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How much do we deafen ourselves?

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By ragados (Contact - View My Woyano)
Published Tue 03 Jul 2007, 473 Views, 7 Comments

I just ran across this link:
http://www.deltatronic.de/int/pc/index.html

It is the website for a company that builds completely fanless PCs. I was curious as I have been intending to build one myself for some time.

There are difficulties with the concept, Processors inevitably run hotter and so will have a shorter lifespan, it also means that high end processors that have yet to be optimised run to hot to use at all, however it has one benefit... no fan noise!

But does this make such a difference? I have lived with a PC on in my Bedroom 24/7 for about 4 years now and I can't say my hearing is any worse... of course I have always worked hard to ensure that my PC is as quiet as possible. Infact what I find far more annoying than Fan sounds are the little whines the Disc Drives put out when they don't like you asking them to do stuff.

The actual reason I had intended to build a silent PC was for use as a home entertainment centre. It was to be much lower spec than those offered by this company, run off flash memory, connected to a network and as small as possible with the aim of having no moving parts at all, and get all the data off of a PC or server stored elsewhere in the house so at last music and movies would be completely free of the whirring of the disk and the hum of fans.


Anyway I guess in my opinion, as long as you are sensible and don't try to install 37 12" fans to drop the CPU temp that extra .5oC I don't think that fan noise is going to affect your hearing any worse than the traffic outside your window, but it does drive me NUTS when I am trying to enjoy Lord of the Rings in 5.1 surround sound, Or thte nuances of Holst's Planet Suite in my living room.


What do the rest of you think about fan noise? And the noise of technology in general?


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Tags: pcs, noise, hear, silent, loud
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    7 Comments

  1.  
    snak ~ 14 months ago
    0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
    I use a laptop to 'drive' my sound system. I agree that the noise of the drive can be a pain, but I don't think that a constant sound of the level of fan noise would damage your ears. It's no worse than a fridge. Or a Central Heating pump. Of course what may sound loud to a visitor, will probably not even be noticed by you because your innate 'selective deafness' blocks it out.

    Having said all that of course - if your fan/disc drive noise is disturbing your music - you aint playing it LOUD enough.
    [ reply ]
    1.  
      ragados ~ 14 months ago
      0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
      Lol I agree loud music will override it, but somehow it just kills the little nuances of some classical!
      [ reply ]
    2.  
      earsz ~ 14 months ago
      0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
      My hearing's already shot but the fan whine cuts thru. It also stresses me because when it really jumps up, I know my computer may very well freeze in the next few moments. baaad computer, but I'm stuck with it for a while yet. or maybe i'll donate it to some kids organization and give the ankle biters heart attacks and their guv'nors similar stress-induced trauma while i take a tax write-off. *nods*
      [ reply ]
      1.  
        ragados ~ 14 months ago
        0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
        So then if you bought a new PC would you be likely to go for a solution like this?
        [ reply ]
      2.  
        Mark ~ 14 months ago
        0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
        loud music is the only way to go lol
        [ reply ]
        1.  
          Michael ~ 14 months ago
          0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
          I'm just thankful my sensitivity to background noise has gotten much better since childhood. As a kid, there was no such thing as background noise for me -- everything was in the foreground. The worst offenders were electric or electronic in nature. The constant buzzing of flourescent lights gave me terrible headaches in school. The refrigerator running drove me crazy at home. The whine of computer monitors made me want to smash them to pieces. Fortunately I wasn't prone to acting out. :P

          Unsurprisingly, when I was in the Navy, they wanted me to be a sonar operator!

          Never been fond of fans or drive noises, but I can tolerate them. Still, when I buy computer components I do take sound levels into consideration. Whenever I can get something quieter without making my wallet cry, I'll do so.
          [ reply ]
          1.  
            ragados ~ 14 months ago
            0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
            Wow, I think I'd have gone mad if I were that sensetive to sound! I can hear those things, but thankfully I could lock them out.
            [ reply ]
          2.  
            AdGuy
            22 votes thumbs up thumbs down
            This is my two cents...

               
            Hey you know AdGuy always gets the last word! ;)

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