5 Simple Steps to a Quieter PC

~*77*~ writes "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."

step 1.

[Anonymous Coward]

step 1: turn computer off.. aww c'mon, I'm not trolling.. if it were warm outside you'd all be on the same page.

Three more methods

[Black Parrot]

• Turn it off and go for a walk.
  
• Bury it under your dirty laundry. (Always plentiful for a gek, right?)
  
• Turn up the stereo.
  

Ummm... what about the HDs?

[eno2001]

That's usually been the single source of the most noise in my systems. HD manufacturers need to make quieter drives. I used to be a hardcore Maxtor fanatic, but with three out of four drive failures (250 gig drives) in only two months, I am hunting for a new manufacturer. I bought Hitachis to replace the dead Maxtors but I am leeary of them since their technology used to be IBM and it only took one "DeathStar" drive from IBM to convince me that they made shitty drives. I can't stand Western Digital since I had three drives in a row fail from them over the course of a year and two fo those were replacements for WD drives that died before. One of them even smoked in my case when I installed it! Nearly caused a fire. Thanks WD but no thanks. So that leaves Seagate which I haven't had any experience with so far. I miss Micropolis who used to make super quiet SCSI A/V drives back in the 90s.

Duh

[Dr. Max E. Ville]

"It's the fans! The fans are doing it!"
No shit, I tought my mousepad was making the noise. How is this article nerd? Show me the nerd stuff! Show me how I can use new discoverys in quantum physics to cool my processor with just a few atoms of plutonium and a few household items.

switch to notebooks

[Anonymous Coward]

I switched from an Athlon and Duron desktops to two refurbished Thinkpads. Quiet, portable, cool.

Re:forgot harddrives

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Did you also notice that water was wet?

Accure? [reference.com]

There is no step 2

[goombah99]

Buy a Mac.
No seriously. Dell Fanboys always want to point out how macs are expensive. Then we see article like this talking about how to spend loads of dollars to make your PC quieter.

Next time a Dell Fanboy wants to make a price comparison, please throw in a couple hundred bucks for "quieting" that drone.

Re:Ummm... what about the HDs?

[LiquidRaptor]

Curious here, it only took one IBM drive that was actively recalled to make you swear off the brand, even though everyother series of drives has been among the top. But it took you 3 drive failures to make you swear off Maxtor who has long been known for making shit drives?

why does he say macs are expensive?

[Anonymous Coward]

People just don't believe Macs are as cheap. If you go to the Apple Store and choose one of the first imacs you run into you get:

$1,299.00
17-inch widescreen LCD
1.6GHz PowerPC G5
533MHz frontside bus
256MB DDR400 SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
64MB DDR video memory
80GB Serial ATA hard drive
Slot-load Combo Drive

Then you go to the Dell site and spend the same amount of money and it certainly seems like you are getting more:

17 inch Digital Flat Panel
P4 540 HT 3.20GHz, 800 FSB
512MB DC DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz 2x256M
256MB nVidia GeForce 6800
160GB SATA
Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/dbl layer write

It just *sounds* like you get a lot more for the money with the Dell.

Re:There is no step 2

[koreaman]

When did I say I was going to buy an alien? Those things are more overpriced than Macs.