PC Setup in a Student Dorm

[Yoola]

Hi everyone!

Could you suggest me some tweaks or tips and tricks on how to optimize setup for a room in student dorm. This year, second year I'll be in room with 2 more people and I don't want to bother them too much with my gaming sessions (mostly at night). I'm already on the hunt for silent case fans and replacement for Cryorih H7's vibrating fan (it starts vibrating on higher RPM). Also I'm thinking about sound dampening my PC case. But I'm not sure what to do with light from my monitor? 

Suggest me anything you think of as I don't want to be *that roommate* who's annoying. 

 

PC specs:

FX 8320

Cryorig H7

Gigabyte R9 280 Windforce3

Asrock 990FX extreme3

2x 4GB HyperX Fury 1866MHz

Samsung 850 120GB

Zalman Z1

Thermaltake Smart SE 730W

Monitor:

LG 22EA63 IPS

Peripherals:

Tesoro Gram Spectrum (soon)

Logitech MX518

Steelseries Siberia 200

 

[dantayy]

Get a silent case e.g. Corsair 400Q and silent fans e.g. Noctua fans

[duckwithanokhat]

2 minutes ago, Yoola said:

Hi everyone!

Could you suggest me some tweaks or tips and tricks on how to optimize setup for a room in student dorm. This year, second year I'll be in room with 2 more people and I don't want to bother them too much with my gaming sessions (mostly at night). I'm already on the hunt for silent case fans and replacement for Cryorih H7's vibrating fan (it starts vibrating on higher RPM). Also I'm thinking about sound dampening my PC case. But I'm not sure what to do with light from my monitor? 

Suggest me anything you think of as I don't want to be *that roommate* who's annoying. 

 

PC specs:

FX 8320

Cryorig H7

Gigabyte R9 280 Windforce3

Asrock 990FX extreme3

2x 4GB HyperX Fury 1866MHz

Samsung 850 120GB

Zalman Z1

Thermaltake Smart SE 730W

Monitor:

LG 22EA63 IPS

Peripherals:

Tesoro Gram Spectrum (soon)

Logitech MX518

Steelseries Siberia 200

 

I would get a fractal design s, and does the r9 290 have that gpu "fan turn off at idle" feature, because that is really good for acoustics.

[SlipperyPete]

12 hours ago, Yoola said:

Hi everyone!

Could you suggest me some tweaks or tips and tricks on how to optimize setup for a room in student dorm. This year, second year I'll be in room with 2 more people and I don't want to bother them too much with my gaming sessions (mostly at night). I'm already on the hunt for silent case fans and replacement for Cryorih H7's vibrating fan (it starts vibrating on higher RPM). Also I'm thinking about sound dampening my PC case. But I'm not sure what to do with light from my monitor? 

Suggest me anything you think of as I don't want to be *that roommate* who's annoying. 

 

PC specs:

FX 8320

Cryorig H7

Gigabyte R9 280 Windforce3

Asrock 990FX extreme3

2x 4GB HyperX Fury 1866MHz

Samsung 850 120GB

Zalman Z1

Thermaltake Smart SE 730W

Monitor:

LG 22EA63 IPS

Peripherals:

Tesoro Gram Spectrum (soon)

Logitech MX518

Steelseries Siberia 200

 

i think the biggest annoyance (coming from a college student) is going to be your keyboard and mouse. they arent super loud but just loud enough most of the time. for the monitor get a privacy screen. that will make it almost impossible to see anything except from straight on so it will reduce light cast

[Monkey Dust]

Noctua fan are quiet, and if you really want quiet I'd suggest one of their tower coolers too. Case wise a non-windowed one with sound damping material, like Fractals Define series.

[Yoola]

Just now, duckwithanokhat said:

I would get a fractal design s, and does the r9 290 have that gpu "fan turn off at idle" feature, because that is really good for acoustics.

It's not completely turned off but it's really silent when in idle as it has 3 fans on low rpm.

[GirlFromYonder]

Just now, Yoola said:

It's not completely turned off but it's really silent when in idle as it has 3 fans on low rpm.

i think u can turn them off.

Try beQuiet fans. 

and fractal design r4 or r5 

[Yoola]

It's not a problem when it's all idleing, it's dead silent... But when it gets under load it becomes a jet engine.

Shouldn't custom sound dampening make same effect as buying a case with pre-applied one?

[GirlFromYonder]

Just now, Yoola said:

It's not a problem when it's all idleing, it's dead silent... But when it gets under load it becomes a jet engine.

Shouldn't custom sound dampening make same effect as buying a case with pre-applied one?

yes. but watercooling help too lol

[Naeaes]

Could you consider turning your desk around so that your monitor will face away from the living area? Like a receptionist's desk. I've had mine setup that way for years and I'm very happy about it. I'm not worried about noise/light as much as my wife sneaking up behind me and startling me. You could easily add a plywood wall to separate the space and provide a nice surface to mount dampening material on. Don't use that stuff inside your case though. For case, use something like Silverstone SF01. A foam insulator like that works great for the low hum of the fans and such but not that much for sharp ticking from the HDD, and sometimes even coil whine. For those you want something denser like bitumen.

[Yoola]

9 minutes ago, Naeaes said:

Could you consider turning your desk around so that your monitor will face away from the living area? Like a receptionist's desk. I've had mine setup that way for years and I'm very happy about it. I'm not worried about noise/light as much as my wife sneaking up behind me and startling me. You could easily add a plywood wall to separate the space and provide a nice surface to mount dampening material on. Don't use that stuff inside your case though. For case, use something like Silverstone SF01. A foam insulator like that works great for the low hum of the fans and such but not that much for sharp ticking from the HDD, and sometimes even coil whine. For those you want something denser like bitumen.

Exactly on that Silverstone material I was aiming for. Do you have it? How much of a improvent can I expect? 

[Naeaes]

3 minutes ago, Yoola said:

Exactly on that Silverstone material I was aiming for. Do you have it? How much of a improvent can I expect? 

Not in my current rig but I've used it a lot. It works great for fan noise, pretty much negating it entirely, but you need to apply it on all surfaces for it have full effect. Most cases have a plastic front with no feasible way to mount dampening material on so it's basically left open. Which is a huge bummer. A case with a door in it solves that issue but most cases with doors that I've seen (Fractal Design Define and Cooler Master Silencio lines for instance) already have dampening material on them. Your case, Zalman Z1, is among the worst of the worst. Flimsy and thin metal which only acts as a sound box like in a guitar and a all-plastic front with no flat surfaces. A structure like that only serves to amplify the noise it makes. If I were you, I'd look into Fractal Design R5 cases. They come with dense dampening mats all around, the door included, they're made of thick steel and even the fan holes come with dampened covers for them, not to mention vibration dampeners on all HDD mounts and even the feet of the case. 

[Yoola]

Is there any good budget silent case? Sub 100€

[Yoola]

I understand guys that this is all handy-dandy but it's just too much for standards in my country. Some cases cost more than 1/3 of the price I paid for my whole PC in used parts (450€). Also most of stuff is overpriced here. For example Crosair Carbide 100R is near 100$ where it's ~50$ in US. 

 

So if there are any custom mods or cheap replacement you can suggest, please do. As I think that sound dampening on my own will have near same effect as pre-applied with new case and will cost me much less.