have come a long way from this

built this system in april of 2004, happily motoring along since, abit loudly even with a zalman 7000A
luckly I started with the SLK3700AMB from newegg for $67 (now that I think of it, it was a good deal/start)

unaware of this site until late septemberish of this year ( I think I stumbled across it a few times, especially looking for reviews of the zalman 7000A AlCu)

very early attempts at quieting the PC [2004-2005]
-putting random large foam blocks on side and bottom, didn't help much
-literally taping individual packing peanuts onto the case door, again no help

After getting SPCR virus
-stop 92mm fan in antec SL350 with a paperclip, noise reduction noticable
-getting stock antec 120 fan to 5 volts ,then buying a DDPT switch from Radio shack do the 12/5 volt switch noticablehere
-disconnect the very whiney Ati 9800 pro fan *shudder* (bad memories) put the 120 fan under it (very noticable)

Infection spreads to wallet
-see Aerocool VM101 in CompUSA for $20, break down and get it = one less noise factor
-inspired myself here
-ALMOST got a seasonic 300 tornado from computer-gate.com, turns out just ran out and discontinued
-see the well known 120mm Coolermaster UV silent LED fan at ClubIT for $7 bucks shipped, buy and satified with it (inaudible at 5 v, but sometimes has a low "whistling" noise, but no bearing noise)
-buy 2 panaflos from SVC during their sale (still going on) 80mm L and M variants both near inaudible at 5/7v
-Antec SL350 failed mod screws up HDD, reinstall XP, buy seasonic 330 from Case-mod.com

TIME for pictures (i'll explain them on the way)

overall shot of the case


-invert Aerocool VM101 so it is under the AGP card, put panaflo L fan at 7v into foam "ring" (the foam on the very right) have it blow onto the Vm101 and put Hd under, just for the heck of it along with a custom built....LEGO decoupler


random cool shot of the individual fins of the Aerocool Vm-101

-zalman fan and seasonic PSU fan become the loudest components!

since the zalman fan has a slight whine to it, disconnected it and put the panaflo M into the foam ring, skewered it and put it front of the fan (didn't feel like taking off the fan which means taking the whole thing off) temps only rise 1/2 C

shot of the improvised (not really "ghetto") fan mount

now it's all the Seasonic! I'm kinda debating if I should void my warranty or not.....considering my last disaster

so after all this, I get nearly inaudible system

for that last noise maker my options will be:
A. replace the fan, void warranty
B. buy melamine from Mc-master and build a "muffler" for the back and of course cover the insides
C.*you suggestion here*

Enjoy!
and of course thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

LEGO...pure genius!

I modded my Seasonic S12-330 with the Nexus 120mm. I plugged the fan into my motherboard and have Speedfan run it at 1%, which is probably somewhere around 5 volts. During heavy CPU usage, or when my component's temperature increases out of the "safe range" I set up in Speedfan, Speedfan will automatically raise the Nexus to 5%, about 950 RPM. Then when the heavy load is over or the temps cool down, it drops back to an inaudable 1%.

Works like a champ so far

EDIT: Forgot the link with the pictures showing what I did:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... 2330+nexus

yes badger I am aware of your great work (also thanks teaching me how to auto start speedfan too!)

The only thing I am nervous about is voiding the warranty, but if it gives no problems for the next month after finals and christmas, then I'll feel better about replacing it

actually i still have to figure out how I am going to connect the wire to the 5 v line

only if my motherboard had speedfan support...

If you don't want to mod your PSU, try and find a way to get only cool air to the PSU. This should keep the fan from ramping up, and should idle at a lower RPM. I don't know your system and what you can do, you would probably have to ghetto-duct to the PSU.

Actaully my setup runs quite cool because my home is very well insulated and cool. It acutally is cooler in the summer because we don't turn on the heat! Currently with this setup I get idle temps of 30C ish ( intel northwood 2.8 with zalman 7000A), about 5-6C more when the heat goes on, though my case temps don't go up as much (MBM, MSI corecenter is higher by 2-3 degrees) and my case temps are 18-20 C

I have thought about just "jamming" the ADDA fan and running it fanless, but doesn't seem like a good idea (though the PSU exhuast is baerly warm)

I guess i'll just be more careful next time I open up a PSU and poke inside

I'm also debating to whether I should first get some melamine and sound barriers from MC-master first and see what difference it makes since my system has mostly "air noises" now, then i'll decide if I need to change the ADDA fan

also if anyone is wondering why I have my Hdd in the PCI area is to partly benifit from the panaflo L at 7 volts airflow and to free up the front make an elaborate sound absorber made with melamine "slates" that will absorb sound while encouraging maximum airflow and least amount of resistance
idea

9876T1

my proposed version will have less "V" 's and fit where the original HDD holder was (now thinking of it, I might actually use the original hdd as the "box" to hold the the melamine slates)

of course i'll need to make a muffler for the back

just drew a very bad mockup with paint

Blue = fresh air
red= exhuast air
orange="sound waves"
white=melamine (it'll go in more places)

you should be able to get the jist of what i'm trying to do
this might be done in the new year

here's the MBM 5 readout
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Total number of readouts: 36749 CPU Speed: 2814 MHz |
|Running from: 12/9/2005 2:23:42 PM until: 12/10/2005 9:00:26 PM |
+-----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|Sensor | Current | Low | High | Average |
+-----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|Case | 20° C | 7° C | 20° C | 18° C |
|CPU | 33° C | -1° C | 44° C | 31° C |
|Sensor 3 | 0° C | 0° C | 0° C | 0° C |
|Core 0 | 1.52 V | 1.46 V | 1.57 V | 1.52 V |
|Core 1 | 3.20 V | 3.15 V | 3.25 V | 3.21 V |
|+3.3 | 0.62 V | 0.56 V | 0.62 V | 0.62 V |
|+5.00 | 5.03 V | 5.00 V | 5.05 V | 5.03 V |
|+12.00 | 12.04 V | 11.92 V | 12.10 V | 12.03 V |
|-12.00 | 3.58 V | 3.57 V | 3.58 V | 3.58 V |
|-5.00 | 0.00 V | 0.00 V | 0.00 V | 0.00 V |
|Fan 1 | 0 RPM | 0 RPM | 1436 RPM | 42 RPM |
|Fan 2 | 0 RPM | 0 RPM | 0 RPM | 0 RPM |
|Fan 3 | 0 RPM | 0 RPM | 0 RPM | 0 RPM |
+-----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
30 hours with one session of gaming (battleFRONT 2)

ignore the -1 reading the lowest I saw was either 20-21 C

the lone fan reading is the zalman 7000A which is unplugged

how about HD and graphic card temps?

HDD temps are always below 35 mostly 32-33ish

unfortunately the ati 9800 PRO has no temp monitor so all I have is my trusty finger

it is slightly warm to touch, little warmer after gaming

I have a new idea here check it out!

I'm going to have to agree with them - the duct is a bad idea.

If I were you and going for silence I would do what I did:

I'm not sure what CPU you have, but you can either A) replace the Zalman 7000A's stock fan with a Nexus (I really don't know what size fan it takes but any of the Nexus's at 5 volts will be plenty quiet) or B) replace the Zalman with an SI-97/SI or XP-120/XP-90, whatever fits whatever CPU you have and stick a Nexus 120mm or 92mm on top of it at 5 volts.

For the second system fan you can keep your 120mm Coolermaster if you're satisfied with it at 5 volts, or you could replace it with (perhaps, I haven't compared) the quieter Nexus 120mm at 5 volts.

For the third system fan I would take out the Adda in the Seasonic and replace it with, any guesses?, the Nexus 120mm and run the plug to your motherboard so you can control it with Speedfan (it's important your PSU gets good cooling).

Lastly, I would flip that Aerocool VM101 over (right side up) so that the fins are on the top, this will let the exhaust 120mm fan pull air off of it, and neglect the need for that fan ghetto rigged in front of it.

That would give you a three fan system, probably quieter than how it is now or how a two fan/duct combination would be.

EDIT: I see in your sig it's a P4. Well, I really don't know what fits on one, but I'm guessing any Thermalright + Nexus combination will be a winner.

<noooooooooooooooo

i just want to try something different, you guys are not encouraging!

if spydercat can do why can't I?

the reason for the inverted aerocool is that the ati 9800 dumps a lot of heat, so the current way is like artic cooling's method(as lonog as I don't have any PCI cards, I'm fine)

this what I started from
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=216857&highlight=#216857

and I did play around with some plastic here
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=218826&highlight=#218826

well, have you tried it w/o the vm-101 inverted? Right side up and you could remove the need for that extra fan already.

i did
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=218826&highlight=#218826

I found that with the CM 120 at 5v, it wasn't enough CFM (Vm-101 felt Pretty hot) and it raised CPU temps a couple before when I had the antec fan at 5v, it was fine, but noiser

I know it's supposed to "fanless", but I get nightmare that it'll burst into flames

also I'm a temp freak, when my idle temps go up to 35-37, I freak out, even though it's well within safe temps....

Then I'm afraid all hope is lost.

Just kidding, it's too bad you can't see your 9800's temps. Scared to idle around 35-37C? hahahahahaha good thing you don't have my computer.

i guess i'm just used to my 29-30 C idle temp right now

if anything all your discouragement will fuel my obbession to prove you all wrong!

or i'll come back and apolgize for how rude I was

That's a lot like my setup(not completely up to date), a fan sharred by a harddrive and the video card. Except my fan is on the outside of my case, because I have a second hard drive at the front(which is usually unplugged), and I don't really need that kind of cooling(CNPS 3000 on a GF4mx).

I don't think anyone thought you were being rude. We were just offering constructive criticism.

ahhh good, I was making sure

last thing I want is a bunch SPCR's knocking on my door and firing vantec tornado's at into my bedroom