Help silencing my computer

[Nagoshi]

Yea, you've heard the title, I'll get direcly to the point with some explications on what I plan to do.

Okay, so Ive got a pretty tight budget, and it's going to be for a Pentium2 computer (Maybe for my Pentium3 rig, but its not going to be used on a performing computer). We all know the stock fans that there's in a computer makes a hell of a noise. That rig is probably going to follow me in my apartment next year, and Im gonna let it run 24/7 on Windows ME. The thing is, it's using a cheap motherboard, and I have no idea if it would allow fan control.

Now the stuff I have to silence :

My CPU Fan (it's using some kind of Slot1 20mm fan, hardly blowing some air on the heatsink, and makes more noise than anything)
My PSU fan (Sparkle 235watts, has Noise Killer technology in it... probably slowing down the fan when it's not hot)
Other component cooling (including my passive GPU, it's getting too hot for me)
Hard drives (quite noisy)
CD drive

Im running on a quite limited budget, so Im probably going to jump to the computer store, and buy a couple of silent fans there. My project :

Changing the PSU fan (I replaced it in my P3 rig, pretty easy job)
Changing the CPU fan
Cooling the remaining
Silencing the hard drives (would it silence them if I would hang them by some wires?)
Silencing the CD drive (using Nero DriveSpeed to slow it down to a quiet speed, but having some kind of vibration tempering would be appreciated)
Getting a fan controller (I dont wanna buy it, is there a way to build it myself? hard or easy?)

Actually, I may use a bigger fan and make some kind of wind tunnel splitting the fan in two, cooling both the CPU and the GPU, by using some kind of tubing. And I dont really care about wire management.

If yo uhave any tips or recommendations, or comments, to tell me, I would really appreciate it. Ill get some pics of the tower in its current state tonight, and try to post them tomorrow. :)

[slytherock]

on a small system like this, you can easilly have only a fan on the CPU and a 120mm on the front blowing to the HDDs and and one at the back.

[Nagoshi]

The CPU doesn't even get that much hot when it's used. Ill have to take a look at how hot it gets to the touch without the fan, but as I said I may use some tubes to blow both the CPU and the video card with a single fan.

Other than that, the system can live long without any fans in the case (except for the cpu/psu, of course), so 2x120mm would be a waste. Maybe I could just forget about the CPU fan and make 2x120mm blows the whole case?

And could someone precisely explain me what is that "Nose Killer" technology that is embedded with my Sparkle PSU? I think it's some kind of thing that slows down the fan when it'S not too hot, but do you think I could be able to change the fan in it for a silent one?

[.Maleficus.]

Didn't read the whole thing but here you go. (http://www.gideontech.com/content/articles/213/1)

Yes, I imagine that you could change your PSU fan. The tech. probably is something connected to the fan, which you could probably connect to the new one.

[progbuddy]

If you can, make a funnel for a 20mm to 80 mm or 20 to 60 mm. It would certainly be original :p ! Anyways, heres some silencing essentials:

-rubber washers or some material to go between bolts holding fans
-fan control
-fan placement (move it to where it can get air [restricting airflow makes fans noisy])
-new fans (cheap, LED ones look cool, quiet)
-compressed air (clean in between the fan bearings and things)

Hope this helps!

Kevin

EDIT- try MBM 5 (search bar at www.download.com)

And the "noise killer" is a built in fan controller. The hotter the PSU, the faster the fan.

[ReignInPain]

For 100% Silence:

http://www.pondracket.com/upload/mightyswing.jpg

;)

[Redundant]

I have a pentium II (though I don't use it much) and it's only cooled by one ~90mm fan in the PSU. There's a duct over the large heatsink though. And it runs XP (w/512mb RAM). Get rid of that ME crap if at all possible too.

[progbuddy]

For 100% Silence:

http://www.pondracket.com/upload/mightyswing.jpg

;)

LMFAO

[Nagoshi]

http://www.pisschrist.net/uca/Frost/compshots/DSC00003.jpg
Here's the mess

http://www.pisschrist.net/uca/Frost/compshots/DSC00004.jpg
Improvised GPU cooler, the heatsink was really getting hot. Using a stock P4 fan and some white hockey tape :)

http://www.pisschrist.net/uca/Frost/compshots/DSC00005.jpg
Front of the case. The res some weird holes on the side, cause there are some panels that go there, but I removed them temporarily. There's no air that can go thru the front panel right now, no holes.


I have a pentium II (though I don't use it much) and it's only cooled by one ~90mm fan in the PSU. There's a duct over the large heatsink though. And it runs XP (w/512mb RAM). Get rid of that ME crap if at all possible too.

Well, I would get rid of it... but you know, I only have 64Mb in it :) Right now XP is installed in it, and Id keep it if it wasn't for the slow reaction speed whenever I try to do something. And ME, because it will allow me to use special devices that would require drivers in 98SE, and I'm afraid XP will goes awfully slow if I start using Internet Explorer + MSN Messenger. :(

Thanks for that variable fan controller, that's exacly what I was searching :)

That funnel you're talking about.. is probably whatI wanted to do... which is, making some tunnel that goes from one fan that will be then splitted on two components? ACtually, I might just drill some holes in the back of the case and put a 120mm fan in there if it fits (or on the side panel, facing the CPU and GPU).

Ideas for HD noise, and CD drive spinning? like, rubber washers or something? And do you think it would "kill" the noise if I suspend the HD with, like, fishing wire? Im sure I was this somewhere on these forums, but I cant remember where.

[progbuddy]

http://www.pisschrist.net/uca/Frost/compshots/DSC00003.jpg
Here's the mess

http://www.pisschrist.net/uca/Frost/compshots/DSC00004.jpg
Improvised GPU cooler, the heatsink was really getting hot. Using a stock P4 fan and some white hockey tape :)

http://www.pisschrist.net/uca/Frost/compshots/DSC00005.jpg
Front of the case. The res some weird holes on the side, cause there are some panels that go there, but I removed them temporarily. There's no air that can go thru the front panel right now, no holes.



Well, I would get rid of it... but you know, I only have 64Mb in it :) Right now XP is installed in it, and Id keep it if it wasn't for the slow reaction speed whenever I try to do something. And ME, because it will allow me to use special devices that would require drivers in 98SE, and I'm afraid XP will goes awfully slow if I start using Internet Explorer + MSN Messenger. :(

Thanks for that variable fan controller, that's exacly what I was searching :)

That funnel you're talking about.. is probably whatI wanted to do... which is, making some tunnel that goes from one fan that will be then splitted on two components? ACtually, I might just drill some holes in the back of the case and put a 120mm fan in there if it fits (or on the side panel, facing the CPU and GPU).

Ideas for HD noise, and CD drive spinning? like, rubber washers or something? And do you think it would "kill" the noise if I suspend the HD with, like, fishing wire? Im sure I was this somewhere on these forums, but I cant remember where.

Rubber washers will work for things that are attached with bolts/screws. You could use rubber strips for the HDDs (probably 1 inch wide and about 1/8 inch thickness and 4 inches long will do). Cooler master was selling a pack of 6 silent fans for about 15-20 dollars.

As for that funnel idea, you could make a custom piece with a mold, some plaster, and liquid plastic spray. Just mold the design, pour plaster over it, and make a layout for the air to go, and then spray the plastic over the plaster (with a nonstick coating, of course). It makes for a nice custom piece, look cool, and it could cool your GPU and your CPU with one fan (if you have a more silent one) at the same time.

[Nagoshi]

Ill look at what I can manage to grab at the computer store, if there's a 120mm silent fan I could manage to buy then Il lget it, control it via a fan controller (ie the link that Maleficius posted up there) so that it gets even more silent. Probably going to fix it on the side panel, facing the CPU and GPU area so that I dont need funnels all around the case.

Ill see how I could manage that for my hard drives, as the hard drives will hardly slides in the HD cage. Ill probly "hammer" something so that it'll let me slide them with the rubber strips :) Ill also ask my father if he doesn'T have alternate solutions for this.