Re: [LAU] New workstation | DAW pc

Greetings, My machines are not silent but they are nicely quiet. I have two boxes here with Antec Sonata II cases, fanless video cards, and "smart" Antec PSUs. You can get cases from Antec B stock at very reasonable prices. My flat-screen monitors don't make any noise, nor do they interfere with my audio in any way. Both boxes use Zalman fans for CPU cooling, also very quiet. Fans are noisy, and the fans on cheaper video cards are particularly nasty. Drives are also noisy, but the Antec cases have "soft" drive mounts that absorb most of the noise. Btw, the video systems in all my machines are powered by the nVidia proprietary drivers, because I need accelerated 3D for some of my work. The audio hardware is identical on the two desktop systems (M-Audio Delta 66 + preamps). I keep the machines on the carpeted floor, each on its own piece of 2x4 to further minimize rumble, and I keep my sound system's power amp (Alesis RA-100) in another room. The RA is quiet enough to keep in the main room, but I got in the habit of keeping it apart from the other gear. Make sure that everything in the vicinity of your recording area is nailed down tight, nothing vibrating or rattling. It's axiomatic: If something can make noise in the room, it will. Reduce the possibilities. :) Best, dp