Why, yes, my home PC does sound like a jet engine. :-) 4x80mm Panaflos (filtered) on the intake and across the SCSI hard disk bays. Enermax PSU with whisper fans. One Thermal Millennium Glaciator HSF (1.5 copper) (not too loud) for the CPU. Combined with a Seagate Cheetah X15-36LP 15,000rpm Ultra160 SCSI and IBM Ultrastar 36LZX 10,000rpm, things are pretty noisy. The unit is a 19" aluminum 4U server case. I also have a Yamaha 16/10/40 SCSI CDRW, which is loud too (compared to plextor). And the Aluminum case does little to dampen ANY noise.
I haven't measured it but I'm probably pushing 42dBSPL outside of the case (though that estimate may be too high). Though my current system is still quieter than my system from four years ago. I had like 4x2GB Barracuda SCSI (7200rpm) drives, and added a 4.3GB Seagate Cheetah 4LP. You thought the 4 'cudas were loud? That first cheetah could be heard CLEAR ACROSS THE ROOM. Let's imagine a robot walking on rocks, shall we?? ;-) And 4 cudas AT IDLE will yield a sound that makes a _dentist's drill_ seem PLEASANT. I am not joking, ask anyone who ran those puppies.
I am so glad many of today's drive yield ample performance with so little accompaning noise.
BTW, I'm running a ACS33 Altec Lansing speaker system (cubes+sub) on that PC. considering how noisy it is, any more fidelity might be a waste. Those speakers were $20+tax at the local Sams Club. Not bad for the money. On some tracks the subwoofer module actually sounds better IN THE DESK DRAWER. No kidding. Although sometimes the boomiess will become unbearible.
I haven't measured it but I'm probably pushing 42dBSPL outside of the case (though that estimate may be too high). Though my current system is still quieter than my system from four years ago. I had like 4x2GB Barracuda SCSI (7200rpm) drives, and added a 4.3GB Seagate Cheetah 4LP. You thought the 4 'cudas were loud? That first cheetah could be heard CLEAR ACROSS THE ROOM.
I am so glad many of today's drive yield ample performance with so little accompaning noise.
BTW, I'm running a ACS33 Altec Lansing speaker system (cubes+sub) on that PC. considering how noisy it is, any more fidelity might be a waste. Those speakers were $20+tax at the local Sams Club. Not bad for the money. On some tracks the subwoofer module actually sounds better IN THE DESK DRAWER. No kidding. Although sometimes the boomiess will become unbearible.