It all falls apart

[monkiman]

Ugh!

My rig was pretty quiet - not silent, but good enough.

You may remeber my recent PSU woes (wouldn't repond to switch), I had another Fortron lying around, I bought it last time I upgraded, as I thought the fan was going in the old one (it was just really dirty). As Neil Blanchard pointed out in another recent thread - the newer Fortrons (mine is painted blue with mesh sleeving) are NOT the same fan as the old one. It's a much higher speed fan.

On top of that, my Zalman 7000A AlCu has never been quite as quiet as I would have wished, the Artic Silencer on my vid card is not as quiet as it used to be either (and I ofter get lock up when playing games with it on the low setting - never used to happen)

So now my rig that I could only hear when right next to it - I can now hear from 8-10 feet away My wife still says "what are you talking about?"

As much as I'd like to just start anew with a skt 939 MB - I'd have a hard time justifying that with the wife. While I have the lust, I'm really not enough of a hardcore gamer (just some UT2K and HL2) or power user to need the upgrade.

Help me SPCR - you're my only hope.

Options -

Fan swaps: swap the fans on both the PSU and CPU
Pro: cheapest option
Cons: still might not be quiet enough or cool well enough - Silencer still noisy

Relacement replace PSU and CPU cooler
Seasonic S-12 330 @ $66 shipped
With the recent talk of the cheap Scythe Bat cooler at newegg, it looks OK but raises some questions. Will this fit on the MB/case combo? Newegg says it's skt A compatible - no where else does - the user reviews indicated that it will fir skt A with holes (which I have) - anyone have a definitive answer?

Video Card What to replace the Silencer with? Cause the card works for me - I hate to think about replacing - espicially as it kills me that the AGP versions of available cards are pricier than PCIe versions of the same/or better things.

So - any opinions?

[andywww]

Heya, just thought I'd give you a couple more options:

Reposition computer (Sticking it under or behind a desk can make a huge difference)

Oil fans (Some people reported quieter operation after lubricating fans YMMV, but if you are going to replace them anyway *shrug*)

Damping material (probably a bad idea in terms of cost/benefit ratio)

More fans (this is counterintuitive, but adding better case airflow can reduce the speed at which you need to run all of the fans, leading to lower overal noise levels. If done right. You didn't specify your setup, so I can only speculate)

I would personally recommend that you try moving your computer first- we "silenced" roommate's very noisy computer by sticking it behind his desk. It was amazingly better, and very free. (Also got him an old 7000ALCU tho )

[monkiman]

Rig is in the sig...

Thanks for the suggestions - I don't think repositioning is the answer, it fairly howls to my sensitive hearing. I used to have it under the desk,here were two problems with that. One, 19 month old baby gets into everything. Two, hairy dog tended to lie next to it, gumming up everything with dog hair and dust.

The Sonata is slightly modded (the standard side intakes blocked, front opened up)

[Trunks]

Video Card What to replace the Silencer with? Cause the card works for me - I hate to think about replacing - espicially as it kills me that the AGP versions of available cards are pricier than PCIe versions of the same/or better things.

So - any opinions?

Take the fan/shroud off the AS and replace it with a 80 mm fan pointed up into it.

[disphenoidal]

I would look into all of the previous suggestions, but first I would see how much dust has accumulated in the case. You may have done that already, but if not, take a look and clean out whatever dust there is. Over time you can build up pretty substantial amounts of dust, enough to impede airflow and make things hotter and noisier. Otherwise, the previous posts have a lot of good ideas.

BTW, not sure if I recommend oiling fans. Seems like it would cause dust/grit to adhere to the fan and make it wear out faster.

[monkiman]

Again thanks - new PSU - everything cleaned when installed.

Anyone actually want to comment on the wisdow of buying vs modding?

I have a Seasonic S-12 and a Zalman VF700 sitting in a cart waiting to buy them...

[jaganath]

Anyone actually want to comment on the wisdow of buying vs modding?

I have a Seasonic S-12 and a Zalman VF700 sitting in a cart waiting to buy them...

Personally I have got to the stage where I am fed up with having to mod stuff to make it quiet, and I want something that "just works"(TM). The Seasonic fits into that category, (although I found I had to swap out the fan to get it as quiet as I wanted it to be); I don't have any experience with the VF700, probably lots of info in the VGA forum.

Generally I would say go for it. I know what's it's like to have a quiet rig suddenly "go bad"; it's not fun.

[dfrost]

I would definitely favor replacing the Sonata PSU with an S12-430 (see today's SPCR review of the S12-330 for rationale). I made that change with my Sonata and the noise/operating temp improvement was substantial. Notably, the exhaust temp from ther TP380S PSU was always warm, while the S12 exhaust is always near ambient.

Since you already have an Arctic Cooling VGA cooler, the VF700 might not be a noticeable change. Have you considered going to completely passive VGA cooling with a Zalman assembly or Aerocool VM-101 (my favorite)? A 120mm fan at 5V attached as "intake" fan on the Sonata HDD cage works very nicely with a VM-101 as shown here, if you have the room above the card.

[monkiman]

Never used the Sonata PSU - it was always too loud for my tastes I'm was/and am now using a Fortron FSP300-60PN

Nice work on your rig - thanks for the input

So - if one had to choose between a Zalman ZM80D-HP and the AeroCool VM-101 (the Zalman is $2 more) which is the winner?

As far as the PSU - I can can the 330 for $61, the 380 for $67 - is the feeling that the 430 is worth the $40 more?

[jaganath]

is the feeling that the 430 is worth the $40 more?

IMHO, no. I strongly doubt that your computer ever draws more than 150W even under full load, so that is well within the capabilities of the S12-330.

[monkiman]

IMHO, no. I strongly doubt that your computer ever draws more than 150W even under full load, so that is well within the capabilities of the S12-330.

My feeling as well - I'm not running SLI cards or multiple hard drives, just the basics.

Pity that zipzoomfly is out of out stock on it - they do have the S-12 380 for a mere $6 more than the best price for the 330. This picture
http://www.tech-mods.net/admins/bigapl/ ... inside.jpg seems to indicate that the 380 has the larger heatsinks like the 430


edit: jumping the gun a little here - ordered a Nexus 92mm to mod my 7000A AlCu - and a couple of the GlobalWin 120's - they're cheap and highly regarded.

[jaganath]

they do have the S-12 380 for a mere $6 more than the best price for the 330. This picture
http://www.tech-mods.net/admins/bigapl/ ... inside.jpg seems to indicate that the 380 has the larger heatsinks like the 430

Yes, a couple of people have reported that the 380 has the larger H/S (see S12-330 thread in Article Discussion forum). Because some people have mentioned that the 330 (with the smaller heatsinks) has poorer acoustic performance than its bigger brothers, I would go for the 380, especially as it is only a couple of bucks more.