A quiet PC is a very small or noisy personal computer. Common uses for quiet PCs include video editing, sound mixing and home theater PCs, but noise reduction techniques can also be used to reduce sound from the server. There is currently no standard definition for "quiet PCs", and these terms are generally not used in business contexts, but by individuals and businesses that serve them.
The general definition proposed is that the sound emitted by the PC should not exceed 30 dB A , but in addition to the average sound pressure level, the frequency spectrum and the sound dynamics are important in determining whether the computer sound is noticed. It sounds like a subtle frequency spectrum (inaudible tonal tone), and a little less temporal variation. The characters and the number of other sounds in the environment also affect how many votes will be noticed or disguised, so the computer may become lonely with respect to a particular environment or set of users.
Video Quiet PC
Histori
Before about 1975, all computers were usually large industrial/commercial machines, often in centralized locations with special-sized cooling systems. For this system, noise is not an important issue.
The first home computer, such as the Commodore 64, is very low power, and therefore can run without a fan or, like an IBM PC, with low-speed fan is only used to cool the power supply, so noise is rarely a problem.
In the mid-1990s when the CPU clock speed increased above 60 MHz, "spot-cooling" was added by using the fan above the CPU heatsink to blow air into the processor. Over time, more fans are included to provide place cooling in more locations where heat dissipation is required, including 3D graphics cards as they grow stronger. Computer cases are increasingly needed to add fans to extract hot air from the casing, but unless designed very carefully, this will add more noise.
Energy Star, in 1992, and a similar program led to widespread sleep mode adoption among consumer electronics, and the TCO Certification program promotes lower energy consumption. Both add features that allow the system to consume as much power as needed at a given moment and help reduce power consumption. In the same way, the first low power and energy-conserving CPUs are developed for use on laptops but can be used on any machine to reduce power requirements, and therefore noise.
Maps Quiet PC
Cause of noise
The main causes of PC noise are:
- Mechanical friction generated by disk drives and fan pads
- Vibrations from disk drives and fans
- Air turbulence is caused by obstructions in airflow
- Air vortex effect from the blade fan edge
- Electric whine: sound generated by electric windings or transformers used in power supplies, motherboards, video cards or LCD monitors.
Many of these sources increase with the power of computers: more transistors of a given size use more power, which releases more heat, and increases the speed of fan rotation to overcome this (all the same things) increase their noise. Similarly, increased speed of hard disk drive rotation and optical disk drive improve performance, but generally also vibration and friction bearings.
Measuring noise
Although standards do exist to measure and report the output power of sound by things like computer components, they are often ignored. Many manufacturers do not provide sound power measurements. Some report sound pressure measurements, but those who often do not specify how sound pressure measurements are taken. Even basic information such as distance measurements is rarely reported. Without knowing how it is measured, it is not possible to verify this claim, and the comparison between such measurements (eg for product selection) is meaningless. The comparative review, which tests multiple devices under the same conditions, is more useful, but even then, the average sound pressure level is just one factor in determining which component will be considered more calm.
Noise reduction methods
Common troubleshooting methods
- Use a large and efficient heat sink
- Combine heat pipe, which has a much higher effective heat conductivity than solid copper
- Use a fan with lower speed and larger diameter
- Use low-bearing fan and motor noise
- Instead of constant-speed fans, use a thermostatically controlled, variable speed fan that runs at a speed less than maximum, and thus runs quieter all the time
- Use an efficient power supply to minimize wasted heat
- Use a quieter hard disk model
- Use solid state devices such as compact flash or solid-state drives rather than traditional mechanical hard drives
- Use remote network via SMB or NFS instead of local disk
- Place dampers such as Sorbothane around the hard drive or other splinters
- Use sound isolation material to absorb sound and damp resonance of the letters
- Water cooling, although difficult to manage, may be useful in some situations
Low cost method
A number of methods exist to reduce computer noise with little or no additional cost.
- Reduce CPU supply voltage ("undervolting"). Many current CPUs can run steadily at their stock speed, or even with a little overclock, at reduced voltage, which reduces heat output. Power consumption is approximately proportional to V 2 Ã, Â · f , that is, it varies linearly with clock frequency and quadratically by voltage. This means that even a small reduction in voltage can have a large effect in power consumption. Undervolting and underclocking can also be used with chipsets and GPUs.
- Enable Cool'n'Quiet for AMD or SpeedStep CPU (also known as EIST) on Intel CPUs.
- Reduce fan speed. For newer computers, fan speed can be varied automatically, depending on how hot certain parts of the computer are. Lowering the supply voltage of the DC fan motor will reduce its speed while making it quieter and decrease the amount of fan-driven air. Doing this arbitrarily may cause the component to overheat; Therefore, whenever doing hardware work it is advisable to monitor the temperature of the system components. Fans with Molex connectors can be modified easily. With a 3-pin fan, a fixed inline resistor or diode, or a commercial fan controller, such as Fanmate Zalman, can be used. Software such as speedfan allows fan speed control. Many new motherboards support pulse-width modulation control (PWM), allowing fan speeds set in the BIOS or with software.
- Install the fan on the anti-vibration mount.
- Remove the limiting fan grills to allow easier airflow, or replace the noisy fan grills with a quieter version.
- Use software such as Nero DriveSpeed ​​â € <â € < or RimhillEx to reduce the speed of the optical drive.
- Isolate the sound of the hard disk, either by using an anti-vibration mount (generally rubber or silicon grommets), or by suspending the hard disk to separate completely from the computer chassis by placing it in a 5.25-inch drive with a roving viscoelastic polymer.
- Set the hard disk AAM value to the lowest setting. This reduces the search noise generated by the hard drive, but also reduces performance slightly.
- Set the operating system to play the hard drive after a few moments of inactivity. This can reduce the hard disk's life span and usually conflicts with the OS and runs the program, although it can still be useful for drives that are used only for data storage.
- Defragment the hard drive to reduce the need for the drive head to search for data widely. It can also improve performance.
- Set components and cables to increase airflow. Cables that are suspended inside the computer can block airflow, which can increase the temperature. They can be easily moved to the side of the casing so air can pass more easily. â € <â € <
- Remove dust from inside the computer. Dust on computer parts will save more heat. Enthusiasts draw dust along with the outside air; it can build quickly inside the computer. Dust can be removed with a vacuum cleaner, a gas towel, or compressed air. Special anti-static vacuum cleaners should be used, however, to prevent the release of static electricity (ESD). Ideally, this would be quite often done to prevent any significant amount of dust from ever existed. How often this needs to be done will depend entirely on the environment in which the computer is used.
In some cases, an acceptable solution might be to move the overly noisy computer outside of the live workspace, and access it with a remote HDMI/USB/DVI cable or through remote desktop software from a quiet thin client, eg. based on Raspberry Pi, a miniature computer that does not even use a heat sink.
Individual components on a quiet PC
Here is a note about the individual components on a quiet PC.
Motherboards, CPUs, and video cards are the primary energy users of computers. Components that require less power will more easily cool down calmly. A quiet power supply is selected to be efficient while providing enough power for the computer.
Motherboard
Motherboards based on chipsets that use less energy will more easily cool down calmly. Undervolting and underclocking generally require motherboard support, but when available can be used to reduce energy use and heat output, and therefore cooling requirements.
Many modern motherboard chipsets have hot northbridges that may come with active cooling in the form of small noisy fans. Some motherboard manufacturers have replaced these fans by using large heat sinks or heatpipe coolers, but they still require good airflow to remove heat. Motherboard voltage regulators also often have heat sinks and may require airflow to ensure adequate cooling.
Some motherboards can control the fan speed using software such as SpeedFan, and the latest motherboards have a built-in Pulse-width modulation (PWM) fan control for one or two fans.
The motherboard can also produce electromagnetic sounds that can be heard.
CPU
The heat output of a CPU may vary according to the brand and its model or, more precisely, its heat design power (TDP). Pentium 4, the fourth revision of Intel, using the core of "Prescott", is famous for being one of the most CPUs running on the market. In comparison, AMD Athlon series and Intel Core 2 function better at lower clock speeds, and thus produce less heat.
Modern CPUs often incorporate energy saving systems, such as Cool'n'Quiet, LongHaul, and SpeedStep. This reduces the CPU clock speed and core voltage when the processor is idle, thereby reducing heat. The heat generated by the CPU can be further reduced by undervolting, underclocking or both.
Most mainstream and modern CPU values ​​are made with lower TDP to reduce heat, noise, and power consumption. Intel dual-core Celeron, Pentium, and i3 CPUs generally have a TDP of 35-54 W, while the i5 and i7 are generally 64-84 W (in the latest variant, Haswell) or 95W (old version, like Sandy Bridge). Older CPUs like Core 2 Duo usually have 65W TDP, while Core 2 Quad CPUs are mostly 65-95W. The AMD Athlon II x2 CPU is 65W, while the Athlon x4 is 95W. AMD Phenom ranges from 80 W on variants x2 to 95 and 125 W in quad-core variants. AMD Bulldozer CPUs range from 95 to 125 W. APUs range from 65 W to lower-end dual-core variants, such as A4, to 100 W on high-end quad-core variants, such as the A8. Some processors come in a special low power version. For example, lower Intel TDP CPUs end with T (35W) or S (65W).
Video card
Video cards can generate significant heat. The fast GPU may be the biggest consumer of power on the computer and due to space limitations, video card coolers often use small fans that run at high speed, making it noisy.
Options for reducing noise from this source include:
- Replace the stock cooler with the aftermarket.
- Use motherboard video output. Typically, video motherboards require less power, but provide lower video game decoding or video performance decoding.
- Choose a video card that does not use a fan.
Power supply
The PSU is made quieter through the use of higher efficiency (which reduces wasted heat and airflow requirements), quieter fan, smarter fan controller (which correlation between temperature and fan speed is more complex than linear), more heat sink effective, and design that allows air to flow through with less resistance. For a given power supply size, a more efficient inventory as certified 80 plus produces less heat.
The appropriate wattage power supply for the computer is essential for high efficiency and minimizes heat. Power supplies are usually less efficient when light or heavy. High-wattage power supplies will usually be less efficient when loaded lightly, for example when the computer is idle or sleeping. Most desktop computers spend most of their time lightly. For example, most desktop PCs draw less than 250 watts at full load, and 200 watts or more typical.
A thermally controlled power supply can be made more quiet by providing a cooler and/or less blocked air source, and a fanless power supply is available, either with large passive heat sinks or relying on convection or airflow cases to dissipate heat. It is also possible to use a fanless DC-to-DC power supply operating as in a laptop, using an external power cake to supply DC power, which is then converted to the appropriate voltage and set for use by the computer. This power supply usually has a lower wattage rating.
The electric winds in the power supply can produce audible, electromagnetic sounds that can be seen on a quiet PC.
Equipping a PSU with an electric cable that uses ferrite beads can sometimes help reduce humming of the PSU.
Cases
Casings designed for low noise usually include a quiet fan, and often come with a quiet power supply. Some combine heatsinks to cool the components passively.
Larger cases provide more room for airflow, larger cooling and heat sinks, and sound absorbers.
Airflow
The noise-optimized cases often have ducting and partitions in the case to optimize airflow and thermally isolate components. Ventilation and channels can be easily added to the usual case.
Cases that are designed for silence usually have a wire grill or a honeycombed fan. Both are far superior to older grille styles.
Features that facilitate the neat arrangement of cables, such as brackets and space to run the cables behind the motherboard tray, help improve cooling efficiency.
Air filters can help prevent dust from heat sink layers and surfaces, which dust blocks heat transfer, making the fan spin faster. However, the filter itself can increase the noise if it is too much to withstand air flow or is not kept clean, requiring larger or faster fan to handle the pressure drop behind the filter.
Soundproofing
The inside of the casing can be coated with a damper to reduce noise by:
- weakens case case vibrations through extensional damping or dotted attenuation
- reduces the vibration of the casing panel's vibration by increasing its mass
- absorbs air sound, as with foam
Cooling system
Heat sink
Large heat sinks designed to operate efficiently with little airflow are often used in quiet computers. Often the heat pipe is used to distribute heat to the heat sink more efficiently.
Fans
If they use fans altogether, a quiet PC typically uses a larger, lower-than-usual fan with a bike and calm pads. Size 120 mm is common, and 140 mm fan is used in which case or heat sink allows it. Quiet fan manufacturers include Nexus, EBM-Papst, Yate Loon, Scythe, and Noctua. An extensive comparative survey has been posted by SPCR and MadShrimps.
The fan noise is often proportional to the fan speed, so the fan controller can be used to slow the fan and precisely choose the fan speed. The fan controller can produce a fixed fan speed using an inline resistor or diode; or variable speed using a potentiometer to supply a lower voltage. The fan speed can also be reduced more roughly by putting it into a 5 volt power supply path rather than a 12 volt line (or between both for a 7 volt potential difference, although this crippling fan speed sensing). Most fans will run at 5 volts after they spin, but may not run with less than 7 V. Some simple fan controllers will only change the fan supply voltage between 8 V and 12 V to avoid this problem completely. Some fan controllers start the fan at 12 V, then lower the voltage after a few seconds.
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) fan control, however, is the easiest and most efficient option for modern motherboards that have PWM fan headers. The PWM fan controls quickly between feeding the fan at full voltage and without voltage, to control the speed of rotation. Usually the motherboard chipset provides temperature data from the sensors on the CPU itself to control the speed.
Bearings and motor noise are important considerations. Fine mounting fans (eg with rubber or silicone fan insulators) can help reduce fan vibration transfer to other components.
Piezoelectric fans are often quieter than spinning fans and can consume less power. Intel, Murata, and others recently expanded on the use of piezoelectric fans on desktop PCs.
Watercooling
Watercooling is a method of heat dissipation by transferring heat through conductive materials in contact with liquids, such as demineralized water with additives to prevent bacterial growth. This water runs in a circle that usually contains a reservoir, radiator, and pump. The modern 12V DC pump technology enables a very powerful and quiet design.
By efficiently moving the heat of the device to a separate heat exchanger that can use a larger heat sink or fan, water cooling can allow for a quieter overall operation. Devices such as GPU, Northbridges, Southbridges, hard disk drives, memory, voltage regulatory module (VRM), and even the power supply can be cooled separately; in fact the whole PC can be immersed, in some cases.
Secondary storage
Hard drive
Older hard drives use motor ball bearings but newer desktop hard drives use quieter fluid-bearing motors.
Lesser 2.5% -core disk-form drives generally vibrate less, are quieter, and use less power than traditional 3.5 "hard drives, but often have lower performance and less capacity, and cost more per gigabyte.
To minimize the vibrations of the hard drive being transferred to, and amplified by, the casing, the hard drive can be fitted with soft rubber studs, suspended elastically or placed on soft foam or Sorbothane. Hard disk enclosures can also help reduce drive noise, but care must be taken to ensure that the drive gets adequate cooling - with disk temperatures often monitored by SMART software.
Solid-state storage
Solid-state drives do not have mechanical components moving and running quietly, but (by 2016) are still about four times more expensive per unit of storage than consumer-grade HDDs.
In some cases, other solid state storage methods may be appropriate: Compact Flash (CF)
- cards can be used as secondary storage. Because they use the slightly modified Parallel ATA (PATA) interface, a simple adapter is all that is required to connect a CF card to function as a PATA or PC Card hard disk. The CF card is also small, allowing the SFF PC to be made, producing no noise, using very little power (further reducing heat output in AC/DC conversion in the PSU), and an insignificant amount of heat. However, they are very expensive per GB and are only available in small capacity and there is also a problem regarding the maximum number of writes for each sector.
- A USB flash drive can be used if the motherboard supports booting from USB. They are based on flash memory, so they have the same advantages and disadvantages as CF cards, except that the speed is limited by the USB bus.
- i-RAM is a solid-state disk that has four DIMM slots to allow ordinary PC RAM to be used like a disk. It's much faster than a hard disk, it does not have a write cycle limitation of flash memory, but it needs constant power to retain its content (from standby or battery power when the system is off), using more power than many laptop hard drives, maximum 4 GiB, and expensive.
All forms of solid-state storage are more expensive than traditional disks, so some quiet PC designs use them together with secondary hard drives that are only accessed when needed, or with network-connected storage, where traditional hard drives that are less quiet are stored away.
Optical drive
Optical drives can be slowed by software to calm them, like Nero DriveSpeed, or emulated by virtual drive programs like Daemon Tools to completely eliminate their noise. Notebook optical drives can be used, which tend to be quieter, but this may be because they tend to run more slowly (typically 24 Ã- CD speeds, 8 Ã- DVD speeds). Some DVD drives have a feature, commonly called Riplock, which reduces drive interruption by slowing down the drive during video playback. For playback operation only takes 1x (or real time) speed.
External components
Supervisor
CRT monitors can produce coil sound, as does an external power supply for LCD monitors or voltage converters for the monitor's backlight. LCD monitors tend to produce the least noise (whine) when full brightness. Reducing the brightness using a video card does not introduce a whim, but it can reduce color accuracy. The LCD monitor with an external power supply tucked out of the way will produce less noticeable noise compared to the power supply built into the housing screen.
Printers
In the past, very noisy printers such as dot matrix and daisy wheel designs were often placed in boxes or soundproof cabinets, and the same technique could be used with modern printers to reduce the noise they feel. Another solution is to network printers, and search physically away from the immediate work area.
Laptop
Unlike desktop PCs, laptops and netbooks do not usually have fan power supply or video card fans, generally using smaller physical hard drives and lower power components. However, laptop CPU fans are usually smaller, so it does not have to be quieter than their desktop counterparts - and limited space, limited access and ownership components make their silencing even harder.
But some laptops and netbooks do not use cooling fans at all.
References
External links
- How to Silence Computer , USA: Quiet PC .
- Build a Quiet PC , End PC noise .
- Cool PC Silent End PC noise .
- Silent PC Review Ã, - articles about various aspects of PC acoustics.
- What is "Silent" Computer? , Silent PC Review .
- What is "Silent" Computer? (in Dutch), Vrad .
- Reference/Recommendations , Silent PC Review .
- In short , Silent PC Review .
- PC , SE: Silent .
- Parekh, Alan, Rebuild the PWM Fan controller (project) .
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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