Rebuild an old pc

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idum
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Jun 13, 2013 5:10 am

Rebuild an old pc

Post by idum » Thu Jun 13, 2013 5:46 am

Hi all.
I'm an italian newbie here so sorry for my english and for my newbbiesh questions.

I need to build a silect pc, trying to reusing parts of my old pc.

My old pc was, well.. a totally open case mini itx. It is not possible more for me to maintain in my office/house a sort of tech frankenstein on my desk so i need to rebuild all in a close case. Also, i need to work with low noise. Obviously, i use this pc for all purposes: gaming (rpg, nothing hard and nothing full-texture maniacal behavior), media (full hd video, audio), internet and office productivity. Well i don't need Cray2, but a Celeron single core would be light..

Processor is an old Phenom II B35 X3(+1)
Mainboard is the miniatx 880gmh/u3s3
4GB ram (i remember 1333 but i'm not sure and i think not relevant)
PSU is a 500W Nilox
GPu is a radeon 5770 from Asus
CPU heatskin is an Artic Alpine Pro 64 rev.2

Hds are old but not so noisy

In my "very open" case, the noise was audible but not very annoying. Problem was mainly from a intermittent not localized wheezing sound.

First change so was a new case. I've selected an economic but (apparently?) well made Fractal Design 1000.

After the rebuilding, the bad news.

Noise is now very annoying, the heatskins from CPU, GPU and also the front case 12" runs very quicky and the sound is not acceptable even only using the browser.
When the pc is used for something higher (even if a facebook flash game), the noise is as an helicopter due the bigger work of GPU heatskin: in the case it haven't enough space and ventilation.

Now i'm working after i've removed a lateral part of the case, for avoid overheating, but the noise is not resolved.

Can you help me? My budget is not very high so, any euros/dollar i can save, is good.

Thanks all for the help

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Rebuild an old pc

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:58 am

Hi and welcome to SPCR.

Are you using the stock fan configuration (one 120mm fan mounted in front)? If so, your problem might primarily be lack of airflow. Add a rear 92mm exhaust fan and see what happens. If you need more airflow to lower GPU temps, adding a side 120mm intake fan might help. What brands of fans are available to you? You should be able to find a couple of quiet fans for ~$10 each.

Also, that case doesn't seem to have much space for cable management. If you haven't already, use cable ties to attach the power and other cables to the sides of the chassis and out of the airflow path.

Could you post your idle and load temps for the CPU and GPU and also fan rpms?

idum
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Jun 13, 2013 5:10 am

Re: Rebuild an old pc

Post by idum » Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:52 am

Thanks for the answer!
Next week i will search some quiet fans to be added at the case and, also, i will try to displace better cables in my case.

For the temps and the fan rpms, what software can i use?

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Rebuild an old pc

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Jun 14, 2013 7:12 am


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