Windows XP Pro Question

[windows0638]

is there a way, to keep your computer on but not have it as loud and have it really hard to tell that it is on. my computer is really loud and i hate shutting it down. my roomate is really annoited by the sound at night and i am just wondering if you can get it really queit and have it bearly look like its on and still have your appilications running. please write stuff back. thanks.

 

[dawks]

This is more of a General Hardware issue.. But yes, you can.. With HARDWARE modifications.

Quieter fans and harddrives.. via the OS, theres nothing you can really do. Some newer systems allow you to throttle back the fan speed if your system isnt producing as much heat.. But your BIOS must support it.

 

[windows0638]

so what should i do?

 

[stingray2]

depends on what is making the sound(s)? mine, its the fans. if you put high quality fans in (i have cool master, not the best, but not the worst) if the fan(s), if you have more then the one in the power supply, buy ones that have speed sensor plugs (assuming your mother board has fan connectors that will control there speed, based on temp(s)).. this might help. the better the power supply, the better the fan that is in it. i have a emermax eg465ax-ve power supply, that will adjust the speed of its own fans based on the temp. the fan runs slower when the temp is low, this causes a lower fan sound.

 

[windows0638]

i think its the fans. the cpu fan. can i turn it down or something?

 

[RevoluChe]

Look into your BIOS for an option to adjust the speed of your fan. You might be able to make it load sensitive, so when your processor is not working too hard and not generating too much heat, your heatsink fan will go slower. You can also buy a new heatsink/fan, one that has a temperature sensor and can adjust its RPM. Then you just paste the sensor between the heatsink and the CPU, adjust the heatsink to be temp. sensitive, and it will slow down.

Another option is to just get a really small, cheap heatsink/fan. These usually don't make a lot of noise. Don't do this if you have a new, fast processor. But like the others said, this is more of a hardware issue, so you will have better luck posting in the technical support forum.

 

[prosaic]

Just so we don't overlook something obvious here...

Why is it that you hate to shut your system down? Do you need to have the system actively running live processes all night? If so, then your solution is going to be a change in hardware, as suggested before. Please don't just assume that it's safe to turn down your fan speed without considering what that may do to your system's reliability and longevity. Fans are there for a reason. If they're running fast your system probably needs for them to do so. The answer to quieter fans is -- quieter fans, not turning down noisy ones so that they run slower.

If you just hate to shut your system down for some other reason than the need to have it running some process constantly, what is that reason? If your system is ACPI-compliant Windows XP can put your system in Standby or Hibernation. Standby should enable the system to resume normal operations almost instantly; hibernation may require a few seconds for resumption of operations. You don't have to close any of your apps before going into either of these modes. Standby saves the entire desktop state in volatile RAM, backed by the power supply. The fans and hard drives shut down, but RAM is kept alive. Hibernation saves the entire desktop state to hard drive and shuts the system down entirely. When you turn the system back on the last desktop state has to be read into memory from the hard drive, so resuming operations takes a few seconds longer. You should always save your data in open applications (and perhaps close the files, depending upon the way the app works) before going into either Standby or Hibernation.

- prosaic

 

[windows0638]

well i keep my computer on all night because i am either downloading or running my hub/server. in standby my internet slows way down and can you tell me more about this "hibernation"

 

[prosaic]

In that case neither Standby nor Hibernation is going to be of any help to you. In both instances (save-to-RAM and save-to-disk) all activity stops, so services stop and downloads stop and so on. Sorry. I just mentioned it because I wasn't sure whether or not you actually needed anything to be running. Some people just don't like to shut their systems down because they take a long time to boot. I thought you just might fall into that category.

- prosaic