computer Isolation

by **mylesgm** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 5:56 pm

Ok so I want to acoustically isolate my computer as much as possible in my production room. Everybody says stick it in the other room blah blah but as I don't have one the point is moot. Also commercial samples I've found are unbelievably stupidly priced ie isobox. wood box with foam and fans... er $2300 um Sorry?

So of course I'd like some other options. Apart from building my own are there any other alternatives?

M

by **NYMo** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:09 pm

Hi Myles,

I bought a large server box thing, mounted it halfway in the wall (obviously you can't do that in your room) sealed the door with acoustic foam and sealed any noise gaps coming out.
It has my computers, console PSU's and interfaces in it.

The only thing I have to do is turn the internal fans off (one switch) if i am tracking vocals (as its own fans are the loudest things in the cabinet !).

Check out a (old) photo of it on my myspace...cost $300 !

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

by **Futureman** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:13 pm

Water cooled PC?

Peltier effect cooling? (No moving parts)

I guess you are still left with hardrive sounds, but they are much quieter

by **heathen** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:52 pm

[quote="Futureman"]Water cooled PC?

Peltier effect cooling? (No moving parts)

I guess you are still left with hardrive sounds, but they are much quieter[/quote

Solid state drives are available now. Expensive but probably worth it.

by **mylesgm** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:56 pm

I've got a Mac Pro/HD rig so watercooled wont work unless I keep it in a bucket...

I've seen the server rack units but wondered how they fared in the quiet stakes. Doesn't need to be silent as I only occaisionally track in the room it just needs to be quiet. Right now the graphics card sounds like a vacuum cleaner.

by **lonearranger** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 7:17 pm

mylesgm wrote:I've got a Mac Pro/HD rig so watercooled wont work unless I keep it in a bucket...

I've seen the server rack units but wondered how they fared in the quiet stakes. Doesn't need to be silent as I only occaisionally track in the room it just needs to be quiet. Right now the graphics card sounds like a vacuum cleaner.

You could also look at replacing the noisey fans with quieter versions - this is a local source of some stuff
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... ex&cPath=9

Look for quiet/silent in the pages of the fan sizes you need.

I use an antec case(PC) and dropping the voltage to the fans also reduces the noise alot.

There are also kits for dampening material that you can put inside the case and aftermarrket cpu fans - or passive coolers.
Not certain that these can be used on apple boxes, but it would seem fairly likely given they use std intel chips now.

It may even be possible to add water cooling to a mac - google "water cooling mac"

Don't think buying a server would necessarily be any quieter - ever been in a server room? Buying an ISO box would be usable for the next few computers you get too.

Cheers

by **mfdu** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 8:26 pm

i have a 4RU sever case which i have fitted wwith antec CPU fan, passive PSU and 2 12cm case fans (intake / output) and dropping resistors combined with fan-speed controller. i can get the thing down to just harddrive noise (fully floating drive cage minimises that) and run it in the main room right with me.
over summer i may need to bring the fanspeed back up between takes to bring the temp down, but the chip generally runs around 50degrees.

i have a solid state drive in my lappy and its silent. but even better than that, it is a lot faster (read/write) than any hard drive i have ever usedbefore. tthat includes scsi.

my next build will be a much smaller form-factor using a home-theatre pc with inline PSU and two internal solid state drives. IDE USB2/firewire archive units only getting used to clear sessions off the tracking drive.

i mean, i used to manage with a 4GB IDE tracking drive. a 32GB solid state isn't a stretch, surely?

(yes, and dont call me shirley)

by **13thbeach** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 8:30 pm

mfdu wrote:(yes, and dont call me shirley)

A hospital? What is it ??!!

by **mylesgm** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 9:01 pm

I'll look into a better graphics fan but I run a mac so most other customisations/optimisations are out. Casing seems the best but most expensive and most troublesome. Are there any places that make quiet cabinets for computers that don't have 'studio' prices?

M

by **smash** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:36 am

Before you go and spend heaps of $$$

1. Are the internals clean?
Excess dust is the biggest reason for an increase in noise. Basically dust gets on heat syncs, acts as an insulator, heat doesn't transfer, fans run louder.
Your best investment could be a can of compressed air.

2. Is the case decoupled from it's surrounding?
I've seen situations where slight vibrations from a system have been greatly increased by the case leaning against a desk, sitting on a slightly loose floor etc.
Stick something underneath to decouple it.

3. Stick some acoustic foam behind / in front of the unit - most noise comes out of the front and rear - which is where the air is flowing. Make sure you don't block the flow though.

4. If your HDD's have been filled and unfilled repeatedly, even macs can suffer from fragmentation - the OS largely tries to avoid it, but if your HDD is overly full the data has to go somewhere.
A clean OS install can sometimes help overly chatty drives.

___________________
Simon "Smash" Ashby
أنا تقني قنبلة ، إذا كنت ترى لي تشغيل ، يجب عليك تشغيل.

by **mylesgm** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:40 am

All good tips, Comp is clean, its decoupled on rubber foam riser, hdd make negligible noise, its just that damn fan! Supposedly actually an issue with the card's implementation in osx...

by **smash** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:52 am

Which GFx card is it?

___________________
Simon "Smash" Ashby
أنا تقني قنبلة ، إذا كنت ترى لي تشغيل ، يجب عليك تشغيل.

by **Kurt** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:14 am

If you're not doing much gpu intensive stuff (3d/gaming) you could probably get away with running the fan at a lower voltage. Many gpu fans are hard to replace as they are odd shapes/sizes.

by **TimS** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:24 am

Simon,
ur a bomb technician??
;-}

by **jkhuri44** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:48 am

smash wrote:Which GFx card is it?

___________________
Simon "Smash" Ashby
أنا تقني قنبلة ، إذا كنت ترى لي تشغيل ، يجب عليك تشغيل.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Simon,
ur a bomb technician??
;-}

do u really wanna go there?? im palestinian...il f@#$ u up. lol.

by **mylesgm** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:22 am

Card is a HD3870, I tried running the card fan at a lower voltage which worked fine for awhile but then it would overheat and cause clicks/pops and sometimes the audio would freeze! Turned the fan back up and all was good. I think the heat of the card at the lower fan voltage was causing the pt hd accel cards to overheat. When I removed the gfx card to alter the fan speed it was so hot I couldn't hold it...

Real Bastard... I have a better fan system for it but the card only has a two pin fan supply and the fan needs a three or four pin supply. Why does everything have to be so bloody difficult!

m

by **Kurt** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:50 am

Will the OS let you swap it for another HD3870 that has a fan speed controller built in?

If there's space in your box maybe something as simple as a pci slot fan would allow you to run the quieter fan.

by **TimS** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:53 pm

jkhuri44 wrote:
smash wrote:Which GFx card is it?

___________________
Simon "Smash" Ashby
أنا تقني قنبلة ، إذا كنت ترى لي تشغيل ، يجب عليك تشغيل.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Simon,
ur a bomb technician??
;-}

do u really wanna go there?? im palestinian...il f@#$ u up. lol.

JK,
Thats the translation!!
I think its about the joke if i'm a bomb technician and you see me running, run too!

by **smash** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:41 pm

Firstly,

The direct Arabic to English translation is: "I am a bomb technician, if you see me run, you must run".

I thought it was amusing.

Please accept my humblest apologies if it caused anyone offense.

Secondly, did you mean a HD 4870?
I actually haven't heard one in the flesh, I've got a couple of Mac Pro's in my suite at work, and one at home, but none use that particular GFx card, so I can't make an absolute comment.

Does anyone else here have this particular card?

Basically, I would try and find out if there is a fault with the card - sometimes they can have a slightly off centre bearing in the fan assembly which can make the fans seem much louder.
Try and listen to another one before you buy an expensive enclosure.

__________________
Smash "Smash" Ashby
NO COMMENT ;-)

by **mylesgm** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:34 pm

No, I've got a HD3870. But I've got a simple work around for now until I get a isobox sort of thing.

I installed a passive heatsink on the GPU which works fine when I'm doing audio work or other low graphic intensity work. When I'm doing video etc I can increase the internal mac pro fans speed with a free program called smcfan control. This little app controls the fans in intel macs so I can set the fan speed to suit me. If I set it only slightly higher than normal (around 1000rpm on intake and exhaust) its a little more noticeable but liveable and doesn't raise the temp above 30...

Did you know you can increase the fan speed to nearly 3000rpm? sounds like a jet taking off but cools the computer down to 24c even under high loads!

Still need a case though... anybody got ideas about that?

M

by **rick** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:36 pm

[
أنا تقني قنبلة ، إذا كنت ترى لي تشغيل ، يجب عليك تشغيل

do u really wanna go there?? im palestinian...il f@#$ u up. lol.[/quote]

ahh jamil ... that explains it ...
i kept thinking you were from the dundas valley!

by **jkhuri44** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:17 am

smash wrote:Firstly,

The direct Arabic to English translation is: "I am a bomb technician, if you see me run, you must run".

I thought it was amusing.

Please accept my humblest apologies if it caused anyone offense.

Secondly, did you mean a HD 4870?
I actually haven't heard one in the flesh, I've got a couple of Mac Pro's in my suite at work, and one at home, but none use that particular GFx card, so I can't make an absolute comment.

Does anyone else here have this particular card?

Basically, I would try and find out if there is a fault with the card - sometimes they can have a slightly off centre bearing in the fan assembly which can make the fans seem much louder.
Try and listen to another one before you buy an expensive enclosure.

__________________
Smash "Smash" Ashby
NO COMMENT ;-)

none taken. I am palestinian though. hahaha.

i'm far too unpatriotic to give a shit.

by **Alastair Reynolds** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:11 pm

What about a high quality KVM extender and put the box in a different room.
We run all our On-Air computers this way. Big Noisy boxes in a machine room with controlled temp/humidity etc and just Keyboard Mouse and Screen in the Studio. Makes for a bit of cabling for the audio, but more effective than trying to stop noise in a studio

computer Isolation

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