Silencing a Shuttle XPC SN45G... MY FIRST SILENCING PROJECT.

brmecham · Post by **brmecham** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 11:33 am

I have a Shuttle XPC SN45G. It's too loud for me... so I am trying some different methods of silencing it. This is the first time I have really cared about silencing a computer, I love my SHUTTLE XPC, just wish it was quieter.

My noisy configuration for this XPC included:

Shuttle XPC SN45G
200W power supply (noisy)
standard 80mm cooling fan. (noisy depending on speed)
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 333MHz
1 GB DDR PC2700 333MHz Spectec RAM
AGPTEK nVIDIA GeForce FX5200 128 MB DDR w/fan (noisy, especially while playing games)
80 GB Maxtor 8mb cache ATA133 Hard Drive (quiet)
120 GB Western Digital 8mb cache ATA 100 (noisy!)

My new (and future) configuration includes:

Shuttle XPC SN45G
250W Silent X Power Supply (quiet)
Vantec SF8025L Stealth 80mm Fan (haven’t installed yet)
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 333MHz
1 GB DDR PC2700 333MHz Spectec RAM
XFX nVIDIA GeForce FX5200 128 MB DDR w/ heatsink, NO fan (obviously quiet!)
250 GB Maxtor 8mb cache, ATA 133 Hard Drive w/ fluid dynamic bearing motor (supposedly quieter, haven’t installed yet.)

I am hoping that once I install the new hard drive, fan, and video card the noise in this system will be greatly reduced while also reducing the temperature.

If anyone has anymore ideas for silencing this XPC SN45G while still keeping it cool please let me know.

I should get everything setup this weekend, I’ll let you all know what the results are!!!

mas92264 · Post by **mas92264** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 5:10 pm

Standard procedure on an XPC is to cut the exhaust grill out. Perhaps a better choice in exhaust fans would be a Panaflo 80 mm M fan.

An ATI 9200 video card seems to me to run cooler than the Nvidia 5200 chip.

The seek noise on a Maxtor 250 drive may be a bit much, although perhaps it can be adjusted with amset (get this at Maxtor) or the much discussed Hitachi tool. Note that the specs for this drive (pdf files at Maxtor) show it slightly louder during seek than it's smaller (DM+9) cousins and FDB is not listed as a feature on this drive. Maybe a Seagate 7200.7 (my favorite) or a Samsung might be a better choice. And, a lot cheaper. Note that the Storagereview article says that this drive does have FDB (how would they know?)

Oh, I have an SN45G and an SB62G2. The Shuttle 250w psu is a good choice.

M

brmecham · Post by **brmecham** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 6:54 pm

Maybe you should research this Maxtor 250GB a little better... It does in fact have a FDB motor, and it was a good price (on sale for $160 at Office Depot.) I haven't seen better than that. I'll let you know about the noise very soon here.

mas92264 · Post by **mas92264** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 7:52 pm

You're welcome.

M

brmecham · Post by **brmecham** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 10:45 pm

I installed the Maxtor 250 GB Hard Drive, and my FANLESS NVIDIA FX5200 video card.

I chose an Nvidia video card because this Shuttle XPC SN45G uses an Nvidia chipset, it just made sense to stay with Nvidia for the video card.

You were right, there is some seek noise from Maxtor hard drive, but it's not often and not too loud, not enough to bother me. My Western Digital 120GB made a constant motor noise that bugged me, so at least I don't have that noise any more.

I am now waiting for my new 80mm vantec fan.
The only noise I notice now is the stock 80mm exhaust fan... so hopefully this new one will quiet things down. If not, maybe I'll try a Panaflo, or try cutting the exhaust grill, though that's not something I wanted to do.

My temperatures right now are 50C for the CPU, and 44C for the Case, 48C for Sensor3 (reported from MBM5)
This is with only one fan in the entire system... the 80mm exhaust fan.

I have thought about an extra pci-slot exhaust fan, but that might increase the noise level too much.

I AM NOW SATISFIED WITH THE NOISE LEVEL OF MY COMPUTER, AT LEAST ENOUGH TO PUT IT ON TOP OF MY DESK, INSTEAD OF UNDERNEATH (TO MUFFLE THE SOUND.)

brmecham · Post by **brmecham** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 10:53 pm

THIS IS MY SHUTTLE XPC SN45G, I LOVE IT.

mas92264 · Post by **mas92264** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 11:13 pm

The gray hp burner looks good in it - better than the black drive I have in mine.

M

tridion · Post by **tridion** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 11:48 pm

brmecham wrote:My temperatures right now are 50C for the CPU, and 44C for the Case, 48C for Sensor3 (reported from MBM5)
This is with only one fan in the entire system... the 80mm exhaust fan.

If its the only fan in the entire system, how did you get rid of the fan in the PSU ? I too own a SN45G so am very interested to hear this.

brmecham · Post by **brmecham** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 8:13 am

ooops! I wasn't thinking about the PSU... that thing is so quiet I forget there's two fans in it... I upgraded to the SilentX PSU, it has two fans, one intake, one exhaust (very very quiet.)

What I meant is that only the 80mm is cooling the system.

tridion · Post by **tridion** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 8:56 am

And you had really got my hopes up

So the 250W psu is a LOT quieter than the 200W ? The one that came with my SN45G isnt that loud but if the 250W replacement is that much quieter I would be tempted.

brmecham · Post by **brmecham** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 2:56 pm

Yeah, the Slilent X 250watt PSU (hence the name SilentX) is a lot quieter, not really any noticible noise, at least to me. I was tempted into buying it because the noise on the 200w (a 200w psu that I had when I had an XPC SK41G) was reallly bugging me and the extra 50 watts is good thing (less stress on the PSU.)

The psu fans in the silentX are different. It looks like Shuttle must have made them slower or something so they are a lot quieter, but because of having two fans it keeps cool.

Althought it is somewhat expensive, I think the SilentX is worth it.

I hope my new 80mm Vantec fan comes soon (ordered on eBay, I love eBay) so I can find out if it's quiet enough. That should be the last thing I do to lower the noise on my SN45G.

brmecham · Post by **brmecham** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 3:17 pm

I have also been thinking about getting one of these clear cases... maybe the plastic would reduce noise better than the aluminum case? and also it has the option for two fans... i could put some quiet fans in there to improve cooling/

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 11209&rd=1

What do you think?

brmecham · Post by **brmecham** » Mon May 03, 2004 11:16 am

I added the Vantec Stealth 80mm fan...

I am done. I now have a Shuttle XPC SN45G which I can actually stand to have sitting on top of my desk. It's not completely silent, but it's not loud at all.

(I might cut out the exhaust grill, but I don't know if I really want to alter the case at all, especially for warranty purposes, Shuttle probably wouldn't accept a return on something like that.)

Nieko · Post by **Nieko** » Wed May 26, 2004 7:10 pm

Shuttle usually doesn't have a problem with RMAs with the rear grill cut out. They simply stick a new board in your case and send it back to you.

RaNDoMMAI · Post by **RaNDoMMAI** » Wed May 26, 2004 7:58 pm

Nieko wrote:Shuttle usually doesn't have a problem with RMAs with the rear grill cut out. They simply stick a new board in your case and send it back to you.

Do you know this for a fact?

@brmecham

How much noise can you hear from a meter away? did you do anything to the NB?
~RaNDoM

IceFire · Post by **IceFire** » Thu May 27, 2004 11:35 am

I cutted out the rear grills on both the PS and the system fan. I also cutted out a big slot on the side of the PS and seal up all the other holes. i will be opening up the case where the PS slot is so it can get cool air from the outside. As of now, the ps fan doesn't speed up even after 12 hours of prime 95.

I have also move the system fan outside. The fan doesn't speed up as offend but you could hear it a little more and is the loudest component in the case. So, either I'll have to find another fan for it, or put it back inside.

My 9800 pro has a fanless Zalman HS on it so I can't close the case all the way. I will have to do more cutting or put the orginal hsf back in.

WD HD 160 gig is ok and the Samsang DVD CD-RW is fairly quiet when in use.

Anyone have any other ideas?

Nieko · Post by **Nieko** » Thu May 27, 2004 7:14 pm

@ RaNDoMMAI - Yes, I am certain. I have been a member of the Sudhian Forums for a long time now. They are mostly devoted to Small Form Factor in general, and Shuttle in particular. Many of our members have had to RMA machines after cutting out the back grill, and it wasn't a problem.

@ IceFire - That PSU mod sounds like a great idea. Pulling cool air from outside the case would deffinatly help it out. For silencing the PSU you can pick up a CompUSA Chipset Cooler Kit and pull the ADDA 40mm fan from it to replace your stock one. It does an exelent job of moving the air while being almost totaly silent. You can also pick up a Vantec Stealth fan at your local computer store. When running at low speed it is extremely quiet yet fairly eficient.

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Fri May 28, 2004 6:07 am

I'm not familier with SFFs but I am familier with restrictive grills & Vantec Stealth fans.

When you try to push significant amounts of air through a restrictive grill, you get considerable airflow noise. A fan grill stamped out from sheet metal, with small holes usually is a bad choise. Cutting out the grill improves both amout of air moved and significantly reduces airflow noise. If you're worried about sticking your fingers in, get a wire fangrill. They're both less restrictions (space covered) and allow for noiseless airflow (air likes to move around round objects, not cut sheet metal)

The Vantec Stealth at 12V is considered anything but stealthy by this sites standards. I have 4, and I simply refuse to believe the 21 dBA rating of those fans. Granted, they're less noisy than your average 80mm, but the noise is just unacceptable. You *could* undervolt them. I tried 5V, 7V and 8.5V. At 5V and 7V they are quietish with obvious motor clicking noise and they don't move enough air to be worth anything. 8.5V is barely acceptale, if you have other equally noisy components.

You might be better off trying the Panaflo (never got to use one unfortunately) or the Globe L version (basically a cheap ultraquiet Acoustifan without the temperature control) or many other fans discussed in great depth in this site.

Nieko · Post by **Nieko** » Fri May 28, 2004 9:07 pm

Cutting out the rear grill on a Shuttle is a good idea. It does improve the airflow and reuce air cavitation noise from all the sharp edges. Even though you dont have exposed fan blades as the ICE Cooler radiator is there, a wire grill is still recomended to prevent acciedntal damage to the radiator fins.

I am aware that the Vantec Stealth is not the ultimate in quiet cooling they would like to claim it is. It is however, much better than the stock Sunnon fan and can be purchased cheap just about anywhere. It is a decent temporary fix untill a more suitable solution can be procured. I am awaiting the arival of my Noiseblocker fans myself. Now if I could just do something about that darn PSU...

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Sat May 29, 2004 12:38 am

Nieko wrote:I am awaiting the arival of my Noiseblocker fans myself.

I'm in the same boat: waiting for my S2s and 120mm Silent Pro SX2. I have great hopes, hope I wont be dissapointed, 30 cfm @ 19 dBA is nice.

brmecham · Post by **brmecham** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 8:09 am

I just added a pci slot fan for some extra exhaust, and a hard drive cooler with one fan. I undervolted them both to 5 volt so they don't make much noise.

I ordered a panaflo L1A to see if it's going to be better than the vantec stealth fan I have in there right now.

I am wondering if I should take out the exhaust fan and put something near the front of the case as an intake fan.

This is for my Shuttle XPC SN45G V2. The Silent X power supply is quiet, unlike what some people have said about shuttle power supplies.

nmuntz · Post by **nmuntz** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 7:05 am

I'm glad to see a thread on this unit. The big question I have is how undervoltable is the motherboard in this machine?

Does it go down to 1.1v?

Does it have S/PDIF out on the motherboard?

brmecham · Post by **brmecham** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 2:54 pm

Does it go down to 1.1v?
Does it have S/PDIF out on the motherboard?

I haven't tried any undervolting... I could check the bios to see what options are available.

It does have S/PDIF on the back of the chassis.

Silencing a Shuttle XPC SN45G... MY FIRST SILENCING PROJECT.

Silencing a Shuttle XPC SN45G... MY FIRST SILENCING PROJECT.

Silencing project UPDATE. I got my Hard Drive and VideoCard

Re: Silencing project UPDATE. I got my Hard Drive and Video

sorry about that.

maybe one of these clear cases would be good (found on eBay)

Added some undervolted fans - still quiet!

SN45G response