Noise Levels for Dell Desktops

Sorry to disagree with you. I have had nothing but Dell's for years
and years. I have gotten VERY FEW that are not noisy. I just received
a new 8400 and it is noisy as h..ll. The fans in them are the cheapest
and are noisy. If you are capable of replacing the fan with a quieter
one then that helps. Be aware anytime you replace a part with a non
Dell product you void the warranty.

I am sitting here listening to the roar of mine as I type.



Dells are very quiet in general - i'd guess the very high end P4 models
should be avoided as they get very warm
and so will need more cooling

the corporation i work for has thousands of dells - very quiet in an office
environment

they are a basic 2.something P4 model

i'll try and get a model no. tomorrow

on sites such as silent pc review - it seems the easiest way to get a quiet
pc is to get a dell
rather than customise something else

also the case design helps

i sound a bit biased ( no !) but its from experience only , i never thought
anything of them
but once i've used on it convinced me




"Key Bored" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I'm considering buying a new computer, probably Dell Dimension 4600 or
8400.
Does anyone have info or opinions on the noise level of these models,
compared to other Dell models or other manufacturers like Sony, Gateway,
or
HP? Is there a website with noise ratings for computers?

Thanx,
Key Bored

"tellme" wrote in message
...
Sorry to disagree with you. I have had nothing but Dell's for years
and years. I have gotten VERY FEW that are not noisy. I just received
a new 8400 and it is noisy as h..ll. The fans in them are the cheapest
and are noisy. If you are capable of replacing the fan with a quieter
one then that helps. Be aware anytime you replace a part with a non
Dell product you void the warranty.

I am sitting here listening to the roar of mine as I type.



Two minor corrections: changing the fan (or adding/changing any other
component in the system) does NOT void the warranty, unless one were to
point to some failure directly caused by that component - and I can't
imagine that happens much, or that anyone would admit it if it did occur.

Secondly, fan noise is relative to the users' sensitivity to same. The 8400
is as quiet as a morgue compared to my homebuilt system.

Stew

In article ,
"S.Lewis" wrote:



Two minor corrections: changing the fan (or adding/changing any other
component in the system) does NOT void the warranty, unless one were to
point to some failure directly caused by that component - and I can't
imagine that happens much, or that anyone would admit it if it did occur.

Secondly, fan noise is relative to the users' sensitivity to same. The 8400
is as quiet as a morgue compared to my homebuilt system.

Stew

The only way to tell is to measure decible levels. Does DELL provide
measurements for the 8400 compared to other machines?

Personal anecdote:
I have a couple of machines -- a G4 iMac and an old Micron PII 300. The
Mac is almost silent, the Micron sounds like a small vacuum cleaner when
you start it up (plus I have an external hard drive with its own fan,
which makes more noise than the computer). So, yes sound levels are
subjective, but there are some objective measurements we can take. When
I work, I much prefer the "sound" of the Mac to that of the Micron.

r/

In article ,
"KatWoman" wrote:

Some info can be found in the documents located he

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topi...onment/en/prod
_datasheets?c=us&l=en&s=corp


Interesting. I checked that page and the Dimensions all seem to generate
roughly the same amount of noise (apparently quite a bit if I'm reading
the chart right). They also consume a boatload of energy. Perusing some
of the other models, it seems that the Dell Precision M50 is the
quietest. Not sure what it costs or how it's equipped but it's part of
their "workstation" line.

FYI, the machines from Shuttle (small form factor) generate about 37 dB
of noise (not sure if all of them generate the same amount of noise),
which is less than most of the Dells.

Wish I knew what my iMac generated, that way I'd have a point of
comparison.

r/

What bios are you using? The new A03 is supposed to make them quieter.
Mine is very noisy. I have had 6 Dell's recently and ALL are noisy.
This one is the quietest of them all and that isn't quiet my friend.

Read the Dell forums and see the comments on the noise and the fans.



"tellme" wrote in message
.. .
Sorry to disagree with you. I have had nothing but Dell's for years
and years. I have gotten VERY FEW that are not noisy. I just received
a new 8400 and it is noisy as h..ll. The fans in them are the cheapest
and are noisy. If you are capable of replacing the fan with a quieter
one then that helps. Be aware anytime you replace a part with a non
Dell product you void the warranty.

I am sitting here listening to the roar of mine as I type.



Two minor corrections: changing the fan (or adding/changing any other
component in the system) does NOT void the warranty, unless one were to
point to some failure directly caused by that component - and I can't
imagine that happens much, or that anyone would admit it if it did occur.

Secondly, fan noise is relative to the users' sensitivity to same. The 8400
is as quiet as a morgue compared to my homebuilt system.

Stew

fair enough mate- each to their own

my exp. is with the GX260 corporate stuff and i still rate it



"tellme" wrote in message
...
Sorry to disagree with you. I have had nothing but Dell's for years
and years. I have gotten VERY FEW that are not noisy. I just received
a new 8400 and it is noisy as h..ll. The fans in them are the cheapest
and are noisy. If you are capable of replacing the fan with a quieter
one then that helps. Be aware anytime you replace a part with a non
Dell product you void the warranty.

I am sitting here listening to the roar of mine as I type.



Dells are very quiet in general - i'd guess the very high end P4 models
should be avoided as they get very warm
and so will need more cooling

the corporation i work for has thousands of dells - very quiet in an
office
environment

they are a basic 2.something P4 model

i'll try and get a model no. tomorrow

on sites such as silent pc review - it seems the easiest way to get a
quiet
pc is to get a dell
rather than customise something else

also the case design helps

i sound a bit biased ( no !) but its from experience only , i never
thought
anything of them
but once i've used on it convinced me




"Key Bored" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I'm considering buying a new computer, probably Dell Dimension 4600 or
8400.
Does anyone have info or opinions on the noise level of these models,
compared to other Dell models or other manufacturers like Sony,
Gateway,
or
HP? Is there a website with noise ratings for computers?

Thanx,
Key Bored

"zero" wrote in message
...

fair enough mate- each to their own

my exp. is with the GX260 corporate stuff and i still rate it




snip

My bigger point was not the technical aspects of the decibel levels, but of
any given users' sensitivity to noise.

It's apparent to me that variable speed fans irritate quite a few people,
and when the fans aren't operating right they can be noisy for nearly
everyone.


Stew

tellme wrote:
What bios are you using? The new A03 is supposed to make them quieter.
Mine is very noisy. I have had 6 Dell's recently and ALL are noisy.
This one is the quietest of them all and that isn't quiet my friend.

Modern HDDs have an acoustic setting. I have mine set for "performance",
but you could opt for "quiet".

Where is your 8400? Desktop or under desk? It's a lot louder on the
desktop, of course.

tellme wrote in message . ..

Read the Dell forums and see the comments on the noise and the fans.

I read the Dell forum and found this:

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20041111A1001.html

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19647

Maybe this is the problem ?!?
I have two new Dimension 8400 and both fans are very noisy, always run
with the same speed, whether the CPU is idle (air flow is cool) or for
one hour under stress at 100% (air flow is very hot).
I replaced the fans twice, without success !!
I have installed BIOS A03 - i thought it became quieter!!

Maybe this is the problem ?!?
I have two new Dimension 8400 and both fans are very noisy, always run
with the same speed, whether the CPU is idle (air flow is cool) or for
one hour under stress at 100% (air flow is very hot).
I replaced the fans twice, without success !!
I have installed BIOS A03 - i thought it became quieter!!

Defective heatsinks