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General discussion

How would you describe the noise level of your computer?

Jul 20, 2006 6:42AM PDT

How would you describe the noise level of your computer?

Very noisy (how so?)
Noisy (how so?)
Acceptable (what's acceptable?)
Quiet (describe it for us)
Very quiet (like nothing is on?)
Other (please explain)

Discussion is locked

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Like most computers
Jul 20, 2006 4:52PM PDT

Just like most PC's my one makes noise but mainly fan noises.

Tell me do those "water cooled" computers make any noise and do they require fans?

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Liquid Cooled is very quiet, but the computer runs very hot
Jul 20, 2006 7:16PM PDT

My Sony VAIO VGC-RA710G was the first Sony liquid cooled to come out. There is one large fan that runs at about 900 rpm, which is not fast for a computer fan. But it is part of the liquid heat pipe architecture. The only sound really is the hard drives being read or writing.

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Liquid cooling doesn't run hotter than air cooling
Jul 22, 2006 3:35AM PDT

I don't know what you're talking about, but Liquid cooling, generally speaking, runs cooler and quieter than air cooling. You must have a really crappy liquid cooling system if it runs hotter than air cooling. and how would you know it's hot for your computer if it came with liquid cooling. Also, the only real negative for liquid cooling is the price.

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Liquid cooling is way cooler than air
Jul 24, 2006 6:07AM PDT

I have liquid cooling in my computer which cools my overclocked graphics card and overclocked processor (3.0Ghz to 3.8 Ghz) and it runs very cool. Normal temperatures are about 4C above room temperature and 5-6C full load. (highest temp ever reached of 36C)
I expect your sony has heat pipes which yes are sortof a form of liquid cooling but very different to what people conventionally mean by liquid cooling.

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Mine's very quiet.
Jul 20, 2006 7:21PM PDT

But then, I'm quite deaf! Devil

Mark

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Mines very noisy.
Jul 20, 2006 9:37PM PDT

My entire system is loud. The fans are loud to start but now I think one might be starting to wear a tiny bit so it's far louder. I think I have to replace it soon. The hardrives are loud. Basically when I put this computer over 50% cpu power I hear it.

However this has been quite useful. If there is a cirus It's very loud so you don't even have to test if your systems running slow.

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quiet computer
Jul 23, 2006 7:29AM PDT

I have had my custom built computer for nearly 2 years, all fans are of the best quality, no expense should be spared with computers as it would be false economy ye? it runs as sweet as a nut, with regular maintenance (which a lot of people seem to think is not required, all my anti spyware, anti virus, and maintenance tools in general I have obtained for free on the net, legitimately I might add. last note , a p.c is like a woman, treat it (her) well and you will never have problems.....

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user-friendliness seems forgotten...
Jul 20, 2006 7:30PM PDT

the fan(s) can be mounted in an manner, which would eliminate swinging (vibration) of the PC-body. A little "EXTRA" right up front would give us a #1 quality fan (s).I am convinced, that most PC customers would rather pay a little more, and enjoy good quality and workmanship. If you keep this in mind, the extra cost would be minimal.
Regards...kruegerh@oberon.ark.com

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It's soothing
Jul 20, 2006 8:04PM PDT

Mine just has a low volume humming sound.
A spinning disc doing 7500 RPM that can manage to be so quiet is quite marvelous.

Bruce

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Acceptable Volume
Jul 20, 2006 8:10PM PDT

My PC used to sound like a Jet engine!! No really, the good old stock cooler for s478 Intel Pentium 4s used to whine someting chronic.
After replacing this with a much quieter, better looking, and better performing CPU cooler the only noise I seem to hear can be coming from my PSU, or graphics card fan, maybe a bit of both.
The Zalman CNPS 9500 LED CPU cooler has eliminated a great deal of noise from my system. At the same time, I replaced my side window fan with a 'silent' model. I can now actually hear the hard drive heads moving occasionally which was always drowned out by the Intel stock cooler before. At least my headaches are fewer now. Just need to upgrade the PSU and maybe replace the cooler on my graphics card for a very quiet PC!!!! Happy

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How would you describe the noise level of your computer?
Jul 20, 2006 8:10PM PDT

Acceptable, I once post a reply to a person worried about the noise in his pc (rumbling,etc,)I mentioned to him that I also had that in my pc, but not anymore after I disabled the indexing service,the indexing service is suposed to help windows find files faster,but after disabling it I saw no difference, so he did what I did on mine and he replied to my post saying that the noise was gone,the indexing service is always active even when you are not working on your pc and it makes that tipical sound (as if your computer was doing a lot of work) mrobto6

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Very noisy Computer
Jul 20, 2006 8:14PM PDT

I have a 6 month old Alienware Aurora ALX Tower case with liquid cooled CPU and Video Memory. There are 2 4" fans at the top of the heat exchanger, one 2" in the door and one 3" in the power source. When the house warms up, the computer warms up and the top fans spin faster. Even though I got the optional acoustic dampening, its distractingly loud. I think I will move it under the desk so I don't hear it so much!

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ouch
Jul 22, 2006 3:43AM PDT

that sucks... If they configured liquid cooling right then you should only have 2 fans. One low speed fan for the liquid cooling and possibly one in the psu. my bigest problem is my video card setup. I have two 7800GTs in SLI, and they still have the stock fans on them. These fans are small, spin fast, and sound like razors ripping through metal. Hopefully when I add my Bigwater 745 and Zalman waterblocks I'll be able to sleep with my comp on.

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Yes alienware lie when they say quiet
Jul 24, 2006 6:13AM PDT

When I was browsing the alienware site I saw their liquid cooled series and they quoted:
Extra quiet 34 decibel cooling system
Well I tell you that 34 decibels is rather far from a quiet computer so thats a bit of false advertising there.

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Noise has disappeared, for no reason I can think of.
Jul 24, 2006 7:58AM PDT

Since this discussion began, I have not heard a sound from my hard drive. I think the mouse must have overheard the conversation and thought I might get rid of him as the cause of the hummm. (only joking) My computer was put together by a relative 3 years ago and I have not had one problem with it, except the hum. My son just installed a new 19in. ACER flat screen monitor a week ago. Possibly, when he installed it, the problem was cured.
abilone71

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How would you describe the noise level of your computer?
Jul 20, 2006 8:35PM PDT

Ranges from Very quiet to Acceptable.
During the day and evening, when other household sounds are present, My PC is quiet. How quiet? I can not hear anything from "IT" at present. However, in the dead of night, when I roam restlessly about, "It" sounds like my refrigerator. How does my refrigerator sound? Well, during the day and evening etc......
Late at night I can hear my machine calling to me over the sleeping sounds of my dear wife, who cannot understand my fascination for the whirring thing in my den. When I cannot sleep, the comforting whirring is in concert with my refrigerator and as essential to my wellbeing. As for pidgeonholing, I would say "It" ranges from Very quiet to Acceptable.

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Computer noise?
Jul 20, 2006 9:14PM PDT

I've found that if I suspend my PC from bungee cords screwed into the ceiling that I only hear the spin up of the hard drive when it's searching; and my wife yelling at me that I've gone

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Noise Level; of my Computer
Jul 20, 2006 9:32PM PDT

When I first purchased my computer the noise level was not acceptable to the point of upgrading the cooling fan with a more expensive one. Now the noise is acceptable and the fan seem to keep my computer runniung cooler than before. I keep my computer on all day and turn it off when I retire at night. When I shut it down it is still sastisfying to have complete silence surround me.....

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Fans and hard drives
Jul 20, 2006 9:49PM PDT

When building a custom computer, pay close attention to the decible level of every component that has a fan. The case, CPU, graphics card and power supply. The hard drives would be your only other concern. I did have a Linksys gigabit router with a noisy fan, but it did me the favor of dying and I got one without a fan. I have an extreemly powerful dual core system with 4 hard drives that is quieter than my rear projection TV. It can be done.

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Noisy Fans
Jul 20, 2006 10:25PM PDT

I have a Pentium 4 that was very noisy, the cpu fan would speed up and sounded like a jet taking off when we tuned the heater on in the office.

I replaced the intel cpu fan with the Thermaltake Blue Orb 2 fan (www.thermaltake.com/coolers/cl-p0257-blueorbii-2/cl-p0257-2.htm) which has made my PC much quieter, however not as quiet as my wife's Dell Optilex GX 620

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noise level of comp
Jul 20, 2006 10:45PM PDT

I run 4 comps, all p4s,3 gig ram, my main system(Purple Passion) has 3 dvd burners and 4 160 gig HDD and 1 80 gig,2 video capture cards just to start it off... 2nd system(Big Red), dvd and cd burners and 2 80 gig HDD, 3rd(Shadow), 2 dvd burners 2 80 gig HDD,and 4th (Blue Eyes) runs the security system, and has 1 80 gig and 2 500 gig HDD and 4 CCTV cards. all custom built. all networked wiht 8 port router, also includes my wife's compa Dell, a ps2 and X-Box... any way not a one has less than 5 fans, not including the CPU fans, granted I have them all on max or close to max speeds, and could turn them down and reduce the noise, but they are running a bit cooler than the avrage system. the normal everyday computer and person dont do what I do with my systems, so I need the extra power and air flow cooling, so I said very noisy for the poll but for me, if its not noisy, something is wrong...

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My laptop HP dv4000 sounds like the ocean .
Jul 20, 2006 10:56PM PDT

Hi everyone. As I mentioned it before, my Laptop has this sound which is very smooth and sometimes I feel like if I were near the ocean, listening to the waves reaching the sea shore, this is a sound that comes and goes, I don't know where does it come from, but it really does not bother me. Does anybody has the same sound or a different one?. I also noticed that the bottom part of the laptop really gets hot sometimes. thanks. Mario F.

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Yeah, newer laptops do run hot and some make a lot of noise.
Jul 21, 2006 5:46PM PDT

I was given a new laptop a few years back, a Dell Inspiron Pentium 4 model, and you know where it's at? It's sitting in my closet taking up space, because it's too loud and runs too hot to be useful for its intended purpose.

Instead, I am still using my IBM Thinkpad i-Series Celeron 366 MHz laptop. Although the performance isn't spectacular by today's standards, this computer is dead silent, it gives off very little heat, and it can run for hours on end from the battery.

The Dell has TWO fan openings on the bottom, which could not be blocked or else it would overheat. Kinda defeats the purpose of a LAPtop, wouldn't you say? Good thing this Thinkpad is totally sealed on the bottom, and has just one small fan opening on the left side.

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Noise?
Jul 20, 2006 11:20PM PDT

I occationally hear hard drive running but since my wife usually has the stereo volumn so high that the neighbors complain and I turn off my hearing aids it is extremely quiet in my den.

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Acceptable
Jul 20, 2006 11:28PM PDT

Mine wasn't acceptable until I took the nasty whining fans off my graphics card and stuck a big slow moving one on instead. Now all I can hear is air moving.
If you buy a ready-made system like a Dell, you'll find they have custom made plastic ducts fitted over the processor, with a large slow turning fan at the other end. Seems to do the trick.

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Weird sounds
Jul 20, 2006 11:36PM PDT

Hi everyone Happy

The sounds coming from my laptop are:

* The fan occasionally blowing nicely, then stopping, then restarting etc.

* The oddest strangest sound comes when I turn the laptop off at the mains in the wall. It sounds like R2D2 off Star Wars, very peculiar indeed. Sounds great, just bizarre LOL.


Have a good day all.

Happy computing...!


Angela
Wales, UK

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Kool Sounds.
Jul 21, 2006 1:46AM PDT

Hi, My name is Mario, I'm in Panama. My laptop souds like the ocean, I feel like the waves come and go. i believe is the fan that does that noise. It's cool, I really wonder how your laptop sounds, like r2d2 that's cool. well, enjoy your day.

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noisy - quiet computer
Jul 20, 2006 11:37PM PDT

Mine was getting noisy, cleaned the airfilter. it returned to its normal quiet self.

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Noise
Jul 20, 2006 11:49PM PDT

Last week the noise went from not bad to very noisy as the c drive failed, squekey to mice scratching. Programs ran slower and slower, some wood not run at all, some didn't save data untill it dod not even load.

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very quiet
Jul 21, 2006 12:16AM PDT

It's a 5-yo Gateway with an added 80-GB drive, and to me, the sound level is ideal: i only notice it when i want to. It's just barely perceptible; i can tell when it's on, but other than that, it's just part of the ambient environment, like the breeze outside.