Decided to try and quieten my PC

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Decided to try and quieten my PC *UPDATE*

Hello folks,

My spec is in my sig and is currently housed in a lovely Coolermaster Wavemaster case.
Having just purchased a new PSU, I finally have everything running perfectly. The only thing I'm not to happy with is the amount of noise my case makes, so I'm going to try and do something about it.

I've ordered a Nexus Anti-Vibration Mounting Kit - which has 60 mounting components ranging from rubber Hard Drive braces to rubber fan mounts etc

Does anyone have any experience of Akasa's Pax Mate noise dampening kit? Basically it's a layer of adhesive padding that sits on the walls inside the case to help dampen any fan and HD noise coming through?
The noise that bothers me most seems to be fan noise. The Coolermaster is sitting in the lower right hand side of my desk and seems to resonate slightly. I don't want to waste my money on a crap product though, hence asking for opinions

;)
 
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Well the paxmate will do nothing but make your rig overheat in that case, avoid it :)

Also, the fan on your graphics card will be making the most noise out of everything in the case, either that or the motherboards fan.

If you have not already, you need to look at changing the HSF on the graphics card.
 
Sorry mate, I should have posted that they are the stock fans (the three 80mm stock CM fans) perhaps three SilenX or Akasa Amber's would help?

To be honest I guess i'm trying to figure out if it's the case itself thats the issue, or the fans. i've toyed with the idea of a fan controller but maybe a new set of fans would be a better idea.

Do you have any experience of case insulation using Akasa's Pax Mate stuff? (stupid name i know)

EDIT: Also have stock cooler on 7800GT. Only really looked at the new Arctic Cooling X1 - 2? whatever they're called. No exhaust model for the 7800 series?
 
i dont have experiance with it mate. There are things you can do to sort resonating, but yeah attack the fans first.


quickest way to tell if fans are causing problems is to straight unplug them. no noise = you knowing were the problem is:)
 
I do, and avoid it in the wavemaster, it will ruin your temps in that case. You will have no end of trouble with it, and if you came to sell the case it would not due to it. Makes little difference to noise aswell.

Change the fans and volt mod them to 7v, would instantly make a difference as the CM fans are dire.

But, the 7800gt will be making a unbeleivably large amount of noise, I know I had mine as the only fan in the case and it is truely a pain on the ears!
 
Oh man, I'm feeling like a total n00b here :p I've never tackled the noise from my PC before but these replies make me feel stupid lol

Thanks for the advice :) I'll not bother with Pax Mate (tbh it sounds like a nightmare to install anyhow)

EDIT: Going to go for 3 x Akasa 80mm Amber's :p
 
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Yep, and i have to say thats something else i'll be sorting out.

Really not impressed with AC's latest offering for the 7800's though?

I've installed Arctic Coolers on all of my cards bar the 7800. Not keen on passive cooling at all either

Any alternatives? The Zalmans seem rather intrusive as well :confused: Just a bit too bulky...
 
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i have the same case and graphics as you, what i did was to replace the cpu cooler with the ac64 pro, switched the cooler on the graphics to a zalman one, and volt modded the rear fan, all works fine and quiet now, moving over to the lian li pc7 plus this weekend though, hopefully it **** be quieter
 
The zalman options are the best, they may be a bit bulky, like all, but they make everything a lot quieter, depends if you have a reason not to be able to use a bulky VGA cooler or not.
 
I find that even 7v is too loud on my Akasa Amber fans, but maybe that is because i have been used to them being at 5v. One of the problems of quieting fans down is that then you hear other noises that although quiet are still as annoying. The paxmate seems to hide these noises abit but is mainly useful for stopping resonating in alu panels, its a piece of **** to install though.

mark
 
Well, I have been looking into what Zalman have to offer.
I was so impressed with the reviews of the VF900 that I ordered one from OCUK a few mins ago.
It looks awesome, and seems to be the best VGA cooling solution available (although at over 30 bucks inc postage I should hope so)


:D

EDIT: And it's quiet!
 
***I apologize in advance for the lack of pics***

Well, I've installed all the new bits :)

First off was the graphics card. I found installing the VF900 was a breeze, so no issues there.
Next up was removing the stock fans from my Wavemaster. What a pain in the **** it was getting to the front 2 fans.

After removing the upper brace, door, and lower front panel I was in.

It didn't help that I never had a small enough Alan key to remove the fan housing, and I was using rubber mounts for the Ambers it was very fiddly getting them installed (lack of space to work)

The result is better than I had hoped. The amount of noise that has been eliminated is amazing! My PC now emits a rather pleasant humming sound which is MUCH more tolerable than the stock cooling. I can now leave my PC on overnight without it keeping me awake.

Temps on my 7800GT never go above 49 - 50 degrees, fan speed on the Zalman is about 50%. I haven't checked out Case temps yet, but if the airflow on the stock case fans was as bad as I was being told, they should be down quite a bit too.
Overall, I'm delighted
 
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