First ever PC build (for the most part silent) *upd jan 09*

ddrj · Post by **ddrj** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:50 am

Update Jan 02, 2009: viewtopic.php?p=442337#445839

Update Dec 09, 2008: viewtopic.php?p=442337#442337

Update

Hey everyone, this is my first ever build PC wise. My previous pc was 6 or 7 years old and a dell. It was extremely loud. I'm trying to remember what was the loudest part but to be honest, it was everything: the fan, the hard drive etc. I'm glad I stumbled across SPCR too and after much lurking through the forums, I finally have a great pc up

However, it is not completely finished. I still need to put an accelero on the video card and maybe do a few other things. I also need to cut out the front mesh of the SOLO (so far i've only done the back) and also buy some U-channel. I went to my home depot but they didn't have any there.

Anyway here are the specs:

Case - Antec Solo
CPU - Intel Core2Duo E8400
Video Card - ATI Radeon 4870 (1GB)
RAM - 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 - 800
PSU - CORSAIR 650TX 650W
Mobo - Asus P5Q SE2
CD/DVD - Samsung CD / DVD Burner SATA
HardDrive - Seagate 3.5" 500GB SATA

HR-01+
Noctuna 120mm 800rpm for the HR-01+
Scythe S-Flex 120mm 1200rpm for case fan
Accelero + another scythe 120mm = On its way which is why you see the stock cooler on the video card

I made a few mistakes when I first started the build... for one, i oriented the heatsink the wrong way... good thing I caught myself before it was too late. Also, I have a bunch of cuts on my fingers from the heatsink. I didn't use a grounding strap at first but after asking around they said you could just plug in the wire from the PSU (but not turn it on) and then ground yourself to the chassis. I don't know if this worked or not but the PC's on in either case. Also, I should've gotten a Noctuna for the case fan and a scythe for the hr-01 (after reading SPCR reviews on Noctuna's pressure management). Oh well.

I really like the Solo case. It's got a great glossy look to it and the insides have some noise blocking padding. Cable management area in the back's not bad but could be better.

Inside. I tried to do a good job with the cable management but I was tired, I will try to work on it more sometime in the near future:

Suspended the hard drive here. Honestly the loudest part is that read / write scratching I hear from this hard drive. It's very annoying especially after everything else in your room is very silent:

Scythe - HR - Noctuna collaboration

:

Random inside shot:

Idle temps. Not really sure if it's good / bad:

That's all for now. I will update this though when I get my Accelero and its fan in, cut out the front 2 fan grills and get some U-channel going. I also need to find out an easy way to maybe undervolt both 120mm fans, currently they're not too audible and i might be confusing the (veryyyyy minimal) noise with the video card fan noise. Thanks for reading and any comments / suggestions / big ups would be appreciated

Also thanks to everyone whose thread I lurked on here and to these guys for the tips: frenchie, that Linux guy, hybrid2d4x4 and MapAid

I really like this build, not only because it's my first ever one and i'm very excited but because it's so quiet compared to my last one.

-ddrj

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:04 am

Hi,

Looks good -- you probably don't need to worry about the front grills. If the video card is making the most noise, then that is what I would work on. Also, if you add a duct from the rear fan to the heatsink (or even if you don't!), you could eliminate the Noctua.

maf718 · Post by **maf718** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 6:45 am

Hi, great build and good choice of cooling.

As for undervolting the 120mm fans, when I only want to control or slow down the speed of 1 or 2 fans my first preference is to let the BIOS do it automatically, as long as the motherboard allows it (sometimes it only works with PWM fans). This means you don't have to have extra programs running in the background or extra wires and such, and the speeds will ramp up automatically if it gets hot. I think in the Asus BIOS it is called Q-Fan and when enabled you can choose various fan speed profiles such as "silent" (probably a good starting point) or "performance" etc. (Not 100% sure of the naming schemes, I use Gigabyte boards).

The HR-01 has low resistance for a heatsink so it shouldn't affect the Noctua performance too much, but there's no harm in experimenting with swapping the fans around or getting rid of one as Neil suggests.

aztec · Post by **aztec** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 7:04 am

Great start!

In case you are still looking for channel molding.

mnpctech is a great place to get it.

http://www.mnpctech.com/UChannel.html

frenchie · Post by **frenchie** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:34 am

great job !!! And clean too

Glad you enjoy your build !

You could try blocking the radom holes in the back on the case (next to the PCI slots). It might improve your temps a bit (front to back airflow will be a little better).

ddrj · Post by **ddrj** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 12:00 pm

NeilBlanchard wrote:Hi,

Looks good -- you probably don't need to worry about the front grills. If the video card is making the most noise, then that is what I would work on. Also, if you add a duct from the rear fan to the heatsink (or even if you don't!), you could eliminate the Noctua.

Hey NeilBlanchard, thanks for the reply! I am going to do what you suggest but I was wondering by adding a duct between the case fan and the heatsink, would the temps go up? I think I will try this and buy the duct from thermalright's webpage (the hr-01 i bought from frozencpu didn't come with a duct)

maf718 wrote:Hi, great build and good choice of cooling.

As for undervolting the 120mm fans, when I only want to control or slow down the speed of 1 or 2 fans my first preference is to let the BIOS do it automatically, as long as the motherboard allows it (sometimes it only works with PWM fans). This means you don't have to have extra programs running in the background or extra wires and such, and the speeds will ramp up automatically if it gets hot. I think in the Asus BIOS it is called Q-Fan and when enabled you can choose various fan speed profiles such as "silent" (probably a good starting point) or "performance" etc. (Not 100% sure of the naming schemes, I use Gigabyte boards).

The HR-01 has low resistance for a heatsink so it shouldn't affect the Noctua performance too much, but there's no harm in experimenting with swapping the fans around or getting rid of one as Neil suggests.

Thanks for the reply maf718! I haven't tried Q-Fan (didn't even know it existed) and I just checked the Asus website and it gives a good tut on how to enable it from bios. I will try Q-Fan and try to lower the fan speed, along with trying what Neil suggested with getting rid of the noctuna and adding a duct. It wouldn't hurt like you said

aztec wrote:Great start!

In case you are still looking for channel molding.

mnpctech is a great place to get it.

http://www.mnpctech.com/UChannel.html

Thanks aztec! I just added to cart

frenchie wrote:great job !!! And clean too
Glad you enjoy your build !

You could try blocking the radom holes in the back on the case (next to the PCI slots). It might improve your temps a bit (front to back airflow will be a little better).

Hey again frenchie!!!

thanks for the suggestion about the grill in the back. I might try some Duct Tape to block it off. I'm trying to lower my temps also and was wondering what you thought about what the others suggested? About having a duct from the case fan to the hr-01 and getting rid of the Noctuna? Maybe I could buy the accelero and add the noctuna to it.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and keep it coming. I've been obsessed with this build and any suggestions for making it more silent / cooler are welcome

I hate the read / write noise from the hard drive. Anyone got any suggestions for this problem?

pixel · Post by **pixel** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 1:38 pm

Hello,

I'm also new here, and hope to post my "silent PC" here when I'm done with it! Let me chime in and add my thoughts:

Everything seems very clean for your first build

I'm not a master of silencing PC's (the quest for that started 1 year or so ago, with my first visit to SPCR), but I'm not bad with building PC's and can say that everything looks fine.

I would also advise you to try swapping the fans on the HR-01 and case; I'm in a similar situation (Noctua P-12 on TRUE and Scythe S-Flex E on the case) and was advised by Wibla to try a swap. It did make a 1-2 C change on my CPU core temperature; and it does sound more logical to put the Scythe (with more pressure) on the CPU. It won't take more than 4-5 mins to try, and the result might be worth it.

Using a CPU duct and the case fan for the HR-01 and getting rid of the Noctua is very tempting.. However, I think the Scythe would need to run a bit faster in this setup. Also, IMHO I think the 4870 needs to be silenced (if you want to go even quieter, that is) before the 800 rpm Noctua.

Temps look fine to me.. I get much higher idle core temps (about 51 degrees) with my TRUE and Noctua, however it does seem to be a mistake in the CPU sensors. I also see 35-36 in the "CPU" part of SpeedFan, so probably it's not so bad. Maybe better thermal paste/grease and a more careful reseat of the heatsink would cut a few degrees off the CPU temps; but I don't see anything to worry about.

Congrats on the well-done build, and good luck for the future modifications! (That reminds me, I need to cover some holes on the case side panel..

)

maf718 · Post by **maf718** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:17 pm

I hate the read / write noise from the hard drive. Anyone got any suggestions for this problem?

The quick answer is to get rid of the hard drive and get a new one based on SPCR's recommended list. You've already suspended it which helps a lot with vibrations, you could try a drive enclosure but then it becomes difficult to suspend and no guarantee it will help (enough).

Modern Seagate drives seem to be a bit of a lottery, many people say they are not very quiet, but others are happy; I think there are great differences between models as well as sample variance. I have two single platter Seagate drives in my current build that I am very happy with, but I also have a 7200.7 that has the most annoying seek noise ever and is in the process of being retired.

ddrj · Post by **ddrj** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:50 pm

pixel wrote:Hello,

I'm also new here, and hope to post my "silent PC" here when I'm done with it! Let me chime in and add my thoughts:

Everything seems very clean for your first build I'm not a master of silencing PC's (the quest for that started 1 year or so ago, with my first visit to SPCR), but I'm not bad with building PC's and can say that everything looks fine.

I would also advise you to try swapping the fans on the HR-01 and case; I'm in a similar situation (Noctua P-12 on TRUE and Scythe S-Flex E on the case) and was advised by Wibla to try a swap. It did make a 1-2 C change on my CPU core temperature; and it does sound more logical to put the Scythe (with more pressure) on the CPU. It won't take more than 4-5 mins to try, and the result might be worth it.

Using a CPU duct and the case fan for the HR-01 and getting rid of the Noctua is very tempting.. However, I think the Scythe would need to run a bit faster in this setup. Also, IMHO I think the 4870 needs to be silenced (if you want to go even quieter, that is) before the 800 rpm Noctua.

Temps look fine to me.. I get much higher idle core temps (about 51 degrees) with my TRUE and Noctua, however it does seem to be a mistake in the CPU sensors. I also see 35-36 in the "CPU" part of SpeedFan, so probably it's not so bad. Maybe better thermal paste/grease and a more careful reseat of the heatsink would cut a few degrees off the CPU temps; but I don't see anything to worry about.

Congrats on the well-done build, and good luck for the future modifications! (That reminds me, I need to cover some holes on the case side panel.. )

Hey pixel, thanks for the reply! I have a few questions.. you say that the scythe needs to run a bit faster for it to use the cpu duct to the hr-01 heatsink. Currently it's at 1200rpm, do i need one that does 1600 (that's the only other fan i saw there). The noctuna on the other hand only does 800rpm so i don't think i can use that as the case fan

Also, I've decided to get the Accelero S1 Rev2 instead of the trad2 (like i originally thought i'd get). So what I could do instead maybe is take the noctuna 800rpm off the hr-01 and add it to the accelero. That way i can run the scythe 1200rpm fan with a duct to the hr-01.

maf718 wrote:
I hate the read / write noise from the hard drive. Anyone got any suggestions for this problem?
The quick answer is to get rid of the hard drive and get a new one based on SPCR's recommended list. You've already suspended it which helps a lot with vibrations, you could try a drive enclosure but then it becomes difficult to suspend and no guarantee it will help (enough).

Modern Seagate drives seem to be a bit of a lottery, many people say they are not very quiet, but others are happy; I think there are great differences between models as well as sample variance. I have two single platter Seagate drives in my current build that I am very happy with, but I also have a 7200.7 that has the most annoying seek noise ever and is in the process of being retired.

Hey maf718

I have the 7200.10 version of seagate baracuda drives. Apparently seagate acknowledged they're faulty and I might return it sometime since seagate has a 3 year warranty. I just googled for 7200.10 and it seems that many people have a lot of problems with it being loud. Most of the obvious problems seemed to have disappeared in 7200.11 though. However, I think i will use it as some sort of storage hard drive and just buy a new hard drive like you said. I'm thinking maybe the Samsung F1's ?

frenchie · Post by **frenchie** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 12:18 am

Hi again ddrj !!

Since you're getting the Accelero, I personnaly wouldn't duct the CPU heatsink. The Accelero is going to make your case quite a bit warmer since all the heat is going to end up in the case. So if you duct it, the heat is going to have to go through the CPU heatsink before being exhausted, therefore heating up your CPU a bit. Also, the warm air that doesn't go through the CPU duct/heatsink is going to have to go out the PSU, heating it up too. To me this is not the best solution. Keeping the exhaust fan on a more "open" configuration is better I think.
Whatever you do, keep in mind that your overall temps will very likely increase a couple of degrees because of the Accelero.

I'd go with the setup you discribed : put the Noctua on the Accelero and try running the CPU fanless. The case and PSU fans are close enough IMO to generate enough airflow for the CPU.

AndyP · Post by **AndyP** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 12:54 am

Nice build,

Could I suggest putting a bit of foam on the floor of the case underneath the hard drive. The elastic bands on my solo stretched and lost their elasticity after a while causing the drive to drop lower, just worry that if that still happens your drive could touch the bottom of your case

pixel · Post by **pixel** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:13 am

Hi again;

Well, in fact I tried to mean something like this: You have a 1200 rpm fan; and running it at (for example) 800 rpm would be enough without a duct. With the duct, however, the fan might need to run closer to full speed to overcome the added air path and resistance. This is just a theory in my head. (It's been quite a few years since I took the fluid dynamics class..)

Also, frenchie's post sounds very well-thought. With an Accelero, not using the duct sounds better to me. I wish there was a silent, "ATi Silencer-like" GFX card cooler which draws air from inside the case and exhausts it out of the system.. That would be a very nice option.

I hope his plan works without problems; it sounds like a very good way to solve the problem.

HappyJack96 · Post by **HappyJack96** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:27 pm

Antec SOLO users UNITE! I also recently got one for my first "assembled" computer. Whole system designed by me, but someone else built it.

Looks like you have a NF-S12-800 Noctua fan. Their NF-P12 is _specifically_ designed for heatsink fins. This may be an ultimate better choice for the Accelero. Then you could put your current Noctua on rear of case, which is the NF-S12 ideal purpose. Noctua's are _supposed_ to push more air then other fans; in this instance, exhausting more heat out of your case. I've been told the NF-S12-1200 [rpm] "is extremely quiet yet moves some serious air." If MTBF is for real, they'll last much longer than most fans also.

In my experience, soft fan mounts _can_ also make a difference. I've read about Antec TriCool fans (supplied in all their cases) not being very quiet, but mine doesn't seem too loud. However, it was re-installed with soft mounts, instead of screws.

Western Digital Caviar SE16 hard drives are touted as being very quiet. I have a 320 GB (single platter) mounted with Antec supplied extra-soft silicone grommets. Light vibration is felt on the drive, but _no vibration_ on metal tray! Excellent dampening and isolation.

Hope all this helps!
Russell

ddrj · Post by **ddrj** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:51 am

Dec 09, 2008

Hey guys I haven't been able to give a proper update yet because I am still waiting on getting the accelero

Other than taping up a rectangular grill in the back of the solo, I have a few updates...

Hardware silencing:
I was able to significantly quiet the hard drive after downloading a tool called QuietHDD. It's software based but it still does a good job of shutting up the seek noise on my pc. Also I disabled a lot of unnecessary services on my Vista install.

New LCD screen:
My previous one was 17" 4:3 (a dell lcd). This new one is a Samsung 2233BW and is 22" 16:10. This thing is so big! (that's what she said)

New Keyboard:
Razer Lycosa

Future:
Accelero should be coming sometime this weekend. What I think I'll do is buy a scythe fan for it. Maybe a 5v 120mm 800rpm one? Also I'll get rid of the Noctuna fan on the hr-01 altogether like frenchie suggested. So altogether 2 fans... case and vga. And one more thing... does anyone know how to undervolt fans from 12v to 5v? Maybe I can buy some voltage converters?

Thanks in advance! Will update next week after putting in all the items

-ddrj

frenchie · Post by **frenchie** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 10:01 am

does anyone know how to undervolt fans from 12v to 5v?

I don't but the noctuas come with cool undervolting wires

(LNA and ULNA) and you can still use the rpm control

hybrid2d4x4 · Post by **hybrid2d4x4** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:13 pm

Nice build! Glad you're happy with it.

If you want to undervolt to 5V, the easiest/cheapest way is if you use the molex (4 pin connectors that are used in IDE hard and optical drives) adapter that come with the Scythe fans, and changing the input pins/wires around on the adapter so that the colored (non-black) wire that splits off into the 3pin fan plug (on the adapter) gets its power from the red 5V wire (on the psu's molex output) as opposed to the 12V yellow wire. So essentially, you're taking out the straight wire that leads from the adapter's molex input to output and putting the pin/cable that goes to the fan in it's place. You should probably tape up the output end of the adapter/dongle so you don't connect it to any other devices by mistake. Hope the instructions aren't too confusing...

extreme4377 · Post by **extreme4377** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:10 pm

These work great. Im using two of them to 7V my Nexus fans.

http://www.svc.com/fsa-75.html

Modmaven · Post by **Modmaven** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:51 am

Nice build there. Wanted to throw my two cents in. I have been running with a solo case and a completely passive Scythe Ninja for about 6 months now. I dont even have a duct, and the temps are fine. I have an 8800GT in mine, and it is my main gaming machine. I have a single 92MM fan at the front, and the standard 3 speed antec at the back on low. Its not totally silent, but very quiet...

ddrj · Post by **ddrj** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:29 pm

Update: Jan 02, 2009

Hey guys just wanted to throw a few updates out there!

The stupid LOUD stock cooler was removed from my 4870. I had to decide between the Trad 2 / HR-03 / accelero. In the end, I decided to go with what's tried and tested and got the Accelero S1 Rev.2 and wow was I glad I did. Not only is it perfect for silencing, but it also costs 60% less than the other products! In addition to the accelero, I added a 800rpm Scythe S-Flex fan.

Here is the stock cooler removed:

Surprise! Ramsinks cleared out nicely. Didn't have to do any mods for it:

VRM sinks kept falling off if I shifted/hit it hard. So I decided to use zip ties to hold it in place

Overall SOLO case

GPU-Z Temps:

Temps are usually around 42*C or so idle. This is perfect compared to the stock cooler which IDLED @ 78/79*C. With the accelero on, I played Fallout 3 for an hour or two and I checked temps after that and it was at 49*C. I'll have to do a thorough stress test though.

Other updates: The case 1200rpm scythe fan I had was audible, I took frenchie's advice and used the LNA / ULNA wires that came with the Noctuna fan I purchased and it dropped the case 1200rpm fan to 800rpm and now is inaudible. So I have 3 fans now, a 800 scythe case fan, 800rpm noctuna cpu fan and also an 800 scythe fan for the video card.

I think that I could get rid of the 800rpm fan for the cpu, but unfortunately I'm a bit scared to. The reason being that my CPU cores both show up as 39*C idle and I just don't understand why. I am using an HR-01+ and I've seen other people have cpu temps of 21*C idle. I'm thinking it could be because of my PSU maybe...

hybrid2d4x4 · Post by **hybrid2d4x4** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:18 pm

Wow! Nice temps on that 4870 with only an 800RPM fan... and your memory doesn't run anywhere as high as mine... I should really check if those memory heatsinks are still seated properly. Good fit on the heatsink too. Mine looks a bit worse since one of the heatpipes from the core touches a RAM heatsink, and you seem to have more clearance from the PCB, whereas I had to "interlace" the fins from my RAM HSs with the fins of the cooler. Your fit and finish on the vid card seems perfect- well done!

ddrj · Post by **ddrj** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:01 pm

frenchie wrote:
does anyone know how to undervolt fans from 12v to 5v?
I don't but the noctuas come with cool undervolting wires (LNA and ULNA) and you can still use the rpm control

Thanks frenchie, your advice was extremely valuable and by using the LNA wire from the noctuna, I was able to get it down to 800rpm and it is very quiet now

so thank you once again

Modmaven wrote:Nice build there. Wanted to throw my two cents in. I have been running with a solo case and a completely passive Scythe Ninja for about 6 months now. I dont even have a duct, and the temps are fine. I have an 8800GT in mine, and it is my main gaming machine. I have a single 92MM fan at the front, and the standard 3 speed antec at the back on low. Its not totally silent, but very quiet...

You know what Modmaven, I am going to try running the E8400 cpu without a fan. If you were able to do it, it would definitely help even though I can't hear the noctuna fan at all!

hybrid2d4x4 wrote:Wow! Nice temps on that 4870 with only an 800RPM fan... and your memory doesn't run anywhere as high as mine... I should really check if those memory heatsinks are still seated properly. Good fit on the heatsink too. Mine looks a bit worse since one of the heatpipes from the core touches a RAM heatsink, and you seem to have more clearance from the PCB, whereas I had to "interlace" the fins from my RAM HSs with the fins of the cooler. Your fit and finish on the vid card seems perfect- well done!

Thank you so much for the kind words hybrid2d4x4!! I really appreciate it since this is my first build and I'm looking for helpful advice

I am proud of the temperatures and I wish that my CPU temps were the same, but unfortunately they're not

My CPU temps run idle at 39*C all the time unfortunately. I have seen someone else here with the same CPU as mine (E8400) and the same heatsink (HR-01+) getting temps of 23*C! I am very jealous :\ Here are my temps:

From there you can see that both the cores' temps are 39*C :\ Any advice from anyone would be appreciated on how to possibly lower the CPU temps even if it is not crucial at the moment. I used Artic Ceramique as the thermal paste for the HR-01+ and the E8400. Everything's tightened down fine. I'm thinking that it could possibly be the heat from the PSU which is the Corsair TX650W.

frenchie · Post by **frenchie** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:39 am

It is weird that your CPU temp is equal to your CPU core temps.
Did you try CoreTemp ?
also, check out this link, it has a lot of usefull info : http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/221 ... ture-guide

Navvie · Post by **Navvie** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 6:36 am

I use Real Temp, which was recommended at the time and temperatures are always a degree or three lower than SpeedFan.

It may also be possible to undervolt the CPU which should see your temps lower a little.

--
Mike

ddrj · Post by **ddrj** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:25 am

frenchie wrote:It is weird that your CPU temp is equal to your CPU core temps.
Did you try CoreTemp ?
also, check out this link, it has a lot of usefull info : http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/221 ... ture-guide

thanks, i'll check out that link. also usually my cpu temp is around a few degrees lower, i wonder why it was equal at the time i took that screenie.. however on the brightside, i'm getting different results using realtemp :X

Navvie wrote:I use Real Temp, which was recommended at the time and temperatures are always a degree or three lower than SpeedFan.

It may also be possible to undervolt the CPU which should see your temps lower a little.

--
Mike

Hey Navvie! I ended up trying RealTemp and for the cores, it says that the cores are both 34*C

link

So I am wondering that it's just a problem with speedfan

speedkar9 · Post by **speedkar9** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:13 pm

ddrj wrote: From there you can see that both the cores' temps are 39*C :\ Any advice from anyone would be appreciated on how to possibly lower the CPU temps even if it is not crucial at the moment. I used Artic Ceramique as the thermal paste for the HR-01+ and the E8400. Everything's tightened down fine. I'm thinking that it could possibly be the heat from the PSU which is the Corsair TX650W.

Two things:
1. Try reseating the HS with new thermal paste. Too much or too little won't allow proper heat transfer. Give the TIM a few hours (20 hours) to settle before taking temperature readings.

2. If you think the heat from the PSU is causing a warm up, do a quick experiment and add a barrier between the CPU and PSU to thermally separate the two. Usually its the CPU's heat that heats up the PSU, causing it to ramp up though.

Nik7304 · Post by **Nik7304** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:33 pm

Hey DDRJ,

Don't know if it's something you've thought of, but it could help cooling the CPU down: I have an Antec Sonata, and like you I have a spare optical bay and a spare floppy bay, so what I did was remove the cover from optical bay above the floppy bay. My brother built a cover from car stereo mesh and fabric cover (any car stereo place should have this, just get a square piece, cut and bend into shape and glue the fabric to the back). I then put a quiet 80mm fan just behind, padded it with styrofoam around the fan and have that as an extra intake. I haven't measured my temps but it does give a nice extra draft in the case for the CPU and PSU.

aztec · Post by **aztec** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:08 am

You can stick the VRMs with 3M Thermal tape (Frag Tape).

I have these on my 9600GT and they're holding much heavier copper sinks than the stock aluminum from the Accelero.

Becasue of the odd layout of the ram chips on my 9600, some of the chips are actually on the under side, which means the copper sinks are upside down....STILL....they haven't come off, and are very secure.

http://www.2cooltek.com/thermal-tape-frag-tape.html

You can look around ebay as well. Just make sure its 3M.

Good luck!

EDIT:

This would be just as good, if not better.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ ... s_id=22980

Shadout · Post by **Shadout** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 6:01 pm

The reason for the difference between speedfan and realtemp is, afaik, because they dont read the actual temperature, but the distance to 'Tmax', which is a temp determined by Intel, and the creators of those 2 applications are taking some educated guess about what Tmax is for each CPU.
From what Ive read, people trust realtemp the most. Maybe because they like it shows lower temps

Would be more interesting what the load temps are on the CPU though.

Nice solution with the VRAM heatsink, had similar issues with mine (HD4870 too).

ddrj · Post by **ddrj** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:16 pm

speedkar9 wrote:
ddrj wrote: From there you can see that both the cores' temps are 39*C :\ Any advice from anyone would be appreciated on how to possibly lower the CPU temps even if it is not crucial at the moment. I used Artic Ceramique as the thermal paste for the HR-01+ and the E8400. Everything's tightened down fine. I'm thinking that it could possibly be the heat from the PSU which is the Corsair TX650W.
Two things:
1. Try reseating the HS with new thermal paste. Too much or too little won't allow proper heat transfer. Give the TIM a few hours (20 hours) to settle before taking temperature readings.

2. If you think the heat from the PSU is causing a warm up, do a quick experiment and add a barrier between the CPU and PSU to thermally separate the two. Usually its the CPU's heat that heats up the PSU, causing it to ramp up though.

Hey speedkar9,
i just RMA'd my psu so I will try reseating the cpu HS now, after looking at it, I think i might even lap it :X also unfortunately I didn't have a chance to create a barrier between the cpu and psu yet, but when i get my new enermax modu82+ i might try it. unless your suggestion of reseating the cpu hs does the trick .

aztec wrote:You can stick the VRMs with 3M Thermal tape (Frag Tape).

I have these on my 9600GT and they're holding much heavier copper sinks than the stock aluminum from the Accelero.

Becasue of the odd layout of the ram chips on my 9600, some of the chips are actually on the under side, which means the copper sinks are upside down....STILL....they haven't come off, and are very secure.

http://www.2cooltek.com/thermal-tape-frag-tape.html

You can look around ebay as well. Just make sure its 3M.

Good luck!

EDIT:

This would be just as good, if not better.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ ... s_id=22980

WOW aztec, thank you so much for the links, I just ordered from the performance-pcs.com site a few minutes ago. Although I'm satisfied with the zip ties, i'd rather not have the risk of it slipping out of the zip ties. So this is a PERFECT solution >:D thank you so much again

Shadout wrote:The reason for the difference between speedfan and realtemp is, afaik, because they dont read the actual temperature, but the distance to 'Tmax', which is a temp determined by Intel, and the creators of those 2 applications are taking some educated guess about what Tmax is for each CPU.
From what Ive read, people trust realtemp the most. Maybe because they like it shows lower temps

Would be more interesting what the load temps are on the CPU though.

Nice solution with the VRAM heatsink, had similar issues with mine (HD4870 too).

Hey Shadout!

I got realtemp and did an hour of prime95 torture testing, here are the results:

Idle: 34*C
Load: 44*C

aztec · Post by **aztec** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:19 pm

good stuff!

glad the links helped.

Just make sure you clean the VRM properly before tacking on the tape and sinks.

First ever PC build (for the most part silent) upd jan 09

First ever PC build (for the most part silent) upd jan 09