The Quest for Quiet Computing
The picture to the left may not look all that exciting, and to you it might not be. However, for someone like me who is trying to quiet the noise of three different computers all in my living room, this fan may be a life saver. It’s a Panaflo 80mm low-speed, low-noise fan. They are made for use in a wide range of electronics and all the reviews I’ve read about them have been very positive. The noise levles are supposed to be only 20-21 dba from these fans which is about the same as whispering to somone five feet away from you.
The first computer that needed silencing was my old AMD 333 Mhz machine that’s used as the web server. Considering there were only 2 fans in the whole box – one on the processor and the other in the power supply – and the processor one had just been changed, the only noise being generated by fans had to be coming from the power supply. I followed the directions on various websites which all cautioned about completely discharging the power supply before opening as well as voiding my warranty. Seeing as the computer was so old, I wasn’t too concerned about the warranty, but I did take the directions about how to properly open and work on the power supply very seriously. After the power supply had been unplugged for about 30 minutes, I opened it up, removed the old fan by taking out the screws and snipping the wires. I then connected the new fan by twisting the wires together and taping them up. I put everything back together and back into the tower. When I started up the server again, near silence! The only noise I hear now is a very faint whir of the hard drive spinning up and the fan is only audible if I put my ear right up to it.
Next weekend I’ll be silencing my main tower and my MythTV box! I’ll post the results!