An SPCR success story

Rook · Post by **Rook** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 1:19 pm

I thought I'd post a big thanks to the site staff and forum regulars for all their advice I've leeched for the past year or so. I've finally got a system that's quiet enough for my needs. Here's what I've done (in the order I did it):

1) Replace crappy generic case with Sonata. Big difference - old case literally rattled, and was audible over 30 feet away and downstairs.

2) Attempt to replace northbridge fan with Zalman NB-32J on A7V133 mobo. End up destroying mobo

. Replace with Asus A7N8X (fanless northbridge).

3) Replace Geforce2GTS graphics card with Sapphire Ultimate 9600XT (fanless) - HUGE difference.

3) Replace noisy IBM 40GB HD with Samsung SP0802N, mounted on sorbothane strips (as suggested by Ralf Hutter).

4) Upgrade Athlon 1200 to XP2500, replace crappy HSV with Zalman 7000Alcu, fanmate @ ~5V.

5) Replace PSU with Seasonic SS300FS-NPFC, modded with Panaflo L1A (thanks to MikeC). Successfully remove everything from the system to replace the PSU, and avoid destroying the mobo (a huge personal accomplishment).

6) Breathe a sigh of relief, and realize that the system still isn't totally silent. Contemplate starting over at step 1....

ONEshot · Post by **ONEshot** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 1:48 pm

Wow... where's the noise coming from?

Rook · Post by **Rook** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 2:02 pm

I'm not sure. It might be the PSU and/or the Zalman HSF; I turned it up a bit beyond 5v (maybe 8v - midrange of the Fanmate) because it's really hot in here - ambient temps are around 28C. My mobo "case" reading is 38C, and my CPU diode is at 53C. Nothing to be too worried about, but I don't want to have the fans running too slow while it's this hot.

I'll open up the case and have a good listen tomorrow (going to a football game right now - GO ESKIMOS!)

RaNDoMMAI · Post by **RaNDoMMAI** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 4:52 pm

I know for my final noise source it was the HDD vibrating the the case.

Same drive rails in the BQE and sonata.

I use magic stretch to fix that.

soborthane is also higher recommended

~RaNDoM

Rook · Post by **Rook** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 6:48 pm

The HDD is definitely not the problem - if I put my finger on the side of the drive cage, there's next to no vibration. Any vibration being transferred to the case is likely coming from the Zalman HSF (and even then, it's very minimal).

sthayashi · Post by **sthayashi** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:08 pm

Have you tried stopping fans? IIRC, people in the past have complained about the Sonata stock fan. I haven't found it to be a problem when hooked up to the Fan-Only connector of it's stock PSU, but you're using a non-Antec PSU, which doesn't have a Fan-Only connector.

Rook · Post by **Rook** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 9:15 pm

I just went through and tried stopping the various fans - they don't seem to be the problem. I think what I'm hearing is the HDD whine. The Sonata stock case fan isn't the problem - I've modded the molex connector so it's running at 5V instead of 12V. It's making just about the same noise as it was when it was connected to the stock power supply "fan only" connector.

I'm not sure how much I like the stock rubber fan isolators for the 120mm case fan, though - anybody know of a better way to attach it to the back of the case?