Can you go any quieter than this?

[Bored_Band]

First post alert after reading in this place for years....and reading
all the guides....


M/B SPEC:
-------------------

Cpu: AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.2GHZ

Heatsink: Coolermaster HHC-L61 'Heatpipe'
*Came with fan rated: 14.13 CFM fan @ 3000 rpm*.
I swapped this for.......

Cpu Fan: Papst 612NGL 12.4cfm 16dB(A) (60mm)

Current CPU Temp via Asus 'Probe': Idle/58c Load 63c

-------------------

Everything else on my PC is now silenced, (Case/HDD) the only noise
I can hear is the fan on the CPU (Which is meant to be the
quietest available). The Graphics card has no fan, and both
case fans are de-volted 80mm PAPST.... along with mega quiet PSU
I can't think of any other thing to make it quiet, other than de-volting
the poor CPU fan, but I'm not very good with electricity.

[I managed to set-fire (Small flame) to my Radeon 9500 Pro power
socket. Hell knows how, it just produced a little yellow flame and
started burning.... it still works fine though. ]


My question is please, do you think I can de-volt the
60mm Papst on the CPU to 7 or 5v and still have a PC left?
I'm prepared to get a new CPU (Athlon XP) if you think
I can then get away with such a feeble fan speed.
I am worried about 'flaming' it, from my last experience.
(Is this normal?)...

I don't play PC games on this machine, it's purely my silent
one. I must have a silent PC, yes I am totally obsessed.

Many many thanks for any input, as you are the fountain
of all knowledge.

Cheers.

Bored_Band
(ADSL in the UK: It's like waiting for bus on the moon)

[NeilBlanchard]

Hello:

A 60mm fan that moves 12CFM at only 16dBA? I dunno -- maybe it's possible, but I bet you'd be better off with a quiet 80mm fan and maybe undervolt that instead. My NMB's are rated at 18CFM and 18dBA, so if you dropped these to 7v you might still be left with enough to cool the CPU...

I have not heard about the HHC-L61 -- is it in the SLK-800/Alpha PAL 8045 territory for efficiency? This would be the critical thing, IMO. Either that or upgrade to a Tbred 1700+ (and possibly undervolt it).

[DryFire]

a 1.5 volt 1700 will probably run at lower voltages then your mother board will let you go.

[Clippet]

Hello Bored_Band.

What about the harddrive? Even if you silence everything to zero the harddrive will whine constantly. You didn't mention that.

[Bored_Band]

Hi guys, thanks for all the replies and so quickly.

I forgot to say yea that maybe the Thermalright SLK800
with a Panaflo @ 7v would be a quieter setup, or maybe
no fan at all.. (evil grin).

As for the hard drive, I can't tell the differerence when the PC
is in stand-by, so presumably either I am silly, or it's in-audible?
(I plonked the HDD in a 'Silent Drive' box)....

Thanks

[SometimesWarrior]

A friend of mine recently upgraded his 1.4GHz Thunderbird to an XP1700+ Tbred-B. Idle processor temperatures dropped from 51C to 38C! His case has good airflow, and the before/after temps were with an SK-7 heatsink and an NMB 80mm 18cfm fan @ 12V. I'd say the room temperature is 22C or so. He then overclocked it to XP2000+ speed, with a 1C increase in idle temps.

Anyway, the moral of the story is: if your motherboard supports faster processors, then a processor upgrade can be a very effective cooling solution. (Plus, it makes your computer faster!)

[Clippet]

Bored_Band: What type of harddrive do you have in the SilentDrive?

I have mine in a SilentDrive too, namely a Samsung 60GB (The older 60GB-platter-version, which makes mine a one-platter). Although it's quiet running you can still hear when it turns off (via standby).