Re: [H] Making a second home PC quieter
I have an older WD drive that has that whining sound and I absolutely agree that it is noisy and irritating. I put that in an external case and only use it for backups... but even the 10-15 minutes that it is usually on, it grates at me. I have several of the newer 400GB and 500GB WD drives and trust me when I say I can barely hear them. Replace the drives and move onto the fan noise that will annoy you afterwards. :) On 10/1/07, Anthony Q. Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: DHSinclair wrote: Anthony, Some simple justice here. Hard Drives- They make noise. Period. Some less than others. Choose accordingly; and spend the money :) You know...you're 100% correct about this Duncan. Sanity is worth it's weight in gold! After some time, the $$$ will be meaningless, but my attitude, well-being, and mood could be wrecked!
Re: [H] Making a second home PC quieter
Thanks, Richard. That's exactly what I did for that home machine. Just going to a slightly younger drive killed that high-pitched whine. I have a new CPU cooller (Nexus) and new case fans to put in this weekend. I made huge progress on my office PC. Took out the loud PS, replaced the CPU cooler, got a fan-less PCI-e video card that supports directx 10! I don't need fast for that, just need to drive two screens. This system is in an Antec P160 that I bought from a system house. Did even realize how nice a case it is on the inside until I decided to deal with the noise. It could use some sound proofing, but I don't need all that at workThis box is much, much better than it was...which was freight-train loud. I probably will upgrade the HDs in the work machine, though, as they are real noisy 250 GB WD HDs. Richard Kim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have an older WD drive that has that whining sound and I absolutely agree that it is noisy and irritating. I put that in an external case and only use it for backups... but even the 10-15 minutes that it is usually on, it grates at me. I have several of the newer 400GB and 500GB WD drives and trust me when I say I can barely hear them. Replace the drives and move onto the fan noise that will annoy you afterwards. :) On 10/1/07, Anthony Q. Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: DHSinclair wrote: Anthony, Some simple justice here. Hard Drives- They make noise. Period. Some less than others. Choose accordingly; and spend the money :) You know...you're 100% correct about this Duncan. Sanity is worth it's weight in gold! After some time, the $$$ will be meaningless, but my attitude, well-being, and mood could be wrecked!
Re: [H] Making a second home PC quieter
Simple justice? :) More like pain... Yes, apparently the newer stuff makes less noise than the other stuff. But I had a whine, man, a whine. Not just some spin up noise. I killed it off now by just putting in a slightly younger drive that had been in an external case. It's much quieter now, but not nearly as quiet as you know who! :) The CPU fan is next to go. I have a Seagate in here too...one of those external FreeAgent jobbies. I like the looks of it. It's quiet, but rather slowish. It's going to become my MP3 backup drive, I think. I've been reading a lot on silentpcreview and endpcnoice now. Good sites. DHSinclair wrote: Anthony, Some simple justice here. Hard Drives- They make noise. Period. Some less than others. Choose accordingly; and spend the money :) Cooling Fans - Most make lots of noise. Whoever they are. Some less than others. The less than others usually cost us dollars to own, and we discuss their value here in often couched terms. YMMV. I do comprehend that you now own a quiet PC. Nice. Wish I did too. I do not, yet. Please sort your queries to technical business I can understand minus your own personal affectations attached. Believe Hayes shared a link to quiet fans. Hard Drives might be a very personal discussion! I live with Seagate. I know that many on the list do not care for Seagate for a variety of 'maybe' valid reasons. Hmm. Shrug! LOL! Best, Duncan At 20:28 09/30/2007 -0400, you wrote: Yeah, I got a 250 I'm trying to get going now. If I can't live with that, I'll order a 500 from newegg tomorrow. I get I'm getting old or something, but somethings I'm just not going to live with in my own house! Noise I don't like is one of them. I'd swear it's raising my blood pressure. Greg Sevart wrote: Why in the hell are the WDs so loud? Gosh, they are awful. They have a high pitched whine that drives me nuts. Spin up is terrible. One is a 180 GB and I think the other is a 200 GB. Is there any software that will put them in quiet mode? Those are ancient drives. Old drives are loud. WD was among the last to switch to fluid bearing motors in general. You might be able to enable some acoustic management, but my guess is that it's bearing whine you're hearing, not seek noise. IF that is indeed the case, there's nothing you can do short of outright replacement. FWIW, the new WD's are among the quietest drives available. Greg This email scanned for Viruses and Spam by ZCloud.net
Re: [H] Making a second home PC quieter
DHSinclair wrote: Anthony, Some simple justice here. Hard Drives- They make noise. Period. Some less than others. Choose accordingly; and spend the money :) You know...you're 100% correct about this Duncan. Sanity is worth it's weight in gold! After some time, the $$$ will be meaningless, but my attitude, well-being, and mood could be wrecked!
[H] Making a second home PC quieter
Ok. I'm working with a Gigabyte SinXP1394 w/t Intel 3.06 P4. 2 GB ram, 2 WD HS, 3 opticals, ATI9800 Pro., 3 case fans active (one is back, two in front pulling air over HDs and Video card. I'm using stock HS/Fan in CPU. The PS is an Enermax 460 W. Case is a CM ATSC, which only allows for 80mm fans, two in front, one at back, and one at top of case (which, as i found, has died long ago). I don't need this system to be whisper quiet since its only get used for specific task and I might through a wireless card in and move it to another room. I might. Currently it is way, way too friggin loud and it sits over my shoulder and just messes up my entire computing mojo. After going through systematically moving all noise sources, this is what I've found. (1) The two WD HD are the MAJOR sources of noise! Damnit. (2) The fan on the northbridge is really loud. From 1st inspection, it seems I'd have to yank the mobo to remove hs under the fan the replace the HS...don't think I want to do this.so maybe I'll look for another fan??? Any ideas on that? (3) The stock intel hs/fan is definitely noisy...but until I deal with (1) and (2) I don't think I'll gain much. A *Nexus P4 PHT-3600* http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/PHT-3600.html is only $25 bucks online. The fans on the vidcard and the stupid Gigabyte VR don't seem to be problems, but there are still additional fans. The Vidcard does get quite not even under just normal use, which seems to imply that it is important for air to come in from the front and be carried out the back. If you run you systems 24/7, then it is a good idea to blow the dust out of the HS fins on the CPU. Mine were covered in dust, so it's difficult to see how air was being pushed through them by the fan on top. In fact, since the case sits vertical, it seems that the fan must be forcing dust into the fins...it can't be just falling onto them in that position. Why in the hell are the WDs so loud? Gosh, they are awful. They have a high pitched whine that drives me nuts. Spin up is terrible. One is a 180 GB and I think the other is a 200 GB. Is there any software that will put them in quiet mode? The Enermax PS seems very quiet and I think has a ~90 mm fan on the bottom pulling air in. So it should pull hot air up and push it out the back. Also, it has external speed control. I already have sound proofing material on the two side panels of this case, but as there is a big hole in the front and those WD HD are just sitting there, there is a direct ear to noise source path, moreso since I have my systems sitting atop my desk.
Re: [H] Making a second home PC quieter
No, right now I just have the fan there with it unplugged. I suppose that hole isn't optimal for cooling, right? I didn't want to try to remove it because it is such a bear to get too. This case is tight inside. I did replace the NB fan with a 40mm fan I stole of an old nVidia card I have lying around. If I could just make these HDs quieter, I'd be happy. I have several other HDs that I could swap in, but I don't know if I can expect them to make less noise or not. The two 500 GB Samsung HDs I put in my new system are below the threshold of my hearing, from 1 meter, anyway. I really do think this constant whine is making me pissed off. Wayne Johnson wrote: At 10:56 09-30-2007, Anthony Q. Martin typed: Case is a CM ATSC, which only allows for 80mm fans, two in front, one at back, and one at top of case (which, as i found, has died long ago). Did you replace that top case fan or at least seal the case at the top. Just some clear packaging tape works wonders. Many cases have vent holes on the sides where they think the cpu will be. When I find a new client with one of these cases it does NOT line up with the HSF then I tape the side vent holes make sure there is an exhaust fan on the back of the case near the cpu. ---+-- I'm a geek that loves to tweak.
RE: [H] Making a second home PC quieter
Why in the hell are the WDs so loud? Gosh, they are awful. They have a high pitched whine that drives me nuts. Spin up is terrible. One is a 180 GB and I think the other is a 200 GB. Is there any software that will put them in quiet mode? Those are ancient drives. Old drives are loud. WD was among the last to switch to fluid bearing motors in general. You might be able to enable some acoustic management, but my guess is that it's bearing whine you're hearing, not seek noise. IF that is indeed the case, there's nothing you can do short of outright replacement. FWIW, the new WD's are among the quietest drives available. Greg
Re: [H] Making a second home PC quieter
Yeah, I got a 250 I'm trying to get going now. If I can't live with that, I'll order a 500 from newegg tomorrow. I get I'm getting old or something, but somethings I'm just not going to live with in my own house! Noise I don't like is one of them. I'd swear it's raising my blood pressure. Greg Sevart wrote: Why in the hell are the WDs so loud? Gosh, they are awful. They have a high pitched whine that drives me nuts. Spin up is terrible. One is a 180 GB and I think the other is a 200 GB. Is there any software that will put them in quiet mode? Those are ancient drives. Old drives are loud. WD was among the last to switch to fluid bearing motors in general. You might be able to enable some acoustic management, but my guess is that it's bearing whine you're hearing, not seek noise. IF that is indeed the case, there's nothing you can do short of outright replacement. FWIW, the new WD's are among the quietest drives available. Greg
