solutions for loud computers??

mecharmor23 · June 3rd, 2001

Asus K7V Slot A motherboard
AMD athlon 840mhz (k7v chip)
128 SDRAM 133mhz
50x Cd-Rom (creative)
10 G.B Harddrive (quantum brand)
1.44 Floppy
Voodoo3 2000 16MB 146mhz
creative labs soundblaster live value
1 box fan and 1 cpu fan. (dunno its brand)

I'm asking this because I want to do some overnight downloading.
When my computer is on the sound of my computer can be heard from a room 10 meters across from mines. Is this normal?? Are there solutions to lower the sounds from the fan, HD, CD etc. without putting my computer at risk??

cluthu · June 3rd, 2001

>Is this normal??
Looking at your specs it doesn't seem as if your computer should be old enough that you'd have to worry about fan failure or somesuch. Generally just prior to their dying a fan will make quite a bit of noise, the same is true of hard drives. However, it's most likely that your problems are either related to something that's poorly secured to your box's chassis or is naturally loud.

You can look for poorly secured objects in your computer by opening the case and looking to see if anything is moving about and/or rattling. If so, look to see if its support screws are in any way loose.

>HD
Hard drives that were created before the move to 7,200 spindle speeds generally are louder than newer ones. If you'd rather not consider getting another drive, you might want to see if your HD supports spin down, though that'd have a minimal effect if you're downloading overnight.

>CD
Variable speed drives (which constitutes most drives out there today) tend to sound like jets taking off. While this is rather annoying, it is, however, normal. The best way to stop a CD-Rom drive from making noise is to simply remove the CD that's in it

Some cheaper (and even some fairly expensive) fans can produce quite a bit of noise even while operating normally. The box fan that originally came with my case was terribly loud, even with nothing more than the fan and power supply in the case. I replaced it with a smaller, generic case fan and placed a Golden Orb* cooler/heat sink combo on my proc and have been very happy with it. Note too that if the internal temperature of your computer's case is higher, the fans will have to work harder, and thusly produce more noise. The solution then would be to try and cool your computer through some other means, usually accomplished through better ventilation.

If all else fails, you could probably set up some sound buffering material around your computer. A store that sells alot of audio-related products may be able to provide you with some.

I have no idea if either of my suggestions are helpful, good luck.

*- http://www.asis-computing.com/Produc...altake_orb.htm

campaign2016 · June 3rd, 2001

My brothers fan used to make a lot of noise he took it out and cleaned the dust and grime off and it sounded alot better

my old case didnt secure very well so i got a new one (cases are only about 40-60 US$) but that still might be too expensive of a solution.

good luck in solving your problem

aoshi · June 3rd, 2001

i think it normal for your pc to produce loud sounds like that. from what i have heard athlon cpus tend to build heat fast therefore needing powerful fans which can produce loud sounds.

my solution: if your pc doesn't build heat that much put a thick cloth or towel over it.

campaign2016 · June 3rd, 2001

I dont think its normal for today's PC's to make much noise.

I have a 1.2 GHz Athlon and i can barely hear the fans when im sitting down at my comp typing. Also, if your hard drive is being accessed alot, increasing your RAM will decrease the amount that it needs to be accessed since more of the information can be stored in memory and it doesnt need to be read off the hard drive. Also, defragmenting your hard drive frequently decreases the access time needed to find the information since it puts related files closer to each other

**Betamax** · June 3rd, 2001

You obviously haven't heard mine then. One machine has got 8 fans in it (1 in PSU, 1 on chip, 1 on geforce 2, 2 extras above psu, 1 extractor above the chip and 2 at front to prevent a vaccuum

). The other machine has 3 (1 on chip, 1 in psu and 1 at front). Thats 11 fans in total. The neighbours must think that I have ajet engine or somethin' in here

Ps I can sleep ok with that racket.

June 4th, 2001

My GlobalWin FOP38 is a beast of a fan, but you get used to it...

takwu · June 4th, 2001

the CPU fan noise should be almost nothing
the Box fan noise should also be nothing, otherwise it's cheap to replace.

My guess is your HD. No solution to that, except replacing the whole drive. However, if Quantum advertises your HD should operate below certain decibel level, and it doesn't, you can ask them to replace it for you under warranty.

cluthu · June 4th, 2001

It just so happens that an "Ask Slashdot" showed up on this very topic this morning. What a coincidence, eh?

http://slashdot.org/askslashdot/01/06/04/125259.shtml

Neojag · June 6th, 2001

Quote:

Originally posted by Betamax
You obviously haven't heard mine then. One machine has got 8 fans in it (1 in PSU, 1 on chip, 1 on geforce 2, 2 extras above psu, 1 extractor above the chip and 2 at front to prevent a vaccuum ). The other machine has 3 (1 on chip, 1 in psu and 1 at front). Thats 11 fans in total. The neighbours must think that I have ajet engine or somethin' in here

Ps I can sleep ok with that racket.

wow...
thats lotsa fans... if i may ask, why do u have some much? OverOverclocking?

**Betamax** · June 6th, 2001

Partly overclocking, partly paranoia, partly because it was the only case I could find with a powerful enough PSU. (This was about a month after athlons came out.)

The damn case cost me £100 ($139.074 ) but it came with a free mobile phone.

RZetlin · June 7th, 2001

Quote:

Originally posted by mecharmor23
Asus K7V Slot A motherboard
AMD athlon 840mhz (k7v chip)
128 SDRAM 133mhz
50x Cd-Rom (creative)
10 G.B Harddrive (quantum brand)
1.44 Floppy
Voodoo3 2000 16MB 146mhz
creative labs soundblaster live value
1 box fan and 1 cpu fan. (dunno its brand)

I'm asking this because I want to do some overnight downloading.
When my computer is on the sound of my computer can be heard from a room 10 meters across from mines. Is this normal?? Are there solutions to lower the sounds from the fan, HD, CD etc. without putting my computer at risk??

Sounds like it is time to clean the computer.

If it is the hard drive is making the noise then it is warning sign that your hard drive will fail soon.

Neojag · June 8th, 2001

Quote:

Originally posted by Betamax
Partly overclocking, partly paranoia, partly because it was the only case I could find with a powerful enough PSU. (This was about a month after athlons came out.)

The damn case cost me £100 ($139.074 ) but it came with a free mobile phone.

ehehhehe
wait some time and mobile phones will start coming out in cereal boxes

now thats a strange offer

**Betamax** · June 8th, 2001

... and with every 8 tokens collected from packets of fosted chocolated sugar rice flakes you recieve a free nokia 3310 with a hands free kit.

Neojag · June 9th, 2001

how did u find out? that was a marketing secret

**Betamax** · June 9th, 2001

My father works for the phone company.

Dan · June 11th, 2001

Humm... My computer is not loud at all. In all actuallity, i can barely hear it and its right next to me...

I bought an antec power supply that produces white noise and it made my case considerably quieter...

I have the boxed fan for my PIII, a fan on my GeForce card, a fan on my chipset, a (large) fan sucking air in at the front, and a medium fan blowing air out in the back..

The fans i bought make very little noise, and they are just some genric fans i bought at frys...

The kenwood truex cdroms are extreamly quiet, because they use muti-beam lazers to read mutiple tracks at once instead of spinning the disk really fast to reach there speed...

Also, some harddrives have diffrent settings that can affect the noise they produce... You can switch the setting via software from the manufactuere.. I think its maxtor or quantum... (well, quantum and maxtor are now once company when it comes to HD's)...

June 3rd, 2001	#1 (permalink)
mecharmor23 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2001 Posts: 63	solutions for loud computers?? Asus K7V Slot A motherboard AMD athlon 840mhz (k7v chip) 128 SDRAM 133mhz 50x Cd-Rom (creative) 10 G.B Harddrive (quantum brand) 1.44 Floppy Voodoo3 2000 16MB 146mhz creative labs soundblaster live value 1 box fan and 1 cpu fan. (dunno its brand) I'm asking this because I want to do some overnight downloading. When my computer is on the sound of my computer can be heard from a room 10 meters across from mines. Is this normal?? Are there solutions to lower the sounds from the fan, HD, CD etc. without putting my computer at risk??

June 3rd, 2001	#2 (permalink)
cluthu Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Posts: 513	>Is this normal?? Looking at your specs it doesn't seem as if your computer should be old enough that you'd have to worry about fan failure or somesuch. Generally just prior to their dying a fan will make quite a bit of noise, the same is true of hard drives. However, it's most likely that your problems are either related to something that's poorly secured to your box's chassis or is naturally loud. You can look for poorly secured objects in your computer by opening the case and looking to see if anything is moving about and/or rattling. If so, look to see if its support screws are in any way loose. >HD Hard drives that were created before the move to 7,200 spindle speeds generally are louder than newer ones. If you'd rather not consider getting another drive, you might want to see if your HD supports spin down, though that'd have a minimal effect if you're downloading overnight. >CD Variable speed drives (which constitutes most drives out there today) tend to sound like jets taking off. While this is rather annoying, it is, however, normal. The best way to stop a CD-Rom drive from making noise is to simply remove the CD that's in it Some cheaper (and even some fairly expensive) fans can produce quite a bit of noise even while operating normally. The box fan that originally came with my case was terribly loud, even with nothing more than the fan and power supply in the case. I replaced it with a smaller, generic case fan and placed a Golden Orb* cooler/heat sink combo on my proc and have been very happy with it. Note too that if the internal temperature of your computer's case is higher, the fans will have to work harder, and thusly produce more noise. The solution then would be to try and cool your computer through some other means, usually accomplished through better ventilation. If all else fails, you could probably set up some sound buffering material around your computer. A store that sells alot of audio-related products may be able to provide you with some. I have no idea if either of my suggestions are helpful, good luck. - http://www.asis-computing.com/Produc...altake_orb.htm __________________ "...everything else is just theory." Last edited by cluthu; June 3rd, 2001 at 14:46.*

June 3rd, 2001	#3 (permalink)
campaign2016 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Blue Island Posts: 345	My brothers fan used to make a lot of noise he took it out and cleaned the dust and grime off and it sounded alot better my old case didnt secure very well so i got a new one (cases are only about 40-60 US$) but that still might be too expensive of a solution. good luck in solving your problem __________________ "You seem a decent fellow. I'd hate to kill you"

June 3rd, 2001	#5 (permalink)
campaign2016 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Blue Island Posts: 345	I dont think its normal for today's PC's to make much noise. I have a 1.2 GHz Athlon and i can barely hear the fans when im sitting down at my comp typing. Also, if your hard drive is being accessed alot, increasing your RAM will decrease the amount that it needs to be accessed since more of the information can be stored in memory and it doesnt need to be read off the hard drive. Also, defragmenting your hard drive frequently decreases the access time needed to find the information since it puts related files closer to each other __________________ "You seem a decent fellow. I'd hate to kill you"

June 3rd, 2001	#6 (permalink)
Betamax Resident Movie Critic Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland Posts: 9,480	You obviously haven't heard mine then. One machine has got 8 fans in it (1 in PSU, 1 on chip, 1 on geforce 2, 2 extras above psu, 1 extractor above the chip and 2 at front to prevent a vaccuum ). The other machine has 3 (1 on chip, 1 in psu and 1 at front). Thats 11 fans in total. The neighbours must think that I have ajet engine or somethin' in here Ps I can sleep ok with that racket. __________________ Superior marketing of an inferior product will always win over inferior marketing of a superior product.

June 3rd, 2001	#4 (permalink)
aoshi poor loser Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Pilipinas Posts: 310	i think it normal for your pc to produce loud sounds like that. from what i have heard athlon cpus tend to build heat fast therefore needing powerful fans which can produce loud sounds. my solution: if your pc doesn't build heat that much put a thick cloth or towel over it.

June 4th, 2001	#7 (permalink)
CDBuRnOuT Guest Posts: n/a	My GlobalWin FOP38 is a beast of a fan, but you get used to it...

June 4th, 2001	#8 (permalink)
takwu previous extinction Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: BC, Canada Posts: 1,855	the CPU fan noise should be almost nothing the Box fan noise should also be nothing, otherwise it's cheap to replace. My guess is your HD. No solution to that, except replacing the whole drive. However, if Quantum advertises your HD should operate below certain decibel level, and it doesn't, you can ask them to replace it for you under warranty.

June 4th, 2001	#9 (permalink)
cluthu Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Posts: 513	It just so happens that an "Ask Slashdot" showed up on this very topic this morning. What a coincidence, eh? http://slashdot.org/askslashdot/01/06/04/125259.shtml __________________ "...everything else is just theory."

June 6th, 2001	#11 (permalink)
Betamax Resident Movie Critic Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland Posts: 9,480	Partly overclocking, partly paranoia, partly because it was the only case I could find with a powerful enough PSU. (This was about a month after athlons came out.) The damn case cost me £100 ($139.074 ) but it came with a free mobile phone. __________________ Superior marketing of an inferior product will always win over inferior marketing of a superior product.

June 8th, 2001	#14 (permalink)
Betamax Resident Movie Critic Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland Posts: 9,480	... and with every 8 tokens collected from packets of fosted chocolated sugar rice flakes you recieve a free nokia 3310 with a hands free kit. __________________ Superior marketing of an inferior product will always win over inferior marketing of a superior product.

June 9th, 2001	#15 (permalink)
Neojag :: [ Sauron's Eye ] :: Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: In the Land of Mordor, where the Shadows lie... Posts: 3,259	how did u find out? that was a marketing secret __________________

June 9th, 2001	#16 (permalink)
Betamax Resident Movie Critic Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland Posts: 9,480	My father works for the phone company. __________________ Superior marketing of an inferior product will always win over inferior marketing of a superior product.

June 11th, 2001	#17 (permalink)
Dan Jedi Knight Join Date: May 2001 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 230	Humm... My computer is not loud at all. In all actuallity, i can barely hear it and its right next to me... I bought an antec power supply that produces white noise and it made my case considerably quieter... I have the boxed fan for my PIII, a fan on my GeForce card, a fan on my chipset, a (large) fan sucking air in at the front, and a medium fan blowing air out in the back.. The fans i bought make very little noise, and they are just some genric fans i bought at frys... The kenwood truex cdroms are extreamly quiet, because they use muti-beam lazers to read mutiple tracks at once instead of spinning the disk really fast to reach there speed... Also, some harddrives have diffrent settings that can affect the noise they produce... You can switch the setting via software from the manufactuere.. I think its maxtor or quantum... (well, quantum and maxtor are now once company when it comes to HD's)...

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode