Noisy PCI expansion chassis - upgrade with quiet fans?

[JLC]

What I have used:

Front fan:Noctua nf-s12 www.noctua.at

Power supply: be quiet! straight power quad rail 550W www.be-quiet.com

Hope it helps

[John_Toolbox]

Thanks -

A little update on this project:

I just swapped out the big 120mm fan in my G4 for starters. The one I put in is max 18dBa, I can't hear it at all when it's running. The power supply in the G4 is a different story. That thing is the noisiest fan I have.

I got 3 multi speed fans for the front of the chassis, they run at 14 dba on their lowest setting. I need some hardware to install them, so it'll be tonight before I can test them. After closer inspection, the power supply I put in the chassis a few years ago is a "silent" Antec power supply. Running it by itself without the front 3 fans I can't even hear it.

[John_Toolbox]

Okay, the 13 slot chassis is almost entirely silent. I paid $7.99 each for the 3 92mm front fans(antec tri-cool 3speed fans) and about $20 for the 120mm fan for the G4. I can't hear any of them at all, and they all feel like they move just as much air as the old ones did. The power supply that I had in the chassis is quiet enough for me(it's not the original). I can't hear it at all unless my face is right by the back of the chassis. So I'd definitely say this is a totally worthwhile upgrade. All I need to do now is grab an 80mm fan or a new power supply for the G4 and I'll be set.

Thanks for all the advice everyone has given me, this was really worth doing, I can't wait to get everything back together and start working in peace and quiet.

[sunburst79]

Okay, the 13 slot chassis is almost entirely silent. I paid $7.99 each for the 3 92mm front fans(antec tri-cool 3speed fans) and about $20 for the 120mm fan for the G4. I can't hear any of them at all, and they all feel like they move just as much air as the old ones did. The power supply that I had in the chassis is quiet enough for me(it's not the original). I can't hear it at all unless my face is right by the back of the chassis. So I'd definitely say this is a totally worthwhile upgrade. All I need to do now is grab an 80mm fan or a new power supply for the G4 and I'll be set.

Thanks for all the advice everyone has given me, this was really worth doing, I can't wait to get everything back together and start working in peace and quiet.

I'm a big fan of quiet systems and my current Quad is for all practical purpose dead silent. It sometimes take a little trial and error but in the end the results can be very satisfying.

The expansion chassis has 92mm fans? thats good to know.

[zavid]

A friend need to reduce much as possible fan noises on the home studio room

and Rack mount Daw apart , also the expansion chassis need to be "muted"

unfortunately the expansion chassis fans do not have any stick with tech specs
(voltages, amperes , rpm , etc..)

then the question is :

are the fans indicated in this post "universal" type ?

[John_Toolbox]

The fans I was using were universal silent Computer fans from Newegg or some place like that. This thread was 12 years ago so I don’t know what the best fans are today, but you should be able to figure out what you need by measuring the physical size of the fan and going from there.

The larger the diameter of the fan, the quieter it will be, so you may want to modify the chassis to accommodate larger fans if it uses smaller fans. On one of my old chassis I replaced the 3 80mm fans with a single 250mm fan, I cut a hole in the top cover and mounted it there so it would vent the heat from the pci cards straight out.

[zavid]

Originally Posted by John_Toolbox

The fans I was using were universal silent Computer fans from Newegg or some place like that. This thread was 12 years ago so I don’t know what the best fans are today, but you should be able to figure out what you need by measuring the physical size of the fan and going from there.

The larger the diameter of the fan, the quieter it will be, so you may want to modify the chassis to accommodate larger fans if it uses smaller fans. On one of my old chassis I replaced the 3 80mm fans with a single 250mm fan, I cut a hole in the top cover and mounted it there so it would vent the heat from the pci cards straight out.

much thanks for infos !

the nice news is that the fan model indicated here in the thread is still available in various web stores…

cheers