P180 Build with heavy "padding"

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philje123
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Lancaster

P180 Build with heavy "padding"

Post by philje123 » Sun Feb 15, 2009 8:31 am

Hey there guys.

Just a simple P180 build of mine... nice and quiet!

Had it a while now and recently added the foam etc.

Specs are:

Antec P180
Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI
Q6600
4GB OCZ Reaper
8800GTX
Thermaltake Toughpower 700w
Samsung F1 750GB (suspended in lower chamber)
Sharkoon 1000 "golf-ball" fans (x2)
Zalman ZM-GWB8800 Ultra/GTX GPU waterblock
Zalman ZM-WB5 CPU water block
Zaward Dual Tower Fanless Northbridge Heatsink
Silver Stone PP02 PSU duct

UPDATE:

I have now gone for watercooling after find a Zalman Reserator Kit pretty cheap.

I have also sold the GUP enclosure and suspended the HDD in the lower chamber.

I have removed the lower and upper mounts for the drive caddies and also the middle fan bracket in the lower chamber.

Drilled holes through to the lower chamber to route the cables going to the bottom connectors on the mobo through.

Also someone is giving me a second reserator without a pump that I will install as a second resevoir/radiator so that should help things along!

So here are some pictures:

Image

Who needs the optional zalman fan kit?!

Image

Image

Image

Since taking these pictures I have taken the blue fan duct out and re-routed the IDE cable round the back out the way and moved some of the power cables going to the DVD drive.

I have also bodged a 120mm fan into the empty 5.25" bays to blow more air over the ram and northbridge heatsinks.

Phil
Last edited by philje123 on Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:53 am, edited 3 times in total.

relitz
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Location: sweden

Post by relitz » Sun Feb 15, 2009 9:11 am

Overall a nice, clean build!

Do you find the Akasa dampeningsheets any good? I'm thinking of getting some myself.

philje123
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Lancaster

Post by philje123 » Sun Feb 15, 2009 9:27 am

They are pretty good but doubt they cancel out much sound on their own.

Some pretty good stuff is:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=856403

Its got a fair bit of weight to it (it has got a rubber layer then foam on top).

jamesbundy
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2005 2:57 pm
Location: Belgium

Post by jamesbundy » Sun Feb 15, 2009 11:21 am

Very clean build!

How do you like that Smart Drive enclosure? Does it dampen drive vibrations well when it is hardmounted to the case?

philje123
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Lancaster

Post by philje123 » Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:42 pm

jamesbundy wrote:Very clean build!

How do you like that Smart Drive enclosure? Does it dampen drive vibrations well when it is hardmounted to the case?
Thanks...

The Smart Drive is excellent!

The samsung F1's are pretty quiet drives anyway but with it inside this it deadens the sound of it spinning and almost all the seek noise... I've got to listen hard to be able to hear the drive.

They're a little on the pricey side but worth it I say... Would probably get even better results with the enclosure suspended too!

Phil

axee
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Post by axee » Sun Feb 15, 2009 1:31 pm

HDD temps?

philje123
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Lancaster

Post by philje123 » Sun Feb 15, 2009 1:38 pm

axee wrote:HDD temps?
Around 30 c when doing general browsing and listening to music... slowly climbing to about 38 under load so pretty healthy really!

Phil

JamieG
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by JamieG » Sun Feb 15, 2009 2:19 pm

Phil, can you post your other temps for CPU when loaded and GPU loaded as well?

I'm interested in going the foam route (AcoustiPack as it is the easiest for me to get in Australia) for my P182 gaming system (Intel 6850 / X38 mobo / 8800GTX OC) and I have ordered a HR-03 for my 8800GTX, so I would be interested in your temps to see how they differ from those of my current system.

Kate
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Location: *-Home-*

Post by Kate » Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:33 pm

My I ask you something?

How many degrees C the insulation added to the system??

philje123
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Lancaster

Post by philje123 » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:12 am

Don't know how many degrees have been added by using the foam as I havn't taken any measurements before.

But my idle temps are:

CPU: 36
HDD: 32
GPU: 48

Will get some load temps some time.

philje123
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Lancaster

Post by philje123 » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:46 pm

Had a little play today and decided to try suspending the HDD.

Had to take it out of the enclosure as I couldn't find any screws that were long enough that would fit in the holes on the Smart Drive.

Don't know why I didn't just do it sooner... has removed ALL vibrations on the case which was my major bug-bear really and has stopped the low hum coming from the chassis.

Will see if i can fettle it to include the enclosure for uber noise cancelation!

Phil

ntavlas
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Post by ntavlas » Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:22 pm

Clean like a surgery room :D

The most effective foam I`ve come across is this:
Image

It`s not very easy to apply however so I`m currently using a flatter version with an aluminum layer, very easy to wrap around corners etc.

Foam shouldn`t interfere with temperatures as long as it`s kept out of the way. It might even improve circulation by reducing the internal volume of the case.

Plarin
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Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:17 pm
Location: Minnesota

Post by Plarin » Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:50 pm

Looks sweet!

xev
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Location: New York

Post by xev » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:18 pm

ntavlas wrote:Clean like a surgery room :D

The most effective foam I`ve come across is this:
Do you have a cheap place to get this kind of foam? I have managed to find some around, but not priced well enough to squash some idle sounds from the fans.

Big SturL
Posts: 38
Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:29 am
Location: Molde, Norway

Post by Big SturL » Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:16 pm

ntavlas wrote:Clean like a surgery room :D

The most effective foam I`ve come across is this:
Image

It`s not very easy to apply however so I`m currently using a flatter version with an aluminum layer, very easy to wrap around corners etc.

Foam shouldn`t interfere with temperatures as long as it`s kept out of the way. It might even improve circulation by reducing the internal volume of the case.
I use something that resembles this foam in my Antec Solo case. It hardly has any mass, so I highly doubt that it will reduce vibration-induced noise, but rather stop airborne noise. I got it very cheap in a Scandinavian based shop called Biltema.

philje123
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Lancaster

Post by philje123 » Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:14 pm

Updated with some new pics and changes to the case etc.

Phil

philje123
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Lancaster

Re: P180 Build with heavy "padding"

Post by philje123 » Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:42 pm

Now into the third incarnation with this machine.

Still the same in terms of:

P180 case
Q6600
8800GTX
4GB OCZ Reaper RAM
750GB Samsung F1 drive

Things changed:
XFX 780i SLi Mobo (water blocks on NB and SB)
Added a second resorator tower
Upgraded pump in main tower to an Eheim 600 (was a 300)
XFX 650w Pro PSU (thermaltake died yesterday!)
HDD inside a scythe quiet drive enclosure and suspended (silent!)
Removed most of the foam and added a bit of bitumen insulation

This is getting pretty old tech but hey... windows 7 still flies and can still play games with everything turned up pretty high. Also got an Acer 23" monitor too (1920x1080 resolution).

Plans in the near future are to revamp the desk and fit a full length kitchen worktop type thing in the room and make it all nice and tidy and to install 1/2" tubing for the watercooling.

Couple of pics:

Image

Image

fumino
Posts: 298
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Location: ontario

Re: P180 Build with heavy "padding"

Post by fumino » Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:35 pm

great setup with the eheim and the two resorators. very nice.

hows that xfx psu treating you noisewise? iirc it got excellent marks from johnnyguru.

philje123
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Lancaster

Re: P180 Build with heavy "padding"

Post by philje123 » Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:20 am

Yeh I was pretty lucky to get the second (blue one) very cheap from someone. I just cover the postage costs at £12 and it was mine! Works pretty well as the first resorator to get the warm water is the blue one which gets pretty warm then by the time it's in the second one with the pump the tower only feels luke warm.

Don't really monitor my temps much as I know they are well within tolerances and way under the temps achieved with stock air coolers.

The PSU is pretty good nosie wise. A little "whooshy" but it pretty much matches the noise output of the pump in the tower anyway. It's got a good strong pull on the fan which should bring the HDD temps down even further! Won't hear it as much once it's tucked under the new desk and I normally have music on quietly or playing a game.

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