My Fusion HTPC with Nexus fans, silent VGA

rm19 · Post by **rm19** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 10:07 pm

Inspired by the SPCR review of the NSK2400, I put together an HTPC using the Fusion and it is nearly silent except for the hard drives. I powered it up with no hard drives and it was almost totally inaudible, so I may purchase a single notebook hard drive. Here are some pics and details:

Power supply: Antec Neo HE 550 - this thing is ultra quiet, near-silent...perfect power supply. I tried a Phantom 500, but mine had a high pitched whine and I RMA'd it. NOTE: The Phantom barely fit.

VGA: Gigabyte 7600GT passive cooler (idle: 50C, load: 76C - No match for my X1900XTX, but it also doesn't get to 101C, heat the room and have a fan. One downside: I had to punch out the top of the case to clear the heatpipe.

CPU: A64 X2 3800+ idle: 29C (Cool 'N' Quiet) load: 43C

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS-7700Cu modded with a Nexus 120mm fan. Thanks for the idea SPCR! Nexus running slow as possible at 800rpm...any lower and it won't start consistently. Same with the single Nexus case fan.

Mobo/Other cards: Foxconn GeForce 6150K8MA-8EKRS, ATI HDTV Wonder and Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty (all silent!)

Hard drives: Storage/PVR: 500GB (temp: 42-45C)Western Digital SE16 SATA - Even SPCR's reference hard drive is not quiet enough if everything else is silent! Main/Windows: 160GB Maxtor UDMA133 (temp 38-40C) Set at lowest acoustic setting (it's seek noise is quieter than the SE16's). Will replace both with a single notebook hard drive.

I tried running my X1900XTX with Zalman VF-900, but during a 3D game temps shot up to 105C and the ATI protection kicked in.

Always wanted to do a Nexus mod. Wasn't easy as it looked since the stock Zalman fan has some depth, raising it above the heatsink. After cutting out the Nexus and drilling mounting holes, I had to use spacers and longer screws for the blades to clear the heatsink. Hey, my Canon stopped the Nexus fan in its tracks!

Just finished (check out the punched metal to clear the video card's heat pipe):

The 7600GT can drive the Westinghouse 37" monitor pretty well at 1920x1080 for 3D gaming.

Perfect HTPC case

Here's a 1920x1080 screen during stress testing. Link to Full Size image (600k): http://home.comcast.net/~rm19/silentpc/pc_test02.png

Summary: This is the coolest running AND quietest PC I've ever had. Once I get a single notebook hard drive, the LCD buzzing will be all that's left. The PC at idle draws 100 watts and 172 watts at full bore during Battlefield 2 so it's a fairly efficient web/ftp/file/media server as well. Thanks to the SPCR community for all the info and tips.

bob_clapperton · Post by **bob_clapperton** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:16 am

Excellent build..like the attention to detail.

How close do you sit to the screen btw ?

rm19 · Post by **rm19** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 10:02 am

I probably shouldn't sit so close, but with the backlight set to 12 (out of 100), it's actually very comfortable and not eye-straining at all.

raziell · Post by **raziell** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:48 am

very good work!

BillyBuerger · Post by **BillyBuerger** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:33 pm

Wow, you're closeup picture looks like it could be a promo shot. Nice work!

a_punker · Post by **a_punker** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 9:36 am

darn, pics are down

Cerberus · Post by **Cerberus** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:50 pm

I like the sound of this build, but can't see the images. Is it possible for you to re-host them? (photobucket, etc.)

rm19 · Post by **rm19** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 4:26 pm

Cerberus wrote:I like the sound of this build, but can't see the images. Is it possible for you to re-host them? (photobucket, etc.)

Pics are back up. I had to re-build the server when I swapped the boot drive with a 100GB notebook drive so it's even quieter now! The pics may go down again as I'm contemplating installing Media Center so I can also use it to record and time-shift HDTV.

Cerberus · Post by **Cerberus** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 5:03 am

Nice work! The photo of the heat-pipe clearance punch-out is still down (got a Comcast 404 page on this end). What will you be using as a PVR storage drive when you remove the WD?

rm19 · Post by **rm19** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:23 am

Cerberus wrote:Nice work! The photo of the heat-pipe clearance punch-out is still down (got a Comcast 404 page on this end). What will you be using as a PVR storage drive when you remove the WD?

Sorry about the missing pic...I'll check it out after work. I haven't decided between a 160GB (cheap) or waiting on larger, pricier SATA notebook drives like 200GB or the coming soon 250GB.

The 500GB WD is barely audible, but it's the noisiest thing now so it's gotta go eventually. A notebook drive won't be nearly as big and fast, though. (72MB/sec avg on HDTach vs. 33MB/sec on my current 100GB notebook) Silence wins for this system!

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:06 pm

Looks good... I'm sure you can set the VC at high resolution but depending on the game 4get eye candy.

rm19 · Post by **rm19** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:04 pm

I recently swapped in a Fortron Zen 300 watt fanless PS, a single 100GB notebook drive and swapped the Nexus case fan with a Scythe 120mm FDB 8.7dB. From 1m, this system is totally inaudible, even at 2am, silent room. I'm glad I found this site!

MC FLMJIG: I gave up on making my gaming system silent (Core2Duo 6600 + X1900XTX), which can drive the monitor at 1920x1080 max everything. It still manages to be very low noise, but not near-silent like this PC.

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:12 pm

Question... loks nice btw! Are the fans in or outs?

Usually the 7700 work best when air is coming in close to them.

rm19 · Post by **rm19** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 5:52 pm

MC FLMJIG wrote:Question... loks nice btw! Are the fans in or outs?

Usually the 7700 work best when air is coming in close to them.

Thanks! There is only one case fan, blowing out and the CPU fan blows down, both are set at ~750rpm. Set much slower and they can't start up. Best part is CPU is 29C idle, 42C load, GPU 50C idle, 71C load.