Noise sources identified: Solutions to fix them...not

[Pope Mobile]

I ran through my computer, hooking various things up and disconnecting others. I've determined the loudest, and quietest, components in my system. From loudest to quietest:

1. Western Digital WD120JD. SATA, 120 GB, gives off a significant whine.
2. Maxtop CSX-147K2FGRAY, input fan. This gives off a slight whine.
3. Maxtop CSX-147K2FGRAY exhaust fan. Same, but not as noticeable.
4. Allied 500 watt power supply. Also gives off a bit of a hum/whine.
5. Geforce FX5200, PCI, PNY verto model. Effectively silent.
6. Zalman 7000 aluminum/copper heatsink. Effectively silent.

It's basically 1-3 that are the most noticeable, but 1 beats the rest out by a wide margin. I'm considering purchasing something like this, but am concerned about heating issues, and general reliability. Suspending the hard drive also seems to create heat issues (something an SATA drive doesn't really need), and if the suspension fails...bye bye hard drive. If anyone can give some pointers here, i'd much appreciate it.

 

[bubba0315]

What rpm is the hd running at? maybe get a smaller one or two if you need that much space (doubt it, unless you're into video/photo editing)

 

[Pope Mobile]

7200 RPM, sorry. Yeah, it's not 10,000. I'd like to try and make do with what I have for now. Believe it or not, i really do need the space. Putting all your CDs onto the computer takes up a fair bit of space, especially when you encode at a high variable bitrate (average 250).

 

[jaksback]

i would have thought it would all have been the other way around with what was quiet and wasn't

 

[Pope Mobile]

Now that I think about it, I would think that as well...