My HTPC is simply not quiet enough. I've used silent fans and reduced their speed, but it is still too noisy. I'm considering watercooling at this point, but only if it will help me reach silence.
I'm looking for a watercooling kit that is simple to install and doesn't look terrible. The Koolance Exos Aluminum kit looks ok. Are there any opinions on the performance of this? If I did install this, how would I silence my power supply?
Thanks all!
Any opinions on the Koolance Exos?
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Koolance Exos
I have an exos. It's made of steel I believe, not aluminum. Bought one when they were first released.
it is rather noisy!
Yesterday I got around to the computer it's on:
Chieftec silver dragon case.
AMD XP 2100+
Four Western digital 120mb SE 7200 rpm drives (yes I know, super noisy)
Seasonic 400w PSU
Nvidia Ti4200 (koolance water block).
I unplugged all case fans, leaving only the PSU exhaust fan. No intake.
my mod:
Replaced one fan with a pabst 80mm (don't have model number handy)
Replaced one fan with a Panaflo 24 Volt (it runs *really* slowly at 5 volts. On Mode 1 the fan doesn't even spin, on mode 3 it will spin.)
Unplugged fan three.
I don't have ambient temps handy.. However.. It passed my stability test. I set the coolance to mode 2 (auto mode). It would peak to around 41 celcius (on the koolance, the CPU's thermal said around 52 Celcius.) Then fan would ramp up to accelerated mode (not that I can tell, with those hard drives. Even suspended they make too much whine.)
System ran stable for about eight hours. I set it playing music with Prime95 running and started doing chores.
Music stopped after a few hours and I figured out why! While cleaning I had placed a box on top of my radiator. System rebooted of overheating.
Motherboard monitor log showed it reached 86 Celcius hehe!!
System's okay, just remember not to put paper.
The water block is so efficient that minimum airflow is fine for cooling a CPU.
If you open up your Exos try adding extra rubber padding near the reservoir (where the pump is). Then consider replacing the fans. it's pretty easy to do, takes 5 minutes.
As for the PSU.. easiest thing do would be replacing the PSU with a quieter model.
As for performance ratings, overclockers.com rates the koolance near the top of watercooling kits. note this is with fans on HIGH.
A stock koolance on "LOW" is still too noisy IMHO, however with the recent fan change I feel less ripped off. Working pretty well now
it is rather noisy!
Yesterday I got around to the computer it's on:
Chieftec silver dragon case.
AMD XP 2100+
Four Western digital 120mb SE 7200 rpm drives (yes I know, super noisy)
Seasonic 400w PSU
Nvidia Ti4200 (koolance water block).
I unplugged all case fans, leaving only the PSU exhaust fan. No intake.
my mod:
Replaced one fan with a pabst 80mm (don't have model number handy)
Replaced one fan with a Panaflo 24 Volt (it runs *really* slowly at 5 volts. On Mode 1 the fan doesn't even spin, on mode 3 it will spin.)
Unplugged fan three.
I don't have ambient temps handy.. However.. It passed my stability test. I set the coolance to mode 2 (auto mode). It would peak to around 41 celcius (on the koolance, the CPU's thermal said around 52 Celcius.) Then fan would ramp up to accelerated mode (not that I can tell, with those hard drives. Even suspended they make too much whine.)
System ran stable for about eight hours. I set it playing music with Prime95 running and started doing chores.
Music stopped after a few hours and I figured out why! While cleaning I had placed a box on top of my radiator. System rebooted of overheating.
Motherboard monitor log showed it reached 86 Celcius hehe!!
System's okay, just remember not to put paper.
The water block is so efficient that minimum airflow is fine for cooling a CPU.
If you open up your Exos try adding extra rubber padding near the reservoir (where the pump is). Then consider replacing the fans. it's pretty easy to do, takes 5 minutes.
As for the PSU.. easiest thing do would be replacing the PSU with a quieter model.
As for performance ratings, overclockers.com rates the koolance near the top of watercooling kits. note this is with fans on HIGH.
A stock koolance on "LOW" is still too noisy IMHO, however with the recent fan change I feel less ripped off. Working pretty well now