The Best Silent Computer Case Fans

I've now replaced all my computer case fans
with Silenx Fans. What a difference! In fact,
I even went so far as to replace the CPU fan
with a Silenx fan.

My computer is very old. I assembled it myself
from parts I purchased in 2003. Of course, fans
were not as well designed in those days as they
are today.

I'd say that replacing the case fans is one of
the biggest noise reduction bang-for-the-buck
moves you can make. After replacing my case
fans, I find that the noisiest part of my computer
is the hard drives.

Now how to silence those. That's the next quest.

I've titled this article The Best Silent Computer
Case Fans. I really don't know which ones are
the best. However, I find the Silenx fans I bought
to be pretty impressive.

My 3 case fans are rated by Silenx at 12 decibels
each. The Silenx CPU Fan, which is really just a
case fan, is rated at 15 decibels by Silenx.

Given that the noisiest component of my case is
now the 2 hard drives, I'd say that the decibel
rating on the Silenx fans is more or less accurate.

Ed Abbott

Noise Cancellation in Case Fans

This article points to the possibility
of noise cancelling fans in the future:

Noctua to use Active Noise Cancellation in new Fan

Ed Abbott

Blade Pass Frequency

I've been working on building
a silent computer and also on
finding materials that I can
surround the computer with to
make it more silent.

A concept I find very helpful
is blade pass frequency. Here's
a formula to caluclate blade
pass frequency:

Blade Pass Frequency - BPF

Here's a chart that indicates at
what frequency the noise from a
computer fan might peak:

Acoustics/Noise from Cooling Fans

Scroll down the page in the above
link to see the chart. The sub-heading
for the chart is Noise Generation Mechanisms.

Finally, here's chart that shows noise
loss that occurs when sounds passes
through differing thicknesses of plywood:

Sound Transmission Loss in Plywood

Ed Abbott