QUIET fans..

[select sires]

I'm hoping to make sure the fans I put in this new computer are really quiet, because loud computers are getting old.

I guess I give you no comparison, but I assume people have a general idea of what they want with 'quiet'.

So how loud/quiet, is a fan supposed to be, or can it get?
If I buy an 80mm fan that has a dba of 26.31, what should
I expect?

[liorean]

Relatively quiet. Try to find a 21-23 dBa fan instead. Especially see if you can find a ThermalTake, they are the best there is. An alternative, though, is to use a setup of double or more slow fans orthogonal to the heatsink, and a really massive heatsink. That will reduce the sound very much. And if you have a large chassi, good flow through it, a couple of slow chassi fans, and that setup for processor cooling, you can go below regular background sound, which means the setup is virtually soundless. Have a look at Apple's PowerMac G5 for instance. The processor is has real cooling problems, IBM have very large problems getting it into a regulat minitower chassi because the cooling system needed takes too much room, yet Apple have managed to get it to be one of the most quiet computers around. And at that using slow fans.

[Jason]

always could try water cooling ;-) or stick to fans...


Jason

[oracleguy]

I noticed when I had to replace my power supply after the old burn up a couple months ago, the new one, an Antec was a lot quieter, prolly just better fans and better overall construction than the one that came with my case. Also I think Vantec makes these stealth fans that are supposed to be very quiet, they cost more but are quieter.

[liorean]

Another factor that plays into count when it comes to movable parts such as fans is attachment. An non-fan example is that my cd rom was only attached by one screw instead of four when my former box arrived. I reduced the sound level very much at high spin by adding the missing screws. The same lazyness at installation, or lack of knowledge by the person installing a component, may be the reason for many louder-than-necessary systems. And that people are using too small cases for their contents. I mean, if you fill all the space by cards, harddrives and cables, how do you think the cool air is going to come into the system? By running the fans at full speed even at low heat emission levels, of course, instead of using full speed only when activity makes the heat emission level to raise.