Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)
This is more for people who have media-center or HTPC machines but a
noisy desktop could benefit too (like the one in my cubicle that drives
me nuts when it's doing a virus scan).
My HTPC is already pretty quiet with a Zalman silent PS and a Zalman CPU
cooler (the aluminum copper one that meets Intel's "legal" weight
requirement) set on it's slowest speed. The case has a 60 mm fan that
even though I replaced it with a "stealth" fan was so noisy I had to
disconnect it. It's worth noting that in an office setting the case fan
wasn't noticeable but the second I put the machine in an oak wall-unit
in a living room, the fan noise was transmitted through the wood and was
unbearable.
So the only thing left to silence was the hard drive. Because the Maxtor
drive I'm using has fluid bearings, the motor is inaudible so no
problems there. But seeks are a bit of an issue. Normally this wasn't an
issue except in rare cases. But now that BeyondTV 3.5 (beta) can use
multiple tuner cards to record one channel while watching liveTV on
another, or record two channels at once while watching a recorded show
(we rarely watch live TV anymore), the seek noise became a constant
annoyance.
So to eliminate the seem noise, which seemed to be coming from
vibrations transmitted through the case, I looked into shock mounting
solutions. There are some bizarre ones out there including one kit that
relies on rubber bands (no thanks). The one I bought was (surprise ;->)
made by Zalman. It has aluminum heat pipes, although I doubt their
effectiveness, for passive cooling, and also a good shock mounting
system. The only downside is it requires a 5" drive bay. Well, the
bottom line is that after installing it, I can hear the seek servo if I
listen for it, because the noise is of a random nature. But in terms of
absolute sound levels, the two clocks my wife has hanging on the walls
tick louder than the hard drive now.
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=74&code=019
The Zalman kit was about $30 at the local Fry's, I've found them for
about the same price online :
http://www.casecooler.com/zahehadrco.html
http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/hdc-22.html
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/zm-2hc2.html (one of many reviews I
came across)
This is more for people who have media-center or HTPC machines but a
noisy desktop could benefit too (like the one in my cubicle that drives
me nuts when it's doing a virus scan).
My HTPC is already pretty quiet with a Zalman silent PS and a Zalman CPU
cooler (the aluminum copper one that meets Intel's "legal" weight
requirement) set on it's slowest speed. The case has a 60 mm fan that
even though I replaced it with a "stealth" fan was so noisy I had to
disconnect it. It's worth noting that in an office setting the case fan
wasn't noticeable but the second I put the machine in an oak wall-unit
in a living room, the fan noise was transmitted through the wood and was
unbearable.
So the only thing left to silence was the hard drive. Because the Maxtor
drive I'm using has fluid bearings, the motor is inaudible so no
problems there. But seeks are a bit of an issue. Normally this wasn't an
issue except in rare cases. But now that BeyondTV 3.5 (beta) can use
multiple tuner cards to record one channel while watching liveTV on
another, or record two channels at once while watching a recorded show
(we rarely watch live TV anymore), the seek noise became a constant
annoyance.
So to eliminate the seem noise, which seemed to be coming from
vibrations transmitted through the case, I looked into shock mounting
solutions. There are some bizarre ones out there including one kit that
relies on rubber bands (no thanks). The one I bought was (surprise ;->)
made by Zalman. It has aluminum heat pipes, although I doubt their
effectiveness, for passive cooling, and also a good shock mounting
system. The only downside is it requires a 5" drive bay. Well, the
bottom line is that after installing it, I can hear the seek servo if I
listen for it, because the noise is of a random nature. But in terms of
absolute sound levels, the two clocks my wife has hanging on the walls
tick louder than the hard drive now.
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=74&code=019
The Zalman kit was about $30 at the local Fry's, I've found them for
about the same price online :
http://www.casecooler.com/zahehadrco.html
http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/hdc-22.html
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/zm-2hc2.html (one of many reviews I
came across)
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