Silencing a Stacker. Possible?

[BoomAM]

Hi.
Im wondering if its possible to silence a Stacker (v1), case?
Obviously i can replace the cooling on the components with quiet ones (90%) done, and then buy ultra-quiet fans, but with a case like the Stacker, is it gonna be possible to truely quieten it? Or will the massive of ventilation it has make this objective impossible?

Thanks in advance all.

 

[BoomAM]

Well I guess if you set the stock fans at 7v it'll be quieter, but because it's so open unless you have Delta's in the first place I don't think it'll make much difference. Personally I would just silence the loudest thing, ie if you have a Seasonic PSU , stock case fans, but loud SB and dual X1900XT cards then replace the SB and video card coolers. My 810 in sig is still quieter than brothers midi tower (same number of hard drives) He's got several 8cm case fans probably around 3000rpm each, so they chuck out a lot more noise.

I've removed the top 8cm fan, it has plenty of airflow anyway. The stock case fans are pretty quiet.

The PSU is a just bought Antec NeoHE, which is recommended on several sites as being quiet, video card is a X800XL with a VGA Silencer, Mobo is heatpipe cooled, 2 of my HDDs are Samsung P120s, my 3rd HDD is a marginally louder than the other HDDs, Hitachi, and the processor has a SI-120 on it.
Im finding that the fans are the loudest part of the system. Including the CPU fan. Which is supposidly a 'quiet' fan.

What im concerned about is that i could be spending £20+ on new fans, only to find that they make little difference to the overall noise level.

 

[BoomAM]

What fan do you have on the CPU cooler/case?

The stock Stacker ones for the 2 intakes and exhaust.
And a 'Akasa Amber Ultra Quiet' on the SI-120.

This might be a bit radical, but I think, given the massive air volume inside the 810 that it might just be possible to run with 1 exhaust fan, as high up at the back of the case as possible.

I dont have a 810. I have a Rev1 Stacker.

This, coupled with the 120mm fan in the PSU

My PSU doesnt have a 120mm fan.

Temperatures arnt a problem really. My HDDs run at sub 30*c, my video card sub 50*c, and the processor rarely tops 30*c itself.

 

[BoomAM]

What you should do is spend some time with a really loud system, ie with a couple of Deltas. Then go back to your stacker, and it'll seem quiet by comparison, and won't bother change fans.

It's a free upgrade, psychologically

lol.
Done that.
My old system was a Cheiftec Scorpio, with 6x80mm fans. All of them v.loud fans.

 

[BoomAM]

In my stacker v1 it always used to be noisey - then I unplugged the front Hard drive fan and now its silent. Its simply because the air is being dragged through tiny spaces and forced through gaps between the hard drives. The pc is now almost completley silent and I cant hear it atall when in my room.

Btw the temps on my hard drives are around the 30oC mark

Oh and I also unplugged the top fan and ripped the mesh outta the back - makes a massive difference

Ive been considering a different option, SPCR allways recomends suspending HDDs in bungie cord, so i was thinking of getting a shed load of it, suspending my HDDs in it, and also suspending the 2x120mm fans as well. Effectivly reducing the vibrations to zero.

 

[BoomAM]

The HD mounting works VERY well

So bungie mounting works?

Remove the steel blanking mesh plates in the cm 4 in 1 module.

I thought everyone did that anyway?

 

[BoomAM]

Yep, bungie mounting works really well, done it to one of my HDs and it has stopped any vibrations from it plus it is easy to do. You should also put a part of elastic accross the front and rear of the HD to stop it sliding about

Where can i get the cord from?

 

[BoomAM]

I'll have a look around then.

 

[BoomAM]

I don't think suspending the HD's will make much difference, after all the CM module has rubber grommits either side of the module, plus one extra layer of steel to reduce noise (although front is totally open)

The rubber grommits it uses wont stop the vibrations of the HDD/fans between the pieces of metal that are within the module itself.

 

[BoomAM]

The fans in my stacker are some of the noisest parts of my system. If somethings that makes noise has a motor, its safe to asume that theres gonna be vibration there.

 

[BoomAM]

According to CM, the stock case fans are pretty quiet...

One 120 x 120 x 25 mm Front Fan (Exhaust) 1200RPM 16.4 dBA
One 120 x 120 x 25 mm Rear Fan (Exhaust) 1200RPM 16.4 dBA
One 80 x 80 x 25 mm Top Fan (Intake) 1800RPM 23.8dBA


Just disconnect the 8cm fan. Are you sure motors aren't packing up?

I have the 810, the fans do seem quiet, don't shift that much air but they're not very fast spinning fans.

The 80mm fan is disconnected.
I do have a fan controller, however due to the way that drives mount in the stacker, it wont 'fit' properly in the case, otherwise, i'd have them all hooked up to that and just 5v them.
Unfortunatelly though, fan specs arnt an indication of noise, theres many other variables that add up to the noise. Thats why HDD manufacturers measure noise in sone.

 

[BoomAM]

Cool.
Ive managed to get the fan controller to fit, and with everything wacked down to 7v, its pretty quiet. Now the only things making noise is my Hitachi HDD & the VGA Silencer on my video card.

The CPU temps have risen 1-2*c, as have my HDD temps, the NB has rised about 4-5*c, and the Mosfets about 7-8*c.
So not too bad.

Im still toying with the idea of getting a P180 though.

 

[BoomAM]

The Stacker is a far better case than the P180, I wouldn't swop over.

I would. And im planning to.

The Stacker is better for expandability/flexability, but as for acoustics, compared to a P180 it sucks.
Neither is better than the other. To think so is just bias.