I've got a PC that I use strictly for multi track music recording and production and lately I've been working very hard to try to make that machine as quiet as possible. That's tough to do with 3 10,000rpm SCSI drives and 4 IDE drives in the case. What's worked so far has been to go to a larger slower turning fan on the processor and a power supply that's got an automatic 2 speed fan. Both of these mods helped a bunch. Also, I used some automotive sound deadening insulation like what many people use in street rods inside of each side pannel on the Antec case. That helped reduce the sound produced by the case itself... This is a good topic I would like to know what's been done by other folks to cut down on the noise.....

I dont worry to much about it.But you could install a rheostat to control the fan's speed.I have one installed in my 3.5 slot to control cpu fan speed and a switch came installed with my case to control the speeds of the 2 front intake fans

Hi,
Vantec ( http://www.dvhardware.net/review68_vantec-nxp201.html ) makes a good four fan speed controller which I've had for about a year. Good at keeping the noise to a minimum when room temperature and PC load allow and also looks pretty cool as well. Fans are Vantec Stealth (http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/vantecstealthfans.php ) and run pretty quiet. Also use a Volcano 9 CPU HSF with variable speed. I plan on trying the Dynomat noise dampening material on the side panels soon since most of the remaining noise seems to be due to case vibration from the drives.

Good luck and Happy Holidays!

Ric

Dave, I have a solution for not only killing the noise on the drives, but also making them thermally enhanced.


There's a material I came across when servicing a PS2, which would be perfect to wrap your drives in.

Instead of using thermal paste, the PS2's heatsink and processing units sandwich a silica rubber pad, which is cold to the touch, despite the ambient temperature.


The cheapest I've found it for is $18/sqft... but it's definitely worth it.

You could totally isolate your drives by wrapping them in the material, and then sticking them in those 5 1/4" bay enclosures.