That noise is mainly the stage whisper of the fans that cool your PC's circuitry. Every year, PCs pack more computer power into ever-faster, ever-hotter chips. (So do Macs, but they run much quieter.) To cool them, those PCs may have separate fans for the processor, for the power supply that converts AC house power to the DC the chips run on, and for the computer's case itself. Fast, hot graphics boards carry their own fans. Some PCs even have small fans to cool their hard drives.
A few high-end computer makers, like Alienware and VoodooPC, offer models designed for quietness from the outset, and mainstream makers are even quieting their new computers a bit. The Dell I bought last year is quieter than the slower, 5-year-old Dell it replaced, thanks to more efficient cooling.
But you can do a lot to quiet your existing PC, by altering its cooling system so that it makes less noise, by reducing its ability to make the vibrations of the fans (and disk drives) audible and by repositioning it so less noise reaches your ear.
For the first two, you'll need a bit of money (sometimes less than $25) and the courage to delve into your computer's innards; the last requires only some common sense.
For example, I hear less noise now that I've turned my computer so the breeze from its rear-panel fans angles off the plaster wall behind it instead of bouncing directly back at my ears. A thin cushion against the wall reduced sound reflection further.
 | ||
| | |
 For the latest breaking news, visit NYTimes.com Sign up to receive top headlines Get Dealbook, a daily corporate finance email briefing Search the jobs listings at NYTimes.com Search NYTimes.com: | ||
| ||
| ||
I could quiet it further by moving it under my desk. ("But don't suffocate it by burying it so deep inside a desk cubbyhole it gets no cooling," says Susan Schoer, a New York-based computer professional with "way too many PCs at home.")
Killing vibration noise takes some tinkering but little expense. Soft gaskets or grommets can isolate fan and disk drive vibrations from the PC's case. Rubber feet under the computer can keep your desk from acting like a sounding board. Damping materials like Akasa's PAX.mate or Dynamic Control's Dynamat can do the same for the PC case's walls. (These products, from $20 to $40, are available from computer dealers and Web sites catering to do-it-yourselfers, as are other items mentioned here; a
resource list is here: Web Sites to Help.Taming fan noise takes more effort and expense. Replacing fans with bigger ones or adding extra small ones, as your PC case permits, lets you slow the fans to run more quietly without reducing air flow; most fans cost less than $20 each. But while big fans are normally slower, you may need a controller to make multiple small fans turn more slowly. Such controllers, which spin the fans only as fast as the PC's current heat load calls for, cost less than $25, but they are also built into many fans and motherboards.
To tame the noise of the power-supply fan, you'll usually need a quieter supply ($50 to $200). Power supplies for standard desktop PCs are of uniform size, and can be swapped out easily (by unplugging the supply's connections to the motherboard and drives, unbolting the unit, then bolting in the new one and carefully restoring the connections.)
Lower-priced quiet supplies usually have thermal fan control; higher-priced ones are often fanless, thanks to efficient circuitry that doesn't generate much heat: Antec's Phantom supply, according to Scott Richards, an Antec vice president, is 85 percent efficient, versus 60 percent for a typical power supply and 70 percent to 75 percent for a well-designed one. "But you can't have a fanless supply," Richards said, "unless you have some active cooling elsewhere."
Active cooling need not involve high-speed fans. Some high-end computers, like Apple's Power Mac G5, VoodooPC's Rage f:2 and Rage f:5, and the ones in Alienware's ALX line, have liquid cooling like most car engines, with slow fans breathing on their radiators. Equipment to liquid-cool existing PCs is available from Cooler Master, Koolance, Swiftech, Thermaltake, Zalman and others, usually for about $170 to $300. And VoodooPC says its Rage f:50 is the only fanless PC, thanks to internal heat pipes and a finned case that doubles as a heat sink.
Other noise-reducing techniques include elaborate passive heat sinks to replace processor fans, heat pipes (miniature liquid cooling systems) for video cards and disk drives, and round drive cables that impede airflow less than conventional flat ones.
It's also possible to transplant your PC into a sound-reducing case. Richards of Antec, one of many companies that make them, said: "It used to be daunting, but it's now easier than wiring up a 5.1-channel surround system. You follow step-by-step instructions, matching the wires one by one as you transfer things from the old case to the new."
Next year, many computers will have new BTX-style motherboards designed for more efficient, quieter cooling. In the meantime, you may consider an older, less powerful computer, like the original Pentium, the kind that ran quiet because it didn't have much heat to remove.
Or, if the noise becomes too much for you, just turn off your system. "I breathe a sigh of relief," Schoer said, "when I power down and hear the relative quiet of the room."
Entire contents, Copyright © 2004 The New York Times. All rights reserved.