Why are some people obsessed with silent systems?

[OmnitronDefenseSystem]

Heya guys, I was wondering if anyone here really loved their system to be silent. If any of you are, I'm not trying to be offensive, but why do you really care if you can't hear your system as long as it runs? I for one don't care as long as it doesn't sound like a jet is preparing for take off next to me, or if it were to become a giant hair dryer.

[Deleted]

Maybe for a more relaxing experience.. Mines isn't that loud. But I guess peoples preferences are different, as long as I know my computer is running and not making the noise of metal being blended, I'm fine.

[Xelper]

Some people just appreciate silence, or if for example your computer is in the same room that you sleep and you leave it on overnight.

[wombinator04]

Could be that they don't like to hear noise when their trying to watch or listen to something.

[Wries]

Some kind of noises coming from a PC can be kind of disturbing IMO. If you can hear PC noise while watching (and hearing) a movie or playing a game, that can become an issue. Also at night it might pay off having a silent PC so nobody cares that you leave it on because they won't notice it

I don't care that much myself, having two GTX 460s with centrifugal fans I won't ever get it quiet while gaming anyway. Though I'm a huge supporter of Scythe GT fans. Love their non-intrusive whooosh.

[Asera]

If I could sleep next to a running vacuum cleaner, I woudn't care. I cannot, therefore, I care.

[Poodles]

It's not so much an issue these days since a lot of cases use 120mm or larger fans. A decade ago, gaming cases stuffed as many 60mm fans as they could, and those things are annoying as hell. Not to mention the 60mm delta fan I had on my swiftech cooler on my overclocked socket A AMD (hair dryer, literally).

[OmnitronDefenseSystem]

If I could sleep next to a running vacuum cleaner, I woudn't care. I cannot, therefore, I care.

...Would you mind if I put this quote in my sig?

[Xuvial]

If you've just sat there peacefully while your Athlon stock fan is is going "WHEEERRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" then you have some rather resilient ears :P
It's not too bad if you wear a headset all the time, but if you use your speakers often then a loud PC will get pretty annoying, especially if it's on the same level as your monitor/keyboard/etc. Not everyone has their case neatly stuffed away underneath.

[Xuvial]

For air cooling, get the largest fan size that will fit in your particular slot. The larger the fan, the slower it has to spin to push through the same volume air, the quieter it is. It's why I love the Storm Sniper and HAF series' 200mm's

For water cooling....I dunno :S do pumps/rads get loud?

[Asera]

...Would you mind if I put this quote in my sig?

Go ahead. lol.

[Saithes]

Pumps can. My D5 has a VERY loud rattle at level 5, but is near silent at level 4 and below. Radiators depend on fans. However, because they've got a lot of fins, airflow is restricted and thus fans can seem to get louder due to the "blockage", hence why it's taken companies years to develop fans that provide adequate cooling while remaining quiet (for radiators).

Overall though, the noise difference of a watercooled system will drop the more powerful it is compared to an equal air cooled system. Essentially, the more powerful the system the quieter is becomes when watercooled compared to their air cooled version, much to the point it'd start heading almost vertical at the end of the graph.

To put this in real terms, watercooling allows me to sleep with the system on, air cooling did not

+1... Air cooling was so loud when I had it. The headroom gained by going to liquid cooling allowed me to keep my PC quiet while retaining low temperatures. It's awesome to say the least haha. Can have 11-15dB fans and still never break 60C at 4.8GHz.

[Cows For Life]

Heya guys, I was wondering if anyone here really loved their system to be silent. If any of you are, I'm not trying to be offensive, but why do you really care if you can't hear your system as long as it runs? I for one don't care as long as it doesn't sound like a jet is preparing for take off next to me, or if it were to become a giant hair dryer.

Why not have a quieter system? Do you like turning up the volume of everything up just so you can hear what's coming through your headphones?

[naadra]

Fan controllers!!!! They are such a good low cost investment if you care about sound. I just got my Lamptron FC-6 installed, and I love it. For sleeping or watching stuff just turn down the rpm or turn a few sets of fans off. Then when gaming crank it up ( JET ENGINE !!! lol ) and throw on the headphones I love it. I have 5 120mm and 2 140mm and when I am just surfing you cant really hear it. When I have it cranked up it gets a bit loud but I use headphones when gaming.

[Deleted]

Sounds causes stress.

You might not notice it right away but if you try to recall the silence you often experience after turning off your TV for example (a harsh and immediate transition from loud to quiet) and the sense of calm it stirs in you, then you know why people appreciate silent system.

Or a better comparison is to take a 100 mile trip with a 10 year old pick-up and then compare it to driving a super sleek new BMW. You just feel a lot more relaxed in the silent car.

Silent PCs are a bit like big monitors. You might not think you need them but once you've tried them for a while, you don't ever want to go back.

[Skelly]

Fan controllers!!!! They are such a good low cost investment if you care about sound. I just got my Lamptron FC-6 installed, and I love it. For sleeping or watching stuff just turn down the rpm or turn a few sets of fans off. Then when gaming crank it up ( JET ENGINE !!! lol ) and throw on the headphones I love it. I have 5 120mm and 2 140mm and when I am just surfing you cant really hear it. When I have it cranked up it gets a bit loud but I use headphones when gaming.

I can't explain how much I love my fan controller.

[Xuvial]

Silent PCs are a bit like big monitors.

You were making perfect sense and I was like "dude, I totally know what you mean" and then you had to say something like THAT?! NOOOooooooOOooo

[Deleted]

but why do you really care if you can't hear your system as long as it runs?

It makes it more difficult to hear and accurately pinpoint quiet noises (e.g. footsteps) in games.

It makes it more difficult to fully distinguish each voice/sound.

Its generally a lot more disruptive when not at the machine itself.

Its disruptive when just doing something like browsing or watching movies, listening to music, and so on.

It forces you to turn up the volume louder, which can disrupt both neighbors and damage your hearing if you're too careless.

Really - theres a hell lot of reasons.

[Skelly]

You were making perfect sense and I was like "dude, I totally know what you mean" and then you had to say something like THAT?! NOOOooooooOOooo

I thought he was spot on. I'll never give up on 2560x1600. I would have said they're more like multiple monitors though. Alt-tabbing is so last year

[Sephiracle]

Because given the choice of having either a silent computer or a noisy one, most people would pick a silent one.