finally, my computer is almost silent!

grenadier · Post by **grenadier** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 6:57 pm

Just switched my rig from an antec performance plus660amg to a brand new slk3000b ($46 shipped from amazon!) and wow am I happy with it. I'm really glad I didn't drop the extra $ on a p180 although they are pretty

. The hard drive mounting system in the 3000b isn't as good as the one in the p180, but it sure cut down my vibration related noise tremendously. Not only did I pick up a new case, I also switched my old 350W super tornado for a 380W S12. My new specs are in my sig...

This really is the first case that I've been truly happy with. The only case fan I'm running is the stock antec 120mm fan switched to low. Decent airflow with no more need for a gaudy blue led fan controller unit. Yay! I've been thinking about installing a zalman fb123 @ 5v to cool the nf4 chipset since it gets scorching hot, but other than that this setup is amazing.

Any tips on how I could quiet this setup down even further??

liquid_celica · Post by **liquid_celica** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 7:37 pm

Congrats.

happy to hear that you've achieved some level of quietness.
NOt to be a party pooper, but i think you've just caught a case of "beginners quietness." You're so impressed with the vast improvement in audible ambiance you have achieved that "silent" can only explain it.

Trust me, give it a few days/weeks and that stock antec will start to sound a little whinie. After that, you start to notice that you're seeking is a bit of a nuissance. Soon enough, you're back in the forums thinking of crazier new mods to shut your computer up. HAHAHA.

OH OH OH!!! I totally agree with you with the leadtek GT. It's sooo quiet stock. I love it. But like i said, it'll have to go soon cause the bug will bite me in a bit....

. HAPPY SILENCING!!

xenithon · Post by **xenithon** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 12:53 am

WELCOME TO THE ELITE CLUB - I formally welcome you to the I-changed-from-performance-plus-660-to-slk-3000b club

I too changed about 2 weeks ago from a Performance Plus 660 AMG to an SLK3000B. I went through a dark period where I thought a monster CPU fan, 4 80mm case fans and a fan controller were the best, enabling me to awaken a jumbo on my desk at any time

But as they said above, watch out! Give it a few days and you will start noticing EVERYTHING. Since I changed cases, I also: got Nexus case fans...got a silent CPU cooler....soft mounted fans...mounted my HDD on sorbothane...got a quiet(ish) PSU....etc. And I hold in my hand a Zalman VF700 to be fitted to my GFX card this weekend.

Will it ever end??

grenadier · Post by **grenadier** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 11:30 pm

liquid_celica wrote:OH OH OH!!! I totally agree with you with the leadtek GT. It's sooo quiet stock. I love it. But like i said, it'll have to go soon cause the bug will bite me in a bit.... . HAPPY SILENCING!!

The Leadtek 6600gt really is one of the best cards out there for the money. It's cheap (got mine for $130), quiet, and with the new 77.76 drivers I can play splinter cell at 1280x1024 w/ 8x AA & 16x AS!!

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 6:12 am

the worst sounds are from the gpu heatsink fan and the psu. psu is obviously fixed, thats a great one, now just make sure it wont ramp up via a good front 120 mm fan on like 7-9 volts of push is my trick and the rear at 5volts.

also, um, yeah, i have no idea what is good for that vga card. im guessing a blue sandwich from zalman with a 80 pana or a 120 nex (kinda huge for it though) on it, maybe zalman 92 is good, i used it and had a lil noise out of it on low, but minimal by most standards.

you could use the new half flower from zalman, but i think it takes up a LOT of room.

grenadier · Post by **grenadier** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:40 am

Right now I'm planning on swapping out my Freezer 64 for a Zalman 9500 when it comes out and hopefully this will do a better job of keeping my chipset and power circuitry cool (in addition to lowering my processor temps). If these new zalman heatsinks create enough air circulation in the case they might also make passive video card cooling a more viable option as well. So 9500 + passive video card cooling = case perfection. Then maybe I'll have to find myself a replacement for the stock 120mm antec fan

grenadier · Post by **grenadier** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 10:27 am

Just bought a gigabyte silentpipe x800 even though I've only had this Leadtek card for a month or two... Couldn't help myself since they're going for a measly $174 after rebate. God this card looks sweet.

warriorpoet · Post by **warriorpoet** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 6:16 am

If you want silent without dropping $200+ on a new vidcard, I've read good things about this Silent VGA Heatpipe Cooler

grenadier · Post by **grenadier** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:01 am

warriorpoet wrote:If you want silent without dropping $200+ on a new vidcard, I've read good things about this Silent VGA Heatpipe Cooler

The X800 silentpipe has a higher quality cooler, makes swapping heatsinks unnecessary, and costs the same as any othe 256mb X800 on the market. I picked it up for $170 after rebate which, after I sell my 6600GT, will end up costing me less than the price of buying an aftermarket cooler for my old card. Not to mention that the X800 is a significantly more powerful videocard with 256mb of high speed memory which give it large speed increases over the 6600GT in Battlefield 2 (recommends a full 256mb memory of video ram for smooth play) as well as several other games. Heck, at load my passive X800 even runs a full 13C cooler than the Leadtek card with active cooling that it's replacing. It'll probably be even cooler after I clean off the stock thermal paste and put some AS5 on that core.

The X800 is also crossfire capable which means in a month or two I'll be able to take advantage of ATI's crossfire release promotion making me eligible for $100 off a matching crossfire capable card when crossfire is released (I'll probably just sell it making the $170 X800 deal even sweeter). Here's a pic of my rig as it stand rights now with two 120mm yate loons, a modded 7700alcu, and the silentpipe X800. All I need is a fan controller so that I can crank up the intake fan when I'm gaming for some additional nb/gpu cooling power.