Alternative computer cooling

[Marks256]

My computer is just TOO loud. I have 6 fans in my computer;

1) PSU
2) Case
3) Case
4) Case
5) CPU
6) Video Card


Why all the fans? My computer runs HOT. It may not be hot to others, but it is the middle of the winter here, and we have the thermostat for our heater set at 68°F. My computer can heat my room to about 80°F!

In the summer my room is usually 20°F warmer than out side.


Oh yeah, AND THAT IS JUST ON IDLE!!!!!!!!

When i game, my computer is pushing 100+°F!


Like i said, i know that is not very hot for a computer, but i do not like heat. I wear shorts all year 'round (in the house that is )




So, anyways. What are some alternatives to fans? Liquid cooling is out of the question because i go to LAN parties fairly often, and liquid cooling needs to be drained before transportation...


I was thinking of an X-CLIO case (only one fan for the whole computer), but my friend already has one, and that would just not be cool...


Does anyone else know of anything that will save my hearing?

 

[Hero999]

Put your computer in a fridge?

There's no way of simply getting rid of the heat, it can only be moved from one place to another, if you cool your PC down your room will heat up; it's thermodynamics.

 

[dknguyen]

Get earplug-earphones. Take the cover off of your case. You can move your computer to the basement where it is usually much colder (I wear gloves sometimes in my basement).

 

[Marks256]

Well, yes, i don't much mind the heat (i can always crack a window), but the noise get rather anoying. Heat and noise don't really mix... at least for me...

What alternatives are there to fans (and liquid)?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Well, yes, i don't much mind the heat (i can always crack a window), but the noise get rather anoying. Heat and noise don't really mix... at least for me...

What alternatives are there to fans (and liquid)?

As suggested there are no real alternatives for what you want, and what you currently do - fans are making your room HOTTER, not colder, it's just transfering heat from the computer to the room. The only solution is to transfer the heat OUTSIDE your room, you could do this by ducting the PC fan through your wall and outside - plastic flexible pipe as used on tumble dryers (and a venting kit from one) would be all you need, and construct a suitable mount for your PC.

 

[Sceadwian]

Yeah, learn a little bit about air flow, just tossing fans inside a PC case doesn't make it run cool. Proper air flow across the parts inside that heat up is more important.
Just adding fans will cause caotic airflow inside the case and that is NOT what you want, you want a nice even flow through the case. It's not easy plotting the airflow inside a PC case though, they're usually pretty crowded.
The single largest determining factor of the PC's temperature is the ambient temperature. If you want to cool the PC cool the room it's in, even the biggest heat sink in the known universe can't cool the PC internals bellow ambient temperature. The only other alternative to air conditioning the entire room is sealing the case air tight and using a massive peltier cooler to just aircondition the inside of the case, that would be expensive though as big peltiers aren't cheap. If the air flow inside the case is good and the ambient temperature is stays in the 65-70F range you shouldn't need any auxilary cooling fans. If you can't lower the ambient case temperature to the 65-70 range there is going to be no way to keep the machine cool.

 

[Hero999]

A peltier junction would solve the noise problem though it won't be as efficient as the fans so it'll make the heat problem worse.

 

[Sceadwian]

Some people use DC blowers inside their PC's instead of fans, because they can be quieter and they can produce a significant pressure buildup in the case as opposed to a fan which are designed to move air not produce real pressure. A single brushless blower card sucking air into the case and then relying on the power supply fan to exaust air out of it should be plenty. A good blower can be very quiet.

 

[hjames]

Personally I have 2 fans in my machine - the power supply fan, and a processor fan - both of them low speed and barely audible. Mind you it's a low-end dual core AMD with a nice efficient heatsink, and a passive video card, but it does what I need it to do. At idle the CPU is about 15C over ambient, and at load, probably 30C.

www.silentpcreview.com's forums are the place to look, but the easy fixes are:

1) get a video card that is reasonable (something in the midrange of NVIDIA's line), and swap out the heatsink on if if you need to.
2) get rid of that dinky little 40mm fan on the motherboard chipset and replace it with something passive, and direct some airflow from a bigger fan over it.
3) replace the CPU heatsink with something like the Scythe "Ninja" or one of its cousins - these are big heatsinks which look like an air conditioning tech designed them, with lots of aluminum fins, and they cool very well with low speed airflow.
4) get an efficient power supply, and it'll naturally be quieter than the usual $10 special.

Low speed, high volume is the way to keep things quiet...

 

[dknguyen]

Bigger fans are more efficient and move more air at slower speeds = less noise.

 

[Marks256]

As suggested there are no real alternatives for what you want, and what you currently do - fans are making your room HOTTER, not colder, it's just transfering heat from the computer to the room. The only solution is to transfer the heat OUTSIDE your room, you could do this by ducting the PC fan through your wall and outside - plastic flexible pipe as used on tumble dryers (and a venting kit from one) would be all you need, and construct a suitable mount for your PC.

Yes, i know what heat transfer is. I was simply stating a fact that my computer runs hot. The only thing i wanted was advice on how to silence the beast.

Yeah, learn a little bit about air flow, just tossing fans inside a PC case doesn't make it run cool.

"Yeah", obviously.

Bigger fans are more efficient and move more air at slower speeds = less noise.

That i know. This is why i was thinking of getting an Xclio case (**broken link removed**.

They are very expensive, but they look nice, and they get the job done with a single fan.

 

[dknguyen]

Why don't you just get a new computer? Get a cooler running one with a better case. Perhaps you should get a more efficient processor and not such an overblown video card?

(lol those look like windtunnels) Those giant fans certainyl create more efficient airflow at quieter volumes...but have you thought about how they might create so much airflow, that their noise exceeds what you have now (albight, you are getting more cooling per dB of noise?)?

If I were you, Id' just get a pair of 99 cent earplugs, and some headphones.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Yes, i know what heat transfer is. I was simply stating a fact that my computer runs hot. The only thing i wanted was advice on how to silence the beast.

Simple answer, don't have so many stupid fans in it!.

 

[Dr.EM]

I silenced my PC a few months back. Just changed the CPU cooler, GPU cooler, case fans and PSU for quiet models. Running the case fans from 7v. MUCH quieter altogether

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-022-AK&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-002-AR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=787
https://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/casefans/nf-s12-1200

CPU cooler was from ebay. Thinking of modding it to use a 120mm case fan actually.

 

[Marks256]

Why don't you just get a new computer?

I can't afford a new one...

Simple answer, don't have so many stupid fans in it!.

The case was actually made for the fans... It would look kinda ugly without them... I think i am going to invest in a new case.

 

[Sceadwian]

You don't have to take the fans out, just unplug them so they don't run, that's what I did with mine.

 

[ericgibbs]

hi marks,
I saw some work done a few years back, using a MCU, with microphones/speakers to generate a noise cancellation signal.

This worked on a diesel engine which was running at a constant speed, so the noise 'pattern' was repetitive.
The MCU generated a cancellation signal in the 'opposite' phase.

The noise level when the cancellation system was ON/OFF was about 6-10dB.

As the 'air noise' from fans is constant, it should be possible to reduce the noise this way.

Now wouldn't that be COOL!, [pardon the pun]

EricG

 

[Gayan Soyza]

Marks did you get the solution? How much capacity of your video card? I think its more than 256 MB.

Simple technic is used in this method but this is good in idle mode. In your case it will be otherside. It will get more heat.

**broken link removed**
original link is here
http://www.heatsink-guide.com/conten...=control.shtml

A laptop is the solution for you. With the same capacity video card & memories. But cant afford…….I believe.

 

[Sceadwian]

Marks, there's a program called speedfan that will monitor your PC's temperature and automatically adjust any fans in your PC that are capable of being adjust (usually the CPU fan)
Also I just re-read one of the original posts in here. Did you say your machine is pushing 100 degrees F when loaded? No wonder it's so loud, you're massivly over cooling your machine =O
Right now it's about 72F degree's in my apartment, my motherboard temperature is listed at 123F and the CPU is running at 154F and that's perfectly normal for my machine. For whatever reason because I have it overclocked even when it's heavily loaded the temperature only goes up 5-10 degrees. I wouldn't want my machine any cooler than that anyways, most of the stuff in it works best when slightly heated anyways. I haven't had this machine running in this cabinet in the summer yet though while overclocked, but we have AC so the case temperature should remain about the same. I'd seriously just disconnect all but the CPU and video card fans and see what happens.

 

[theinfamousbob]

My computer has a front 80mm fan, a rear 120mm fan, a cpu fan, 2 psu 80mm fans, and a gpu fan. The loudest is the GPU, and it only spins up as needed. My processor runs at 30 to 40*C unloaded (up to 107*F), and peaks at 52*C under full load (three games running plus iTunes, etc. or BOINC with SETI@Home). It's pretty quiet, and I could always disable some fans. Something that helps is that my case has a plastic channel for direct outside air to the cpu fan...it helps a lot.