Help me finish off my quiet project!

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 2:05 am

Well, thanks MAINLY to SPCR I started last year to quiet down my system, one part at a time (student budget).

Here's what I have done so far:

Case:
- Lian Li 65U (not greatest for silence, but LOOKS great and works for me)

Case fans:
- Intake: Lian-li own fans
- Exhaust: Panaflo L1A + LianLi fan on top of the case (disconnected)

Mem:
1GB HyperX RAM with heatspreaders (warm to touch)

CPU:
Athlon XP 2500+ OCed at 210MHz*10.5=3200+ specs

HS:
Thermalright SLK-800A with Arctic Silver

CPU Fan:
Lian-li exhasut fan

HDD:
Samsung SATA 160GB

Powersupply:
Seasonic 350Watts non-PFC

Video card:
Radeon 8500 - soon to be Radeon 9600xt

Optical:
NEC quiet 3500A DVDRW

-----------

I know that this is not the greatest, but I used to have a WHINING, LOUD system, so this is BY FAR MUCH QUIETER. I am now quite happy with my system... but the weakest link right now is my video card and CPU fan.

So here are my specific question on how to make the whole system quieter, but keep same level of OC:

1. After getting 9600XT, would ATI silencer do the job?

2. What would be BEST fan for my SLK-800? Panaflo didn't keep it as cool as the faster/louder lian-li fan, specially when case is closed. It still works, but need to have it at 12volts.

3. What exhaust/intake fans should I use. The lian-li intake fans at slowest speed is very quiet, but at med/hi speed it's loud.

4. Should I use the top 80mm exhaust fan? If so, what fan?

5. I got the JVC motor on Samsung. There's a whistling noise from the drive at idle which is annoying. HOWEVER, it is totally inaudible when the case is closed and over my fans/video card. Do I need something for this after I quiet down my video card? Would grommets help?

I have learned quite a bit over the last year and thank Mike and everyone here who taught me a few things. I just need to get these last bits figured out and I would be done!

Thnx folks

PS. Please keep your suggestions within STUDENT budget

scara · Post by **scara** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 3:59 am

1. A Rev. 3 Silencer would comfortably cool a 9600XT on 'low' setting. I think the ATI-2 (Rev.4) fits the 9600 but apparently they're louder than rev3 so save your money and get a rev3.
Have you looked at the Sapphire Ultimate 9600XT? I think they're pretty cheap now compared to other 9600xt. It may be worth searching for as it will be absolutely silent and you won't have to go through any heatsink installation (voiding your warranty could prove expensive for a student?!)

2. What sort of temps do you get with the panaflo and lian-li fans? If you already have a panaflo and thats not enough at 12v then you're not going to get a quiet fan on there. If your lian-li fan keeps it cool enough look for the quietist fan on the Recommended Fans Page with a similar CFM.

3. Without any temps its hard to say. If you're on a tight budget maybe you could get away with just undervolting the fans you have.
Also i'd put the louder fans at the back of the case - might make a bit of difference noise wise and (providing the CFM of the fans aren't too dissimilar) shouldn't have too much impact on temperatures.

5. I don't think grommets/suspension help much with motor noise, although I could be mis-remembering that. There are plenty of posts on quietening JVC spinpoints; hopefully one of them has a cheap solution for you.

Hope some of that’s helpful, Rich

peteamer · Post by **peteamer** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 4:05 am

alexb wrote: I just need to get these last bits figured out and I would be done!

That's rather optimistic for someone who's been around SPCR a while.

Good luck in your quest.

ChucuSCAD · Post by **ChucuSCAD** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:58 am

I would personally suggest getting the fanless 9600xt from sapphire.

As stated before without temps its hard to say what the best fan would be. However I would venture to say a nexus, noisekiller, or even the current fan, or another, you have setup-up on a voltage regulator, IE zalman fan mate, would do the trick.

chucuSCAD

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 10:05 am

ChucuSCAD wrote:I would personally suggest getting the fanless 9600xt from sapphire.

As stated before without temps its hard to say what the best fan would be. However I would venture to say a nexus, noisekiller, or even the current fan, or another, you have setup-up on a voltage regulator, IE zalman fan mate, would do the trick.

chucuSCAD

Fanless Sapphire is discontinued or very hard to find (specially in Canada), was searching to get it for a while but couldn't find one.

My temps with case closed and lian-li:
- Idle/windows normal use:
CPU Diode: 46-49
CPU Socket: 38-41
MB: 25-28

- Burn:
CPU Diode: 57-61
CPU Socket: 47-50
MB: 32-34

With Panaflo - I dont quite remember now. However, it was about 4-5 degree more than the above numbers with case closed, and very similar and even less than the Lian-li numbers with case open! I think this shows poor case airflow, right?

cche0691 · Post by **cche0691** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 5:09 pm

Hi alexb,

Try to find fanless heatpipe vga cooler. It is enough to cool down the card. If i am correct, Sapphire is using zalman's ZM80C-HP. If you choose for AT Silencer please be careful the vedio card you choose has follow the ATI's PCB design. Some company like ASUS are using their own PCB design for the cards so they might not be compatable.

Panaflo fan 80mm is the quietest 80mm fan i've tried. Commonly larger fan with lower speed will be more quiet. Do NOT overclock your cpu. I know Barton is good to overclock but the power and heat it draws are hugh enough for cooking a dinner. Try a 120mm fan with fan controller. It should give you a steady 28-32dB and enough to cool with monster heatsink like yours.

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 5:37 pm

Ok, so does Panaflo has the best CFM among the recommended fans? My problem with the list is that most of the fans are thought to have much less CFM than claimed and I cannot easily compare them!

Also, I dont care about my fan noise at burn times and when I play games, etc... BUT I want close to silence when I goto bed and leave my system to download a big file or encode a DivX!

With my tmps going much higher when I close the case, does that show poor airflow?

also, I dont know how to install a 120mm fan? the case supports 80mm ones!

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 5:43 pm

scara wrote:1. A Rev. 3 Silencer would comfortably cool a 9600XT on 'low' setting. I think the ATI-2 (Rev.4) fits the 9600 but apparently they're louder than rev3 so save your money and get a rev3.
Have you looked at the Sapphire Ultimate 9600XT? I think they're pretty cheap now compared to other 9600xt. It may be worth searching for as it will be absolutely silent and you won't have to go through any heatsink installation (voiding your warranty could prove expensive for a student?!)

2. What sort of temps do you get with the panaflo and lian-li fans? If you already have a panaflo and thats not enough at 12v then you're not going to get a quiet fan on there. If your lian-li fan keeps it cool enough look for the quietist fan on the Recommended Fans Page with a similar CFM.

3. Without any temps its hard to say. If you're on a tight budget maybe you could get away with just undervolting the fans you have.
Also i'd put the louder fans at the back of the case - might make a bit of difference noise wise and (providing the CFM of the fans aren't too dissimilar) shouldn't have too much impact on temperatures.

5. I don't think grommets/suspension help much with motor noise, although I could be mis-remembering that. There are plenty of posts on quietening JVC spinpoints; hopefully one of them has a cheap solution for you.

Hope some of that’s helpful, Rich

Hi Rich (Scara),

I looked at ur system specs, it's very similar to mine (apart from the case/power).

Which fan do u use for intake/exhasut?

How do u compare Panaflo and Nexus? How do u compare the CFM?

Which fan is better for ur CPU? Panaflow or Nexus? BTW, I know u have 92m

cche0691 · Post by **cche0691** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:08 pm

Hi alexb,

To install 120mm fans, you need to drill holes in your case in your exsisting fan position. But because your case is expensive and quite soft (Your case is PC65USB right) Personally i recommand you zalman's fan blacket
http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/co ... p?code=016

I'm sorry i am not technican so i dun know how to mesure the CFM of the fans. But you can try monitor the temperature by enter the BIOS and/or using PC monitor program. Your cpu is fine under 55'C.

I've tried both Panaflo and Nexus 80mm fan and i found that Panaflo is a bit more quiet than Nexus and air flow are probably the same. Hope i helps

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:37 pm

cche0691 wrote:Hi alexb,

To install 120mm fans, you need to drill holes in your case in your exsisting fan position. But because your case is expensive and quite soft (Your case is PC65USB right) Personally i recommand you zalman's fan blacket
http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/co ... p?code=016

I'm sorry i am not technican so i dun know how to mesure the CFM of the fans. But you can try monitor the temperature by enter the BIOS and/or using PC monitor program. Your cpu is fine under 55'C.

I've tried both Panaflo and Nexus 80mm fan and i found that Panaflo is a bit more quiet than Nexus and air flow are probably the same. Hope i helps

Thnx... I think I will just get a couple of Panaflos and go from there... not sure how to locate Nexus in Canada.

My CPU temps are funny, even at stock settings it's not much cooler?! So, might as well OC. I couldnt figure out how that Zlaman bracket helps? That's good for pointing the fan at a particular thing, right? how can that work for exhaust fan?

cche0691 · Post by **cche0691** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:54 pm

Hi alexb,
The zalman bracket is for holding your cpu's fan in a special way so that you can use your exsisting heatsink. And you can use the bracket for holding up to 3 fans at the same time, which is good for internal cooling. For the back if you wanna install 120mm fan you need to drill holes or use cable tightener (from normal hardware shop, that's what i use before). After i change my Aopen to Lian Li PC75USB, i dun use case fan anymore

scara · Post by **scara** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:22 am

hi alexb,

Im currently using two nexus 80mm for exhaust and two "new process" china made panaflos for intake. The panaflos are quite noticeably louder than the nexus fans, but they do move more air. When controlled to equal noise levels they move the same amount of air (as far as I can tell with crude experiments!) although the panaflos exhibit a little more motor noise. When my Zalman VGA finally arrives i'll swap the fans round and put the panaflos at the back.

That Zalman bracket is probably the best solution for your CPU really. I want to recommend either the 92 or 120mm Nexus for it but you say the Nexus are hard to find. Globe fans are apparently quite similar to Nexus and I think theyre readily available in Canada at a good price.

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 8:42 am

scara wrote:hi alexb,

Im currently using two nexus 80mm for exhaust and two "new process" china made panaflos for intake. The panaflos are quite noticeably louder than the nexus fans, but they do move more air. When controlled to equal noise levels they move the same amount of air (as far as I can tell with crude experiments!) although the panaflos exhibit a little more motor noise. When my Zalman VGA finally arrives i'll swap the fans round and put the panaflos at the back.

That Zalman bracket is probably the best solution for your CPU really. I want to recommend either the 92 or 120mm Nexus for it but you say the Nexus are hard to find. Globe fans are apparently quite similar to Nexus and I think theyre readily available in Canada at a good price.

So, it basically means that you prefer Nexus over Panaflo, right?

I have a Japan-made Panaflo and it's really quiet... just haven't compared it side-by-side against any other silent fan...

I still dont understand how to use Zalman bracket for my SLK-800? It won't fit a fan on top of it like it does now, so cannot see how it could do a better job at cooling it!

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:12 pm

Ok, here are some of my options:

Panaflo 80mm: $10-14 (Japan vs. China)
Nexus 80mm: $13
Papst 80mm: $26
Artic Fan Pro TC: $14
VGA Silencer: $24

Which one of the fans do you guys recommend? Should I get some for intake, some for exhaust? Which one's best for CPU? Is Papst worth the extra $$?

Thnx

scara · Post by **scara** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 4:15 am

alexb wrote:So, it basically means that you prefer Nexus over Panaflo, right?
I have a Japan-made Panaflo and it's really quiet... just haven't compared it side-by-side against any other silent fan...

Yeah, for me Nexus > Panaflo. But I haven't heard the Japanese ones which would seemingly be a lot closer to the Nexus.

alexb wrote:I still don’t understand how to use Zalman bracket for my SLK-800? It won't fit a fan on top of it like it does now, so cannot see how it could do a better job at cooling it!

It would fit over like this:

My thinking is that you could sit a 92 or even a 120mm fan right over your heatsink to get those temps down without using a noisier 80mm fan.

alexb wrote:Which one of the fans do you guys recommend? Should I get some for intake, some for exhaust? Which one's best for CPU? Is Papst worth the extra $$?

I really doubt Papst are worth twice the price, especially on a student budget.

In your position I'd do this:
Get 2 Nexus fans for intake
Leave the Panaflo you have on exhaust
Get that Zalman bracket for the CPU and use either a Nexus 92 or some undervolted 120mm fan
Get a Rev. 3 Arctic Silencer or if you want to spend the extra $$$ a Zalman 80C-HP.

That should be a bit quieter than your current set-up, the biggest difference will be between the stock vga fan and the silencer, but obviously you won't notice that until you've got both !

You said your Panaflo is really quiet so if you do the above I think you’ll be pleased. If you weren’t though you could always buy either two fan-mates or a bay fan controller.

Let me know what you think of that lot, Rich

Phew...long post

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 5:01 am

Thnx a lot Rich,

I think that's what I am gonna do. Get Nexus for intake and Panaflo for exhaust. After I get my VGA silencer, I then will evaluate the true CPU noise and then will see if I need to get a bigger fan for that or not?!

One other question though about using larger fan on SLK... since the fan won't fit perfectly on the top and won't snug the HS... would it still do a decent job of cooling?

cche0691 · Post by **cche0691** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:32 am

Hi alexb,
Once there are air blow through your cpu heatsink, your system will be fine. Just follow scara's pic, most ppl (including me) has setup like this. With 5V for the fan, my Barton works perfectly. No need to worry too much coz you've got a good case and a really good heatsink already. Just make sure that there's nothing block the airflow. Enjoy!

scara · Post by **scara** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:36 am

You shouldn't have any problem using the bracket and larger fan. The increase in distance between the HS and fan will be negated by the increase in airflow from the fan (assuming you use a bigger fan).

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:19 am

scara wrote:You shouldn't have any problem using the bracket and larger fan. The increase in distance between the HS and fan will be negated by the increase in airflow from the fan (assuming you use a bigger fan).

Thanks a lot!

I would do what you guys recommended. Will first quiet down the VGA and then change the case fans... and see how loud the CPU is...

BTW, I did a burnout with Prim95 last night and I got errors in Prim95 when I chose torture tests that used lots of memory! I may have to tame it down a little as it seems that my memory cannot take the FSB, althought they passed 10 hours of memtest?!

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:57 pm

alexb wrote:BTW, I did a burnout with Prim95 last night and I got errors in Prim95 when I chose torture tests that used lots of memory! I may have to tame it down a little as it seems that my memory cannot take the FSB, althought they passed 10 hours of memtest?!

If your memory passed 10 hrs of Memtest86, I'd say it was fine. I'd look at your OC before you blame the memory. Try loosening up your timings or slowing just your memory speed down and re-run Prime95. If it still errors out, it's your OC, not your RAM.

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 1:03 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote: If your memory passed 10 hrs of Memtest86, I'd say it was fine. I'd look at your OC before you blame the memory. Try loosening up your timings or slowing just your memory speed down and re-run Prime95. If it still errors out, it's your OC, not your RAM.

Ok... thanks. It was funny though, when I used the Prime95 test with "no RAM" it had no problems after 3 hours of running. With other two settings (some ram, max ram)... it usually failed after 1 hour (reported error in calcuation). My temps were as high as 64 and I ran other apps at the same time and performance seemed to be ok and I never crashed!

I was thinking of probably lowering the FSB first (it's 209MHz now) and keep the same clock speed (higher multiplier). So, in essence same heat for CPU but lower FSB for other items and see if I still have problems, if I do, then probably my CPU is getting too warm. I used to have this CPU getting 70-75 on my Vantec and it still seeemed stable... so not sure if 64 is too much. BTW, the Vantec Aeroflow that is WAY LOUDER was almost 10 degrees more than SLK-800 and slow-reving fan, with some Arctic Cermaique...

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 1:07 pm

Just an update... I swapped the Adda fan on my HS and replaced it with Panaflo (at 12)... FUNNY ENOUGH, I am getting better temps! I am now 2-3 degrees cooler?!

Have no clue why? Adda supposed to have better airflow (at cost of higher noise)... so it's wiered! Still trying to see if I can pass all Prime95 tests with Panaflo!

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 6:19 pm

UPDATE

I have changed the ADDA fans with Nexus and OH BOY, are these fans quiet! quieter than Panaflo, BUT, much lower CFM...

Also, I played with setting and went a little easy on the OC... now I pass prime95 perfectly... HOWEVER, if I have my case open... then I can pass at much higher OC! Having the case open, shaves close to 10 degrees off peak CPU temps... although the mobo temps don't get decreased much (2-3 at most).

So, my question is that how can I get same OC with case closed but not much more noise? When I increase the speed of intake fans, nothing much changes, pretty much the same temps (maybe 1-3 degrees less)... I am thinking of maybe getting the Zalman bracket and put a 92 or 120 fan on TOP of everything, and keeping the Panaflo on top of SLK-800... would that help? I was also thinking if I do this, then I can probably change the Panaflo to suck the air out instead of pushng it down... do u guys think that would help?

scara · Post by **scara** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 3:44 am

alexb wrote:I am thinking of maybe getting the Zalman bracket and put a 92 or 120 fan on TOP of everything, and keeping the Panaflo on top of SLK-800... would that help? I was also thinking if I do this, then I can probably change the Panaflo to suck the air out instead of pushng it down... do u guys think that would help?

Not sure what you're trying to do there alexb. Maybe i've misunderstood you but having the panaflo suck air from your cpu while a larger fan blows down on it just doesn't make sense.

To get the same OC with your case closed (and using air cooling) I think you'll have to use a 120mm fan on a bracket. Perhaps you could use a more powerful fan that you could keep low/quiet under normal conditions but then turn up when you want to overclock.

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 3:07 pm

What if I keep the Panaflo pushing air down and add the 120mm with Zalman bracket on top of it all? This probably moves more air around and maybe help with close case? No?

scara · Post by **scara** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 3:46 am

Im not really sure how the various pressure levels would 'work' in that set-up to be honest. My general understanding is that the air (amount and pressure) going down onto your HS will be limited by the panaflo, thus giving no benefit. You could always experiment with just the bracket/120mm and both bracket + panaflo and see which works best.

Basically if you get the bracket and fan you will see an improvement.
If you still use the panaflo under it you might see an improvement.

All I can advise confidently is that in some configuration the bracket with a 120mm fan will give you a higher OC without adding much noise.

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 12:03 pm

scara wrote:Im not really sure how the various pressure levels would 'work' in that set-up to be honest. My general understanding is that the air (amount and pressure) going down onto your HS will be limited by the panaflo, thus giving no benefit. You could always experiment with just the bracket/120mm and both bracket + panaflo and see which works best.

Basically if you get the bracket and fan you will see an improvement.
If you still use the panaflo under it you might see an improvement.

All I can advise confidently is that in some configuration the bracket with a 120mm fan will give you a higher OC without adding much noise.

Thanks. My problem is that with my case open, the Panaflo does a GREAT job at very high OC levels.. but not when the case is closed.

To me, it sounds like the Panaflo and SLK-800 can cool the CPU down fine and push anough air, but that warm air doesn't get circulated properly in a closed case and therefore in time at load, it yields 10 degrees more temp! So, I am thinking if there's a fan on top of it all, the air pushed by it will circulate the air and will help the exhaust fan to cool the case down...

I guess I just have to experiment to see!

Help me finish off my quiet project!

Help me finish off my quiet project!

Re: Help me finish off my quiet project!