I need to quiet down some older PCs

[tgleason]

I have two older PCs I build 5-6 years ago. They both make way too much noise. I built a new 920 i7 "gaming" PC with a Cosmos S case that you can barely even hear. I still need my older PCs. The power supplies alone seem to be a big source of the noise.

One is a dual xeon system, supermicro mobo, supermicro case(big tower case), the fan on its power supply makes too much noise. It needs a new one because 1 of the fans died. The cpu fans are just stock coolers(probably no part of the noise). The current psu is 420watts. Can anyone recommend a quieter psu? I use this as a server/development PC.

Second PC was my Althon xp 3200 "gaming" PC. It sounds like a small vacuum cleaner. The cpu cooler and probably the power supply are the main source of the noise. It has 2 other case fans that came with the Antec Super Lanboy
case(mini tower case). I need to replace psu and cpu fans at least I think. I was thinking i might just buy a whole full
tower case with psu. This PC will be for the wife and kids.

I dont want to spent much money as little as possible, but i need to quiet these noise makers down for my own health
and sanity. If anyone can offer cheap solutions it would be much appreciated.

Thank you

 

[theAnimal]

Corsair VX450 is a good quality, quiet PSU.

 

[alexbruce]

Corsair CX400 - Cheap as chips, braided cables and silent. Cost me £36 so I guess $45?

Use one of my new HTPC and you can't even tell the PC is on.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

The cheapest solution is if you've got adroit hands you can open your power supply and clean it out, remove and blow out the fans as I have several times with my PSUs. You can also try to remount the PSUs and case fans using dampening gaskets.

Same with the CPU fans. You'd be surprised at how dust caked on little airfoils spinning at 2,000 RPMs can make it so much nosier.

The Artic Pro Freezer is the quietest CPU cooler I'ved used.

 

[ainarssems]

The cheapest solution is if you've got adroit hands you can open your power supply and clean it out, remove and blow out the fans as I have several times with my PSUs. You can also try to remount the PSUs and case fans using dampening gaskets.

I really cannot recommend someone who have to ask this kind of question to open up PSU. Don't get me wrong I have done it myself several times. But SMPS store high amounts of high voltage energy(up to 320V DC for 220V PSU's) for a long time( several hours or even days) after disconnected from mains and are dangerous to open for someone who does not know what they are doing. It may result of electric shock or even death.

 

[B-Unit]

Yea, if your not highly experienced DO NOT open up a PSU. Any needed cleaning can be done thru the fan and grills.

 

[Rifter]

Dont open it unless you know what you are doing. The voltage in some of those components can kill you even after being off for a while. I used to repair CRT monitors so am used to dealing with high capacity caps and have taken apart many PSU and stripped them for parts to fix CRT's so i feel comfortable doing it but unless you have a good electronics background i would not reccomend opening it.