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As modern PC builds get faster and more
complex they also become more demanding. More power is needed to
drive today's high end graphics cards and more cooling to address the
CPU and GPU needs. These components have a very real side effect:
Noise. Today we will be looking at some of the top products on the
market designed to eliminate noise without sacrificing performance.
With the sound project in mind, I decided to use the
Ultra
Grid build as a test subject. The Grid was selected using
two highly scientific methods: First, it was installed on the top of my
desk where the noise level has an immediate impact on my working
environment (and my Wife). And second, the Ultra build already has
two sound cards with aftermarket cooling by Artic Cooling giving me a
small head start.
Testing for Sound:
We all value our peace and quiet, but
the amount of noise each of us will tolerate is largely a moving target.
Noise is most commonly defined as unwanted sound.
Noise
(noiz) Noun, Verb*
-
-
Sound or a
sound that is loud, unpleasant,
unexpected, or undesired.
-
Sound or a
sound of any kind: The only
noise was the wind in the pines.
-
A complaint
or protest.
-
Rumor; talk.
-
noises
Remarks or actions intended to
convey a specific impression or
to attract attention: "The
U.S. is making appropriately
friendly noises to the new
Socialist Government"
(Flora Lewis).
-
A loud outcry or
commotion: the noise of the mob;
a lot of noise over the new law.
-
Physics
A disturbance, especially a random
and persistent disturbance, that
obscures or reduces the clarity of a
signal.
-
Computer
Science
Irrelevant or meaningless data.
-
Informal
-
A complaint
or protest.
-
Rumor; talk.
-
noises
Remarks or actions intended to
convey a specific impression or
to attract attention: "The
U.S. is making appropriately
friendly noises to the new
Socialist Government"
(Flora Lewis).
*noise. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English
Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved
April 17, 2007, from Dictionary.com website:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/noise
PC Noise is most commonly measured in
decibels (dB) or
A-Weighted decibels (dBA). Simply put, the decibel measures sound pressure by
comparing the noise level measured to the level where sound can no
longer be perceived by the human ear (defined as 0 dB.) Measuring in dBA
uses a weighted scale designed to respond to sound more like the human
ear.
|
Weakest Sound
Heard By the Average Ear |
0 dB |
|
Rustling leaves |
20 dB |
|
Quiet whisper (3
feet) |
30 dB |
|
Quiet home |
40 dB |
|
Quiet street |
50 dB |
|
Normal
conversation |
60 dB |
|
Ringing Telephone |
80 dB |
|
Motorcycle (30
feet) |
88 dB |
|
Hair Dryer/
Blender |
90 dB |
|
Subway (inside) |
94 dB |
|
Diesel truck (30
feet) |
100 dB |
|
Power mower (3
feet) |
107 dB |
|
Pneumatic riveter
(3 feet) |
115 dB |
|
Chainsaw (3 feet) |
117 dB |
|
Amplified Rock
and Roll (6 feet) |
120 dB |
|
Jet plane (100
feet) |
140 dB |
|
Rocket Launch |
180 dB |
|
Loudest Possible
Tone |
194 dB |
The above chart shows the estimated decibel levels
you can expect from some common items and situations. The
color scheme represents the range of PC Noise with Green
representing the range most of us shoot for in a quiet PC build,
Yellow for the normal noise level of a typical PC and Red
representing the level at which noise becomes unacceptable. We have all seen this type of chart before but how
many of us make a purchasing decision based on the dB rating of the
parts? Thanks to the rapidly expanding HTPC market PC's have
moved out of the office and into the living room. The result?
Many of us are no longer as tolerant about PC noise.
Testing the noise level of your PC requires the use
of a Sound Level Meter (SLM). A good SLM can cost you
thousands of dollars and requires a specially designed environment
to operate correctly. Since we would rather put that good
money towards a new video card here at the Club, we will be using a
typical
Radio Shack model costing about $50. At this price anyone
should be able to pick up their own tester and get busy quieting
their performance PC.
To best approximate the testing performed by the
experts you will need to know some basics. Your SLM should be
mounted on a tripod and placed 1 meter away from the target at 45°.
As with all tests, you will need to perform a baseline test while
the environment is at its quietest state. I started by
testing the room with everything off at about 11:30 at night but you
may find your environment quietest at another time. Once you
have a baseline established you can measure your components against
the ambient noise level.
For a much more detailed look at noise in the PC
environment and current industry standards try Sweden's
The Silent PC.
The Test Build:
Before I get started,
lets take a look at the test build. The build includes an AMD Athlon AM2 5200+ with the
Ultra ChillTec cooler, 2 x EVGA 7800 GTX cards cooled by Artic
Cooling 5 series coolers and a
CoolIT PCI Cooling Booster, and a 2 x 2 GB kit of
OCZ Titanium Series DDR2-6400 mounted on an ABIT Fatal1ty AN9
32X motherboard. Storage was provided by a 160 GB Maxtor SATA II
drive and a Lite-on 16x DVD burner all mounted in an
Ultra
Grid case and powered by the included
Ultra 700
Watt XVS power supply.
|
Hardware |
Model |
|
Case |
Ultra Grid |
|
Motherboard: |
ABIT Fatal1ty AN9 32X |
|
CPU |
AMD AM2 5200+ |
|
Memory |
2x 2 GB kit of OCZ Titanium
Series DDR2-6400 |
|
Graphics |
2 x EVGA 7800 GTX |
|
Power Supply |
Ultra XVS 700 W |
|
Drives |
160 GB Maxtor SATA II, 16X
Lite-on DVD Burner |
Lets break that down to show each of the active cooling
devices.
|
Hardware |
Active cooling |
|
Ultra Grid |
2 x 120 mm fans |
|
ABIT Fatal1ty AN9 32X |
2 x 40 mm fans |
|
Ultra ChillTec |
92 mm fan |
2 x EVGA 7800 GTX
(Artic Cooling Silencers) |
2 x 72 mm fans |
|
Ultra 700w XVS* |
1 80 mm and 1 120 mm fan |
|
Misc |
CoolIT PCI Cooling Booster
w/ 90 mm fan |
*The Ultra 700w XVS currently offered
direct from Ultra comes with two 80 mm fans.
Where to start?
Well, you have already taken the first step if
you have made the decision that the constant noise your hotrod PC
generates is getting out of hand! The next step is to
identify the major causes of the offending noise in your build.
The amount of noise your PC makes is based on the combined sound
levels of the components. More simply put; Sound levels
are additive. This means that two 30 dB fans together do
not equal 60 dB, but instead equal 33 dB.
Since the sound level scale is not linear, you
perceive sound as getting twice as loud about every 10 dB.
So to reduce the sound level in your build requires you to
reduce the overall sound level produced. Of course, you
cannot reduce the sound level lower than the highest level
remaining and still be able to notice a difference. Your
quiet PC in a noisy room will still be in a noisy room!
The noise generated from your PC is generated
by two major sources: Active cooling and vibration. The
source of your vibration is caused by a combination of the fan
motion created by the active cooling and the various moving
parts used by your drives. Drive and power supply
vibration can be reduced by mounting drives with silicon or
rubber dampeners like those found in the
7zoneUSA Silence Series. Many new premium cases come
with these accessories built in. Examples include the
Antec P182 which uses a combination of grommets and surface
dampeners or the
Antec SOLO which uses both sound deadening materials and an
option to mount your internal 5.25" drives suspended by elastic
bands.
Silencing your active cooling is accomplished
buy choosing components designed to reduce or eliminate
unnecessary noise completely. Since I have
the build already together, we will approach the noise level from the perspective
of reducing the noise in your existing performance build using a
combination of aftermarket products known for their near silent
operation.
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