open air k45, e1200, wd6400aacs -ongoing... <-update 22/9

Show off your quiet rig.

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porkchop
Posts: 496
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 1:19 am
Location: Australia

open air k45, e1200, wd6400aacs -ongoing... <-update 22/9

Post by porkchop » Fri Sep 12, 2008 12:40 am

UPDATE 22/9
just a radeon 9250 minus the fan- runs only a little warm, no gaming.
cable management by moving the hdd, some cable ties and blue tack.
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UPDATE 22/9

UPDATE 21/9
wd6400aacs hddtach
~20c ambient, new fan, arctic alumina on cpu and nb:
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not as big a difference as i'd imagined, but a little better overall. sys/nb got the biggest improvement- good since it was once the hottest, which goes to say the gunk they used was pretty crap.
9250 coming in soon- then i should be done.
UPDATE 21/9

UPDATE 15/9
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new fan
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better temps all round- none exceeding 60, more details later.
UPDATE 15/9

specs:
e1200
k45
wd6400aacs
1gb ddr2 800
320aud all up including delivery- cheap!

currently running open case.
ghetto power button and front mounted fan controller.
fan controller needs to be set to minimum to make the fans quiet enough to be drowned out by the hdd.
old pic- front
old pic- back right
hard mounted wd6400aacs- super quiet and almost no vibrations, one of the reasons i'm running open case is so the aluminium cover doesn't resonate.
old pic -mounted hdd
fan swap to evercool- 5800rpm, 40x40x10, ball-bearing, the resulting gaps were covered with tape.
i managed to slow down the stock fan to be quiet, but it still rattled and clicked- soft mounting is too difficult in the limited space(it was originally soldered btw).
Image

old idle temps
old load temps

cpu:
voltage is set to 1.188v- the lowest allowed :( , i have overclocked the fsb to 1000mhz, so the extra v isn't wasted... or something... :x
k45:
great little case- quality is quite good, maybe a little better than antec.
psu is too loud even at idle, and the way it's mounted and the way the fan's mounted is crap- there's alot of rattling and whatnot.
wd6400aacs:
cost the same as the aaks- currently the cheapest per gb.
very quiet, beats my barracuda iv and old 2 platter wd3200aaks, almost no vibrations- i would hard mount it in a heavily dampened case, or an open case :)
team elite ram:
works, running at 5-5-5-15 , 1.9v, ~830mhz.

fans:
the psu fan is audible unless set to minimum, which is a bummer since the cpu fan can be set a little higher without adding to the noise.
when the controller is connected to only the cpu fan, the fan runs at ~1200rpm at minimum, with the psu fan added on, it goes down to ~800rpm.
the fans sound pretty good, well as good as a 4cm fan can sound- there is a little ticking though.

temps:
i think the sys temp is the 945gc, the heatsink gets hot enough to burn after 2 seconds during load.
no other parts on the mobo seemed to get particularly hot.
i don't really like the cpu load temps(or the 945 temps for that matter), come summer the temps can easily increase by 5-10c. for the time being i'm not planning to buy any new stuff, but i might swap the heatsink on the 945 to a spare zalman, and maybe use some arctic alumina on the cpu- and i could always increase the fan speed.
hdd temps are pretty darn good considering the limited airflow from the cpu fan.
the psu exhaust gets only got slightly warm, the casing was actually warmer under load- hopefully it's nothing to worry about.
temp3 and acpi are constant- no idea what they are.

how quiet?
pretty darn good for what i put in, its as loud as the hdd, which is very quiet- comparable to what i'm using now, 760rpm 80mm fan, 560rpm 120mm fan and suspended wd3200aaks in an enclosed case.


one of the things i'm considering is removing the cpu fan, then hanging a 120 under the hdd, over the cpu and nb heatsink.
might also paint the case satin black- it will look loads better :)
i'm also in the market for a pci vid card with dvi, my lcd sucks at converting analogue to digital signals.
Last edited by porkchop on Mon Sep 22, 2008 5:03 am, edited 5 times in total.

thejamppa
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Post by thejamppa » Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:46 am

That looks pretty good... But doesn't open air kinda... you know... wreck the purpouse of the case? With open air you don't have air flow to cool component... heat just... evaporates up... Nice work with the PSU ^^

FartingBob
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Post by FartingBob » Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:47 am

That was my first thought. "Why have it open air?" The only reason youd want that is if you were running it completely passively. Otherwise its best to have it closed.

porkchop
Posts: 496
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 1:19 am
Location: Australia

Post by porkchop » Sat Sep 13, 2008 3:21 pm

3 reasons for open air:
1- the cover blocks the psu's side vents, it's close enough to make them pretty useless.
2- hdd resonance, the cover is aluminium, unless i'm going to suspend the hdd, leaving it off is quieter.
3- no exhaust fan needed, putting on the cover means that i will need more than the cpu fan to circulate the air.
if you look at my fan speeds(i calculate the psu fan to be <2500rpm) and temps -i think its keeping pretty cool and quiet, which suggests that the open case is working.
i realize that suspension, an exhaust and the cover can make it even quieter -but for now i want to try leaving it open.

i've been working on swapping the cpu fan to something bigger.
unfortunately, a 120 is a little too big to fit- the psu and pci slot start getting in the way. so i've mounted a 92 over the cpu, just a bit of adhesive backed velcro on the 4 corners of the fan and on the top of the 4 push pin posts -i'm expecting better temps all round.
new pics, temps and a hddtach graph to come later.

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