Build the ultimate quiet PC

[Deleted]

General advice, mainly aimed at Aussies, but these changes will also result in better quality .wav files, and music playback.


www.cnet.com.au/build-the-ultimate-quiet-pc_p2-339281341.htm

[Spirit]

My comment on the article :

120mm Scythe Slipstreams ($21 pccasegear) are better than the S-Flex. The Corsair HX520/620 are also made by Seasonic, cheaper than the S12+ [exact same fan + cooling setup], and also modular.

The Thermalright HR01+ (also from pccasegear) is better with low airflow than the TRUE, and $20 cheaper as well.
Zalman VF900, while definitely better than stock cooling isn't exactly quiet.
One of the Acceleros, or a Thermalright would perhaps be a better choice, but be sure to check compatibility.

Soft fan mounts $3.50/set of 4 from pccasegear are also worth looking at.


If you want to go one step further after all that, consider decoupling hard drives with clothing elastic. Be sure there's adequate airflow, as decoupling will make them run a few degrees warmer, but with the advantage of being quieter.
www.silentpcreview.com for more info

[Deleted]

Soft fan mounts $3.50/set of 4 from pccasegear are also worth looking at.If you want to go one step further after all that, consider decoupling hard drives with clothing elastic. Be sure there's adequate airflow, as decoupling will make them run a few degrees warmer, but with the advantage of being quieter.

Phil
Have a look at the attached link.
Decoupling HDDs with clothing elastic will make the PC a little quieter , but does not help with dampening internal vibrations, which appears to be a SQ limiting factor with both Optical and HDDs.
Alex

www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=F0090

[Spirit]

Ever so slightly cheaper at pccasegear, but another supplier is always good

[for me] At this point, reduction in noise from hdd will have a greater sonic improvement than reducing internal vibrations, but for those who can't hear their hard drives, go right ahead with the damping.

[Will]

I think that using 'quietening' techniques will be complimentary to dampening techniques, for the end result of better audio. Although as you say, Alex, the suspension of the drive will not dampen internal vibration, this can be addressed by the use of 3M tape. Where the suspension will help, audio wise, is to quieten the room that the PC is in. The background noise will be lower, reducing it's impact on the listening experience.

On the subject of fans, If people fancy a quiet fan without the money, Yate Loon are the OEM of the Nexus fan. Search for Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm and then Nexus 120mm quiet fan. The Yate Loon is far cheaper, and the only difference is the name and colour (the nexus being either orange or white)

[Spirit]

Have just installed my dpdt switch.... well.. one I made up for a mate. Will make mine up tomorrow.

(Fans are now running at 5V instead of 12)
A faint whir

Still not *quite* where I'd like it to be...
Soft fan mounts and decoupled hard drive here we come...
Then possibly wire psu fan to 5V instead of whatever the controller onboard is giving it.

[rickcr42]

I am one of those rare knuckleheads that has never been anal about computer noise just as "back in the day" power amplifier fan cooling (most efficient method BTW,especially when the amplifier runs in Class-A ) nor does the fan in my Blue Ray Player give me fits.

Why ?

Ambient noise masking.Yes,if my tower was on the desk and I happen to be sitting RIGHT THERE and I am trying to listen to music over computer speakers at low level volumes I can see where the two could clash but for one,my tower is floor mounted on an isolation platform (I treat the "tower" as I would any other music SOURCE ;D )



which decreases fan noise by the old "stop bicthing and move it jerky" method and yes,the fan and HD spin up IS audible when I am using the computer for things non-music but for listening ?

1-Headphones eliminate ALL (or as close to as it does not matter) ambient sounds

2-I listen a volume levels on my desktop speakers that is relevant to point #1

3-And to be honest the only time I actually HEAR computer noise is when I LISTEN FOR computer noise so as long as it is not my focus it is no more aggravating than my air conditioner or my fish tank filter or cars going by outside or my cats scratching to get in or my tortoise banging around,tearing up his terrarium or my wife in the kitchen...................

In short the daily "life sounds",the general ambient noise level we all accept as being part of the bustle,the daily doings of humans,accept because we have no control of them short of locking down and buttoning up then isolating our SPACE (extreme measures for extreme humans ) seem to be low on the "aggravation" scale yet the teeny tiny fan in a computer or a 200WPC fan cooled amp drives us whacko ?

I sometimes wonder if we gear heads don't go out of our way to LOOK for a problem just so we have something we can FIX


Just an observation,don't beat me please,fragile I am

[rowuk]

Sept 3, 2009 12:11:27 GMT Will said:

I think that using 'quietening' techniques will be complimentary to dampening techniques, for the end result of better audio. Although as you say, Alex, the suspension of the drive will not dampen internal vibration, this can be addressed by the use of 3M tape. Where the suspension will help, audio wise, is to quieten the room that the PC is in. The background noise will be lower, reducing it's impact on the listening experience.

On the subject of fans, If people fancy a quiet fan without the money, Yate Loon are the OEM of the Nexus fan. Search for Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm and then Nexus 120mm quiet fan. The Yate Loon is far cheaper, and the only difference is the name and colour (the nexus being either orange or white)

I agree that decoupling makes the harddrive less stable. There are two ways of damping noise - decoupling or mass coupling. We all are aware of what spikes can do for speaker performance. That 3M tape can damp the internal frame of the computer, or better yet, get a stone cutter to make you HD sized pieces of granite and screw them into the free drive bays. BIG improvement. Coupling also goes for the computer feet. Make sure that you also use shielded cales and don't leave them just hanging around in the case, cable tie them to the frame. Make sure that the computer frame is also properly earthed. Linear powersupplies can also work wonders, but do increase the heat levels compared to the more efficient switched supplies. 8-16 GB solid state drives are pretty affordable and can be recommended for the operating system and programs. Another alternative would be a USB stick on one of the internal USB ports. The SATA SSDs do keep the traffic on the USB ports lower as well as the operating system overhead. If you get a decent mainboard with RAID, you can do a RAID0 array of SSDs and almost double the speed throughput.

[Deleted]

I agree that decoupling makes the harddrive less stable. There are two ways of damping noise - decoupling or mass coupling. We all are aware of what spikes can do for speaker performance. That 3M tape can damp the internal frame of the computer, or better yet, get a stone cutter to make you HD sized pieces of granite and screw them into the free drive bays. BIG improvement. Coupling also goes for the computer feet. Make sure that you also use shielded cales and don't leave them just hanging around in the case, cable tie them to the frame. Make sure that the computer frame is also properly earthed. Linear powersupplies can also work wonders, but do increase the heat levels compared to the more efficient switched supplies. 8-16 GB solid state drives are pretty affordable and can be recommended for the operating system and programs. Another alternative would be a USB stick on one of the internal USB ports. The SATA SSDs do keep the traffic on the USB ports lower as well as the operating system overhead. If you get a decent mainboard with RAID, you can do a RAID0 array of SSDs and almost double the speed throughput.

Robin
Now we are on the same wavelength ! I understand that the better SSDs which are up to 10 x faster,(and expensive !) sound audibly better too .. Not sure why, although I have a weird feeling that playback from my 32GB Corsair Voyager GT USB pen sounds marginally better than my slooooow 8GB PQI USB pen.
Alex

[FauDrei]

...but only on Thurstdays and Fridays and when humidity is low

[Deleted]

Dec 10, 2009 19:49:45 GMT FauDrei said:

...but only on Thurstdays and Fridays and when humidity is low

Valter
Perhaps wishful thinking, but we are talking about a PQI pen that took 2 hours to write a single 24/96 ripped track from a DVD-A , compared to just over a minute when using the Corsair Voyager GT.

Besides I have,and many others now have, already heard things that you claimed were impossible , verified by some very experienced people.
As well, among the others, jJkeny is a BSc and JeffC a CSIRO (Aust.) scientist. Both are well versed in appropiate methodology as a result of their training.
In any case, reports are now coming in from Recording Studios and very experienced DAC manufacturers, that the 10 x faster new SSDs sound better than early models .So why should it not be possible with far better USB memory ?
Alex

[rowuk]

The memory modules are often identical, they just have a USB, SATA or PC Card interface. I think that the availability of raid on many motherboards is an inexpensive way to increase the performance, regardless whether conventional HD or Solid State.

When I built my sons NAS drive for his mobile recording studio, I did extensive SQ and throughput tests. My findings were that throughput does affect SQ, perhaps not linearly. Gigabit ethernet was the fastest external bus available (USB is 400mbit, firewire 800mbit). The RAID 5 array also made a very big difference and also provided a great deal of security. Live concerts are singular events and if the engineer has a glitch, there is a serious problem!!!!! You can't recover those played but lost notes.

I think there is a BIG misunderstanding of the basic building blocks and that ignorance is food for the reviewer with an agenda. I will not argue that certain solid state discs CAN sound better, but if we get the HD speed up (ultra fast 10K or 15K drives or RAID arrays), they will hold their own. When we compare, virtual memory needs to be compared. In the late 80s, I had software that built a RAM-Disk on my Mac and moved audio files into that disk. They sounded MUCH better. Lets not forget, HDs are designed for non Real-Time applications. Data buffering, read forward caches are great for databases, but for audio we need to optimize their use, or turn them off. SSDs do not cache the same way and that could very well be the difference that SOME hear. The review is merely the symptom, not an absolute analysis of the processes. I need to stay employed for the next 10 years, then I will have time to try this out - although in 10 years we will have little choice. SSD is on its way and the manufacturers are finding all sorts of ways to make it cheaper but not necessarily better.

I consider myself fortunate to only need proper instrument color, but only a believable soundstage. Life would be truly difficult if my goal was blacker, wider and more slam. I seem to be able to get away with much different hardware.