Drowning out computer whine.

[Raziaar]

What do you guys do to drown out the various noises your computer makes? Perhaps none of you do anything, but I'm banking on the fact that some of you are just like me, picking up the subtle rhythms of the computer whine that really drives you nuts, and find ways to drown it out.

Often my solution is to have the ceiling fan on so I get the noise(and wind moving past my ears) so it is enough to offset it, or have my TV on and that works wonderfully as well.

Any other ideas? Also... I'm not talking about the noises of a weak and dying fan or anything. Just the subtle noises each fan makes that can be really grating.

 

[Sedako]

Heh, I just ignored the vacuum cleaner sound of my old case + fans for over a year. 4 of these are loud as hell, even with a fan speed controller. I finally upgraded to a new case with 4 120mm fans a few days ago. So much quieter, and I can no longer hear the fans over my music, games, and movies. They also make fans that are designed for low noise output while maintaining an adequate CFM. Try looking into those, or buy a fan speed controller.

Depending on what size you need, Scythe fans are generally the most quiet ones you can buy. Here's a really good one.

33.5 CFM with only 8.7 dBA of sound produced.

Compare it to this standard Thermaltake.

35.4 CFM with 25.5 dBA at lowest speed.

Not sure if you want to spend the money on new fans, but this would be my suggestion. There's not really much else you can do besides liquid cooling or to just drown out the sounds with something else.

 

[Pesmerga]

Overwhelm it with a sound more powerful than it. Like loud music.

 

[Asus]

Buy better fans.
I go by dBA rating but also comments on how it sounds.
With some you hear the motor more. But others you hear less of the motor and more of a 'whoosh' from the air moving by the blades (much better). My main PC doesn't have any annoying sounds. Sometimes when it is really quiet in the room, the hard drive clicks get to me. Mainly because that can be the loudest sound from my case. My other PC however has a distinct higher pitch fan sound. It is fairly quiet as far as volume goes but it is way too annoying. It's coming from the zalman's CPU fan in there so at least I could get rid of the sound by replacing 1 part if it came to that. :sniper:

Of course cases with a number of holes don't help to keeping sound inside either. One reason I'm glad my case only has 1 place for a fan in the front and 1 in the back (the top one is blocked with a book). Having a case door and no side fans are a plus too.

 

[Raziaar]

Oh, my fans are not loud by any stretch of the imagination. It's just that the noises sort of get caught in my ears and I notice all the subtleties of their repetition and it's like Chinese water torture for my ears. The sound coming in is very small... but it's repeated and builds up my frustration levels. No fan I get will really provide me a perfectly balanced and calibrated sound wave length that will be pleasing to listen to I'm sure. That is, unless there's no sound at all, and that just isn't going to happen.

Overwhelm it with a sound more powerful than it. Like loud music.

I get that sometimes when neighbors blare their mexican music. It's okay music, but I only get the loud bass. During those times, my attention is completely diverted away from the fans... :E but then I have thoughts about killing my neighbors! lol

 

[Tyguy]

i usually pour water on it. By morning its as quiet as a ghost. I bought 7 computers last month

 

[Qonfused]

I'm always listening to music so I never hear my case fans. Though, my case is rather quiet, so I can barely hear it otherwise.

 

[Vegeta897]

I'm so used to my pc noise that I don't notice at all.