Getting Serious

Show off your quiet rig.

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bsoft
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2005 5:15 pm

Getting Serious

Post by bsoft » Thu Jun 09, 2005 12:44 am

I finally decided to put the vibrating Maxtor DiamondMax 10 in a box. The Scythe Silent Box, to be exact.

BTW: This is a photo of the system *on*. The Zalman doesn't run at idle (below 55C CPU temp.) and the case fan doesn't run below 35C case temp (easy since the case was open).

At idle, the only fans that run are the fan in the Seasonic and the Panaflo L1a @ 5.5V on the graphics card. I can remove the Panaflo and the GPU still functions, but it runs at 95C - the Panaflo drops the temp to 65C without a noticable amount of noise.

Image

Power Supply: S12-330
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 2800+ (Newcastle) @ 800MHz / 0.8V (at idle with RMClock)
Heatsink: Zalman 7000-AlCu (Doesn't spin at idle)
Case: Antec 3700-BQE
Case Fan: Antec stock (Thermally controlled; 4.4V at idle; Not a significant noise factor)
Graphics Card: Gigabyte Fanless 6600GT (Panaflo L1a @ 5.5V added)
Hard Drive: Maxtor DiamondMax 10
Memory: 1GB Corsair Value Select
HDD Enclosure: Scythe Silent Box
Motherboard / Chipset: DFI LanParty UT / NForce3 250gb
Other: AverMedia PCI TV Tuner (Media Center); USB 2.0 card reader; DVD-ROM (rarely used)


All in all, it's a pretty wicked system. At least I think so.

At this point, decreasing the noise level would be expensive and/or time consuming. Suspension is an option, but the HDD doesn't resonate that much as is (the Silent Box is a heavy rubber box, after all) and the only quieter power supplies are fanless. The case fan barely runs at idle, the graphics card is fanless, and the Panaflo is pretty darn silent at 5.5V.

At 1m, I can tell that the system is on, but only if background noise is low (e.g. typing is enough to mask the sound). At 2m, it's virtually impossible to determine if the system is on. I can't tell if I can actually hear something or if it's in my head.

Unfortunately, I do not have the gear to take dBA readings, though if I had to guess, I'd put it at around 22-24 dBA/1m. The crickets outside the window are certainly much louder.
Last edited by bsoft on Sat Jun 11, 2005 2:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

neo_tofu
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:06 pm

Post by neo_tofu » Thu Jun 09, 2005 8:16 am

hi

Just wondering why you strapped that panaflo to the Gigabyte 6600gt. That video card is passively cooled out of the box right?

Was it not stable?

What temperatures are you running on that card before and after the panaflo?

BenW
Posts: 290
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2005 3:51 am
Location: UK

Post by BenW » Thu Jun 09, 2005 9:54 am

Only some 6600gts are passive IIRC

Nice system, how did you set it up so the fans only come on at a certain temp?

neo_tofu
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:06 pm

Post by neo_tofu » Thu Jun 09, 2005 1:23 pm

BenW wrote:Only some 6600gts are passive IIRC
I know that.

He actually detailed the version he has which is passive:

Graphics Card: Gigabyte Fanless 6600GT (Panaflo L1a @ 5.5V added)

len509
Posts: 101
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:28 am
Location: Central U.S.

Post by len509 » Fri Jun 10, 2005 7:56 pm

BenW wrote:Nice system, how did you set it up so the fans only come on at a certain temp?
I've got the same motherboard. The DFI Smartguardian hardware monitor has the option to turn fans on, off, and go full speed at a certain temperature.

bsoft
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2005 5:15 pm

Post by bsoft » Sat Jun 11, 2005 1:22 am

neo_tofu wrote:hi

Just wondering why you strapped that panaflo to the Gigabyte 6600gt. That video card is passively cooled out of the box right?

Was it not stable?

What temperatures are you running on that card before and after the panaflo?
You know, I'm not quite sure. I had some random lockups while playing WOW, but I never conclusively linked it to the graphics card.

I do know that the card runs at 50-60C with the fan instead of 90-100C without it - the Panaflo is pretty close to silent at 5.5V and I frankly don't want to take the risk.

To attatch the fan to the card, I first wrapped a rubber band under the heatsink (it doesn't actually touch the back of the card), then around the fan. I finished it off with electrical tape. I then used zip ties to add stability and to angle it (it decreases the noise a bit by lowering the backpressure on the fan). It doesn't offer any vibration isolation, but it's not a huge issue with this fan.

The Gigabyte 6600GT Passive is quite hard to find. I eventually broke down and purchased it from ZipZoomFly for $230. I had the Gigabyte 6800 NU (fanless), but it always had problems with overheating in my system, it's big, it's more expensive, and it's not appreciably faster.

I got really lucky with the Newcastle - 0.8V is almost half the normal core voltage, and at less than half the clock, I'd estimate that the CPU only produces about 10W at idle. The Zalman almost never turns on (especially with the Panaflo right against it) and when it does, it runs at low speed. I have a Zalman "noiseless connector" inbetween the Zalman and the motherboard which reduces the voltage and gives me a more useful range of speeds (~0-6V instead of 0-12V).

Likif
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 189
Joined: Tue Nov 26, 2002 11:40 am
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: Getting Serious

Post by Likif » Sat Jun 11, 2005 9:56 am

bsoft wrote:The Scythe Silent Pox.
:mrgreen:

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