have the same experience? if so, any suggestion? it sounds like a helicopter is landing right by me!

I've had numerous fans fail on me, although most of them have been in the PSU. Dust seems to be the major problem with them, and everntually the fan dies ... the only decent way to keep it running is to get a new one.

If it's normal operating noise, however ... get a mac ;)

[onesandzeros]

I only use AMD processors, however, I never used the CPU fan that came with the processor. I usually bought a nice fan like the Volcano fan. I am not sure what you mean by loud noise though because I like my computers noisey. My computers are in the basement and I can hear them easily from upstairs. The wife loves it! I build mine and I want to know that they're working. :D Maybe it's a man thing, I don't know.
Anyway, after building my latest I found that an abnormally loud noise came from the case. Nothing like I've heard before. I opened the case and watched as I powered the PC on. I foudn that the noise came from the dual fans on the back of the case. A cable from the remote for the fan was being hit by a fan blade, causing a vibrating, ticking noise. Hard to explain. Anyway, after adjusting some cables the noise was gone.
I would get down next to your case and watch while you power up to maybe track down where exactly the noise is coming from. Hard to diagnose by looking at a computer case ya know? :)
Let us know how it goes.

[plui31]

so being a poor college student that I am, should I just try to dust the fans first before replacing any parts?

[bosox79]

Originally posted by plui31
so being a poor college student that I am, should I just try to dust the fans first before replacing any parts?

it could'nt hurt :D