SPCR

Hey

Thanks to your help, I finally hushed my computer. It's so nice now, I can hear myself think.

Here is a pic of the system to show what I did, based on suggestions and reviews on this site.

Cooler Master ATC-111 Case
Q-Technology 300W Ultra Quiet PSU
Asus P4PE/L w/ 2.4GHz & Artic Cooler Super Silent 4 TC
Corsair XMS3200 C2
Radeon 9700 Pro w/ Zalman ZM80A-HP
Western Digital 80 SE w/ Smart Drive
Lite-On 48x/24x/48 (black)
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
ATI TV Wonder VE
Akasa PAX
3 (1 top/2 front) Panaflos at 5v
1 (rear) Artic Cooling TC fan (variable)

Thanks everyone!!!!

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great job, auxyone! would you be able to post your cpu temps and your system (case) temps? thanks! and by the way, does your power supply exhaust very warm air?

Thanks

My case temp is 22c under normal/load, but my cpu temp is 52c normal and 57c load. The silent cpu cooler is indeed silent, but I think it runs pretty hot. I might end up replacing that with the zalman flower when I get the motivation.

Yes, definitely. My psu exhausts rather warm air. I heard this is normal with the psu. I hope... hehe

did you heard year pc-noise before and after putting
the Akasa PAX? --> was there an audible difference?

There was an audible difference, but it wasn't "night and day". It reduced a bit of the whoosh and "hollowness" of the interior of the case. And before I installed the Smart Drive, it helped a little with the high-pitched whine of the hard drive. I don't regret paying $12 for it. However, at the time when I installed it, it was in its loudest configuration, so it was easier to detect any improvements.

hey auxyone, do you run your radeon 9700 pro COMPLETELY fanless? I am thinking of going out to buy a new case for cooler case temps so that I can either run my geforce 4 ti 4600 card fanless w/ zm80a-hp (like it seems in your case) or use a zalman fan bracket like zm165. how do you keep your case temps soooo low? i understand that the aluminum case has almost nothing to do with it but your only cooling comes from 3 5-volt 80mm Panaflos and a rear 80mm fan? im hoping that i can reconstruct a quiet PC finally...

Yeah, isnt the Radeon 9700 a too hot to run the ZM80-HP without a fan right beside it? Or is it okay, just a little hot?

hey

Yes, I have the 9700 Pro fanless.. well, sort of. A lot has gone on since I made this post Let me explain.

Strangely, over the last week or so, the weather here in Austin has gotten warmer (In January..Hmm..), so my apartment's a bit warmer than usual because I can't justify using A/C in January. As a result, my temps rose from 22c to 27c with my fans on at 5v.

I got some fan isolators the other day that allow me to run the fans at 12v (at roughly the 5v loudness). Now, the case temp is back down to 21-22c. I think the main reason why the case temp is so low is because there really isn't any "trapped" heat. The top exhaust clears out heat from the CPU and HDD. The rear fan exhausts heat from the GPU/CPU. And the two front fans are assisted by the exhaust fans. It's a delightful arrangement, and would recommend the case to anybody. I'm still having an issue with my CPU temps, but I'm sure that has to do with the low-rpm CPU cooler, because the stock cooler was significantly better.

Well, anyway, in the picture you'll see that I don't have any obstructions blocking the airflow coming from the lower two front fans. So, at 12v, there is enough air blowing onto the 9700 Pro keeping it fairly cool. The heatsink plates do get a little warm, not hot. Also, the rear fan is directly above the heatsink, quickly exhausting heat. I don't have a temp monitor, but I'm thinking of getting one for toying around. If I do, I will post my temps for this arrangement. I think that the two front case fans and rear exhaust are doing a nice job of keeping the 9700 cool.

-a