SPCR

I have bought Shuttle XPC SB61G2, P4 3.0 GHz, ATI AIW 9600
with intention to build reasonably quiet, compact, and fast HTPC.

But it is NOT quiet.
Power Supply (PSU) fan (40mm) is rotating at about 4500 RPM,
so my guess is this is the main problem.

Options:

* Replace PSU with Shuttle SilentX, or

* Return SB61G2 and buy
- AOpen XC Cube EZ65, or
- Qbic EQ3401A, or
- Antec ARIA case when it comes in a few weeks, and MB
- ?

Any suggestions?

That P4-3.0 is the start of your noise problems. You're at 80W right there. Back down on that and the PSU will probably slow down a bit. The Silent X PSU is probably worthwhile -- if you can get an exchange on your old PSU, even better. The $70 price I've seen for that PSU seems a bit of a ripoff tho.

DSR,
I have the Aopen XC cube with slightly less powerful components than you, and I find the power supply fan too noisy. Its certainly not 4500 rpm but it makes a consistent hum, that I can hear from all the way across a quiet room. The rest of it is very quiet. I have an ATI 9600 (non pro fanless) and an undervolted P4 2.8. These things are all relative, but I am not happy with the Aopens noise currently, there also don't seem to be any options for changing the psu as it is non standard in the XC cube.

RD

MikeC

How much queter Antec Aria, and also Antec Sonata

is than Shuttle with SilentX PSU, i.e. ST61G4?

Thank you

DS

drsr -- that's not an answerable question. It depends too much what you put in it and what you do with what you put in it and how far you go in pursuing quiet. All are pretty quiet out of the box.

I have a Sonata and a Shuttle SB 51G with a 2.4 P4. I traded the orginal PSU in the Shuttle for the Silent X PSU and it dropped the noise some. I swapped out the ICE fan for a Panaflo L1A and that helped alot. Temps (MBM) 34C idle. It is quiet with a little high frequency whine. It is mounted under a desktop. I am happy with the changes. My Sonata has a 2.8P4 with a Thermalright cooler. When I put a panaflo L1A on as a CPU cooler, it is quieter than the Shuttle. It makes a lower frequency sound of rushing air. I have since swapped the Sonata power supply for a Nexus 3500. That is really a quiet power supply. I made a 5 volt mod on the 120mm case fan and that made a big improvement. The temps at idle on the Sonata is 24C. This is now the quieter of the two machines.

i have a shuttle zen (st62k), which has an external psu. I run a P4 2.6C undervolted to 1.2V. There is one single fan left in the system and it runs at 1300-1400rpm. CPU Temps are 37°C under full load (folding)!

I highly recommend the st62k ... just undervolt the cpu

Markus

tomcat wrote:i have a shuttle zen (st62k), which has an external psu. CPU Temps are 37°C under full load!

What are you using to measure the temps? Has Shuttle started including temp monitoring software that works with the ATi chipset?

What are you using to measure the temps? Has Shuttle started including temp monitoring software that works with the ATi chipset?

Ralf,

I could not find any temp monitoring software yet. I'm using an external temp sensor (Enermax UC-A3FATR2 fan controller and temp sensor). The sensor is attache to the cpu heatsink.

I hope MBM will support the ati chipset some day ...

Markus

tomcat wrote:i have a shuttle zen (st62k), which has an external psu. I run a P4 2.6C undervolted to 1.2V. There is one single fan left in the system and it runs at 1300-1400rpm. CPU Temps are 37°C under full load (folding)!

I highly recommend the st62k ... just undervolt the cpu

Markus

Very interesting. But I have a dual view right now (VGA + DVI). So the st62k seems not the right choice for me. Is there a quiet Shuttle that has dual view?

rmac wrote:I traded the orginal PSU in the Shuttle for the Silent X PSU and it dropped the noise some.

How and where did you get a trade in like that? I would love to do the same. Thanks.