SPCR

Hy, i am reading you guys for a while now....and i decided to join. I would join earlier but first i wanted to build semi-silent pc ... Hm, something about me.. My name is Zoran, born in 1989 in Našice, Croatia... I am in collage ( math an computer science) and i think thats it .... Yea, my roommate and i are constantly arguing about the extent of silence in silent pc .... mine is never enough silent and his is always silent enough ....

Here is what i hawe:

CASE: Cooler-master Cosmos 1000
FANS: 4X Gentle Typhoon 1150, 1X Gentle Typhoon 800 (all mounted wiht sharkoon fan silencers....silicone pads and some rubber thingies )
CPU: AMD X6 1055pt overclocked to 3,3 (with stock cooler, when i have some $$ i will buy zalman cnps quiet)
GPU: ATI XFX 5670 with ARCTIC-COOLING Accelero S1 rev.2 (i was very very suprised with the temps.... -10 C better than stock)
MBO: ASUS M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3
RAM: CORSAIR 2X2 DDR3 1033
HDD: SYSTEM: Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB, DATA: SAMSUNG Samsung HD501LJ 500gb
PSU Sharkoon rush power m 600w
FAN CONTROLLER: NZXT Sentry 2

Here are my temps in idle (have not had a chance to test them in full load yet)



now first question why dos sensors detect such low temp off CPU?...all other temps are fine but cpu is always funny..

Here are pics of airflow, fan controler and case:






And now for the 2 main questions....

Do you think that zalman would be an overkill for my cpu? because my temps are fine with stock cooler ( i will get new one just because of the noise)

I have some strange noise coming from my case.... i cant pinpoint where it comes from.... i think it is form fans, let me rephrase that. I know its from fans..its low frequency and one minute its there and another its gone...its very irritating...my opinion is that sentry 2 is the guilty party in this... because when i had scythe fan controller the noise wasn't there... ( i had to get sentry because of the cosmos front gate)...but when i had scythe i also had only 3 GT and 2 CM stock fans, and maybe i didn't hear the noise because of stock cm fans noise.... now i am thinking of arerocool 2000 touch fan controller but if the noise is still there when i buy it then i am gonna eat my self alive ..

For your CPU, you can go with a tower heatsink, it will be more silent then a Zalman.

Zalman is tower heatsink.... the old zalman 9xxx series arent...

Get a Scythe Mugen 2 instead of that overpriced Zalman, it performs fine and has a better fan to boot.
The noise you're hearing could be anything from interaction between the fans' frequencies to just running them too quickly, to the fan controller not working properly. Try some different speed combinations and let us know.

sorry to owners but mugen 2 is ugly, ugly and ugly .....zalman is much nicer.... and i looked the prices in a store, difreance is only 17$....and thats bot some insane amount of $$ so if i decide on a tower cooler i think itll be zalman....

for the fan problem.... i tried to put alll fans to 50% of max rpm and noise is still there...i thinks its even lauder (becouse of less air turbelence)...

It might be the controller then. By the way, I don't own a Scythe cooler, but they're better performing and have good fans. Try looking at the Ninja 3 (you could even run this one fanless, seeing the number of fans you have in there) and Yasya and see if they suit your taste.

according to this review:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1060-page8.html

zalman is better...its easier to install, smaller, lighter , and to get back to the first thing doesnt require removal of am3 mbo for instalation...

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1037-page7.html

tell me if i am wrong but after carefull reading of these 2 rewies...zalman is better ?

Re-installing a motherboard is a PITA indeed. From the reviews that I've read, there's indeed no need to remove the motherboard from the case - but then again, do you want to pay €10 more for a worse performing heatsink, with a worse performing fan compared to a Mugen 2

Then again, they both have PWM, so the sound difference in idle should be unnoticeable, and the Zalman isn't as enormous as the Scythe. Both would probably be good choices.

And what fan controller should i buy ?..... it has to be without nobs becouse of cosmos 1000 front door...

You can go with something like that: http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku= ... cture=NZXT

i have sentry 2 already .... and it sucks....

zoran89 wrote:according to this review:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1060-page8.html

zalman is better...its easier to install, smaller, lighter , and to get back to the first thing doesnt require removal of am3 mbo for instalation...

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1037-page7.html

tell me if i am wrong but after carefull reading of these 2 rewies...zalman is better ?

Are you sure you don't have to remove your motherboard to fit it? It looks like an AM2+ backplate is included in the Zalman box...
Performance in SPCR's review is bad because of the use of pushpins on an Intel platform, the AMD mounting scheme is much more solid and will surely make them perform better. Anyway, I always factor price in, and Scythe wins here; don't forget they also come with one of the best fans available around. Your call though: I don't sell heatsinks and couldn't care less if you don't buy one.

After reading your posts i decided on SCYTHE Mugen2 Rev. B SCMG-2100.....i got it and its huuuugeee.... later today i am gonna install it.... i hope successfully... it seems very complicated to install.... but, i hope it will all be worth it....

and yes....for the fan problem....i connected all the fans on MBO and the weird noise is gone....and when i slow them down via mbo software they are quieter and not louder like theyve been on sentry 2...

yupiiii ..... mugen is installed and ready ....

the installation wasnt hard as i expected......with my roommates help it was over in 15 minutes....

idle temp with fan running at 500 rpm is 33-35 C....and passive the temp is 38-40 C...so ill go passive.... here are some pictures of the process..... the fan orientation is just for pictures..it wasnt oriented that way when i installed it.... and now the fan is gone .....

[img=http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/7739/img1346g.th.jpg]
[img=http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8567/img1350ci.th.jpg]
[img=http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9139/img1352r.th.jpg]
[img=http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5824/img1358xe.th.jpg]
[img=http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/1117/img1360q.th.jpg]
[img=http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/2847/img1362r.th.jpg]
[img=http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/8024/img1365cw.th.jpg]
[img=http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/2833/img1367x.th.jpg]

after quieting the cpu now i hear some deep noise...i cant describe it...its very deep .... what that might be ?....air going trough case? psu?

PSUs usually make a low whooshing noise due to air turbulence inside the PSU, try sticking something (non conductive!) into the fan for a few seconds to determine if it is the PSU.

You use a lot of fans that move a lot of air, it's just that

wwwwoooooowww.....i unplugged samsung 500 gb hdd and... its a miracle.....its 30% quieter.... i didn't think that it would be so much difference.....i guess i am going with my plan....ssd system + wd eco green storage...

Is it screwed directly on metal without any kind of decoupling (soft washers, rubber rails...)?

it has rubber thingies to "stop" vibration....

HDDs in that case do a lot noise. I have the same case and I'm saving for another case...

BTW, I did a kind of suspension for HDDs and it worked great, but the temps raised up a lot.

after some tests, lot of reading and more testing i came to best performance/noise ratio for my cosmos......



with just these 3 fans at 600 rpms, its dead silent (except for psu and hdd noise, but i can silence that only with buying new one)...fans are GT 1150 rpm version....

bottom fan cools down hdd (spinpoint F1 1tb), mbo chipset and then ati 5670 with Accelero S1 rev.2, while top fan cools down 1055t with help of rear exoust....

here are iddle temps.....when i play something there are top 2 exousts and i more bottom intake ...because then i have my headphones on and noise is not a problem...but even then its very quiet...

CPU: 38 C
MBO: 33 C
GPU: 43 C
HDD: 36 C

when i put all 6 fans to 600 rps temps are:

CPU: 35 C
MBO: 30 C
GPU: 34 C
HDD: 32 C

only big diference is in gpu temp, but while on stock cooler they were 40+ C so i dont think they are that big of a problem...

what do you think? is it smart to work for extendet periods of time with these temps? i think temperatures are ok but want to be sure....

Those temps are pretty cool!

its dead silent (except for psu and hdd noise, but i can silence that only with buying new one)

...unless you suspend the HDDs, and if your PSU is too noisy you could try a good old fashioned fan swap.

i was thinking of suspending HDD but the thing is.....when you look at the psu and hdd noise....psu noise is 80% off their combined noise.....and i was thinking of swapping the psu fan but here i come to a problem....the fan is 135 mm.... and i cant find reaplacment one.....at least not quiet one...

I don`t think that swapping the fan to a 120mm model would cause you any problems, as long as the replacement fan has the appropriate speed. Considering that the psu is at the bottom of the case and that your system won`t stress it beyond 50% you could get away with using a slower fan (can`t say how much slower since I don`t know the speed of the stock fan). Mounting the fan could be a bit more tricky. I would probably try making an adapter out of cardboard.

I would also look into suspending the hard drives. Take a look at this thread: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=19147 , it has lots and lots of examples.

The problem is that i cant find any specifications of my PSU on the internet..... its Sharkoon rush power M 600w...and i dont know operating temperatures of PSU???.....i can put a temperature probe on the psu heatsink, connect the new fan to external fan controller an adjust its speed according to temps probe provides....

ass for the fan swap....i was thinking....in cosmos, psu compartment is elevated from the rest of the case....bi half cm....if i remove standard PSU fan and on the bottom of the case (ventilation holes) put fan (in sharkoon magnetic anti vibe silicone holder).... can that work?.....

and now the HDD..... it doesnt vibrate that much for now that it would require more silencing that it already has...in the future when i silence the PSU, then most of the noise will be comming from HDD.....then it will bother me ...

and what about temperatures....i am most worried about HDD temps, that said, i read some research done by the WD that said the main reason of HDD faliure was old age, and not temperature.....that the temps of hdd should be in range of 25 - 40 C....and not below 30 some people claimed....


ufff.....didnt write this much in English for a while ....do you understand everything ? if not say so, i will try harder...

I wouldn't touch the PSU, too much of an expense. If I'm not wrong, it uses the same fan as the Coolermaster Silent Pro, so it's not that noisy either. Can you turn it around so that it pulls air from the bottom?
As you said you're already using some kind of rubber grommets, I think the hard drive suspension wouldn't make a great difference though, it's the hard drive itself that's not quiet. Try loosen the screws a bit anyway.

as for the fan swap....i was thinking....in cosmos, psu compartment is elevated from the rest of the case....bi half cm....if i remove standard PSU fan and on the bottom of the case (ventilation holes) put fan (in sharkoon magnetic anti vibe silicone holder).... can that work?

It wouldn`t be as effective in cooling the psu because of the increased distance between the fan and heatsinks.

In one of your previous posts you mentioned that most of the noise comes from the psu. Are you sure about that? Have you tried to stop the fan from spinning? I`m asking this because if the fan is indeed the same as the one used by coolermaster it should be fairly quiet. Of course I could be wrong as the psu fan controller also plays a big part.

As you said you're already using some kind of rubber grommets, I think the hard drive suspension wouldn't make a great difference though, it's the hard drive itself that's not quiet. Try loosen the screws a bit anyway.

It depends a lot on the case though, I`ve found that suspension can really help in less rigid cases even when the hard drive itself doesn`t vibrate much. I`ve also found that suspending/putting the drive on a piece of foam is a lot more effective than using rubber gromments.

Touching the drive doesn`t really tell you if it produces vibrational noise. The best way to determine this is to power on the system with and without the disk drive.