Computer Enclosure (not a case)

[Bill]

I built a computer this week, from components. It has a radiator (for a CPU cooler) blowing air out the top of the case, so for that reason and others, the case is a little more open than usual. Usually I choose "quiet" cases, but I couldn't find one compatible with the radiator I wanted. The case fans, front and back, are already set to low and I don't wish to tinker further with them. The case is louder than I expected.

Feeling "desperate", and inspired in the best wreck'ed way, I cut and taped up the cardboard box the case came in, still cubic-like. I set it propped up over the case so that there were 2" at the front-bottom for air intake and 12" of space in front so as to not block the main "air-take"of the computer (which has a 200mm fan). The top of the box ended up a foot over the top of the PC (there had been styrofoam in the container too), and the rear of the case is not blocked at all. The configuration above has perhaps raised the temperatures 1-degree Celcius (=2-degrees F). I am running a freely downloadable program called SpeedFan 4.5 (new to me) which is proving me with no less than 11 temperatures from the components and motherboard to monitor. I could recommend it to you (get it from the maker to avoid malware. I can get you a link if you like).

I do not regard the current cardboard box as a permanent fixture. ;) I am however open to suggestions. I am thinking about going to hardboard. Is there something I might glue inside to help absorb fan sounds? Other thoughts? Will its size affect how well it will block sounds? I will note that if I move so that there is a piece of particle board between my head and the rear of the fan (120mm), all of the shrillness "disappears".

BTW, for the disbelievers that are too busy to make them, my cardboard box does provide me a good "template" from which to proceed. I have to give the wreck credit for helping me to be creative here! I see I may need flexibility to make temperature adjustments (to say nothing of getting at the CD drive, which is not a serious concern). An Easy-lift on, Easy-lift off solution should suffice. I can put a handle on top! ; )

Thanks for reading!

Bill

[Bill]

Hmm.. I it may be easier to install a 4-by-8, I mean a bulletin board, between my desk and my computer! SWMBO always loves helping me move stuff! ; )

[Larry Blanchard]

How about hardwood plywood with egg cartons (or that egg carton type gray foam) over the inside? You could make a nice looking case.

[Swingman]

DAGS "Sonex". Not guessing, first hand experience with the product in using it to absorb sound and reflections. I used it a lot in the studio business:

Generally speaking, the thicker the material the more sound absorption at the frequencies you are most likely dealing with.

A combination of distance, intervening walls/partitions, and sound absorbing materials can be balanced to help you reduce the noise fairly cheaply.

Other things I routinely do for clients, is do put the computer enclosure in a cabinet, with a sliding shelf/tray, a "flipper door", and with plenty of ventilation, either at the bakc, or where the vent will be directed under the desk.

[Bill]

I put some pics on my web pages showing where I am now. I like to try to entertain everyone who is kind enough to try to help me, and it gave me an excuse to experiment and further configure my computer, camera, etc.

BTW, I have learned that I can **no longer** trust or recommend sourceforge.org as a great source of "malware free" software (ccleaner, pdfcreator, and filezilla, for instance). It's gotten so they are either sneaky about trying to get extra software on your computer, or worse. They have a new "partner" called slashdot (or similar). I tried a new (to me) ftp program called WinSCP, which I found even easier to use than filezilla. It has its own web page.

Here is a link to my 2 photos (I'll take it down in a few days):

With an added cardboard box in front of the computer, it works even better. I'd say I'm at about 20% (noise-level) of where I was. That's using my scale, not DBa. And the most-annoying high-frequencies are mostly gone. All I have to do it step to the other side of the "new wall" to remind me of why I put it there. I'm planning to pick up some strofoam to replace the cardboard box--they have it readily available at Menards--my BOG. Unless I try something else. I'm not ready for a $250 solution (e.g. Sonex) quite yet. But it's nice to be aware of such things. I'm sure I'll keep thinking about optimizing my set-up. I was very fortunate that my piece of plywood fit, with 3/4" room to spare at the ceiling! If you think it would help if I added something to the wall or the "styrofoam" that will go in front of the PC, don't hesitate to mention it. You may note that I shoved in rolled-up towels the vertical length. The real source of the noise is the front and rear fans. I know that because when the radiator fans go on, you can't even tell, by listening.

Cheers, Bill

[Bill]

Yes, there is a "nice project" in there somewhere! You have some good ideas. Now that I have the noise "at bay", I'll be able to think about what I want to do. My new partition was "urgent care"!

Bill

[Bill]

Update: It looks like I can reclaim my 4-by-8.

After making myself read all (14 pages) of the reviews on my computer case at Amazon, I found a fair number were disgruntled about the fan noises even though most weren't. I think most of the buyers of this case have expensive (i.e. loud) graphics cards. And a couple made reference to a long thread in a computer hardware forum. To make a long story short, it turns out the "noises" I was bothered by are primarily the result of the 200mm front case fan being too close to a metal "grid" in front of it that was surely only there "to keep people from losing fingers". Over it is a dust cover, so that grid really isn't really necessary after all. So a mere 75 minutes later, I nibbled out the grid, and now, ... , to borrow a line from B. B. King, "The shrill is gone!". : )

Some of you were with me in spirit, if only to keep me from bloodying myself up!! I even took a couple of breaks. Amazing what one can accomplish with a little patience (and the Internet community).

Bill

[Puckdropper]

Bill wrote in news:maqo93025n4 @news4.newsguy.com:

snip, whew! That was a hard cut. I need a break. snip, wow! another hard cut, time for another break. snip, Hey, I wonder if the refrigerator is still running? snip... Ah, cold refreshment... why'd I waste the first two breaks?

And that's why nothing gets done...

:-)

Puckdropper

[Lee Michaels]

Reminds me of a car I had for a short time a century or two ago. Every time I drove over a particular bridge, the car was filled with this god awful sound. It sounded like the car would self destruct. There was a little vibration. But the sound was downright scary. I brought this up to several individuals and even had some of them ride in the car with me. The car was fine otherwise. It only happened when driving across a particular bridge I had to cross every day. Just the one bridge though. Any other bridge was just fine.

I finally found this old curmudgeon to drive with me. He had me drive over the bridge several times. It was scary and stressful. He finally figured out the the passenger side window had a small "hitch" in it's ability to fully close the window. This particular bridge was very high off the ground and the wind patterns, etc interacted with a very small opening on top the window. It was totally an acoustic problem. Here I thought the engine was going to blow up.

Over ten people tried to solve the problem. I could not figure it out. But that old guy was tinkering around with the window and figured it out. Sometimes a sound can happen in the most unexpected manner.

[Bill]

Yes, definitely! There are at least a couple of dozen people over at the Corsair hardware forum who think the designers should have actually built a computer in the case before they started selling it. Quite a few people seemed too timid to take the "knife" to the case. But people were removing the fans from the case and observing that the fans didn't make any noise outside the case.

And having done it, I think there is at least some reason for pause. The steel "mesh" one needs to nibble away is pretty thick. It can be "cut" piece by piece bending with a pair of needlenose pliers, but that creates too much metal dust (the case has a motherboard, etc. in it). Fortunately, the back comes off the case, so many specs fell right through, and I vacuumed a lot. I had to "abuse" some electrical snips, but you have to do what you have to do...

FWIW, the manufacturer, Corsair, does Not stand behind this procedure. They deny there is a problem, but they will be able to swap fans with you as often as you like. The "mesh" is not removable and big computer cases don't ship cheap...

Cheers, Bill

[Bill]

That's a good story. I'm sure you were glad to get it resolved. Somehow it reminded me of the woman who called city hall to request that the new "Deer Crossing" signs be moved further down the road, since that would make it more convenient for motorists!

[Swingman]

Sounds like you now know what it is like being in a coke bottle when someone is blowing over the top.

Ever been to a "Crystal Bowl Meditation" session? LOL

[Electric Comet]

Haven't done this in a long time, what components?

[Bill]

Electric Comet wrote:

I tried to choose *quiet* ones. See, for instance, the Gigabyte Strich gtx750-ti graphics card (whose fans have only went on when I ran the "Windows Experience" (rating) test, a Corsair H105 liquid CPU cooler, and an Corsair RM power supply (whose fan I also haven't heard yet!)--which was made quiet for home theater systems. If you read my other post, you'll recall I had to cut 25 square inches of steel out of the case to get the "shrill" out of it! But I did. There are some carefully selected components there if you want a quiet system. You'll have to look pretty hard though to find a case which will accommodate the 38mm wide radiator of the CPU cooler above. It is the first liquid cooler Corsair made that is "PWM" (~power-managed), so it runs quiet at idle--and that was what drew me to it. From my week of experience though, I think it's much better to start it at 1000 RPM, rather than let it waver/pulse/click between slow and off (so a Corsair H100 cooler with after-market quiet SP fans will surely give you a lot more case options). The installation of the CPU cooler was much easier than the traditional fan, which I have always seemed to always spend too much time installing. Oh, yeah, and an Intel SSD drive which I saved some money on over the holidays (480GB for $199). One can't even find a computer with an SSD drive at BestBuy... They almost chased me out of there when I asked them what was up with that! The answer is of course that they want to keep the costs of their systems down so they have a higher profit margin.

tomshardware.com has almost "everything you need to know". I hope I wrote something that may be of use.

Bill

[Bill]

Oops, that was an *ASUS* Strich.. I see the price when up over $50 since I bought it. The Strich identifies it as a graphics card which runs quiet (they sell it both ways).

[jwalker]

Interesting. I had a local guy build me a new tower last month and it is pretty noisy. I had always assumed it was the 2 fans on the graphics card but doing a little testing I have found that the 2 fans in the case are the culprit. I am betting it is the front one.

Looks like I need to begin a search for a "quiet" fan that delivers the flow to keep this sucker cool.

Good tip about SpeedFan. I have used Core Temp in the past and although it doesn't provide as many monitoring points it does offer a setable shutdown point and that has saved me a few times. Unfortunately it does not play well with AMD so I running on the edge.

Thanks for the post.

Jim

[Puckdropper]

jwalker wrote in news: [e-mail]:

If you remove the fans from the case and then run them, do they make a lot of noise? (It's ok to run the PC for a few minutes with the fans loose.) I've got to wonder if part of the noise isn't vibration related. You might eliminate the noise with a couple of plumbing washers.

Puckdropper

[Bill]

Noise/sound is vibration related, by definition. As has already been revealed in this thread, there are a lot of ways for air to make a sound. Some of them are sneaky!

Yes (with regard to your point below), washers may help if there is room.

[swalker]

The computer is going back to the shop next week to have 2 more drive bays installed and I will have them check on the fans for vibration. The front fan came installed in the case and I'll bet they didn't install a "quiet" fan.

Jim

[Bill]

You might consider whether a "3-speed fan" might work for you. Of course, you can't run it on low if you are producing alot of heat. I found it interesting/surprising that my graphics card temperatures was

10-degrees C. warmer (40C instead of 30C), at idle, when I Didn't have the radiator fan also on, helping to blowing the hot air out of the case. Despite my recent experience, I'm still a relative "newbe", only building a system once every 4 or 5 years.

Good luck! Bill