| Page 2 of 2 < |
The Buzz on Quieter Computers
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
The unpleasant gronking noises made as a computer accesses data are among the easiest to fix because hard drives can be swapped out with less fuss than other upgrades. One of the quietest lines of hard drives comes from Seagate ( http:/
The rattling, wooshing noises from the CD or DVD drive are also easy to stop -- with a replacement. The Plextor PX-760A ($100) is a DVD writer that is both faster and quieter than most.
A leader in the silent-computing revolution is Antec ( http:/
The Sonata II's large, variable-speed fan can push more air than smaller fans, turns more slowly and has a lower pitch, making it less noticeable and less annoying. Special rubber grommets prevent hard-drive noises from being amplified by the case.
In our tests, the best sound reduction came from Antec's $180 P150 case, which also adds sound baffling for even greater noise reduction and suspends hard drives from thick rubber bands so they can't vibrate the case.
We removed the motherboard from a conventionally noisy PC and transplanted it into the Antec P150 case and power supply. We added a Seagate Barracuda drive (and copied the contents of the old hard drive with Laplink PCmover ($50 with USB cable for data transfer). The end result was nearly whisper-quiet computing, even when the machine was pushed to its limits converting video.
Antec also makes one of the cheapest quiet PC fixes, the PC Noise Killer Kit, that for less than $20 includes a collection of rubber grommets used to keep PC parts from rattling against one another.
Installation can be time consuming, but it really did reduce noise in a stock PC at a bargain-basement price.
