How to silent my all in one computer ?

kikoune · Post by **kikoune** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:05 pm

A while ago, I was using several computers : file server, gaming rig, day to day computer, ... I decided back in January to build a all in one machine (no more room in my new place). Thanks to virtualization, it works great

My setup is build in a P180 with:
- cpu: e4300 1.8@3ghz with 1.4 vcore and arctic silver 5
- mobo: asus p5b
- heatsink: scythe ninja SCNJ-1100P
- psu: seasonic s12 500W
- gpu: xfx 7900gs
- add ons: 2 pci x1 sata card and 1 gigabit controller
- dvd rom plextor
- hard drives, well 10 (it's a file server with raid5), all seagate
- 5 yate loon DS12 orange (I removed the fan at the top of the p180)
- ocz memory soe
So the tower is full as you see on this picture :

(orange marks are the yate loon and green marks are the hard drives)
I'm fighting to have this setup silent but not hot.

Right now the main problem I have to solve:
- I can't run the yate loon less than 12v otherwise my system gets too hot
- The 4 hard drives at the top under the dvd drive are not on real silent absorber

The temperature for instance, it's 25C/76F in the room, the hard drives are between 33C/90F and 40C/105F depending where they are in the p180. The P5B tells me the system is 38C/100F. The CPU report 52C/125F. And finaly the GPU is 55C/130F. The system right now is playing music and browsing web, while file and web server are running. I'm considering this as idle. If I load the system like running a game or compiling code/programs, the CPU was up to 75C/165F.

I want to keep the system as this, meaning, I want it overclocked, able to play game and do the all in one thing.

Solution I'm thinking :
- replace with bigger case, like those huge lian li or server case or tt mozart, problem cost is 350$
- get an additionnal smaller case, where I mount all the hard drives on absorber with good cooling. my sata wires are long enought to do that. this way, I have very good air flow in the p180, because no hard drives. in this case should I go with regular ATX case or can I find a dedicated hard drive case ? (the problem with hard drive case, they come with raid controller or esata feature and I don't need them, I just need to _mount_ my hard drives externally).
- replace the cpu with a new one needing less vcore, I was interested in quad core

This one will be crazy

With price cut, I can buy a better cpu without loosing too much money ?

Anybody can advise me how to make my system perform better ?

Thanks !!!!

Max Slowik · Post by **Max Slowik** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:09 pm

Thermaltake Mozart TX is an incredible piece of shit.

http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/32 ... nter+Case/

LAThierry · Post by **LAThierry** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:42 pm

Just curious, what type of virtualization software are you using and what operating systems are you running?

Thanks in advance

kikoune · Post by **kikoune** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:56 pm

I'm running Gentoo Linux (workstation+server).
I'm using vmware player to try out others os or test my dev under different environments.
And for gaming a little bit, I use wine.

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:56 pm

Looking at your photo -- that's a lot of gear you have in there. Are you sure you can't get rid of a couple of drives? If they are all Seagates, then the whole system has to be quite noisy, because recent Segates are among the noisiest HDDs.

Also think though on the airflow in the top section -- you have 2 fans blowing in and only one out. Put the top fan back in blowing out. It won't make much difference in noise because you have so many other noise makers in there anyway. Then put all the fans on a controller. Use 12v on all during gaming where the noise will be somewhat obscured by the game noise/music. Switch to maybe 9V to get some noise reduction when you're not gaming.

Also, consider switching between OC and normal for your CPU. Surely you don't need for it to be so OC'd all the time? Think about making the whole system be "CnQ" -- ramp up in speed when needed, slow/cool/quiet down when not needed.

But getting back to what I said earlier -- there's really no way you can expect to have a quiet system with 10 Seagates running in any case. That's just not realistic.

Your HDD temps are perfectly safe btw.

You could move at least some of those HDDs out of the case using eSATA, but you're still limited to a location no more than 2m away. Unless you have an soundproff cabinet nearby, that won't be far enough away for the noise to abate much from 4-6 drives.

You could also just go to a second networked system, almost anything less than 4~5 years old, for a file server. Then most of those drives could go into that, and you could do a serious job of soundproofing that system for those drives. Now you can even place this system remotely -- maybe a closet.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:22 am

I won't comment on the HD situation, other than to say that's where all the heat is coming from. I'd put a high-speed Yate Loon (Jab-Tech has them) on the Ninja, and another high-speed fan on the top, blowing out. This is not a quiet setup...no matter what you do.

kikoune · Post by **kikoune** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:54 am

Thanks for the feedbacks

I was thinking seagate was good, I've been using them for years. Now I heard about the Samsung spinpoint ? But it will be kind of hard to change everything, lot of money

I will try to put the top fan on the p180, I was also thinking about using a fan controller.

I'm really thinking about the external case for hard drives, but homemade, something with damping.

For the OC, I never reboot the computer and I can't find a way to enable speedstep on my asus P5B (I didn't find an EIST option in the bios, I'm not sure the e4300 can do that)

I'll post update.

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 8:15 am

I'm curious.... what size hard drives are in there?

kikoune · Post by **kikoune** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 8:32 am

2x250go raid1 for the system
2x160go raid1 for virtual machine
5x400go raid5 for storage

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 9:09 am

I can't find a way to enable speedstep on my asus P5B (I didn't find an EIST option in the bios, I'm not sure the e4300 can do that)

e4300 supports EIST,you may have to update your BIOS.

Max Slowik · Post by **Max Slowik** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:06 am

Should I say that I don't think your temps are bad? Yes, they're high, but you have a lot of computer in that machine. You're also overclocking. . .

I mean, you can always pick up a Thermalright 120 Ultra. They're almost as good as watercooling.

Or hey, you can get a Gigabyte Galaxy 3D II, they're easy to install. You're never going to have great airflow or even low ambient temperatures in any case with that much hard drive, without some kind of serious drive segregation, like with a Silverstone case.

Which, if you have $400, I'd totally get a TJ-09 (with the extra 3x5.25" bay-to-3.5" hard drive converter) and a Galaxy 3D II. You'll be swingin'.

But as it is, your processor isnt burning up, your hard drives aren't smoking, and you've got no stability issues. Are you sure there's a problem?

kikoune · Post by **kikoune** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:51 pm

Hey so I already updated the bios, but still didn't see the option for P5B. I will ask elsewhere about this particular problem.

@Max Slowik : I'm don't really see a difference between P180 and TJ09, they look the same, also I don't want watercooling. The system has no problem, but I want it quieter.

I will post update later, I will try to mount back the top fan in the p180.

snoopygum · Post by **snoopygum** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 5:57 pm

With that many HDD, if you want the main system to be quiet with good air flow, you should consider putting some of them in an external RAID enclosure.

kikoune · Post by **kikoune** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 6:18 pm

That's what I'm thinking to do.
But with no raid. My computer can do the raid part, I don't need to spend the extra money to have raid in enclosure.
Actually what I'm thinking to do, is to get a cheap ATX case, damper it, and mount the hard drives on absorbers (rubber maybe ?). My sata wire are long enough to go through the rear holes of the P180, so I this way I don't need to invest in esata.
It's totally DIY and cheap

I'm just afraid of the sata wires going outside the case, but well, I just have to be carefull if I need to move it.

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 7:02 am

FWIW you can probably get away without even buying a computer case... you might be better off building your own sort of case, which would be much more suited for storing a large amount of drives and nothing else.

I'm thinking something like this:

only on a much larger scale, with a couple medium speed 120mm exhaust fans, and probably its own power supply (unless you want to route power along with the sata signals).

kikoune · Post by **kikoune** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:58 am

It's exactly what I'm thinking.

I figure out how to enable EIST on the P5B : EIST is disable if you tweak the cpu multiplier and I was doing it. So I disable the tweak, and I can use EIST et C1E option. I'm trying now to use that with my gentoo kernel. I have a bug detection on frequency. I'll post update.