Quiet Please!

[davidlustrup]

ok, im looking for a way to make my pc as quiet as possible...

anyone have any suggestions for quiet cpu coolers ( non liquid) and quiet chassis fans?

quiet power supplies?

im using a cooler master cosmos case with sound deadning side plates as it is but its still too loud and i wanna make it as quiet as possible without risking airflow and overheating issues

[sunburst79]

Nexus 80MM fans.

Nexus 120mm fans, Scythe 600-800RPM 120mm fans (forget the series name), Noctua 120mm fans.

Corsair and Seasonic are quiet PSUs, Nexus also.

Lots of MASSIVE CPU coolers out there. I'm not sure whats currently the quiet cooling king. Look for one that takes a standard 120mm fan so you can use the fan of your choice.

Check a site called Silent PC Review (SPR) for excellent advice.

[albee1952]

Arctic Cooling and Zalmann make some quiet cpu coolers. Fanless video cards solve a lot of noise as well. What PSU do you have? Those with the bigger fans tend to make less noise(fan turns slower and quieter). Also, try the rubbery mounts for PSU and hard drives. Another thing that helped me was to move the tower away from the desk with long cables(like 10 footers) and stick the case in a wooden case(nice oak plywood with edging and a clear poly finish) with foam on all sides, that extended out the back(creating a foam tunnel that stuck out a foot past the tower). Of course, I put my DVD drive on the desktop(external case) for convenience. I could track vocals right behind my chair without noise issues.

[davidlustrup]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Arctic Cooling and Zalmann make some quiet cpu coolers. Fanless video cards solve a lot of noise as well. What PSU do you have? Those with the bigger fans tend to make less noise(fan turns slower and quieter). Also, try the rubbery mounts for PSU and hard drives. Another thing that helped me was to move the tower away from the desk with long cables(like 10 footers) and stick the case in a wooden case(nice oak plywood with edging and a clear poly finish) with foam on all sides, that extended out the back(creating a foam tunnel that stuck out a foot past the tower). Of course, I put my DVD drive on the desktop(external case) for convenience. I could track vocals right behind my chair without noise issues.

thanks guys ill look into those names for sure...i had one guy tell me to use a gate...but to me thats not doing it right, although a gate IS closed untill the vocal starts, WHILE the vocal is being sung....its open...and all the room noise is comming in WITH the vocal...so when i compress/limit etc etc...that noise will be getting amplfied as well, so gating doesnt seem to be the right thing to do to me. id rather have no excess junk going in in the first place =)

with that box you built, your not getting any overheating issues by putting that pc in a box? just curious

[EGS]

I recently built a new Win7 system, and it runs super-quiet. This link lists the CPU cooler, (fanless) video card, and PSU that I used:

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=279758

Also, at Micro Center I found some really quiet case fans with rubber mounting grommets, available in both 80 and 120mm sizes:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0276339

Hope this helps !!!

[ldeadhead]

A Titan Fenrir cooler, albeit massive, silent. An alternative, and much less expensive, would be an Artic Freezer Cooler, perhaps the 7 Pro.
A Xigmatek PSU, again very quiet or a less expensive option, a XFX PSU. Antec also known for some fairly quiet models.
Why the Crossfire set up with the Radeons? Is it a requirement for your needs? A single, modern, 5000 or 6000 series AMD / ATI card would probably match the paired 4000's in frame-rate etc. and be a lot quieter. As has been said previously, why not go fan-less.
Variable speed case fans might be the way. It you need to get rid of excessive heat then turn the fan speed up - not a likely scenario whilst recording vocals.
The mounting of drives in 'quiet' chassis has worked for me. If we are really cutting back on the dB then your Western Digital is possibly louder than a Seagate Barracuda.
Reading the small print on dB output for all of the components is, IMHO, the way to go ...
Best of luck

[DaveBCC]

For a while people were all jazzed about water cooling, but I don't read so much about that anymore.

In my bedroom project studio, and after going through a couple of passes with quiet fans, acoustically treated cases, cabinets with more fans, etc., I finally just moved mine into an adjacent closet, drywalled a 4"x 4" port through the wall near the corner floor for cables, stuffed it with foam, put my mic stand container in front of it, closed the door, and couldn't be happier ... you'd never know there was a computer anywhere around there.

As long as I don't get the burning desire to record in the closet, I can't think of a better solution.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by DaveBCC

For a while people were all jazzed about water cooling, but I don't read so much about that anymore.

In my bedroom project studio, and after going through a couple of passes with quiet fans, acoustically treated cases, cabinets with more fans, etc., I finally just moved mine into an adjacent closet, drywalled a 4"x 4" port through the wall near the corner floor for cables, stuffed it with foam, put my mic stand container in front of it, closed the door, and couldn't be happier ... you'd never know there was a computer anywhere around there.

As long as I don't get the burning desire to record in the closet, I can't think of a better solution.

See and I want to turn my closet into a vocal booth but its already full of gear

[albee1952]

In any case DO NOT use a gate.

[MikeX]

PC Power & Cooling make a fanless PSU.. very high quality and 700W.

Also.. Zalman makes great CPU coolers as well.

My suggestion is also enabling fan control, you can even buy a fan controller that will change the speed of the fans depending on temperature. It's what I'm doing right now and works great.

I have that case as well.. I ditched it for a Gator 4U and a 4U rackmount case because I'm mobile... but that case ROCKS if you don't move it..