Fairly quiet workstation (P182 ++) - Updated 21.09.08

Show off your quiet rig.

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Wibla
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Fairly quiet workstation (P182 ++) - Updated 21.09.08

Post by Wibla » Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:30 pm

New pics on page 3!

This is my "New" workstation, originally it lived in an old ATX fulltower case from 1997, but I got too tired of dust and noise problems, so.. enter 2007 and the glorious Antec P182 :D

Specs:

Antec P182
Corsair HX520W
Asus P5W DH Deluxe
Asus 7950GT 512MB
E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme
Thermalright HR-03
3x1GB Crucial BallistiX PC8500
3x250GB Seagate 7200.8 (2 PATA, 1 SATA)




Image


Image
From the side

Image
Close-up shot...


Airflow diagram: (my paint skills are... lacking)
Image
Green: CPU fan header, 35-100% in speedfan, varied by CPU temp
Blue: Case fan header, 35-80% in speedfan, varied by GPU + NB temp
Red: HDD fan header, 35-80% in speedfanm varied by HDD temps

UPDATES:

Mostly revamped the whole post...
Last edited by Wibla on Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:10 pm, edited 10 times in total.

McBanjo
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Post by McBanjo » Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:58 am

I have Zalman ZM80D-HP on my 7950GT and it's around 75C on full load

Wibla
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Post by Wibla » Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:26 am

I just mounted my Thermalright HR-03...

BF2 with intake fans @ 800rpm and exhaust @ ~400rpm = 94C
BF2 with fans @ full = 83C

... It wasnt unstable, and there was no artifacts at any time, even at 94C.. funky...

dhanson865
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Post by dhanson865 » Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:18 am

Seems like with the back pressure issues of the Noctuas you would do better if you moved the Noctua from the heatsink down to the bottom chamber and moved the nexus up to the heatsink.

Wibla
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Post by Wibla » Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:41 am

Ofcourse... switched the fans now :)

Wibla
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Post by Wibla » Mon Jul 16, 2007 3:11 pm

Image

Moved one of the noctua fans down to the gpu.. result: abit higher overall temps because I lost the top exhaust fan, and way lower gpu temps... example:

25-26C ambient

GPU:

54C idle
60C in BF2

... not too shoddy really :)

Also ordered 5 more nexus fans, for $9 a piece.. a bargain in norway ;)

kevral
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Post by kevral » Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:40 pm

Wibla wrote: Also ordered 5 more nexus fans, for $9 a piece.. a bargain in norway ;)
That's what, 1/3 of what Komplett charges? Can I ask you where you found them for that price?

dukunmagic
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Post by dukunmagic » Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:25 pm

dhanson865 wrote:Seems like with the back pressure issues of the Noctuas you would do better if you moved the Noctua from the heatsink down to the bottom chamber and moved the nexus up to the heatsink.
Hi,
back pressure issues ?? Could you please advise what that means ? Because I just order 4 Noctua 120 fans. Is it bad ?? I was planning to use Noctua 120mm fans on my P182 for the whole system. Should I buy another Nexus ???

Wibla
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Post by Wibla » Tue Jul 17, 2007 3:54 am

kevral wrote:
Wibla wrote: Also ordered 5 more nexus fans, for $9 a piece.. a bargain in norway ;)
That's what, 1/3 of what Komplett charges? Can I ask you where you found them for that price?
Mamoz.no, hehe. Not the best site, but I guess they cant do that order wrong...
dukunmagic wrote:
dhanson865 wrote:Seems like with the back pressure issues of the Noctuas you would do better if you moved the Noctua from the heatsink down to the bottom chamber and moved the nexus up to the heatsink.
Hi,
back pressure issues ?? Could you please advise what that means ? Because I just order 4 Noctua 120 fans. Is it bad ?? I was planning to use Noctua 120mm fans on my P182 for the whole system. Should I buy another Nexus ???
Noctua's push air just fine, they just dont like pushing air through stuff like filters and heatsinks, you should go for nexus.. also noctua fans stop reporting RPM at 700rpm, while the nexus fans reports down to about 300...

ryboto
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Post by ryboto » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:22 am

Why not mount the HR-03 wrapped around the card, you could then avoid having to use another fan to cool it. It should be cooled well enough by the airflow from the exhaust and possible even the CPU fan.

Wibla
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Post by Wibla » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:02 am

This is true.. I guess im abit worried about the available space to do it.

dukunmagic
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Post by dukunmagic » Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:12 am

Wibla wrote:This is true.. I guess im abit worried about the available space to do it.
Hi, Wibla..
I'm a bit newbie to this quieting pc stuffs. I'm rite now preparing my new system & would do it just like yours. Is your system totally deadly silent ?
How do you set your nexus & noctua fans? Do you lower the rpm or do you have them running full speed ?
For Noctua, I know we can lower the rpm using the ULNA included in the package. How do you do it with the Nexus? Using the "7 Volt Tricks" ??

Thanks !!

kevral
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Post by kevral » Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:35 am

Wibla wrote:Mamoz.no, hehe. Not the best site, but I guess they cant do that order wrong...
Takk, kamerat.

I never even thought of checking Mamoz, since they are getting horrid reviews across the board. But I guess it's worth trying this time. :)

Stany
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Post by Stany » Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:59 am

Have a little question , u did replace the original fans.
Can u still use the switches then? min med max ??
I don't own one , just want to know....

PS: Nice computer :)

Wibla
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Post by Wibla » Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:33 pm

I use speedfan to control all the fans except psu...

Image

You cant use the switches on the back when you swap out the fans.

It's not deadly silent, but its quiet enough, i can barely hear it when I turn off the fileserver i also have... ofc. if the noctua exhaust fan spins @1300 rpm, I hear it no matter, but as long as its below 1000rpm I cant hear it above the ambient noise. I cant hear the Noctua HDD fan at all except on 100%, as its between the psu and the hdd cage...

dukunmagic
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Post by dukunmagic » Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:06 pm

Hi, Wibla..
Silly question, Correct me if I'm wrong :
If I also want to use speedfan to control the fan speed & monitor the temperature just like yours, then I'll need to add :
- Add 3 pieces of thermal monitoring hardware for the 3 hard drive.
- Then all the fans in your system should be attached to fan connector on motherboard instead of attach them directly with psu ?

thanks.

mr_a_mac
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Post by mr_a_mac » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:56 pm

I have just purchased a similar setup i.e. P182, Corsair 620W, with ASUS M/B (can't remember the specs...maybe A8N SLI?). The P4 power socket seems to be in a very similar position to yours, and I'm trying to tidy up my cables at the moment.

How did you feed the cable behind the M/B?
Do you have to take the M/B out to do so?
Can the cable cause any problems if it's in direct contact with the M/B?

When I've finished cleaning it up a bit, I'll be happy to upload some shots, but, as everyone here already knows, the pursuit of silence is an ongoing process!! Passive watercooling and a BFG watercooled 8800GTX or on my wish-list (drooling).

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Post by derekchinese » Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:31 pm

how did you manage to mount the nexus on the ultra 120?

Thanks,
Derek

Wibla
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Post by Wibla » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:06 am

mr_a_mac wrote:I have just purchased a similar setup i.e. P182, Corsair 620W, with ASUS M/B (can't remember the specs...maybe A8N SLI?). The P4 power socket seems to be in a very similar position to yours, and I'm trying to tidy up my cables at the moment.

How did you feed the cable behind the M/B?
Do you have to take the M/B out to do so?
Can the cable cause any problems if it's in direct contact with the M/B?
I just fed it behind the motherboard plate and then through the hole at the top.. had like 5mm to spare.
dukunmagic wrote:Hi, Wibla..
Silly question, Correct me if I'm wrong :
If I also want to use speedfan to control the fan speed & monitor the temperature just like yours, then I'll need to add :
- Add 3 pieces of thermal monitoring hardware for the 3 hard drive.
- Then all the fans in your system should be attached to fan connector on motherboard instead of attach them directly with psu ?

thanks.
Speedfan should find your harddrives automatically, and then its really a piece of cake :) read the help file, its actually not bad.

All the fans should be connected to the motherboard, but you need 3plug fans like nexus or noctua 120mm, not the antec units.
derekchinese wrote:how did you manage to mount the nexus on the ultra 120?

Thanks,
Derek
I used some heavy duty double sided tape at each corner.

Image

Works good, and I think it reduces vibrations abit too, as its like 1.5-2mm thick.

aelfewulf
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Post by aelfewulf » Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:38 am

Hi Wibla, nice rig!

Since u are using Speedfan, u might wanna know that it has been reported in other forums that Speedfan registers coretemps that are 15 degrees lower than actual. It seems logical to me that the coretemps should be higher than system temp at all times.

I'm using both Coretemp 0.95 and Speedfan, Speedfan does show 15C lower . So i added 15C offset value to Speedfan.

Here are my temps for reference:
Ambient 30C: Coretemp=40C Idle, 59C Load (Orthos)
GPU=52C Idle
System=40C

My specs:
P182, E4300 (stock)+ Scythe Infinity, Asus P5K

Stany
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Post by Stany » Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:41 am

little question here I see how u mounted your powersupply , the 12 cm fan is at the bottom right??
Can he get air over there??Just a question.

Thanks
Stany

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Post by thejamppa » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:49 am

Stany wrote:little question here I see how u mounted your powersupply , the 12 cm fan is at the bottom right??
Can he get air over there??Just a question.

Thanks
Stany
Yeah, there is hole in bottom of that PSU stand, allowing bottom ventilated PSU get more than enough air.

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Post by jaldridge6 » Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:01 am

what you need todo is turn 5 harddrives into 2 somehow :/

Wibla
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Post by Wibla » Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:44 am

aelfewulf wrote:Hi Wibla, nice rig!

Since u are using Speedfan, u might wanna know that it has been reported in other forums that Speedfan registers coretemps that are 15 degrees lower than actual. It seems logical to me that the coretemps should be higher than system temp at all times.

I'm using both Coretemp 0.95 and Speedfan, Speedfan does show 15C lower . So i added 15C offset value to Speedfan.

Here are my temps for reference:
Ambient 30C: Coretemp=40C Idle, 59C Load (Orthos)
GPU=52C Idle
System=40C

My specs:
P182, E4300 (stock)+ Scythe Infinity, Asus P5K
I tested with TAT.. same temps :) obviously the "CPU" temp is worthless, but Core 0 and Core 1 is identical.

eagleone
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Re: Silent - or nearly so. (P182+Corsair+Thermalright)

Post by eagleone » Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:51 am

Wibla wrote:This is my "New" workstation, originally it lived in an old ATX fulltower case from 1997, but I got too tired of dust and noise problems, so.. enter 2007 and the glorious Antec P182 :D

Specs:

Antec P182
Corsair HX520W
Asus P5W DH Deluxe
Asus 7950GT 512MB
E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme
Thermalright HR-03
2x1GB Geil Ultra PC6400
5 harddrives (320+2x250+200+160)
2x Nexus 120mm (in front of upper drive bay + CPU HSF)
3x Noctua 120mm (bottom drive bay + rear/top exhaust)
I have the same coolers for the cpu and vga in a P180. What I have done differently is install the HR-03 the other way around over the graphic card to save one PCI slot. It is now passive (used to have a 92 fan on it) and is being cooled by the airflow from the 120 fans above. It is a bit tight on installation but it works very well. My 7900gt (oc from 400 to 550 mhz) stays always below 80 deg C and when idling approx 45 deg.

I left the top fan installed it makes a small difference.

BTW Great site...

Michael

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Post by meansizzler » Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:56 pm

I ordered the same case, ditching my silverstone SG03 setup due to bad temps, will have Sythe Ninja Heatsink, Nexus 120mm @ 7v for CPU and Exhaust fan as well as front VGA fan, will have Noctua @ 7.5V for Top fan as well as Front Lower fan, and will remove stock fan in PSU area.

PSU will be Enermax Liberty 500 modded with Nexus 120mm running at stock speeds, and will have 2 * Seagate 120GB 7200.2 Drives enclosed in Scythe SDQ2500

Graphics card will be Ati 1950 Pro fitted with Artic Acccelero S1, but will replace with GTX+HR-03 Plus later on

Wibla
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Re: Silent - or nearly so. (P182+Corsair+Thermalright)

Post by Wibla » Thu Jul 19, 2007 5:16 pm

eagleone wrote: I have the same coolers for the cpu and vga in a P180. What I have done differently is install the HR-03 the other way around over the graphic card to save one PCI slot. It is now passive (used to have a 92 fan on it) and is being cooled by the airflow from the 120 fans above. It is a bit tight on installation but it works very well. My 7900gt (oc from 400 to 550 mhz) stays always below 80 deg C and when idling approx 45 deg.

I left the top fan installed it makes a small difference.

BTW Great site...

Michael
Image

Like this? just did this earlier today, wanted the top exhaust back...

eagleone
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Re: Silent - or nearly so. (P182+Corsair+Thermalright)

Post by eagleone » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:20 pm

Wibla wrote: Like this? just did this earlier today, wanted the top exhaust back...
Exactly. I also found that with the top fan as intake VGA temps are a bit lower.

It looks nice doesn't it?

Stany
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Post by Stany » Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:32 pm

mmm sorry for the repetetive questions , but U control the fan's with speedfan .
So the fans are plugged in the mainboard??Or how is this acomplished.
If so does every decent mainboard this option?
For example a Gigabyte p35 DS3...?

Wibla
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Post by Wibla » Fri Jul 20, 2007 4:37 pm

Yes, all fans are plugged into my P5W DH Deluxe.

I don't know if the DS3 supports speedfan at all, sorry.

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