quiet ATX mid-Towers

[Rob MacGregor]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-hackers at freebsd.org 
> [mailto:owner-freebsd-hackers at freebsd.org] On Behalf Of zera holladay
> 
> Hello, I am looking for a very quiet ATX mid-tower and
> I was wondering if anybody has a suggestion or
> recommendation.  My hard disks produce the most
> decibels at the most annoying frequency -- its not a
> bad fan.  I am an EE student using FreeBSD, so a quiet
> computer is very important to me.

Well, you could start by looking at http://www.quietpc.com/.  I've
bought various items from them and have been very happy with the result.

Keep in mind however that no one thing will solve the problem.  You need
to replace everything that makes noise, right down to the fan on the
northbridge if you've got one.  You can get fanless cooling for
everything, assuming of course your air temperatures don't regularly
pass 30C.  For the disks the best you can do is:

1) Put them at the back of the case, if you have a case that supports
this (AOpen do some rather nice tower cases that do - their H700
series).

2) Isolate them with noise damping mounts - this however pretty much
guarantees you can't put them in standard 3.5" slot.

3) Replace them with quieter drives.  The newer Seagate drives are
pretty good.

-- 
 Rob | Oh my God! They killed init! You bastards!