Tips on quieting fans?

[no25]

Any tips on lowering the sound produced by chassis fans?

 

[SYAR2003]

If it don't effect the airflow to much you can lower
the RPM in two ways .
Buy a "fan-mate" reostat for each fan to lower the voltage from 12v and downwards or a fan controller mounted in a front 5" bay that supports multiple fans.

Another option is to connect them to a molex from the psu
between 12v and 5v instead of between 12v and 0v witch is default.
This will run the fan at 7v , and will lower it's rpm .

 

[BadBigBen]

Good ideas SYAR2003, I usually just use a 100ohm Resistor to do this for me and or 'Rubbermount' the fans, which takes care of the resonating effect of the metal case...

Ben

 

[SkipCox]

Here's a concise guide on fan wiring:

http://www.radiativenz.com/guides/fanvoltmod/index.shtml

Skip

http://home.comcast.net/~skip9/index.html

http://scc.i8.com

 

[paparazi]

Noise is produced by turbulance, you can lower noise by reducing the air restriction thus turbulance noise ie: cutting out restrictive drilled chassis panels and replacing them with chrome grilles (also has the added benefit of lowering temps)
Also swopping out smaller fans with larger ones of a similar CFM rating, larger fans of the same rating are always quieter.
Vantec Stealth fans.
Power supplies nearly always are the noisiest components in a system so start there first.
Followed by fast spinning CPU fans (if you still run a high rpm 60mm fan on your CPU) buy an adapter to fit a larger fan or swop out your CPU cooler for something like an Artic Cooler Copper Silent 2.
Active chipset fans can also produce very high pitch noise, again companies like Zalman produce passive replacements for such use.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[cityhelper]

I just started using a case made by Lian-Li that suppresses A LOT of sound! It has a front door with insulating edges, padded sides of the case, and is designed nicely. I cut my sound at least in half by switching cases without slowing my fan speed down. I also use a power supply from PC Power and Cooling now (510watt) and my system is quieter now regardless.

 

[PeteWeedon]

I agree with Paparazi about reducing turbulence. Far better to reduce the fan noise without reducing the airflow. Component failure rates rapidly increase at high temperatures (see any book on electronics component reliability).

See also thread 602-770510.

At the same time, it's probably worth some effort along the lines suggested by cityhelper. Try sticking some corrugated cardboard to the insides of the case side panels with double-sided tape to damp out any resonant vibration(as long as you've got enough airflow through the case so you're not relying on conduction through the side panels to get rid of the heat).


Best regards,

Pete W.

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs - you haven't seen the latest Change Note!

 

[dakota81]

Spend money.

I put out $40 for a Zalman fan that runs at 1,500rpm & cools my cpu much better than the early 7,200rpm fans.

 

[richyd]

call to quietpc.com or

http://www.koolnquiet.co.uk/

for quiet fans. The bigger fans move slower and do no make as much noise, quietpc.com sell variable fan speed control