Old 01-05-2017, 07:29 AM   #1
Lejonhjarta
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Hi everyone. This is my first post, as I've just decided to try out REAPER for my home studio.

Im a singer, and songwriter. I'm never happy with what people do with my recordings so I figured I'll just do them myself!

Im moving with my gf to a bigger place, a three room aptment. She wants babies, but im just thinking of the hardware setup for my recording environment now that we have a spare room...

So, the computer. Its loud. Like 2001 loud.

I have an SSD, an amd x4 965 @3,4 ghz and 8 gb of RAM, which I think is good enough for now. A friend will take with him some dampening material from his work but there are some things I want your opinions on.

Will it be possible to make it quiet enough? I will have to buy a new psu but I'd rather spend as little as possible in terms of cash. I will remove the gpu and run on the integrated graphics, i have a 120mm fan with heatsink on the cpu. If I get rid of the 3 stone age mechanical HDDs and buy 1 new large HDD , will this solve the problem of screaming HDDs? And then dampen the chassies.

What do you think? Or should I get cable extensions for the 3 or 4 usb cables, the div vga cable and power supply, and keep it on a board I could slide out of the room when recording? This would be more expensive I think.

Or get long xlr cables and run back and forth? Cheapest option.. but hell I would get crazy :P

Ideally would be having a machine room, but I really dont have that option here...

Do any of you guys record near the computer? Solutions?

Thanks alot!
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Old 01-05-2017, 08:46 AM   #2
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If your HDDs are screaming, then definitely replace them. But I think the first thing to do is to find out what it is that is really loud? Maybe it really is the HDDs, but it could also be the CPU cooling fan. Or the PSU fan...

If it is the CPU fan, then maybe you can get away with just replacing it with a new ultra-quiet and/or bigger one? If it is the PSU... that's more expensive, of course.

It could also be that removing the GPU and running on the integrated graphics cools things down enough so you don't have to do anything else.

Och välkommen till forumet
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Old 01-05-2017, 08:58 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by Fabian View Post
If your HDDs are screaming, then definitely replace them. But I think the first thing to do is to find out what it is that is really loud? Maybe it really is the HDDs, but it could also be the CPU cooling fan. Or the PSU fan...

If it is the CPU fan, then maybe you can get away with just replacing it with a new ultra-quiet and/or bigger one? If it is the PSU... that's more expensive, of course.

It could also be that removing the GPU and running on the integrated graphics cools things down enough so you don't have to do anything else.

Och välkommen till forumet
Im pretty sure its the psu fan and gpu fans first and foremost! But I want to be sure this is the right path to go down to getting a quiet background on my recordings!

Tack så mycket!
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Old 01-05-2017, 09:19 AM   #4
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Another option is long connecting cables and put the actual computer box in an out of the way spot.
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Old 01-05-2017, 10:43 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by Lejonhjarta View Post
Im pretty sure its the psu fan and gpu fans first and foremost! But I want to be sure this is the right path to go down to getting a quiet background on my recordings!

Tack så mycket!
Well... if you know that the noise comes from there, start by removing the graphics card and see what happens. That is what I would do, whether it is "the right path to go" I don't know
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Old 01-05-2017, 12:43 PM   #6
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Hi,
and welcome here!
It would be helpful, if you could tell us the manufacturers so we can see what parts you use
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lejonhjarta View Post
...i have a 120mm fan with heatsink on the cpu....
I modified my PC a year ago to make it more silent and this was the starting point. Most of the default boxed (if this is one) coolers are extremly loud and can be replaced for less than 10$.
You can VERY CAREFULLY!!! stop the fans with a straw and find out which one causes the most noise. But be really careful and make shure that it is only stopped for a second and starts working again after removing the straw.

HTH,
Peter
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Old 01-05-2017, 01:13 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by ivansc View Post
Another option is long connecting cables and put the actual computer box in an out of the way spot.
Or use the new Web Control feature!
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Old 01-05-2017, 09:08 PM   #8
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I kinda specialize in this sort of thing. As others have suggested, it's a simple process of elimination.

Graphics cards, cpu coolers HDD's and PSU's are the culprits. Especially graphics cards.

So:

#1 Graphics card.

Easy to test as you have on board graphics.

The latest generation of mid/low range Nvida and AMD cards are very power efficient, and are damn nearly silent. Things have come along a fair way on that front in a small amount of time as power efficiency has become the main focus for the GPU makers. MSI seems to be particularly good at making quiet cards, but nearly all the new ones are pretty good.

So if it's that's the main problem, either use on board, or get one of the new gen cards.

Getting a more power efficient GPU, or using on board also has the side effect of putting less load on the PSU, so its fan will run slower too.

#2 CPU cooler.

You state that you have a 120mm fan on the cpu cooler, but is it a heat pipe cooler, or just a block of metal? My i5 powered rig is hugely overclocked, with a 120cm fan on a good heat pipe cooler, and the fan is just about inaudible unless I put my head right up to the air intake on the side of the case. Runs at around 900rpm at full load.

Another common culprit there is fan speed profiles. On motherboards that don't have fan speed options in the bios, or if they aren't adjusted, the default settings will often result in a large fan spinning much faster than it needs to, as the motherboard has no way to know you switched a small fan and heatsink for a much larger setup.

So, if the CPU fan is making the noise, check your bios for fan speed settings, or if necessary use software like speedfan.

With the system I'm running now, which doesn't have fan speed profiles in the bios, I got a new lower powered 120mm fan for the heat pipe cooler, which runs slower than what came with the cooler, so that's an option that doesn't need bios controls, or fan speed control software.

Same thing applies to case fans, if you don't need them running fast to keep a high powered GPU cool.

#3 HDD's

7200 rpm HDD's can make some annoying high pitch noise, and due to the way they are usually rigidly screwed to metal parts in the case, they do a pretty good job of turning the whole case into a resonator box.

Obvious solution is to use SSD drives, but they aren't free, and if you need more space than you can afford, then 5400 rpm drives are a better option. Even quieter, one of the 2 or 3 terrabyte 5400 rpm laptop drives. Need an adapter like you use to put an ssd in a 3.5" drive slot.

Or, like me, you run an SSD in your music computer, and a gigabit network to another PC with the spinning disks in them.

Easy to check if that's the problem. Just unplug the power from the drives, and start the computer. Check for noise.

#4 PSU.

Cheap PSU's, and also decent ones that have too much load placed on them can make quite a bit of noise.

I use XFX and Seasonic PSU's rated at 450W, even though the system pulls a maximum of a few hundred watts under load so that the PSU's are never under heavy load relative to what they can actually do. Having well ventilated case to start with helps as well, as the PSU isn't drawing as much hot air through it to start with.
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Old 01-05-2017, 11:04 PM   #9
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Thanks alot for the input guys!

The cpu fan is a Cooler Master Hyper 212X, and as far as I hear its super silent.

Gpu, nvidia gtx 560... yes, I will start by just removing this, I know it does a fair amount of noise.

Psu, Sea Sonic ht500 pcf3 (ish) which I suspect is at least 10 years old now. Its got that old grey computer finish

The HDDs are old, and they are three, all different brands, 1 150 ish GB and two 250 ish GB and these do make a sound and sometimes takes 6-7 seconds to load up if you choose to open them in windows.... So I need to change them either way. Just can't do it right now because of monies.

Thanks alot for the response!

Edit: So i just realized I actually dont hav an integrated gpu... I dont know why I thought that. Will a fanless gpu do the job? There are a couple fairly cheap.

Last edited by Lejonhjarta; 01-06-2017 at 12:18 AM.
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Old 01-06-2017, 05:00 AM   #10
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Have you actually started your computer with the case fan, or hard drives, or cpu fan unplugged, to know what is actually making the noise in the first place?

It isn't that hard to check things one at a time to figure it out. Heck, just by listening it usually isn't that hard to figure it out. Just so I'm not responsible if you kill your cpu, don't leave the cpu fan unplugged for 5 minutes. If it's the GPU it's usually pretty obvious if you put your ear next to it.

I have one of the cooler master heatsinks you have. The fan that comes with it runs at high RPM when run on a fan speed profile that would work with the stock cooler, so I put another lower powered fan on it to compensate. If the motherboard had fan speed controls I'd have fixed it there, but it doesn't and I had access to a lower powered fan, which saved me from having to run speedfan to set a custom fan speed profile. But, check everything else first. Think of what you can unplug that will let you see how much noise it makes without that thing.

This isn't rocket science. Just a process of elimination.

Quote:
Will a fanless gpu do the job?
Yeah, but so will a new Nvidia GTX 1050ti. GPU power doesn't matter if you don't want to play games, but if you want a decent GPU, the near silent options are cheap and amazingly powerful. The fans switch off most of the time anyway, and are impressively quiet when they are running. If you don't need the GPU horsepower, then get whatever, although I've had better luck with DPC latency with AMD cards than Nvidia.. but that advice may be out of date.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with to get this sorted. Oh yea, what sort of GPU do you have anyway? Not that it matters that much, because if use a process of elimination you'll know exactly what is making the most noise anyway. If you unplug the hard disks, and the case fan, it should be pretty easy to tell if the remaining noise is from the CPU fan, GPU, or power supply.

Last edited by drumphil; 01-06-2017 at 05:12 AM.
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Old 01-06-2017, 06:38 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by drumphil View Post
Have you actually started your computer with the case fan, or hard drives, or cpu fan unplugged, to know what is actually making the noise in the first place?

It isn't that hard to check things one at a time to figure it out. Heck, just by listening it usually isn't that hard to figure it out. Just so I'm not responsible if you kill your cpu, don't leave the cpu fan unplugged for 5 minutes. If it's the GPU it's usually pretty obvious if you put your ear next to it.

I have one of the cooler master heatsinks you have. The fan that comes with it runs at high RPM when run on a fan speed profile that would work with the stock cooler, so I put another lower powered fan on it to compensate. If the motherboard had fan speed controls I'd have fixed it there, but it doesn't and I had access to a lower powered fan, which saved me from having to run speedfan to set a custom fan speed profile. But, check everything else first. Think of what you can unplug that will let you see how much noise it makes without that thing.

This isn't rocket science. Just a process of elimination.



Yeah, but so will a new Nvidia GTX 1050ti. GPU power doesn't matter if you don't want to play games, but if you want a decent GPU, the near silent options are cheap and amazingly powerful. The fans switch off most of the time anyway, and are impressively quiet when they are running. If you don't need the GPU horsepower, then get whatever, although I've had better luck with DPC latency with AMD cards than Nvidia.. but that advice may be out of date.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with to get this sorted. Oh yea, what sort of GPU do you have anyway? Not that it matters that much, because if use a process of elimination you'll know exactly what is making the most noise anyway. If you unplug the hard disks, and the case fan, it should be pretty easy to tell if the remaining noise is from the CPU fan, GPU, or power supply.
I have listened to the hardware working and the cpu is silent, but the gpu and psu are roaring! The main reason I started this is because I'm rather poor atm but want to know if its possible to get the pc silent enough with this little effort, by changing a few pieces of hardware. I'm not used to high end pc's, and if I would be better of finding another solution I might aswell skip changing the hardware all together.
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Old 01-06-2017, 07:17 AM   #12
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What PSU do you have now? What GPU do you have now? Depending on the PSU you have, switching to a low power passive cooled GPU may save you both the noise of the GPU fan, and the noise from the PSU that was working too hard because of the GPU. But some more details would make it easier to assess the situation. Some PSU's are just noisy no matter what you do.
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Old 01-06-2017, 08:06 AM   #13
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Originally Posted by drumphil View Post
What PSU do you have now? What GPU do you have now? Depending on the PSU you have, switching to a low power passive cooled GPU may save you both the noise of the GPU fan, and the noise from the PSU that was working too hard because of the GPU. But some more details would make it easier to assess the situation. Some PSU's are just noisy no matter what you do.
Listed it all just above your previous post!

Pcu: amd 965 phenom II x4 @ stock 3,4 ghz with master cooler hyper 212x

Gpu: evga nvidia gtx 560(2 fans)

Psu: seasonic 500w from the Stone age

Mb: asrock 970 extreme4
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Old 01-06-2017, 11:20 AM   #14
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Lejonhjarta, I'm a little bit surprised, that your gpu makes so much noise. I have a GTX660 with one fan and only hear it if I do some heavy 3D renderings that are fully done on the GPU.

Btw, try HWMonitor, a little freeware tool to show your temperatures, fan speeds and much more.

With the PSU I want to mention that I meanwhile have a "bequiet PowerZone 650W". In idle my PC only needs 50Watts (without monitors), I still have my old PC that needs 110Watts in idle with a comparable PSU like yours.
So if you decide to get a new PSU, I recommend to have a look at the power consumption and efficiency and want to warn you from buying a cheap "no name" PSU, even if it is extremely quiet. Believe me, I know, what I'm talking about!

[EDIT:] I remembered another thread dealing with the same topic, maybe you want to look, go to this thread: Computer isolation
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Old 01-06-2017, 04:07 PM   #15
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I'm surprised nobody has mentioned dust. Clean everything first, remember to always prevent fans from rotating if you are going to use a hoover. Blocked up air flow means that the fans need to go a lot faster to cool stuff.

Also, you could use this to throttle your GPU fans...

https://www.msi.com/page/afterburner
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Old 01-06-2017, 05:46 PM   #16
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Quote:
Lejonhjarta, I'm a little bit surprised, that your gpu makes so much noise.
I'm not! The GTX 560 uses 200 Watts at load. Still uses a stack of watts at idle. I would say that most of the heat and power draw from your system is from the GPU, more than everything else put together.

I had a GTX 570, with three fans that could wake the dead.

SO, getting rid of the GTX 560 would save you a bunch of noise, and put less heat into the case, and allow the PSU fan to run slower.
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Old 01-08-2017, 03:31 AM   #17
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I'm not! The GTX 560 uses 200 Watts at load. Still uses a stack of watts at idle. I would say that most of the heat and power draw from your system is from the GPU, more than everything else put together.

I had a GTX 570, with three fans that could wake the dead.

SO, getting rid of the GTX 560 would save you a bunch of noise, and put less heat into the case, and allow the PSU fan to run slower.
Yeah, using a watts calculator I am using around 240-250 w with my setup.. I've decided to switch to a fanless GT710, its like 35 bucks.

On the matter of dust, I've dusted it off with high pressure air several times before and it does help a bit, like the temprature going down a few degrees but my computer sounds like a train just from booting it up, so it doesnt really make a difference, sound-wise.

Thanks alot for your answers everyone. Really do appreciate it.
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Old 01-08-2017, 04:03 AM   #18
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You have 3 mechanical Hard drives spinning for very little storage space.

1:I would get rid of these and get a larger SSD
2: A passive cooled GPU like a MSI GeForce GT 710 Passive Silent 2 GB Graphics Card -
3: An EVGA 500W silent PSU
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Old 01-10-2017, 09:05 AM   #19
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Switched the gpus and yes - it did make a good difference. but I also discovered that I had 2 fans spinning at 1500 rpm constantly... So I set them down and the computer is much quieter now, allthough I will have to keep pursuing and see. I will check if the mechanical drives are as loud as I think.
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