Modest Antec 3000b rig

Slipstream · Post by **Slipstream** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 4:46 pm

About a month ago I was using an Antec SX1030b with absolutely nothing geared towards silence. This is an amazing difference.

Antec 3000B Case,

-Drive Cage attachment un-riveted from bottom of case so the floor could be covered completely with Acoustipack.

-Fan grilles removed and edges covered with rubber moulding after filing.

-HD enclosed in a Copper SmartDrive

-Front fan mounted between bezel and front of case instead inside the main unit.

-All fans except CPU have Zalman Fanmates

-Super Silencer 400 modified with a Panaflo L1a

Sorry if the pics are not that great, I can't get too far away from the PC to take them as the computer is in a walk-in closet.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 7:07 pm

Good for you. Nice looking setup there. I imagine that's pretty darn quiet and you didn't even have to do anything too exotic.

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:40 pm

Looks nice and probably sounds better! Good job.

A few questions:

whats the 80mm fan over the motherboard for?
what is the advantage of mounting the front fan outside the case? I can only think of a disadvantage, namely more air turbulence noise caused by obstructions close to the fan.
what are your hard disks temperatures?
how quiet is it?

You could consider placing the SmartDrive in front of the intake fan, allowing it to be cooled by the intake fan. Although I have no idea if such a unit benefits from airflow, I imagine it would.

meglamaniac · Post by **meglamaniac** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:57 am

May I add to the questions by asking what you've sealed the edges of the fan blowholes with?
Looks good btw.

Mr_Smartepants · Post by **Mr_Smartepants** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:03 am

meglamaniac wrote:May I add to the questions by asking what you've sealed the edges of the fan blowholes with?
Looks good btw.

It's called "U-channel" or "C-strip" moulding. Check this thread.
It's pretty cheap and is bought by the foot.

Nice setup but why did you 'hard mount' your case fans? I'd use grommets or elastomer fan mounts myself. Although, those Nexus fans don't vibrate like some other fans. Nevermind.

Also, I just noticed you have foam installed right in front of the front intake fan. Not a good idea. If you're going to have foam there, you should move the fan inside the case to allow more room in front of the fan to alleviate any restrictions or turbulence.

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:17 am

teejay's right. I can confirm that mounting the nexus flush against the front filter does make a lot of noise. I overcame that through undervolting. I had to do it as my drives went in there.

Slipstream mentioned all nonCPU fans had fanmates on them, so I'm guessing his front fan is also undervolted and doesn't make much sound.

Slipstream · Post by **Slipstream** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:09 am

I may still try some soft mounts for the fans but there isn't a whole lot of vibration from what I can tell.

The movement of air out the back is about all I hear. The 80mm L1a in the Seasonic PSU is quieter than the stock SuperRed fan but still has a bit of a click to it that actually makes it more noticeable than the 120mm Nexus below it.

In its current location of a walk in closet the system is only barely audible when standing inside with it and standing outside with a partially closed door (non solid wood) makes it hard to believe there is a computer running. The buzzing of my Sony FW900 CRT monitor is louder than whole PC. Unfortunantly I don't think the 100lb beast is going to be silenced any time soon. Too much work to get it to a technician to look at it and I am not opening a screen like this.

Thanks for all the good reviews and tips here. The Seasonic PSU, 3000B Case, Acoustipack, Nexus fans and U-Channel trim probably would not have been picked if it were not for this place.

Teejay:
The 80mm fan is a Panaflo L1a for my video card which only has a heatsink on it. I managed to fit it on the inner side of the Zalman bracket so it is flush with the card and doesn't take much fan speed to do the job.

The front fan was mounted like that in case I want to set my SmartDrive down there on top of the foam block for direct cooling. The enclosure is much larger than the drive itself so the extra room keeps it away from the motherboard. As Burcakb mentioned this fan is also undervolted and at such low speed it is virtually inaudible unless you stick your head right next to it.

Cams · Post by **Cams** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 5:30 am

Good job. I like the tubing stuff you've used around your cut edges.
I'm waiting on my 3000B and components coming - getting excited!

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 6:25 am

Slipstream wrote:Teejay:
The 80mm fan is a Panaflo L1a for my video card which only has a heatsink on it. I managed to fit it on the inner side of the Zalman bracket so it is flush with the card and doesn't take much fan speed to do the job.

Doh! Just glanced at your pics and thought the card the 'flo was "resting" on was the vid-card

/me repeats "have dinner before posting... have dinner before posting..."

What kind of card are you cooling underneath?

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 6:28 am

Let's keep the front fan the most discussed part of your good looking setup

Why have a front fan at all

There is (currently) no drive sitting there that needs the extra cooling. Even if you put the drive down there without a fan, it would get more airflow than it gets now.

Grayfox · Post by **Grayfox** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 1:06 pm

How is that Smart Drive 200c working out for you slipstream?Im getting mine in tommorow and am excited to finally get the HD which is the last component im my computer that makes noise.

Im also getting in vinyl this week to line the case so maybe ill post pictures.

Slipstream · Post by **Slipstream** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 1:49 pm

Grayfox wrote:How is that Smart Drive 200c working out for you slipstream?Im getting mine in tommorow and am excited to finally get the HD which is the last component im my computer that makes noise.

Im also getting in vinyl this week to line the case so maybe ill post pictures.

The SmartDrive reduced most of the whine quite a bit although it did not eliminate it entirely. This is on a WD 7200rpm drive that is about 5 years old and probably much noisier than newer models. Once I put Acoustipack on the front door of the case the high frequency whine is non existant. Since the SmartDrive is hard mounted there is a bit of clicking while reading/writing still but I don't mind that. Individually dampening and the enclosure were definitely good buys but putting them together is even better.

Acoustipack on the front case door really is amazing. If you put a CD/DVD in a high speed drive and listen to it with the door open/closed it is like night and day.

teejay wrote: What kind of card are you cooling underneath?

Just an old GF3 Ti200 64mb. I could get a passive solution for it and not need the fan but I will probably upgrade the card eventually and this side-cooling setup will be transferable.

Slipstream · Post by **Slipstream** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:00 pm

Couple extra pictures. The front door and side door with vents left uncovered.

miyagi · Post by **miyagi** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:52 am

souljas · Post by **souljas** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:03 am

very nice rig!, i am saving up for a similar setup, but with a Zalman's CPU cooler, and the just wondering where you got your insulation from?

Slipstream · Post by **Slipstream** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:13 am

souljas wrote:very nice rig!, i am saving up for a similar setup, but with a Zalman's CPU cooler, and the just wondering where you got your insulation from?

http://www.siliconacoustics.com/

They got it to me quickly but the box was beat up more than most things I have ever ordered online. The material was in good shape though. Foam isn't really vulnerable to damage from a crushed box. I would probably order from them again though if I had to.

halfpower · Post by **halfpower** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 1:04 pm

I may build a rig in this case.

How is the CPU fan mounted?

What brand of motherboard and CPU are using?

On the whole, how sturdy would you say the computer is?

Is the rear fan an exhaust fan?

Slipstream · Post by **Slipstream** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 4:00 pm

halfpower wrote:I may build a rig in this case.

How is the CPU fan mounted?

What brand of motherboard and CPU are using?

On the whole, how sturdy would you say the computer is?

Is the rear fan an exhaust fan?

Well the CPU fan used to be a 92mm that actually fit on the heatsink (SLK900 if I remember correctly) . The 120mm Nexus has to be turned like that for the clips to fit over it to hold it onto the heatsink. People on here say that the dead spot in the center of the fan and the overhang makes it less efficient than a smaller fan that delivers all its air directly on the heatsink. I didn't see any real difference myself and this cools more of the motherboard components at the same time. It is also much quieter so that is good enough for me.

The motherboard is the original Epox 8RDA with a AMD XP 2400+ running at 3000+ speed. 512mb 2-2-2 Kingston HyperX RAM, DDR400.

While the case is not as bulletproof as the larger SX10x0 series cases it is only a small step down. My only complaints are the plastic drive rail attachments which have holes that were off just enough to make screwing them onto my drives for mounting a bit of a pain. The other issue was the bezel is a little cheap. I almost broke part of a clip while adding some washers to a screw so it would hold the bezel on tighter -- I was able to pull the lower corner off without pressing the clips in originally. For around $50 bucks though it is plenty sturdy and an all around good buy.

Rear fan -- yes, this blows air out the back. The duct on the side pulls air in for the CPU so the air flows in that corner fairly well.

Hope this info helps!