Silencing PC: Mission Failed Miserably

QuaiBoy · Post by **QuaiBoy** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 7:09 am

burcakb wrote:... So there ARE other fans out there that outperform the Stealth series in many ways.

Didn't say there weren't. Merely stated my good results with the Stealths.

-Evan-

MikeH · Post by **MikeH** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 8:06 am

I am no expert, but here are my observations. I have the same case. I found that the fan in the front just circulated hot air that is inside the case instead of pulling in cool air. To cure this, I had to tape shut the holes in the sheet metal on the front of the case behind the plastic bezel. Once that was done, the front fan pulled air in through the small openings in the bezel and provided some cool air to the case. Another thing that helped was that I removed the fan on the back of the case and replaced it with a duct that ran to the cpu heat sink fan. That change alone dropped the cpu temp by 10C according to the on-die sensor. With that setup, you have two fans pulling air in and one (the psu) pulling air out. However, I suspect that I am geting some hot air from the psu pulled back in by the cpu's hsf.

Bosk · Post by **Bosk** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:48 am

NeedQuietPC wrote:I've turned on the PC for 2-3 hours now and the temps are:
CPU Idle: 52C
Case Idle: 45C

This is with the fans taken out from the exhaust. So the only fans present are the ones in the PSU and the CPU fan. Enermax Noisetaker fan speed knob set to "low".

I'm located in sunny California so weather could be much hotter in the next few months! Could I get away with just the WhisperRock heatsink?

If I were in your shoes I'd be worried about those temps.
The delta between idle temps and what you'll get after hours of gaming can be more than you might guess with aircooling, and much more so with low-noise air cooling.

Though many people consider CPU load temps in the 60's or 70's (celcius) to be acceptable, the hotter you run your equipment the more chance of it breaking down (usually when you need it most!) or the more it's lifespan will be reduced.

You might try running with the side panel of your case removed. If the temps drop dramatically then case airflow is your main problem. If they don't, a better CPU heatsink & fan combo would be your best bet.

With a decent heatsink/fan combo you should be able to drop your case/psu fans to 5 volt and still be assured of safe (but maybe not great) temps.
IMHO silence isn't worth it if you're too worried about frying your components.

Best of luck!
Bosk.

NeedQuietPC · Post by **NeedQuietPC** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 9:00 am

Just received my Whisperrock IV HSF and installed it into the system and removed the case fan, so all the fans that are left is the one on the CPU and the PSU. I'd recommend the Whisperrock, it's quiet and does the job well. I had the computer on all day yesterday and the highest temperatures read in Motherboard Monitor was:

Case: 47 degrees C
CPU: 51 degrees C

How reliable is the case temperature reading from the motherboard? Should I be worrying about the case temperature? In the morning it starts out in the high 30s to the low 40s, but when it gets to the sunny afternoon, it reaches the high 40s.