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Tech Tip 09 - 5 Simple Steps to a Quieter PC
by Jason Kohrs - 13.JAN.05 |
No one wants their computer to be loud, but in order to keep components running at safe temperatures, cooling fans can wind up making the system sound like a blow dryer. In a busy office environment some noise may go unnoticed, but as computers find their way into more rooms of the home, near silence is essential. A computer sitting in the living room for use with a home theater system has to be quiet so that it doesn't interfere with the enjoyment of music or movies, for example. Complete systems and high end components are available to combat computer noise, but this Tip will look at a few areas to quiet existing systems on a minimal budget. |
1. Cooling Fans |
 The bulk of all noise in a computer system is going to come from the cooling fans mounted on the case and from any heat generating components such as the processor. Cases generally employ 80mm fans with ball bearings to keep cool air flowing. Two steps to reduce noise include increasing the fan size and choosing a fan with fluid or sleeve bearings. If a 120mm fan can be installed where the 80mm fan presently resides, a noise reduction can be achieved because the larger fan can move the same amount of air at a lower rotational speed. In general, the slower a fan moves the less noise it will make.
The ball bearings on many fans are a source of vibration which in turn create noise. Selecting a fan with fluid or sleeve bearings will greatly reduce the noise created, which is generally a good thing, except for one instance. 
Ball bearing fans can be counted on to get even noisier just before failure, letting you know when replacement is necessary. Fluid or sleeve bearings will just fail without such a warning which could jeopardize other system components. One other caveat to sleeve-bearing fans vs. ball-bearing fans is that sleeve-bearing fans generally tend to fail sooner than ball-bearing fans.
A quality processor cooler is essential to keep a high powered system running cool, but it isn't always necessary to run the fan installed at full speed. Some coolers, such as the Cooler Master Aero 4, include a simple fan speed dial that can be mounted either in the back or the front of the case for convenient adjustment. For those bold enough to run plumbing inside a computer, water cooling kits such as the Cooler Master Aquagate can take cooling performance and quiet operation to a whole new level.
Many cooling fans will actually list the decibel level of the noise that they generate. The lower the number, the better. In practical terms, below 20 decibels (db) would be super quiet; 20 to 30 decibels, somewhat quiet; 30 to 40 decibels, somewhat noisy; and over 40 decibels, just plain noisy.
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2. Cases |
The design of a case is a key factor in the system's cooling performance and noise generation. A case with ample ventilation is required to keep the components cool, and a few things can be done to achieve this without adding to the noise level. "Of most interest is the availability of multiple fan mounting locations in a case, as well as the open area provided for the fans to move air." (not sure why there are quotation marks around this sentence.)  Taking a look at the back of this Gladiator ATX Window Case shows that the user has the flexibility to mount an 80mm fan, or opt for the previously described benefits of a 120mm fan. But, the perforations provided for the air to pass through are somewhat restrictive, which could add to the noise level as the wind whistles through the small openings. This is nothing that someone handy with a Dremel couldn't remedy, but for those who don't want to cut up their case, compare the Z-Alien ATX Window Case to the Gladiator. There is much more open area for a 120mm fan to pass the air without restriction. Along the same lines, but applied to other areas of the case, the X Blade ATX Window Case has a fairly open design on both the front grill and the side panel for 80mm fans to draw in cool air.
Experimenting with the size, speed and placement of case fans can lead to a setup with adequate cooling and low noise production that might not be expected. It is possible for some cases to be cooled well with a single 120mm exhaust fan while leaving the other various fan locations empty. The noise will obviously be less with fewer fans running and if the temperatures are acceptable there is no need to use all of the fans just because they are there. |
3. Fan Controllers |
 Fan controllers are available in numerous configurations, but they all serve the same function… to allow a fan to run at something other than full speed. Just reducing a fan's speed by 5-10% can have a noticeable impact on noise, but zero impact on cooling performance.
Some fan controllers operate automatically, using a thermal sensor to vary the speed of the fan in direct proportion to the temperature sensed. This type is convenient as it requires no user interaction but eliminates any possibility of custom control.
Manual speed controllers put all of the power in the user's hands, generally with a dial that adjusts the fan's speed by varying the resistance on the line powering it. The Cooler Master Cool Drive 4 is primarily a hard drive cooler, but it also serves the function of a four channel manual fan speed controller. From one digital control panel, up to four temperatures can be monitored, and the corresponding fans can be monitored and controlled to maintain a healthy balance between noise and temperature.
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4. Power Supplies |
The  typical computer power supply features two 80mm fans to keep it cool, which will obviously also generate some noise. Fanless power supplies are now available that generate zero noise, but none have found their way to the shelves at Geeks.com. These fanless power supplies don't follow the guidelines of typical design and there are other ways to quiet a power supply without removing the fans all together. The MGE Vigor 450W Power Supply incorporates two ideas already discussed in other sections in order to reduce noise from the power supply. It features a larger 120mm fan to move more air with less speed and a fan speed control knob to allow the user to reduce the speed even more, if they desire. Some other companies, such as Clever Power (which Computer Geeks sells from time to time), specialize in making super quiet power supplies with a variable fan that automatically increases and decreases the spin of the fan depending on the system's power draw. |
5. Noise / Vibration Isolators |
Products are available to reduce the vibration caused by system components, as well as to insulate the case to keep the noise from escaping. Examples of some of these isolation products can be applied to many areas of a computer system and may drastically reduce the overall noise, no matter what components are installed. For the bottom of the computer case, rubber feet are available to replace the hard plastic ones generally found. Silicone gaskets can be installed between a power supply or case fan and the case to reduce the transmission of vibrations and the amplification of noise. If you want to keep the noise inside your case, there is even adhesive backed sound insulation that can be applied to the inside walls of a computer case. |
Final Words |
The number of components and accessories available to quiet a computer is overwhelming and growing daily as people become fed up with the noise from their vacuum cleaner… I mean computer! Silencing a computer can be a costly endeavor, but taking a few relatively inexpensive steps can have a drastic impact on the noise produced by the common computer system. Before starting on any sound reduction upgrades, analyzing a system to pinpoint the areas in need of the most attention will help determine the best course of action and the best way to spend any money.
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ATA vs SATA |
ComputerGeeks.com now brings you Readers Digress - questions, comments, compliments, and even complaints from our loyal Tech Tips readers.
Every week we get a lot of great Geeky feedback from our Tech Tips' Readers. Although we can't respond to everyone, we will post questions or comments that we think are representative of the many emails that we receive. |
I'd like permissinon to reprint it in our tech newsletter for our puplic school system. We would credit both the author and the publication in print at the top of the story.
This is good information that would help most of our teachers.
Waiting to here...
- Steve
I have enjoyed the learning experience with Geeks Techtips however I am sometimes left with a hunger for more information or a higher technical level explanation. You did an excellent job on the CDRW/DVDRW article however the latest article, "ATA vs SATA", I was left with more questions like:
Q) How does this device boot a system?
Just as any standard IDE type hard drive. Basically replacing the ATA standard. NOTE that when using a PCI Serial ATA controller card, you will need to "tell" Windows where to find the drive. See: http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq/sata_detect.html
Q) What are the system requirements for healthy SATA drive operation?
SATA drive and SATA controller. Newer operating systems really should be used (for example, Windows Me/2000/XP).
Q) Striping, Mirroring, JBOD, what is this and how does it affect SATA?
These are terms used for setting up a hard drive RAID. SATA drives can run in a RAID just as ATA drives can be run in a RAID. In fact, the first SATA controllers we sold were RAID controllers (such as this card that we now sell: http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=A-6421-N&cat=CCD )
Q) Can PATA devices be adapted for SATA or vice versa?
Yes, some manufacturers do make these type of adapters and our purchasing department is evaluating them for possible sale.
Q) Since Hotwire speeds have hit 800Mb per sec can SATA , theoretically, also be adapted?
By Hotwire, I assume you mean the Firewire II spec. The short answer is Yes AND No. Yes, just as an ATA drive can be adapter to firewire, so an SATA drive can be adapted. These adapters are commonly seen on external drive cases (that not just adapt to Firewire II, but also to the original Firewire spec and the USB 2.0 and 1.1 specs). However, you will not see any increase in speed over what the SATA drive natively supports – and if you adapt it to a slower spec (such as a USB 1.1 external case) you will actually see a significant decrease in speed.
Here's an example (now sold out), a SATA to USB 2.0 external case that we sold at one time:
http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ME-720U2SI
Q) Hotswap? Is this really a good idea with cumbersome design of the cables or is hotswap another jive word?
Yes it is a good idea. Hot swap occurs easily because you buy a special removable hotswap tray for your SATA drive. For some people, hot-swapping is very convenient (especially on a secondary drive that can be used for data that can easily be transferred from one system to another). It's one of those things you don't really think about until you realize some of the very cool ways that it would be really, really useful to have
One additional aspect that would have; been helpful is the issue of master/slave jumper settings. I believe that this has been eliminated with SATA but I'm not sure of the specifics.
- RT.
A) Yes, SATA completely eliminates any Master/Slave issues as seen with ATA drives (one SATA header, one cable, one drive). Many motherboards will have either two headers (which will control two SATA devices) and an older ATA header (which will control two ATA devices set as Master/Slave). Other boards will have four SATA headers to control 4 SATA devices.
The SCSI standard on the other hand, will still rule supreme with its ability to string up to seven devices on one controller. SCSI is as fast (if not faster) as SATA but SCSI hardrives are much more expensive (a 100gb drive can cost more than $350). Until USB 2.0 came along a lot of the color scanners used SCSI because of its ability to transfer color data. So much for now. I look forward to many more informative geekmails. This is one feature ComputerGeeks should be proud of. One question tho, are you making these articles available on your sight?; I haven't seen them. Happy Geeking!!
;- Jack in Tucson
We purposely did not cover the SCSI standard (nor other enterprise level standards such as SAS and Fibre Channel) as ATA (and soon to be SATA) are and will be the de facto standard on consumer level computers.
While enterprise level drives (drives typically seen on servers and drive arrays) do have several performance pluses when compared to ATA and SATA (such as faster spindle speeds, higher sustained data transfer speeds, etc.) they will not be replacing ATA or SATA anytime soon on the consumer level. Many factors being that SCSI, Fibre Channel and SAS are more expensive to purchase and more complex to setup.
With SATA simplifying drive setup and many SATA drives being married to drives that typically were only seen on the enterprise level (such as 10,000 RPM drives), SATA performance will be much better then ATA and will meet most consumer needs – and the price will be perfect for most consumers pocketbooks as well.
As a hardware expert and review writer I found your comments concerning SATA performance improvements misleading:
Drive mechanics currently limit SATA transfer rates to those of otherwise identical ATA drives. A change to 300MB/s SATA standard cannot improve on this, nor can the future 600MB/s transfer rate. The only performance gains I can see from SATA are from Native Command Queuing, which requires both a controller and drive that support this feature.
That said, there are 10,000 RPM SATA drives, whereas ATA drives have not exceeded 7,200 RPM. The higher rotational speed offers improvements in both transfer rate and seek times, but these improvements still do not exceed ATA133 specifications.As we stated in the techtip, the true "performance increase" you'll see initially is up to 5%. This is stated in the referenced
FAQ from Seagate:http://www.seagate.com/products/interface/sata/faq.html
FAQ: Will I see a performance difference in SATA drives?
You may see a 1 to 5 percent performance increase from a PATA drive to a Serial drive but, the main performance benefit is in the long run--because of SATA, the hard drive throughput will not bottleneck system performance. In the meantime, system integrators and OEMs will enjoy a big reduction in assembly time and reductions in handling damage due to connector and pin issues.
Because ATA is pretty much maxed out, the SATA will see true performance increases over where ATA stopped (at the ATA-7 standard), especially in the "Buffer To Host" transfer rates. Another big plus is that many drive manufacturers are now marrying the SATA interface to drives that at one time were made exclusively for the enterprise level market (such as the example you pointed out with 10,000 RPM drives) – this, and running the drives in a RAID configuration, will help you see significant increases in speeds with SATA drives over ATA drives.
Sites such as the one found at http://www.macgurus.com/raid/raidmain.php give ‘true to life' performance results on many different drive interfaces and configurations.
Another difference is exactly how SATA is deployed on the drive, as seen from thos other FAQ from Seagate:
FAQ: Are there differences in SATA solutions by different HDD vendors?
Yes, there are two main methods for establishing the SATA interface on the disc drives and hosts, native and bridge.
The native method allows maximum throughput, bypassing the legacy Task File reads and writes, as well as the limitation of 133 Mbytes/sec for Ultra DMA Mode 6 transfers, enable the maximum 150 Mbytes/sec transfer rate for first-generation SATA devices.
A bridge solution enables the adaptation of a parallel device to the SATA interface. Because the SATA information flow occurs at 1.5 Gbits/sec, it is not always possible for the Link-state machines to keep up when using a bridge device. The link layers on a bridged system must incorporate buffering to allow for throttling the interface if one side gets behind.
FAQ: How is it that a 1 bit serial interface can be faster than a 16 bit parallel interface for data transfer?; I was under the impression that parallel interfaces transferred data a word at a time while serial interfaces transfer only 1 bit at time at least that's the case for the old serial/parallel laplink type connections.
Basically they send that 1 bit of information really, really fast... ;)
From Fujitsu's FAQ http://www.fcpa.com/products/hard-drives/technology/faqs.html
Q: Isn't serial slower than parallel?
A: In storage technology, serial is faster than parallel. Serial ATA speeds begin at 1.5Gb/s (150MB/sec) per device, whereas the best parallel ATA speed currently is 133 MB/s, shared between two devices on the cable.
Hi. I appreciate the Tech Tips! I do believe there is a small error though. In this paragraph:
A 15-pin power connection delivers the 250mV of necessary power to SATA drives. 15-pins for a SATA device sounds like it would require a much larger power cable than a 4-pin ATA device, but in reality the two power connectors are just about the same height. For the time being, many SATA drives are also coming with a legacy 4-pin power connector for convenience.
Power is usually expressed in Watts (or milli watts). You mention 250mV but it should be either 250 mA or possibly 250mW. I dont believe that the drive could run on 250 milli watts (a quarter of a watt) so I am assuming that 250mV would be correct. 250 mA times 12 volts would equal 3 watts, a more likely number. Steve Kahn
This could have been made a little clearer, but it is essentially true. SATA drives are powered by +12V, +5V and +3.3V rails (with each rail able to deliver up to 4.5 Amps of power). The actual voltage signal carried in the DATA cable is 0.25V. On the 40-pin ATA ribbon cable design, two of the pins are actually carrying +5V signals (pin 41 for logic and pin 42 for motor), and with computers becoming more and more power hungry, this was an archaic design left over from when ATA was first designed that is ill suited for modern computers. This design improvement is something which SATA completely got rid of.
I have found your TechTips to be very useful, especially since I am currently taking computer electronics class. What better way to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of certain products and be able to incorporate them into the things that I am currently learning about. It is also helpful when I am able to answer someone's question regarding a certain type of product without having to ask or search around for hours just to get the answer. You are making my job a lot easier. I really appreciate that and keep up the great work.
Sincerely, - Harmony |
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