Sound Proofing your Computer

With computers producing more heat then ever before people are equipping their computers with bigger heatsinks, and more powerful fans. The big negative effect is the increase in noise that comes with this extra cooling. I've made a decision to change my ways, and so gone are the days of using a 7000RPM Delta fan which screams like a vacuum. I just can't stand the noise anymore. When I recently moved my system from AMD to P4, I was amazed at how quiet my computer had become but I was still not satisfied. I was determined to quiet it down even more!

There are plenty of sound absorbing products on the market like this and this, but what I wanted to try a trick and keep things cheap. What I did to try and "quiet" down my computer was tape some antistatic Polyester foam to the inside panels of my case. Polyester (this black foam comes in most retail motherboard packages for cushioning). While Polyester foam isn't the most technically engineered sound absorbing material, it's readily available at your local computer retailer and will most likely be free!

After doing this quick little trick I found that my computer was a few decibels quieter and some occasional rattling from the side panels (I have an 3 year old Lian Li PC-70 Aluminum case) had stopped! My computer is a little bit quieter, and I think we can all agree that is a good thing. If you think your computer noise is unbearable this little mod might be worth a try.

That may be all well and good but soundproofing retains heat.

HUmm, that is true, but I think, if you soundproof in a good way, you might be able to use the fans at higher speeds. I think it is more like a case by case evaluation thing. Trial and error. You have to try to see how much heat it retains, and how much db it decreases, and evaluate if it is worth.
My case has a window, so it wouldn't be usefull.

My comp sounds like a chopper:cool: , the only effective sound proofing method that I have come across was to crank the speakers up a couple more notches:D

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Originally posted by Dehcbad25
HUmm, that is true, but I think, if you soundproof in a good way, you might be able to use the fans at higher speeds.

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Sounds like an oxymoron.........soundproof to decrease noise and increase fan speed which will increase the noise.;)

Dynamat (originally for car audio) came out with a release for PC's to reduce noise:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,14481,00.asp

dynamat looks interesting. But removing it sounds like a nightmare. :D I wished they'd let you customize the designs on the strips. That would be cool.

Customizing the strips would be great. You could then apply the stuff around any openings cut into the case. Wonder how much weight it adds?

I'm thinking of spending the money for cables and putting the putie in the crawlspace under my house.

only draw back is CD but down the line I can get an external.

I found that the older the computer gets the noiser it becomes. I have three computers in my house. Mine which is brand new and the most powerful. Its 2.8GHz with HT and I bought in in June and from Dell. Its quite quiet except for the processor fan which sounds like a small fan. Then there's my brother's bought in 2000 I think, I just remember it was when The Mummy Returns came out. It now sounds like my air conditioner. Then there's my sister's which was bought in 1995! The processor fan together with the inter-changeable HD slot's fan, it sounds like a vaccum cleaner and works like one too because its now full of dust and is emitting alot of heat like and oven! My brother's is also hot but feels like a radiator. Mine's as cool as the room expect for the processor which is emitting alot of heat. The GPU isn't really hot except when I play games. I've also been wanting to reduce noise because I don't want to let my mother know I'm playing too much games...lol!:p

When playing games it goes up? Do you have an video card GeForceFX with the vacuum type fan?? The one that takes 2 slots in your PCI. If the answer is yes, then there is your problem. If not, you can invest in a couple of temperature controlled fans for the case like from ANTEC. Look for the low noise level ones. You can grab them from CompUSA.
The other is changing the case. I did that with mine. It decreased 5 degress because the case is alluminium. Decreasing degress means that the CPU fan will spin less, creating less dB
The other option also is changing the PSU. After I changed the Power Supply the noise reduced a lot. THE PSU itself creates a lot of noise.
The problem with the last 2 suggestion is that you have a DELL, and I would not recomend either solution, since it will be difficult or imposible to change the case, and changing the PSU will void your warranty, and when you buy a DELL you pay extra just bcause of the warranty.
Fan?? Your case might have them all installed already, just check they are Temperature controlled. it will have a tiny sensor in the fan