Desktops forum: Poll: What's your computer's noise level?

I have become somewhat accustomed to the constant whirring noise, with intermittant sounds that sound like my computer is trying to clear its throat. Dell techs have blamed the noise on the fact that I am using Vista Home Premium, a "noisy operating system," I am told. Supposedly, the OS is loud because there is so much going on in the background with data constantly being processed--but I never had all that racket with my Windows XP.

I make efforts to keep my computer updated, clutter-free and devoid of viruses, so it will likely last a long time. I have considered updating to Windows 7, but have decided just to live with the noise until the magical day when my VISTA OS becomes too hoarse to carry on--and then I'll send this computer to Computer Heaven and hope that its replacement is like every man's dream of a perfect woman (or so I've heard)--fast, but demurely quiet.

I had Vista on this computer, same noise level as any other OS, quiet. Next thing they'll be replacing the winter air in your tires with summer air *smile*. I don't know why your computer is clearing its throat, but one thing that you might try is to get some of those Antec silicone fan isolators and see if that helps. All you do is replace your fan screws with the silicone isolators and you may find that your system is quieter, or even much quieter. It can really help to isolate your fan from the chassis, which can act as resonator/amplifier. There aren't very many moving parts in a computer, and the chassis fan is often the culprit. Or the power supply fan, or the processor fan, but usually the chassis fan.

The other thing that you can do is to vacuum out the fan grill and ventilation holes, so that your fan can run less often to cool your computer.

After that, well, there's other things you can do to quiet down your computer that are more expensive to try...You don't have to accept it being noisy...Vista has nothing to do with it other than if you weren't using your computer at all then it would be turned off and that would be very quiet, wouldn't it *smile*.

-Roger

I unplugged the video card fan it was noisier then but left the case going. Now its quieter than it was you could talk over it easily

Mine is alright, kinda noisy. I overclock so I need a good bit of cooling and I only have fans so they are loud enough. I remember when processors where really loud but most of the time (even when I turn my fan all the way down) I can't really hear it.

I hate noise, especially the noise made by fans in a PC. So what I did first was remove both case fans and made sure they were squeeky clean. Then I went to my local computer store and purchased a 'quiet kit'. The kit made by Nexus consists of rubber feet, rubber fan attachers and rubber grommets for the hard drive. It cost me $9.99. Then I mounted both fans with the rubber attachers and my hard drive with the rubber grommets. So when I finished both fans and the hard drive were literally suspended by the rubber devices. The CPU fan came with a rubber mount for the cooling fan so I did not have to touch it at all. In my ASUS bios I enabled their 'Cool + Quiet' fan option so it only runs at full speed when the temperature reaches the preset high. Neato you can't hear a thing when the PC runs. On occasion I can just hear the CPU fan increase its speed but that too is barely audible. Long live rubber!

My g3 has three fan sound levels - low, medium and like a diesel jet plane taking off and it's so bad I have it floored! On medium or high there's nothing subtle about it and it is not acceptable. The air temperature or what I'm doing doesn't appear related.
I wonder what caused that and what the solution is?

I got a used computer from a local computer repair shop recently. (The guy was stumped about a problem on my computer so he wanted to keep it because it was bugging him that he couldn't fix it, so he traded me for a working one.)

This thing is the noisiest computer I ever heard! Sometimes it just hums a bit, about tied with our server at work, but when I really get something going on it (games on facebook, multiple web pages, or especially a video, the fan speed kicks up & it's hard to hear over it with my cheap speakers! At least if I go to sleep while watching a movie on Netflix, I don't have to worry for at least a couple of hours about hearing traffic or my neighbors or anything!

One is HP DX2000 which is used as internet and office work machine, it gets a good whoosh going on the hot days (35 deg Celsius plus)otherwise it's very quiet.
One put together w/gigabyte board and all up 7 fans, used for audio & video processing, gets a merry ol' racket going but I know it is keeping cool no matter what, and it has never crashed (somebody had to get lucky with windows...guess it was me). It also plays my loud music for me.
One also put together out of second hand bits and trash which seems to be very quiet, only 3 fans. Gets used for storage and disc burning, and games. MSI board from a computer that got thrown down a stairwell, forget where the case came from, likewise the PSU. DVD burners are new Samsung units(2).
All 3 are within a 5 foot radius and the noise level is OK, conversation and such are unimpaired.

Not everyone likes the noise of a computer fan, but I don't mind it. O my home computer I had two extra fans that I put in my case, one to blow in, another to blow out. I actually like the steady "whfffff" noise and it keeps the case cool.

I've a Pavilion a6528p that runs with a low quiet hum even when I'm taxing it's system. . .on the other hand I've a Presario SR1210NX that USE to run with the same quiet hum and now it make an incrdible amount of noise even when it's idle. . .I've been meaning to look into this when I get a lil' free time, but I haven't really had any extra time to spare recently. . .one of these days. . .

The fan on computer (vista home basic) keeps kicking on and revving when I'm using computer or not. It seems to have started when I updated the BIOS.