Have you ever experienced an above average level of noise or hum coming from your computer? This noise is usually caused by cooling fans or poorly installed components. I’ve received queries from clients who are fed up with the noise coming from their legacy PC’s and they make noise a central issue when upgrading to new systems. Noise is even a bigger issue in the SOHO business segment, where smaller office sizes and cramped quarters seem to make computer fan noise even more pronounced. This more pronounced noise level, may contribute to making employees more annoyed and generally less enthusiastic about the workplace. There is also a psychological component to the noise problem in that in makes the owners of the technology feel that they bought worthless junk or that they overpaid for their technology.
Just How Do You Fix Unwanted PC Noise?
Well, there are many ways to address the noise problem in your technology. There are many solutions out there, so it is important to correctly identify the source of your problem. However, I have outlined some possible scenarios that will help get you started.
Regular Desktops and Small Form Factor Workstations from Major Manufacturers — In my work I’ve seen quite a few entry level desktops and small form factor workstations that exhibit excessive noise problems. In many cases the noise would become more pronounced, the older the machine gets. With some older HP and Compaq SFF workstations, sometimes the cooling fan in either the power supply or the CPU cooling fan is the culprit. Replacing these components with a higher quality component will fix your noise problem.
Non-Branded Machines Built To Order — These types of machines are kind of scary in that you never know what you will find in these boxes until you open them up. These non-branded machines are usually built by some no-name discount computer stores or dis-reputable people trying to cash in on someone’s naivety. I’ve seen quite a few of these come in for repair and they are all sloppily made with poor components. The case is always shoddy, and how things are installed are shoddy as well. And in all cases, people have paid high sums of money for this worthless junk. With machines like this, a repair is never worth it; just salvage what you can and get a quality machine.
Home Theater PC’s — These types of computers are usually in people’s living rooms and are left on for extended periods of time recording their owner’s television shows or serving media for playback. If your HTPC exhibits unwanted noise, first check the noise level of all cooling fans (CPU, video card and power supply). For this entire process I would measure the noise level with my sound level meter. In addition, make sure that all the components in the computer are properly fastened and that components are secure and do not vibrate. And the last thing to check is that your machine has good quality rubber mounting feet. If you accomplished all these steps and are still experiencing a noise problem, you may want to first try lining your PC case with a sound deadening material like Dynamat, or similar. A more extreme step to take would be to convert your system from an air-cooled one to a water-cooled one.
Gaming PC’s — Gaming PC’s can be quite complex little units in terms of unwanted noise and hum coming from the cooling fans. Few companies build quiet or low-noise machines in this competitive market segment. Usually in air-cooled gaming machines, the cooling fans are larger high flow devices capable of moving a lot of air through your PC. Even with quiet cooling fans, the sound of the air flow is quite audible. Many gamers don’t complain about the air-flow noise because when they are playing games, the game soundtrack is set at a loud volume level. There are a lot of things to look at in a gaming PC to make you machine into a silent performer. However, the biggest bang for the buck in this market segment is to switch your power supply into a silent power supply and to modify your machine from an air-cooled one into a water-cooled one. With water cooling, you would generally cool the CPU, GPU, and motherboard chipset. With a well-designed PC case, your other computer components can be cooled quite well with passive air cooling.
Audio and Video Media Workstations — With these specialized types of PC’s, any unwanted noise can be very problematic in your business. These types of machines are very common in production firms, recording studios, advertising agencies, and broadcast. If your facility has the space, I usually recommend moving the offending machines out of the control room, and into an adjacent room, wiring closet or computer room. This type of setup would require installing a wiring assembly consisting of application-specific baluns and shielded wire that would allow you to transfer keyboard, video, mouse, USB, audio signals and virtually any other electrical signal to your control room. The beauty of this type of set up is that it makes upgrading easier as you don’t have to pay for more expensive purpose-built silent AV workstations. However, if you don’t have the extra space available, you can examine your systems’ components and switch to low-noise components and even install Dynamat sheeting.
Another approach I’ve seen used with these types of machines is the use of an acoustic isolation box. An isolation box is another enclosure that houses noisy machines that you typically may find in the broadcast field. Many of these boxes have acoustical foam on the inside and have standard 19″ rails to mount your media workstation and other AV components.
As you may have surmised there is usually no single quick-fix to eliminating unwanted noise from your technology. Due to many different technologies and components out there, it may be difficult to diagnose and correct the problem yourself. Your best bet is to enlist the services of a technician who has experience with addressing the issues of unwanted noise.
Tags: balun, cooling, CPU, Dynamat, fan noise, GPU, HTPC, SFF, soho, workstation
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