The quest for the silent computer.

  • Thread starter Thread starter kristian
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kristian

kristian

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I took off my case and unplugged the case's front fan thinking thats where most of the noise was coming from since it was the cheapest fan. BUt i was wrong i turned the computer and I instantly knew where that annoying whirrrrrrrrr was coming from. MY GRAPHICS CARD! I can't believe it. The fan on that little thing, and its a small fan, im sure a passive heatsink would have done a lot better, there isn't even a heatsink of it, just a fan. its an ASUS V6600 GeForce 256, so its not one of these newer cards that is insanely fast. I'm not sure what to do with it. It lets me play games at respectable resolutions, which granted I don't do often, but are still fun.

One last question, do AGP 1x 2x and 4x all fit the same AGP slot on a motherboard? my motherboard claims "1 universal AGP slot". Its the Abit SE6.
 
WHen I got my Dell almost two years ago, the Radeon 32 mb AGP graphics card had a very noisy fan. Dell replaced the Radeon. THe new card was quieter but I then noticed there was this electronic "whistle" - it was just within human audio reach that would drive me nuts when working into the quiet of the night.

Dell came out and replaced the PS and it has behaved okay since (almost two years). The card still has a fan and so has some noise but its not the jet sound of the first. And the powersupply is okay too. So I sympathise with you but it pretty much not something that can be fixed other than replacing the card.

Re: AGP:

As far as i'm aware, the AGP slot is unique for the graphics cards and typically there is only one in a system. You can buy PCI versions of the some AGP cards that will run in the PCI slots - currently the most common type of slot in most recent PCs. But the PCI versions are slower as the AGP is an optimized graphics slot.

I hear you can buy decent graphics cards for $100 or less these days but I have not shopped.

I used to work for a computer manufacturer and was friends with the guy who actually engineered the case cooling. Be very careful not to leave any fan unplugged for too long and put the covers back on as these things are fine tuned for airflow. Cooling with the correct fan and air flow though the case is actually not just a random afterthought.

My strategy has been to go with a breakout box/audio card to isolate as much audio as possible.

Hope this helps.
 
The most quiet computer is the one not in the same room as your mics. The AGP slot did change not too long ago. I believe 2-4x are the same but the first generation 1x are different.
 
Yea, I went looking up the info. The AGP slot on the motherboard is 2x/4x. They changed AGP8x slots now as well, but I'm not getting a new computer so I don't care about that. I've been looking into the Matrox G400. It has a similar graphics engine, but I really just want my 2D refresh rates high. Another good thing is the Matrox G400 is a dual head and only has a passive heatsink as well, so I think I will get one off of eBay.
 
Enermax 431Watt power supply with variable fanspeed, Zalman Flower Cooler, no fan on videocard, no fan on motherboard, some www.akasa.com.tw Paxmate foam. The only I hear is the CD-writer when it's spinning and maybe sometimes the harddrives, but in general this PC is QUIET !


Herwig
 
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