D
David Taylor
I hope my experience of a psychological solution to the problem can
help other people, here it is-.
The root of many, maybe any, computer noise problem is psychological.
Personally, i've found that the noise bothers me if i'm doing
something depressing, like deleting lots of spam, or spending hours
trying to do something petty in macromedia director(I was forced to
use it once). Or if i'm tired and not concentrating on something, or
if the noise is very high pitched. I despise the hum of TVs which
happily i can drown out with the volume control, unless the tv is
really bad - the hum really loud.
It's best to be inspired to use the computer, once inspired, I don't
notice the noise. If I think "hey, i'm going to do some C programming"
then I won't notice it, whereas if I think "turn it on, I better check
my mail, oh no, recieving 10 messages, more spam" i notice it, the
worst thing I could possibly do at that time, is to try to ignore the
noise. If I do that, then the noise will bother me greatly even when I
use the computer the next day. I think a solution, is that if i'm
doing something uninspiring like deleting junk mail, then i'll put
loud music on to drown out the noise, it's not like i have to think to
delete junk mail. I'm going to leave quietening my computer for a
while, as it's too time consuming to do right now.
Also, places where computer noise is less of a bother, are cafes,
maybe libraries.
The worst thing anybody can do, and this is what *some* reviews do,
and magazines do more often, is they try to advertise the wonderful
idea of a silent computer, and the reader starts to think it's an
easily achievable reality as the author claims to have done it, and
appears to have a howto. Often the author doesn't admit that all he
has achieved, is to make his computer 'not really noisy', and that he
can still hear the noise clearly, but it doesn't bother him.
Once my attention was drawn to the noise, I'm became more vulnerable
to it, the more I tried to silence it, the more I noticed it, and the
only solution becomes complete noiselessness. The solution is
psychological, and music helps a lot especially if you feel like you
could reach that point of fast incerasing revulsion towards the
computer. But most of the time, it's best to be doing something you
enjoy, something inspiring on it.
Back to finding solutions!
-----perfect solutions---------------------------------------------------
Remember the KVM solution it's expensive but should work. Then you
could use a USB kvm to extend your USB devices.
Don't forget those 2 potential perfect solutions of the 0db PSU with
no fans and just a massive heatsink, and the really powerful fanless
cpu heatsink.
Air ducts may well be a perfect solution and would cool the power
supply and the case, leaving the CPU noise and HDD noise, and monitor
noise.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Solutions that couldn't give complete noiselssness, but are fairly
cheap.
------- PSU quietening part 1-------------------------
The panaflow route(this is an update, i've found out a little more
about electricity):
Regarding quietening a PSU, Panaflow fans are relatively quiet, but
there's no point replacing the PSU fan with a panaflow fan when a
better solution involving relacing fans would clearly be to replace
the 1 PSU fan with 2 panaflow fans running at 7v. This would also be
extremely efficient at extracting heat, just incase it's not clear
where to place the fans.
One of the faces of the PSU faces down towards the bottom of the case,
it's right above the CPU. Here I would put a 7v panaflow fan sucking
Another face of the psu is at the back of the case. Here you put a 7v
fan blowing.
Regarding the issue of how to make the panaflow 7v, and how to put 2
panaflows in the power supply, I've got an idea which i'm sure would
work, please do tell me if it won't, and please tell me if what i
state below is wrong. I'm no electrician!
Power supply fans from what i've seen anyway, all run at 12v, i.e. the
power supply connector that powers the fan has 2 pins, 1 GND(0v)
another 12v.
The fans all seem to have a Red and Black wire. 12v travel along the
red wire, 0v along the black wire. Only the wires coming from the
power supply are colour coded as Yellow=12v, Red=5v, Black=0v When
it to wires attached to components, wire colour is irrelevant, except
for the fact that Black=GND=negative, and the other colour, whatever
colour it is, is positive.
So there are 2 apparent problems to deal with.
1. There's only 1 fan connector 2. It's 12v
Looking further into the second problem, there are only 2 pins, 12v
and 0v If there was also a 5v pin then we'd have no problem getting
7v out of it, we would just connect the positive fan wire(the red one)
to 12v and the negative fan wire(the black one) to 5v.
Given these 2 problems, I think the way forward is to grab one of
those power connectors with the Yellow,Black,Black,Red wires, take the
wires from there,
triple them up, so you've got the one you had, plus 2 extra ones for
the 2 new fans. To 'triple them up' add 2 extra reds to the red, 2
extra yellows to the yellow, e.t.c. Be sure to use wire of the same
thickness, a high gage, that can take all the current. Then you do a
strip and twist job with the wires connecting the panaflow fan wires
to the power wires. To get 7v, you need to use 12v(yellow power wire)
and 5v(red power wire) +ve(red fan wire) to the yellow power wire,
and -ve(black fan wire) to the red power wire. Do this for both fans.
Then use insulating tape to cover the bare bits of wire, and I think
that would work. I don't recommend following these instructions until
I've shown the idea to an electrician, or unless there's an
authoritative reply that it'd work.
Unplug the PSU(to prevent electricution) and leave it for a day(to let
he charge leave the capacitors) before doing any of this. I'm guessing
a day is enough, maybe it only needs a few hours.
It's best to have a temp probe in the PSU before doing any of this.
Maybe make the power supply look like the psu shown in part 2 below.
Poke holes in one side with a drill and stick 1 120mm fan in. Should
be a quiet deeper noise than the smaller fans. I don't know what
voltages it runs at though. Probably 12v.
------------psu quietening part 2--------------
www.maplin.co.uk A09BF
http://www.maplin.co.uk/media/mediumimages/37100i0.jpg
The nice thing about that one is that the noise probably isn't high
pitched, as it's a large 120mm fan. I did once have a computer that
came with a PSU like this one, it was quiet, and low pitched, I also
reduced the noise further by placing it in a little cupboard below my
desk, and of course, ripping the back of the cupboard so air could
come in and out, and closed the front door of it.
If you don't need noiselessness, or you do but you don't mind a
temporary solution, then this may be good, but i haven't tried it yet,
I've only tried a similar psu a while back.
---------------------------------------------
Here's another quietening thing for PSU fans
"Power Supply Fan Noise Silencer" A71AZ
http://www.maplin.co.uk/?userid=ARM_DealTime&targetmodule=36198
I probably wouldn't bother trying this one.
----------------------------------------------------------------
help other people, here it is-.
The root of many, maybe any, computer noise problem is psychological.
Personally, i've found that the noise bothers me if i'm doing
something depressing, like deleting lots of spam, or spending hours
trying to do something petty in macromedia director(I was forced to
use it once). Or if i'm tired and not concentrating on something, or
if the noise is very high pitched. I despise the hum of TVs which
happily i can drown out with the volume control, unless the tv is
really bad - the hum really loud.
It's best to be inspired to use the computer, once inspired, I don't
notice the noise. If I think "hey, i'm going to do some C programming"
then I won't notice it, whereas if I think "turn it on, I better check
my mail, oh no, recieving 10 messages, more spam" i notice it, the
worst thing I could possibly do at that time, is to try to ignore the
noise. If I do that, then the noise will bother me greatly even when I
use the computer the next day. I think a solution, is that if i'm
doing something uninspiring like deleting junk mail, then i'll put
loud music on to drown out the noise, it's not like i have to think to
delete junk mail. I'm going to leave quietening my computer for a
while, as it's too time consuming to do right now.
Also, places where computer noise is less of a bother, are cafes,
maybe libraries.
The worst thing anybody can do, and this is what *some* reviews do,
and magazines do more often, is they try to advertise the wonderful
idea of a silent computer, and the reader starts to think it's an
easily achievable reality as the author claims to have done it, and
appears to have a howto. Often the author doesn't admit that all he
has achieved, is to make his computer 'not really noisy', and that he
can still hear the noise clearly, but it doesn't bother him.
Once my attention was drawn to the noise, I'm became more vulnerable
to it, the more I tried to silence it, the more I noticed it, and the
only solution becomes complete noiselessness. The solution is
psychological, and music helps a lot especially if you feel like you
could reach that point of fast incerasing revulsion towards the
computer. But most of the time, it's best to be doing something you
enjoy, something inspiring on it.
Back to finding solutions!
-----perfect solutions---------------------------------------------------
Remember the KVM solution it's expensive but should work. Then you
could use a USB kvm to extend your USB devices.
Don't forget those 2 potential perfect solutions of the 0db PSU with
no fans and just a massive heatsink, and the really powerful fanless
cpu heatsink.
Air ducts may well be a perfect solution and would cool the power
supply and the case, leaving the CPU noise and HDD noise, and monitor
noise.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Solutions that couldn't give complete noiselssness, but are fairly
cheap.
------- PSU quietening part 1-------------------------
The panaflow route(this is an update, i've found out a little more
about electricity):
Regarding quietening a PSU, Panaflow fans are relatively quiet, but
there's no point replacing the PSU fan with a panaflow fan when a
better solution involving relacing fans would clearly be to replace
the 1 PSU fan with 2 panaflow fans running at 7v. This would also be
extremely efficient at extracting heat, just incase it's not clear
where to place the fans.
One of the faces of the PSU faces down towards the bottom of the case,
it's right above the CPU. Here I would put a 7v panaflow fan sucking
Another face of the psu is at the back of the case. Here you put a 7v
fan blowing.
Regarding the issue of how to make the panaflow 7v, and how to put 2
panaflows in the power supply, I've got an idea which i'm sure would
work, please do tell me if it won't, and please tell me if what i
state below is wrong. I'm no electrician!
Power supply fans from what i've seen anyway, all run at 12v, i.e. the
power supply connector that powers the fan has 2 pins, 1 GND(0v)
another 12v.
The fans all seem to have a Red and Black wire. 12v travel along the
red wire, 0v along the black wire. Only the wires coming from the
power supply are colour coded as Yellow=12v, Red=5v, Black=0v When
it to wires attached to components, wire colour is irrelevant, except
for the fact that Black=GND=negative, and the other colour, whatever
colour it is, is positive.
So there are 2 apparent problems to deal with.
1. There's only 1 fan connector 2. It's 12v
Looking further into the second problem, there are only 2 pins, 12v
and 0v If there was also a 5v pin then we'd have no problem getting
7v out of it, we would just connect the positive fan wire(the red one)
to 12v and the negative fan wire(the black one) to 5v.
Given these 2 problems, I think the way forward is to grab one of
those power connectors with the Yellow,Black,Black,Red wires, take the
wires from there,
triple them up, so you've got the one you had, plus 2 extra ones for
the 2 new fans. To 'triple them up' add 2 extra reds to the red, 2
extra yellows to the yellow, e.t.c. Be sure to use wire of the same
thickness, a high gage, that can take all the current. Then you do a
strip and twist job with the wires connecting the panaflow fan wires
to the power wires. To get 7v, you need to use 12v(yellow power wire)
and 5v(red power wire) +ve(red fan wire) to the yellow power wire,
and -ve(black fan wire) to the red power wire. Do this for both fans.
Then use insulating tape to cover the bare bits of wire, and I think
that would work. I don't recommend following these instructions until
I've shown the idea to an electrician, or unless there's an
authoritative reply that it'd work.
Unplug the PSU(to prevent electricution) and leave it for a day(to let
he charge leave the capacitors) before doing any of this. I'm guessing
a day is enough, maybe it only needs a few hours.
It's best to have a temp probe in the PSU before doing any of this.
Maybe make the power supply look like the psu shown in part 2 below.
Poke holes in one side with a drill and stick 1 120mm fan in. Should
be a quiet deeper noise than the smaller fans. I don't know what
voltages it runs at though. Probably 12v.
------------psu quietening part 2--------------
www.maplin.co.uk A09BF
http://www.maplin.co.uk/media/mediumimages/37100i0.jpg
The nice thing about that one is that the noise probably isn't high
pitched, as it's a large 120mm fan. I did once have a computer that
came with a PSU like this one, it was quiet, and low pitched, I also
reduced the noise further by placing it in a little cupboard below my
desk, and of course, ripping the back of the cupboard so air could
come in and out, and closed the front door of it.
If you don't need noiselessness, or you do but you don't mind a
temporary solution, then this may be good, but i haven't tried it yet,
I've only tried a similar psu a while back.
---------------------------------------------
Here's another quietening thing for PSU fans
"Power Supply Fan Noise Silencer" A71AZ
http://www.maplin.co.uk/?userid=ARM_DealTime&targetmodule=36198
I probably wouldn't bother trying this one.
----------------------------------------------------------------
