Making Computer Quiet

[Andy]

I have an AMD Athlon 4400+ based mini-tower computer and the CPU cooler fan assembly makes too much noise. This has a heatsink with copper pipes in it.

Now I am using the computer to feed an HDMI signal to my TV to watch movies and TV so I need the computer to be close to silent.

My son has a Dell which is very quiet so I may take over his computer and we build a new one for him using some parts he won in a competition.

But I am thinking that a temporary fix may be to build a wooden box that covers the computer and is lined with fibre-glass wall insulation to absorb the emitted sound. But it will still need a large vent for air. But maybe I can have an aluminum ducting tube for air in and air out, possibly combined with a quiet extractor fan to force air flow or vertical chimney? So the computer is in a forced ventilation sound-proof box?

It may sound extravagant, but I think this would be cheap to build apart from the need to buy an extractor fan. Any thoughts on this?

[Menard]

But I am thinking that a temporary fix may be to build a wooden box that covers the computer and is lined with fibre-glass wall insulation to absorb the emitted sound. But it will still need a large vent for air. But maybe I can have an aluminum ducting tube for air in and air out, possibly combined with a quiet extractor fan to force air flow or vertical chimney? So the computer is in a forced ventilation sound-proof box?

The problem with that is if you insulate where it is effective in keeping the sound in, it will also be effective in keeping the heat in. Perhaps if you left the back of the enclosure completely open with a small and quiet fan in the front to allow air passage, you might be able to keep heat build-up to a minimum.

Is it possible to replace the cooling fan in the tower with one which may be less noisy or is that improbable and/or does the architecture of the assembly allow the fan to be more noisy regardless of the fan you are using?

Could you step down to a slightly smaller fan on the cpu and perhaps use an addon accessory fan like the type that plugs into an empty pci slot to make up the difference?

[Andy]

I guess the best solution is to replace the CPU fan with a special low noise one.

Update: today I constructed an acoustic absorber panel to stop the wall reflecting noise. This works nicely although there is still too much noise overall.

The panel is simply a timber frame about 26"x17"x2" filled with glass fiber wool (from loft insulation) and covered with cloth (stapled to the wooden frame).

I placed this panel against the wall behind the PC (but left a 10" gap for air flow behind the vents).

You can do a simple test by moving a thick, folded sweater in and out from behind your PC to hear the potential difference it makes.

[clonepal]

Why don't you install a water cooling device?

-clonepal

[AaronFinch]

Water cooling devices are expensive replace the fan.