Hi, I bought a brand new system about 4 or 5 months ago, took me on an Antec P-180-case to keep the noise down a bit. This is where we got our first problems. The top-mounted outtake fan regularly rattles, though a reboot or a good solid hitting the case a few times gets it zooming along quiet-ish again. I still want to replace it, though, because the rattling is horribly annoying. What brand/type of fans are great for silent, reliable outtake while compatible with the case?

Second problem: the PSU. I bought an OCZ 450W Modsteam, thinking the modular design would really work for my system. Oh, how wrong was I. It comes with EMI-shielded cables, which are WAY to fat to fit through the P-180 somewhat decently. I had to remove the bottom compartiment throughput fan etc. just to make it all fit somewhat. So, I want a PSU that will fit in my case while making me take advantage of the whole "shield two compartiments for airflow"-thing. Something extremely reliable (I had a brand new PSU burn through my system once before, so it needs all kinds of safeties built in before I can trust it), with normal cables and an output that powers my system with a bit of room for expansion.

Thirdly, my graphics card. It makes a helluvalot of noise. Are there any silencing-solutions available yet for a factory-oc'ed XFX 7900GT (last time I checked, they were still working on it, but I can't remember what or where)? What are the effects of such a solution on other aspects of the system next to silence? And most importantly, is it doable for somewhat of a layman when it comes to computer building? I mean, I can cram parts in a box, but I've never been anywhere near a soldering iron or the likes.

Bonus problem: AMD Cool'n'Quiet doesn't seem to work on my system (see specs below). I asked Asrock tech support, they said it only works with the stock AMD cooler. Shouldn't it work with any cooler, seeing as how (if I got this right) the motherboard is supposed to simply cut down on fan voltage when clockspeeds cut back? I installed everything you're supposed to install (the AMD driver, BIOS updates and the likes), but it doesn't seem to work. Also, I keep hearing my processor is supposed to idle at 800mhz, while it never goes below 1000mhz, possibly related?

There, that's it. Thanks in advance.

(Specs: AMD X2 3800+, Asrock 939DUAL-SATA2, 2* Maxtor IDE 60GB, WD S-ATA 320GB, NEC 4571, XFX 7900GT, SB Audigy 4, OCZ ModStream 450W, Antec P-180, Arctic Freezer 64 Pro.)

1. Recommended Fans
2. I don't have any experience with the Antec p180. Check the general gallery and see what works for others.
3. There is a passive 7950GT made by XFX (SPCR Discussion). You should also be able to use a number of after-market video coolers (Zalman, Arctic Cooling,...)
4. AMD Cool n Quiet reduces the voltage supplied to the processor when idle. It doesn't have anything to do with a heatsink or fan speeds. I would suggest undervolting your processor instead. This can dramtically reduced your processor temperatures and therefore the noise related to cooling.

Undervolting? Doesn't that mean I get less processing capacity?

General Gallery? You mean the forums or...? I'm not sure what part of the site you're talking about here.

I saw that article about recommended fans, but isn't it a bit, well, dated? I'd imagine there's been some evolutions in fans the past 4 years.
Edit: I found a more recent thread listing a bunch of fans, totally overlooked it.

Yate Loon, Nexus, Globalwin NCB, Scythe S-Flex.



Seasonic S12 range is still the best fanned PSU according to SPCR criteria. S12-430 should be fine.



Have you changed the power scheme to "Minimal Power Management" in Windows Control Panel-Power Options? Ignore the BS about the stock cooler. AFAIAA it is normal for AMD CPU's to clock down to 1GHz when CnQ is on.



Not necessarily. Some CPU's can run perfectly stable at stock speeds while undervolted by as much as 0.3-4V, which brings big heat and power savings. I don't know if your motherboard allows Vcore changes in BIOS, you can always use RMClock or CrystalCPUID if not.




General Gallery

Yep, did that. RPM stays at a crispy ~2300, no matter the load. Really don't get it. I'm guessing cooked-up motherboard, seems like it can't cope with the Freezer 64 (from what I can gather through google).

Thanks for the link etc.

There are two functions of Cool'n'Quiet

The first function is to lower voltage and clock speed at idle. (That's the 'Cool' part). The second function is to reduce the fan speed of the CPU fan based on temperature. (That's the 'Quiet' part). To control the fan speed, the board must support PWM and the fan must have an RPM sensing wire and be plugged into the CPU fan header.

To check the undervolting, right click on 'My Computer' and click properties while your system is at idle. Look at the clock speed and it should be less than the full clock speed. Theoretically, it should be at 1 GHz, but it may be higher since the processor had to work to get the properties. You can also use a program like crystalcpuid to check the cpu frequency in real-time.

Edit: Also check to see if there's an option for Cool'n'Quiet in the BIOS and enable it.

I've got AMD PowerMonitor installed to keep track of my core load, and it shows both my cores flipping back and forth between frequencies, depending on load. So the 'Cool'-part is working.

The option in the BIOS is checked.

By the way, what's "PWM"? I see it pop up quite often, but can't place it.

Pulse width modulation - Wiki
I don't quite understand the scientific properties.
I think it reduces fan speed by switching the voltage on and off quickly.

A note on undervolting: Undervolting alone does not reduce the processing power of the cpu, only the voltage supplied to the cpu. I run a Athlon X2 4400+ @ 1.225V but the clock is still 2.2GHz. It runs perfectly stable and has reduced my temps by approximately 5°C idle and 7°C load. You may be able to undervolt a X2 3800+ even more.

With Cool n Quiet, you get cooler temps when idle, but there is no advantage under load. If you do undervolt, be sure to disable Cool n Quiet!