Define Mini DAW (2016 update: Skylake)

Show off your quiet rig.

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quest_for_silence
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Re: Define Mini DAW (Update 5: Corsair RM650 & MSI GTX 760)

Post by quest_for_silence » Wed Jan 15, 2014 12:26 pm

axee wrote:If, however, anyone knows how to overcome 34% fan speed limit, please report!


I mean there's no way: AFAIK the relevant Kepler BIOS registers are currently unknown (EDIT: a little update).

At any rate, give a look to some editor, such as Kepler Golden Bios or Kepler Bios Tweaker (even Svet's VBIOS Tuner might work), perhaps they may let you dial down the fans to a lower floor, but YMMV: actually there is no way of knowing this without modding the BIOS, sit down and see if it makes any difference (just for example, usually on the EVGAs it isn't possible to lower their minimum speed).

axee
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Re: Define Mini DAW (Update 5: Corsair RM650 & MSI GTX 760)

Post by axee » Wed Jan 22, 2014 7:53 am

Got a chance to use macho in some other machine, so I decided to try NH-U14S.

NF-A15 fan didn't help that much with macho, nether did any other fan. There was only 2°C difference between passive or active setup. Case fans were, fortunately, running at lower speeds.

NH-U14S improved temperatures for another 3℃, so I recalibrated all fans, to achieve minimum fan speeds.

Final result, same CPU temperatures with all fans running at 550 RPM with p95 & furmark.

Image
Last edited by axee on Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

thierry.
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Re: Define Mini DAW (Update 5: Corsair RM650 & MSI GTX 760)

Post by thierry. » Mon Jan 27, 2014 1:46 am

axee wrote: There was only 2°C difference between passive or active setup.
For "passive", do you mean "just the 2 case fans"?

If it's so small difference, why not running with only the 2 fans, and nothing on the heatsink?

PS: great picture by the way!!

quest_for_silence
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Re: Define Mini DAW (Update 5: Corsair RM650 & MSI GTX 760)

Post by quest_for_silence » Mon Jan 27, 2014 2:33 am

thierry. wrote:If it's so small difference, why not running with only the 2 fans, and nothing on the heatsink?


I think he's referring to the previous Thermalright cooler.

thierry.
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2014 update: NH-U14S)

Post by thierry. » Mon Jan 27, 2014 3:17 am

Correct!
He was talking about the HR-02 (with and without NF-A15)


Is it possible to run this Noctua NH-U14S passive?

quest_for_silence
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2014 update: NH-U14S)

Post by quest_for_silence » Mon Jan 27, 2014 6:46 am

thierry. wrote:Is it possible to run this Noctua NH-U14S passive?


It depends: generally speaking (i.e. in an open air scenario, or in some hotbox), no, but under some circumstances, it may do.
He was able to run the HR-02 passive, so probably it may give a try to the NH-U14S (with two case fans), and probably a positive pressure setup may help (but then more probably that not either dust or noise would rise).

axee
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2014 update: NH-U14S)

Post by axee » Mon Jan 27, 2014 10:02 pm

thierry. wrote: PS: great picture by the way!!
Thank you!

I tried adding NF-A15 to Macho, just to see how it works, and it improved temperatures by 2°C. There was almost no difference using 12 cm fan (Slipstream) and that's why I decided to run HR-02 passive in the first place (not because of noise reasons).

Noctua cooler improved temperatures from Macho+NF-A15 for another 3°C, and that allowed me to reduce full load fan speeds even more.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2014 update: NH-U14S)

Post by quest_for_silence » Tue Jan 28, 2014 12:04 am

axee wrote:Noctua cooler improved temperatures from Macho+NF-A15 for another 3°C, and that allowed me to reduce full load fan speeds even more.


But did you try that Noctua as passive heatsink, without any fan clipped on it?

axee
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2014 update: NH-U14S)

Post by axee » Tue Jan 28, 2014 5:01 am

I didn't, it doesn't even look like it's capable or designed for.. I really don't mind having one more fan on heatsink, it doesn't make any difference sound wise. Only tests can tell, but I very much doubt it would perform like HR-02. As I said, I was using Macho passively just because adding 12cm fan didn't change it's performance. If I had good 15cm fan, I would probably use it with HR-02.

Pao338
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2014 update: NH-U14S)

Post by Pao338 » Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:40 pm

axee wrote:As I said, I was using Macho passively just because adding 12cm fan didn't change it's performance. If I had good 15cm fan, I would probably use it with HR-02.
Hi "axee", very nice build!

Maybe I've missed/misread something but I thought you did test the HR-02 with a NF-A15 PWM fan (same one used by "Abula" in his system)...are you saying that for your experience the NF-A15 PWM didn't do well either in terms of performance?

axee
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2014 update: NH-U14S)

Post by axee » Sat Mar 15, 2014 5:18 am

I'm sure it all depends on the case, fans, airflow and air pressure. Adding slow 12 cm fan didn't even help, 14 cm fan helped a bit, but I wouldn't buy a fan just for that.

If you ask me, it just happens that negative airflow in a well sealed case with 2 fans just a few centimeters away from Macho worked so well that it performed like active cooled heatsink.

Pao338
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2014 update: NH-U14S)

Post by Pao338 » Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:50 pm

Thank you for replying axee!


Image[/quote]

So now with your final setup your case fans performance is something like the following?

idle 300 RPM
full load 550 RPM
real world load 450 RPM

axee
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2014 update: NH-U14S)

Post by axee » Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:47 pm

Yeah, those numbers are about right. Biggest noise source remains GPU, followed by hard drive.

Pao338
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2014 update: NH-U14S)

Post by Pao338 » Wed Mar 19, 2014 7:02 pm

axee wrote:Yeah, those numbers are about right. Biggest noise source remains GPU, followed by hard drive.
That seems pretty good!!

Regarding the hdd, you decided not to use the Scythe QuietDrive in the end?

silent_meerkat
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Re: Define Mini DAW (Update 5: Corsair RM650 & MSI GTX 760)

Post by silent_meerkat » Sat Apr 05, 2014 2:34 pm

axee wrote:Image
Coolest Define Mini picture EVER.

nokite
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Re: Define Mini DAW (Update 5: Corsair RM650 & MSI GTX 760)

Post by nokite » Fri Nov 20, 2015 9:02 pm

axee wrote:Got a chance to use macho in some other machine, so I decided to try NH-U14S.

NF-A15 fan didn't help that much with macho, nether did any other fan. There was only 2°C difference between passive or active setup. Case fans were, fortunately, running at lower speeds.

NH-U14S improved temperatures for another 3℃, so I recalibrated all fans, to achieve minimum fan speeds.

Final result, same CPU temperatures with all fans running at 550 RPM with p95 & furmark.

Image
Interesting setup... I've been looking at something similar but I have two concerns:

- How well does the Noctua NH-U14S fit the Define Mini? According to spec it can't fit. Can you close the lid without removing the ModuVent cover? (for the side fan opening)

- How high is your RAM, or what height would be the maximum? I want to get these 42 mm (1.65 inch) modules.

It's been very hard to choose components for a Micro-ATX configuration... I hope you can help me reach the right decision!

Many thanks!

axee
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2014 update: NH-U14S)

Post by axee » Sat Nov 21, 2015 3:48 am

Hi!

About NH-U14S; if mounted vertically it fits with ModuVent (they are soft as pillows, so they can touch the heatsink) but when it's horizontally (like I have it now) there is no way. I just swapped side panels and I have plain on the heatsink side and ModuVent on the back. It doesn't interfere with cable management so it's fine by me.

I have regular 32 mm RAM sticks, but I'm quite positive 42 mm would fit. I just checked, Noctua did a good job there, there seems to be more than enough room above all 4 RAM slots.

axee
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Re: Define Mini DAW (2016 update: Skylake)

Post by axee » Fri Jan 22, 2016 10:28 am

So I upgraded to Skylake and I have to admit, I'm really impressed with Asus Q-Fan UEFI implementation. You can set every fan header to be either voltage or PWM controlled. Every fan can be "optimized" to determine minimum PWM cycle (15% for my Noctuas) and calibrated with 3 point curve graph.

I have some more testing to do, but I'm running my fans with lower RPM than ever (light load under 300 RPM). Heatsink fan is set to be the most sensitive to temperatures. Rear and top case fans are both individually controlled. That's amazing since I can make sure that the top fan (loudest) actually ramps up very late, probably only during burn testing or heavy CPU+GPU usage.

Image

Silencing PC's is getting easier every year. I use only SSD's, together with semi passive GPU, PSU and amazing fan control, I'm extremely pleased with sonic results! :D

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