Hi,

I own a AMD Phenom-II X6 1090T on a Gigabyte GB-870A-USB3 with 8GB of RAM. The graphic card is HIS Radeon HD4890 Turbo. This is fitted in the Chieftec DX-01WD series (quite old but heavy and good quality) and the PSU is Chieftec CFT-750-14C. There is also 2x Seagate 7200rpm 1TB in RAID0.

Runs like a charm but... it is LOUD! Working with some power consuming apps (Matlab) or playing games on it is almost impossible without a headset. There is no case fan installed and the CPU and GPU fans are stock.

The first part to be changed is the CPU fan. The stock AMD fan is a mistake! It is 70mm cooling down the CPU quite well but for a price of enourmous noise.

I think about using one of the following solutions:

-> Scythe Grand Kama Cross with stock fan? (ca. 40CHF - I live in Switzerland)
-> CM Hyper 212+ with the Nexus fans fitted (or should I use different ones?) (40CHF + 13EUR for the fans)

Which one should I use? Or maybe a different one? (I am not overclocking the system at the moment. I just want it quiet).

After the CPU fan I will change the GPU or its cooling and finally I fit the case fans. All changes will be documented using high precision microphone system from B&K and Fluke thermal imaging camera.

Thanks for help!

First you need air flowing through the case and then something like a Scythe Mugen.

Hello,

I think you should start by identifying the sources of noise. Disconnect all fans except perhaps the ones on the cpu and gpu (you can temporarily stop them by pressing on the fan hub). Once you`ve determined which are the worst offenders you can start planning your upgrades.

The amd stock cooler probably won`t cut it, however, it should be reasonably quiet @ idle as long as it`s controlled by the motherboard. Look for automatic fan control options in the bios and make sure they`re enabled. Even if you replace the stock cooler those options will come in handy. The CM hyper is not a bad cooler though Scythe coolers (like the Mugen, excellent value) come with better fans. If you`re willing to spend a little more, the Thermalright hr 02 is probably the best low airflow cooler around. I don`t think the nexus real silent is a good choice because most motherboards will be unable to control it automatically (they usually work with 4pin pwm fans).

Cooling the gpu is a slightly more complicated matter. You`ll need to make sure the vrm`s receive sufficient cooling, something not all aftermarket coolers are capable of. I`d recommend looking at discussions covering this topic in more detail.

The lack of case fans is also an issue. Having the psu fan as the only exhaust will result in it increasing it`s speed to compensate. As a minimum I would recommend installing a couple of exhaust fans, perhaps also a pair of intakes at the front (the dx-01 takes 8cm fans right?). Skythe makes some good 8cm fans, Nexus does too, though the latter are hard to find. By using them in pairs you could make up for their smaller size allowing you to dial their speed down a bit (you`ll probably need a dedicated fan controller for this or a pair of Zalman fanmates).

Hope that`s enough to get you started.

The CM should be preferable, but to be actually so the price isn't right at all (with reference to the Grand Kama Cross, which - at anyway- may have some clearance issue, due to its wideness).
You should source it elsewhere, or go for a different cooler (like the Scythe Mugen 2 someone has already suggested): to know which one, please refer to SPCR charts for single and dual fan coolers (and cross-refer those heatsinks to your price lists).

At anyway, before blaming the crap AMD stock heatsink as the real culprit, if SpeedFan works for you (I have some serious doubts, as a Gigabyte 870A isn't the best candidate), you should try it connected to a different (than the canonical CPU one) fan header: as I suppose it may spin noticeably slower, I think you will find out that your about-reference 4890 may be very loud, and one of the major source of noise (which you may try to address with a custom fan curve by MSI Afterburner/Rivatuner).
If SpeedFan should not work, you may try the usual Gigabyte utilities, though I don't know if EasyTune 6 (?) may be an effective surrogate for it.

AFAIK several current MSI and Gigabyte boards do it well, some ASUS ones too (but their number is shrinking, with their newer SB boards).
And if SpeedFan works for him, he may use any controllable header different than the CPU one.


AFAIK even the single 120mm exhaust was optional (but we don't know whether or not he has installed any additional fan*), so it could be better start from it.

* = EDIT: it's not true, he already said in the OP that there's no case fan. My mistake.

You should also check your PSU. Those can be noisy too. Afterwards, you might check your harddrives to see what an impact the vibration has on the overall noise level, though your heavy Chieftec should probably remove most of it.

Of the two CPU coolers I'd choose the CM 212 + Nexus, but be sure that the motherboard can control a 3-pin fan as others have mentioned.

It should be a CWT-made unit: so I think it shouldn't be noticeably noisier than PSUs like Corsair HX/TX-850 (definitely not quiet units, but maybe still decent, at idle).

I've checked and the primary noise maker is the CPU fan (even more than the 4890!). The Gigabyte motherboard support both voltage and PWM control. The PSU is giving low noise (even less than my previous 450W chieftec PSU).

Finally I found a Scyhte Mugen 2 but the price will be around 55EUR. So I think I will take it.

The case has 80 & 90mm intake fan places in the front 2 x 80mm on the side and a place for 120mm exhaust fan. I think that I will go for 1 x 80mm in the front and 1 x 80mm in the side and maybe the 120mm as exhaust.

The GPU I plan to replace but in case I will not I thought about a Scythe Musashi or Accelero S1 rev 2 with fans.

It's not economically convenient: if the Mugen 2 goes for 55 EUR, then for just 40CHF the Grand Kama Cross is a far better pick.


IMO you should reverse your thought: your Chieftec is a negative pressure case.
You have to start from the exhaust fan, and then add any intake fan just if strictly needed (IMO you won't need any intake with a 150W GPU like your one).

I just took a look on the maximum temperature of the Phenom X6. It looks like it should be max 62degC. The temperatures where I live now in the summer can often get to the level of 27-30degC ambient. That leave only 32degC for the cooling system. The SPCR test of Grand Kama Cross shows the temperature increase of 38 to 49 degC. So the core could be damaged?

The CPU cooler doesn't have to be expensive. First, look at a list of top performing coolers:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1198-page5.html

Edit: It doesn't fit. . .

One model that stands out is the Cogage TRUE Spirit, great cooling capacity yet low price:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1037-page1.html

It's made by Thermalright and costs €32, just like Mugen 2, in Germany (dunno where to look for it in CH):
http://geizhals.at/deutschland/441772

Don't worry about the load temps in the tests, you only get those high temps when using CPU stress testing programs.
If you order one part at the time you'll only get a higher shipping cost.
I don't know if you have to pay for customs if ordering from Germany, but if you don't then it's certainly an option given the lower prices.

When picking GPU cooler, remember three things:
1 - Many coolers need an extra slot, 3 in total.
2 - Make sure the Voltage regulation (VRM) is properly cooled as well.
3 - Some video cards doesn't have a reference design, and if you got one of those you have to do some searching to see if the cooler fits.

Here are some coolers that seems to fit, Arctic Cooling is a good brand, and also from Switzerland:
http://geizhals.at/deutschland/?cat=coo ... ieren+&xf=

IMO absolutely no: those temps are not comparable to your one, they are referred to Nehalem CPUs (Tjmax 99-100°C), and if you look at the charts, the Mugen 2 has similar temp rise (39°C to 45°C).
Moreover, if your X6 is supposed (by AMD) to work flawlessly using the crappy stock cooler, how could such a much more massive Grand Kama Cross reasonably fail?
But you may do your own testing: load the cores with 5 instances of Prime95, start FurMark to have an heat build up by your graphics, how much is the current temp rise? Add the presumable summer edge, and you'll have your estimated max temps: worse than it, a Grand Kama Cross cannot perform (at its max noise level).

Broadly speaking C3 Phenom II X4 (Zosma) and Phenom II X6 (Thuban) are very cold CPU, and AMD has accustomed us that their more recent K10 CPUs work with a lower temp rise than Intel coeval counterparts (Wolfdale/Yorkfield/Clarkdale/Lynnfield), despite the higher actual power consumption (see the recent 80W 565 SPCR review for a dual-core comparison).

These are the arguments for the rationale abstract: while, about feelings, if you feel more comfortable with a 4°C edge at 680rpm, well, go for what you may like more. IMO it's about useless.

Apart that now, AFAIK, its name should be "MUX-120" (most of Cogage products are just be dismissed), but IIRC it's 1366 only: i.e. I don't think it may work on AM3 boards.

You're right..

No Mats, I was plainly wrong.

http://www.thermalright.com/products/index.php?act=data&cat_id=27&id=180

Ok then, it's a bit hard to keep the different SKU's apart . .

Anyway, it got an even better price: http://geizhals.at/deutschland/678221

Likely the stock cooler for the X6 yes they are pretty quiet at low speeds but they ramp up to very high speed on load and you really can't miss the noise!
To be fair to AMD the stock coolers are ok esp for the lower power processors as you can keep the fan speed down and they will happily cool 45/65/95w processors but the Phenom II x6's need something a bit better though.

I'd go for the 212 or something along that lines it will be a huge improvement on the stock cooler. Fans wise that's up to you I've replaced CM ones on their coolers with mostly Gelid ones all working out fine.