I should have explained my request in a little more detail :) I am familiar with the concepts of quieting down PC's and things like replacing noisy case fans, fanless cpu coolers, and quieter drives. But I was hoping to hear any success stories (even small) of quieting down powermac towers. Since I don't really have much (read: any - LOL) money to spend, I am hoping to get testimonials of things that actually can/do work before springing cash on an experiment.
That said, here are my specific questions/issues for what it's worth (maybe others are interested enough to try it out and report back)... My 8500's noise appears to be coming from the power supply fan and of course the drives (I have the stock quantum 1GB which is fairly quiet and a non-apple seagate hawk 4gb which is crunchy and *loud*). The noise from the drives are intermittent and I figure there is little I can do to quiet them beyond replacing them with pricey but quiet (fluid) drives. FAN - I have heard tales of dust and dirt making fans run louder. I can certainly afford a can of air :) so I will report back after I have tried to clean my fan. I am VERY leary of taking apart my PSU given the potential for lethal shock...just not worth it. But if there was a replacement PSU with quieter fan, or easy and relatively safe way of replacing the fan only with a quieter one, I'd be interested. SCREWS - another source of potential noise is vibration where parts connect, such as screws. Well, the 8500 doesn't have a ton of screws....there is a lot of plastic on plastic (clips, hooks that sort of thing) that I have no idea how to muffle. One thing I can try is that I have some small (rubber? foam?) washers I bought with some PC fans to keep things quiet. There ARE screws holding the drives to their sleds, the one screw in the center of the mobo, and the 4 that hold the chassis closed - I'm not sure I could use washers on any of these (tho the mobo one seems most do-able despite its most likely imperceptible improvement). Am I missing any others deeper in the chassis that might be good to try a washer on? MUFFLING - Then there is the theory of just trying to keep as much of the noise as possible *inside* the case. There are a couple of products out there that are like thick "fabric" or foam or some such thing (I haven't purchased any of it, just read descrips) that you can line the inside of the case with. But I don't know if it would be worth it given all the holes the PM8500 has to facilitate airflow (rows of slits along the bottom of the case presumably to draw in "cooler" air, the holes at the top above the speaker and the ones at the back of the case where air from the fan inside is expelled). But if it cut my noise in half, it may be worth it someday. So to sum up, I will try cleaning my fan and maybe using some rubber washers here and there and I will let folks know if any of that helped. If anyone tries anything else I've mentioned or has other instructions which have proven results, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks everyone for all the info... Caitlin -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
