How can I reduce the noise on this PC?

I recently acquired a used PC.  it was a gamer machine with a 1.2 gig
Athalon processor in a hot looking mini tower.

When I tried it out at my noisy office it worked great, but I took it
home to put in a bedroom, and the noise is too high to keep there.  I
had a PC in the bedroom before, and though that it was noisy, but
compared to this guy, it was fine.

It has 4 fans, and 2 of these seem to be the biggest culprits.

#1 ? The fan ontop of the CPU heat sink.  The heat sink is labeled a
Thermatake  volcano 6 Cu  (http://www.computergoodies.ca/item415.htm 
for a pic)
 
#2 ? The fan in the back.  Looks great, LED blue and all, but noisy. 
Looks great though.

#3 ? Fan on the side panel, the transparent cool looking side panel. 
This is the quietest of the 3, but it would still be nice to kill it. 
looks good also, but you don?t notice the cool blue light as much as
#2.

#4 ? The one inside the powersupply.

So what can I do to rescue this machine and make it useable in a quiet
bedroom environment (to play MP3s and such).

Can I tape up fans #1 and #2? 
Will taping the rotars hurt, or must I physically disconnect their power cords?
Does the CPU need such a fan, or is the heat sink itself enough?
Is there software to monitor the CPU and/or motherboard and tell me if
they are too hot?
Is there some other solution(s) to the problem that will cost somewhere under $75.

thanx in advnce

---

Request for Question Clarification by aht-ga on 18 Apr 2004 23:47 PDT

Hi sherpaj-ga:

If the rig was a former gamer machine, there is a good likelihood that
the previous owner has overclocked the processor. If so, the fans are
absolutely necessary in order to keep the processor from overheating.

Since you mentioned that you are looking to this machine to serve
primarily as a media player in the bedroom, a function that is not too
taxing on the processor, you may be able to get away with unplugging
the case fan without overheating the PC too much. However, that really
isn't going to make this a quiet machine; it's moving a lot of air
through that case, and air movement through a confined space
invariably means noise. The Thermaltake volcano 6 Cu on the
processor/heatsink will still be the noisiest component, and the one
that really has no comparable, silent or near-silent substitute within
the budget you mention. You absolutely cannot turn off or disable this
fan, the heatsink is designed for use with forced air, it is not going
to be able to conduct heat away from that hot Athlon fast enough
without the fan once you start using the PC for anything.

Depending on the motherboard, you can use a monitoring program such as
Motherboard Monitor to see the temperature readings from any
thermistors incorporated into the motherboard and components.
Motherboard Monitor can be downloaded from:

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

Ultimately, though, this PC is going to require a lot of work (ie.
money) to make it acceptable for use in a bedroom environment (unless
the bedroom is located under the flight path of an airport), so is it
really worth it to put money into this?

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

I don't think that disabling the fans is a good idea.

the processoris not overclocked.  Isn't there simply quieter fan i can
buy?  Is there an alternate type of heat sink that isn't expensive?

Hi Sherpaj,
you can reduce the noise of your pc.

1. as you said there are plenty of fans sold on the market indicating
the level of noise on the box (in dB) - check with your reseller.

2. you may not need all the fans: the powersupply and cpu ones are mandatory
  => try to get quieter fans
  for the others, insert a thermomether (yes!) inside your computer,
check the temperature after the machine ran for 10mn, stop one of the
2 general fans, check again the temperature after another 10mn. Be
careful if the temperature can bemuch higher later (in summer for
instance).

3. the cpu fan: if you can, try to install a water cooling system.
You'll get one "fan" with almost zero noise!
  check http://www.xoxide.com/watcoolkit.html

Besides that, have you thought about getting your PC more far from
your bedroom: there are wireless keyboards and mouse, the screen can
get a longer cable. So that your computer could be behind a "wall" or
something similar.

Two good sites to look through:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/index.php

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

if the processor is not overclocked you can get a replacement fan for
the volcano which will create significantly less noise. however, it
would require you to be familiar with the procedures of replacing a
cpu fan, because if it is done incorrectly, you can damage your
computer's processor.

You could try a water cooling system very cheaply.  Basically it
consists of plastic aquarium tube with a pump wrapped around the pc
heat sinks.

Having built several high end systems over the years, I have had to
deal with lots of noise complaints. It is basically a case of you get
what you pay for. It can cost as much as $200 more to build a system
to be a quiet system, as opposed to just a high end system. You will
find everything you need in Zalman products.

Zalman products are a bit more costly than you regular run of the mill
computer parts, but worth their weight in gold as if you quiet is what
you are looking for. They make a few power supplies, some with single,
some with dual fans. Power supplies are notoriously noise makers. Then
you would want a Zalman Cooler. For a 1.2 AMD, you won't really need
anything too fancy. Then you would finish it out with some Zalman Case
fans.

I would check out http://www.heatsinkstore.com

They are good people to deal with too. you are looking at about $100
for a power supply, $35 for the CPU Fan, and about $5 each for case
fans

Vic Arvizu
Information Systems Manager
Undisclosed Company

I agree with suggestions to consider water cooling.  Water cooling
will likely be very common on future PCs because it effectively cools
the PC very quietly.

You can also consider "noise dampening" lining materials for the case,
which are easy to install.  But, while this is good for reducing the
noise of a hard drive, it will not completely combat the noise of your
PC wind tunnel.