computer fan noise

**Brandon Hook** · 05-12-2003, 01:12 PM

Is there any good and cheep way to quiet computer fan noise in the studio? I would like to keep the machine in the room I record in, but would also like to get rid of 6-10 dB of fan noise somehow. has anybody found a cheep way to do this?

Thanks

**Justin** · 05-12-2003, 02:08 PM

There's not a really cheap way to do it.

Options I've seen done are:

If it's a PC, buy a quiet power supply and several low speed, high capacity fans to
replace the smaller louder ones.

Buy a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) extender to put the computer in a closet or other room. This makes it inconvienent as your disk drives are not directly accessible.

Get an isorack or similar solution, it's basically a rack enclosure w/ a gasketed glass door and some sort of cable pass through on the back. They're usually equipped with whisper quiet fans in the back and static filters to keep the dust bunnies out.

**flattop100** · 05-13-2003, 01:12 PM

If you're gutsy, you could also try a water-cooled system.

**Justin** · 05-13-2003, 02:33 PM

I'm not that gutsy yet.

If it's a pc and you want to get a quiet computer, I'd recommend instead of modifying your existing rig that you just buy a case that's designed with quiet fans and power supply. There are several available out there in rackmount format.

You can also look at our custom shop computers here at Sweetwater, they're all housed in quiet cases.

**jamesridge** · 05-18-2003, 03:27 PM

http://quietpc.com/

**atma** · 05-18-2003, 04:31 PM

i have 3 fans in my pc, and they're all so loud i finally decided to just stick the thing in my closet, which cuts the noise by quite a lot. inconvenient for accessing the cd-r drive, but it's better than the constant hum of the fans and having to turn my monitors up just to hear details clearly..

**Justin** · 05-19-2003, 08:13 AM

Buy a firewire CD-RW and you can run the cable out to your desk.

**Glynard** · 05-20-2003, 06:50 PM

I heard newer Dell computers made for corporate use (don't recall the name, they used to be Optiplexes) are extremely quiet, as they use a special ducting system.

My modded case has a switch on the front to reduce then case fan speed, but it doesn't help THAT much as my case fans are fairly quiet.

G