Taming the beast on a budget.

I built a Home Theater PC (HTPC) out of a spare pc I had sitting around and rarely used except for backing up DVD’s occasionally.  Well, about 2 weeks after setting it up as the HTPC, it started to shut down on its own after a few hours and then gradually got worse until it wouldn’t run for more than 2 minutes.  It was a cheap $40 case with a peak 400w Powmax brand power supply.  With all the components I have hooked up, I figured the cheap power supply had given out.

        While shopping for a new power supply, I was noticing the new trend towards silencing the noise emitting from pc’s, especially for HTPC’s.  I work all day in a computer room full of pc’s and 2 racks of servers whirring away full blast and had toned out that kind of noise long ago.   My girlfriend on the other hand is not used to it, and had commented about the sound emitting from my HTPC.  The floor in our living room is all ceramic tile and does not absorb sounds well at all.  

I fired up the beast one last time to take note of the sound coming from it, and it was indeed pretty loud.  Here is the “before” picture of the beast (picture is taken after I received the new power supply, and hooked it up to verify it solved my crashing problems before I did all my mods)

So, what started out as a search for a new power supply, turned into a quest for a quiet pc.

Quest:  Turn a loud ass HTPC into a purring kitten.

Rules:  Can’t spend more than $100 bucks.

Disclaimer:  There are a gazillion ways to do things; this is how I did it my way.  I’m not saying this is “the definitive way” to do it either; I am simply sharing my experiences with it.  It worked fine for me, but if you choose to modify your PC using any of the ideas listed here, you do so at your own risk.

STEP ONE:  Pick a new power supply.

        I chose the Thermaltake W0014 Silent Purepower 480W with Black housing - Xaser Edition ATX 2-Fan Power Supply from newegg.com for $55 and ordered it.  It has 480w of true power, fan speed control,  and I read a few site reviews that said it runs real quiet on lowest settings.  I also got a free t-shirt!

STEP TWO:  Gut the case:

Pretty self explanatory, rip everything out.

Since some noise is caused by air flowing around and over obstructions in the case, I cut out the fan grills in the front and one in the back using a dremel tool:

STEP THREE:  Prep the case.

Prepping was fairly simple, I blew out the case with air, used a rag to wipe off the dust, and put tape over the motherboard mounting posts and areas I didn’t want rubberized:

STEP FOUR:  Rubber Coating.

I chose 3M brand Professional Grade Rubberized Undercoating because I wanted quality as well as something that would bond well.  I bought 2 cans at an Autozone store for $6.99 each.  Application was straight forward.  Shake can well, take off cap, and spray.  I did 3-4 coats waiting 5-10 minutes between coats.

STEP FIVE:  Removing the vibrations:

All pc components that spin cause vibrations.  Fans, hard drives, cd/dvd-roms and power supplies all have spinning parts.  My theory was to put rubber between the parts and the metal they bolt to.  Here is what I did.

First I went to the craft store and bought 2 self adhesive foam rubber mats for $.99 each:

I then went to Radio Shack and bought 2 bags of asst. rubber grommets at $1.89 each and a bag of assorted length 6x32 machine screws for $1.79.  I went to Home Depot for some rubber washers ($.48 for 4) and also bought 4 caster wheels ($1.89 for 2) to get the case up off of the tile floor and to help keep dirt and dog hair from getting sucked up into case.  (note: rubber grommets at home depot were $1.08 a piece! So buy them at radio shack and save some cash)

I used the cut outs of the foam rubber as cushion spacers to mount the caster wheels, spacers between all fans and heat sinks, to cut gaskets out for mounting the case fan, and coated a few sides of my power supply to isolate any heat dissipation back into case, dampen fan sound and reduce vibrations (I cut out holes for fans and connections on the power supply).

I then used the new screws, some rubber washers, and the rubber grommets to mount the motherboard to the case and for mounting all hard drives and cd/dvd drives back into case.  (note: I did not use any metal posts for mounting the motherboard to the case.  The bigger grommets, when used as rubber spacers, provide plenty of clearance between board and case.)

STEP SIX:  Reassembly.

Put it back together. Tape up cables using electrical tape ($.48 a roll) to reduce airflow restriction and tidy it up a bit. The side of case is a little snug going back on, but work it a little bit and it seals up nice and tight.

End Results:

I would say the sound emitting from the PC has been at least cut in half, if not more.  My girlfriend says its at least 70% quieter than before and can’t hear it running at all anymore while watching tv.  I have the power supply fan turned down to low using fan speed control that it came with and I’m sure that helps big time.

I hear absolutely no vibrations and don’t hear the hard drives at all with the case closed up.

After 48 hours of running in normal “Tivo like” operation (recording and compressing tv shows), Temperatures are holding steady.  Case is running at 44c and AMD XP2000+ CPU is running at 49-50c. Temps are up a bit from before the mods, but not enough to concern me.

Overall, I am completely happy with my modifications.  Future changes will be a fanless video card for sure and possibly a passive chipset heatsink.  I might even finish taping up all the cables as well.

This PC is dedicated as a HTPC and will never be used for gaming so I will not be overclocking or tweaking it too much.

Materials used and costs.

2 cans of 3M brand Professional Grade Rubberized Undercoating from Autozone - $13.98

Thermaltake W0014 Silent Purepower 480W with Black housing - Xaser Edition ATX 2-Fan Power Supply from newegg.com - $55 + 6 for shipping

2 self adhesive foam rubber mats from Hobby Lobby craft shop - $1.98

2 bags of asst. rubber grommets at $3.78 and a bag of assorted length 6x32 machine screws for $1.79 from Radio Shack.

8 Rubber washers $.96, 4 small caster wheels $3.78, 1 roll electrical tap $.54 from Home Depot.

Total Cost = $87.81 + $2.14 sales tax = $89.95

** UPDATE **

16 June 04 - Just to update people on status of my case.

Being the type of person that can't leave well enough alone, I spent an additional $25 and bought an Arctic Cooling copper silent 2m CPU fan and heatsink ($13.99) and a ZALMAN NorthBridge Fanless Chipset Cooler, Model ZM-NB47J ($4.99) from newegg.
Also went to radio shack and bought a 3 watt 25ohm Rheostat for $1.99 and hooked it up to my ThermalTake case fan.

I mounted the rheostat control knob through a hole i drilled in the PCI slot cover that also houses the Thermaltake power supply's fan control knob.

Results: SILENCE.
Everything off in the living room except HTPC stored behind tv. All i hear is the clock ticking on the wall standing 3 feet from front of tv.
I adjusted PSU and case fan to still be moving air but barely making noise with my ear about 6 inches from the fan openings., Arctic Cooling CPU fan is set on medium setting.

Temps under load for 12 hours compressing video:

Case: 33c
CPU: reached a high of 50c.

Average temps after 24 hours as reported by MB monitor:

Case:32c
CPU: 42c

I should be done now, no problems at all so far.

I have gotten a lot of positive and negative feedback on this project. Some people liked it, some people didn't. One guy even got angry about it in an email??
(I think he has personal issues or something).

I appreciate all the advice and comments.

Anyway, no regrets here!

Peace Out!

Comments or questions feel free to email me at NOSPAMbill@billrae.com  (remove NOSPAM from address)