Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

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Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Sat Mar 31, 2018 4:09 pm

visper wrote:Here's something odd.

Output: HDMI 2.0b / DisplayPort (Version 1.4)
https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/GeFor ... cification

Display Output (Max Resolution): 2560x1600 !!!???!
https://ca.msi.com/Graphics-card/GeForc ... cification

Are they insane or just incompetent? Or am I missing something?
One of the specs is wrong, HDMI 2.0b can do 4k (i belive it can do 5k also), and DP 1.4 can do 4k for sure, im running a 4k monitor on 1080ti on DP1.4.

If you really have doubts i can boot the threadripper build with the GT1030 on my 4k monitor.

visper
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by visper » Sat Mar 31, 2018 5:14 pm

Only if it'll help you sleep better. Based on the video outputs, and from googling the video card, I'm fairly confident the max resolution is wrong on the Canadian site. But that looks pretty bad on a manufacturer's site.

lodestar
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by lodestar » Sat Mar 31, 2018 5:40 pm

visper wrote:So does that mean Arctic's fans operate from 800 to 1320 rpm? The jump from 0 to 800 might be jarring, but at least that should only happen under load.... right?
Yes, that's correct.
visper wrote: Are there any other semi-passive fans that could be combined with this or other heatsinks? Or other semi-passive cooling solutions?
I've just starting evaluating the EK-Vardar EVO 120ER 120mm PWM fan. The ER stands for Extended Range, which means that it is a semi-passive fan with a 0dB mode. According to its specs the 0dB mode should be in the 0 to 25% PWM duty cycle range. Using Asus BIOS controls I found that my particular fan did not start until 31% PWM duty cycle, with a speed of around 600 rpm. Using the Asus BIOS settings to delay the start point in terms of CPU temperature as long as possible pushed it to over 60C so like the Arctic fan this would only happen under load. There is also a 140mm version, the EK-Vardar EVO 140ER. Given a semi-passive GPU and PSU using these as case fans would allow a silent PC under idle or low system stress conditions.

The other factors you might like to take into account is that the 120ER has a nominal speed range of 350 to 2200 rpm, and the 140ER 500 to 2000 rpm. The Asus, like most motherboards I suspect, runs all the fans at maximum speed at boot up for a brief period. The 120ER in this scenario is very noisy. I used a BIOS setting of 20% so a few seconds after boot up the fan turned off and the noise stopped. I was using a chassis fan header to control the fan, which worked OK although EK recommend the use of the CPU header. The 120ER seemed a lot heavier than normal fans, so using it for CPU coolers with wire clips might not be entirely straightforward.

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Sat Mar 31, 2018 6:41 pm

visper wrote:Only if it'll help you sleep better. Based on the video outputs, and from googling the video card, I'm fairly confident the max resolution is wrong on the Canadian site. But that looks pretty bad on a manufacturer's site.
Well by nvidia specs and the connection standard it suppose to, but i havent started the build on a 4k monitor, only 2560x1440, but it does run fine with 4k60hz on DP (cant test HDMI without doing a lots of moving, but it should be the same, at least 4k30 i think my monitors are not HDMI 2.0b).
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visper
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by visper » Sun Apr 01, 2018 8:32 am

@lodestar Interesting. I hope you'll report your experience, particularly comparing the more subjective aspects of how good or bad they sound at turn-on and under loads. What do you think of Arctic's fans at 800 rpm?

@Abula Thanks for testing. NVIDIA's spec sheet shows it capable of up to 8k under certain conditions: https://www.geforce.com/hardware/deskto ... ifications
2560x1600 seems like a DVI limit. Considering MSI has several variants of this card (passive, active, different outputs), maybe it was a mixup. Still doesn't look good on a manufacturer's site.

lodestar
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by lodestar » Sun Apr 01, 2018 11:37 am

visper wrote:@lodestar Interesting. I hope you'll report your experience, particularly comparing the more subjective aspects of how good or bad they sound at turn-on and under loads. What do you think of Arctic's fans at 800 rpm?
Noise-wise with the 120ER I could not detect the change from off to on under load conditions when other conventional case fans were also running in the 600 rpm range. The maximum speed I saw for the EK120 under load was 850 rpm and this did not produce any obtrusive noise.

If I were to build a complete system using this fan then I would consider using the Fractal Design C. It has a removable top cover that can be replaced with a supplied magnetic mesh dust filer. Using the magnetic dust filter gives an open top which will help to keep CPU and motherboard temperatures in check when all fans are off. There might be more noise under load but I think it could be the better option. The Arctic Cooling Freezer 33 Plus, as already discussed, could be deployed with one fan on the cooler and the other as exhaust fan. For intake fans on the Fractal Design C I would opt for 2 of the EK-Vardar EVO 140ER fans. As this case has a PSU shroud there is a relative short, clear path between the intake fans and the CPU cooler/GPU. Using BIOS fan controls a manual profile should allow the fan turn on point of the semi-passive fans to be controlled as desired. I have used Asus BIOS fan controls so I do not know exactly what facilities other makes such as Asrock, Gigabyte or MSI provide.

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Sun Apr 01, 2018 1:39 pm

Hey lodstar since you seem to testing EK Vader fans, i have some questions if you don't mind,

1) Do they use real ball bearings? i ask because when i tested an old version EK Varder they seem a lot similar to Scythe GTs, just with another arrangement of blades.

2) I see you bought ER, seems those are 2200rpms (GT had 2150 versoin), is 600rpm the minimum you can get them on PWM? is this the same for 120 and 140?

3) Have you tested the EVO S version? seems to be 1150rpms (again like GTs), wondering how low these get though?

visper
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by visper » Sun Apr 01, 2018 1:51 pm

The EK-Vardar EVO 140ER might make it possible to have a completely silent system at idle. Exciting.

It does seem that there's a tradeoff between complete silence at idle versus higher noise at turn-on and loads.

I found this review of the 120ER and it's interesting to compare with other popular fans including the Silent Wings 3: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EKW ... 0ER/4.html

lodestar
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by lodestar » Sun Apr 01, 2018 2:04 pm

Abula wrote:...Do they use real ball bearings?
They have a fluid bearing.
Abula wrote:...is 600rpm the minimum you can get them on PWM? is this the same for 120 and 140?
With Asus BIOS tuning the turn on point was 31% PWM duty cycle which is around 600 rpm. I did notice that after taking off load there was a short period when the fan speed dropped from 850 rpm to 250 rpm for a few seconds before turning off. The nominal speed range for the 120ER is 350 to 2200 rpm so it doesn't surprise me that it could drop as low as 250 rpm in this scenario. I have not tested the 140ER yet.
Abula wrote:...Have you tested the EVO S version?
No, I was only interested in the ER version because of the 0db capability.

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Sun Apr 01, 2018 2:55 pm

THanks Lodestar for the info, looks like interesting fan. Although there are a lot of other fans that can stop though, like most of your noctuas, the bequiet Silentwing3 120mm PWM BL066 can be stopped if you can setup below 18% PWM (probably 15% since samples vary).

Image
visper wrote:I found this review of the 120ER and it's interesting to compare with other popular fans including the Silent Wings 3: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EKW ... 0ER/4.html
Interesting roundup, i do think the EK Vardar seems very appealing fan in terms of cooling capabilty, but relation on rpms and cfms seems better on others.

Image

Not a fair comparison as its 140 vs 120, but hey it was there... so what the heck. Thermalright TY143SQ @1250 (yellow highlight) has more CFM and less noise to the EK Vardar 120ER @1000 (green highlight).

A more fair comparison, the BeQuiet Silentwings3 (orange highlight) at 1250rpms has the same noise but more cfms than the Vardar at 1000rpms (green highlight).

I never really understood why measure CFM though, i know why they do it but i feel the variable isn't good for final users. We buy fans because we need to cool something, the outcome of adding a fan would be lowering temperature and increasing noise, so this should be two variables that should be presented to users, probably just chose a standard case and/or heatsink.

I would like to see 140mm fan roundups though, to compare the Varder ER or S vs BeQuiet SilentWing3 vs Thermarlight TY147ASQ.

visper
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by visper » Sun Apr 01, 2018 3:53 pm

Abula wrote: Image
So the 120ER can move more air and has a higher turn-on threshold, but the SilentWings3 is quieter for a given volume of air moved. There always seems to be some tradeoff. Also, I don't know how much it matters, but the 120ER doesn't seem to have any damped mounting mechanism.

Is there a comparison of the minimum fan header PWM % level for different motherboards?

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Sun Apr 01, 2018 4:06 pm

visper wrote:Is there a comparison of the minimum fan header PWM % level for different motherboards?
Things change every generation, so its not that easy to find, review websites dont focus on this so in most cases you are in the mercy of user to find this info.

What i can tell you is that Asus allows you to drop as low as the Qtuning fan can establish as the lowest % (at least on H170 Pro Gaming), all headers are swtichable from PWM/DC (same with MSI).

AsRock has no limits per header, you can place it at 0% if you wish, tested on my old H170 Pro4 and with my Z370 Taichi. Its limitation it has is that all headers are PWM, but only some are PWM/DC. In my H170 Pro4, you only had 2 headers (asrock used to name call them autodetect) that could control 3pin fans via voltage control as long as you pluged a 3pin fan (CPU_FAN and CHA_FAN1), on Z370 Taichi it changed, there are two headers that are switchable (as asus and msi) on the bios (CPU_OPT and CHA_FAN3), again on PWM fans any header will work fine, on 3pin voltage there are limitations.

MSI had 13.5% as the lower limit Z87-GD65, but on Z370 Gaming M5 has no limits, its practically the same as AsRock in terms of limits, the only benefit that MSI has over AsRock is that all headers are switchable on my Z370, same as Asus in terms of switchable headers.

lodestar
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by lodestar » Sun Apr 01, 2018 4:39 pm

Abula wrote:...AsRock has no limits per header, you can place it at 0% if you wish
The issue is if you do this does it actually turn the fan off with a fan that has 0 rpm at 0% duty cycle like the Silentwings 3. Or does it detect that the fan is not running and simply increase the % PWM duty cycle until it does run. Is it possible for you to check and verify this.

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:00 pm

lodestar wrote:
Abula wrote:...AsRock has no limits per header, you can place it at 0% if you wish
The issue is if you do this does it actually turn the fan off with a fan that has 0 rpm at 0% duty cycle like the Silentwings 3. Or does it detect that the fan is not running and simply increase the % PWM duty cycle until it does run. Is it possible for you to check and verify this.
Sure thing Loadstar, i can test on both the MSI Z370 Gaming M5 and Asrock Z370 Taichi, both builds are running. Ill try to start the Silentwings3 120mm PWM at 0% pwm (just changing the first breakpoint) and the prime95 it to give it some load to see if the motherbaords starts the PWM fans, ill be back in few.

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Sun Apr 01, 2018 6:19 pm

Alright Lodestar, i manage to finish testing on the AsRock Z370 Taichi, the short answer is yes, as long as the fan can be stoped (like most noctuas and bequiets PWMs) you can set up the bios to stop the fans until certain CPU temperuture is reached, where the fans start up and go by the breakpoints of the bios. Here are some pics,

Edit: Re uploading pictures, now through SPCR forum attachments
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visper
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by visper » Sun Apr 01, 2018 6:25 pm

Great info. Thanks for testing. I hope the X370 Taichi is similar.

This ability to turn off also means the Silent Wings 3 might be better than the 120/140 ER for for low noise over all operating RPMs.

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Sun Apr 01, 2018 6:42 pm

visper wrote:Great info. Thanks for testing. I hope the X370 Taichi is similar.
Np, glad to help. The AsRock X370 Taichi should be very similar, as both mobos were released last year with like 5 months apart, but dont worry the H170 Pro4 can do this also, the only change between both mobos on bios fan control is a tester kinda like fanXpert (or qtunning of asus) but imo doesnt work as good, luckily it doesnt intefere with the bios fan control nor places any restrictions. The only thing that i would suggest you is get PWM fans that can be stopped, all headers on AsRock boards can be setup as i did on the CHA_FAN1 as long as they are PWM, 3pin.... you will need to test which headers can, not all will.

The only doubt that i do have is the CPU_FAN header, i didnt want to do it here as prime95 can spike the temps too fast and could been dangerous. In some motherboards you can't boot if the motherboard doesn't read RPMs, in some motherboards there is an option to disregard this safety, on others dont matter, others you simply cant boot or you get an error warning on bios boot "CPU fan not running, push any key to continue".
visper wrote:This ability to turn off also means the Silent Wings 3 might be better than the 120/140 ER for for low noise over all operating RPMs.
Loadstar previously posted that the EK Vadar "ER" can be stopped fully, and thus their marketing of
EK-Vardar EVO fans with Extended range (ER) of PWM operation feature a special Start-Stop function which brings a true 0db experience for the absolute silent fan operation.
So the EK Vadar ER PWM as the Bequiets Silentwings3 PWM as most Noctuas PWM can be stopped under certain % on PWM. Now which fan to chose is up to you and your budget.

lodestar
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by lodestar » Sun Apr 01, 2018 6:54 pm

Thanks Abula, that's very useful information. Looks like my next motherboard is going to be an Asrock...

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Sun Apr 01, 2018 8:21 pm

lodestar wrote:Thanks Abula, that's very useful information. Looks like my next motherboard is going to be an Asrock...
Np, glad to help. But don't be so sure on only AsRock, MSI is as good if not better in terms of bios fan control, as it also has Switchable headers like Asus, right now my AsRock Z370 Taichi only has 2 switchable, the rest are pwm, so if you are only using PWM fans both mobos are the same, but for someone wanting to use the inclued fans on their case, and maybe wait to upgrade them... then MSI would be my recommendation for its flexibility, i think AsRock is moving on to switchable headers, this is the first that i seen abandoning the autodetect, my guess is next gen will be all switchable. If you ask me which i prefer, honestly i think both are good, now with Taichi, AsRock is bringing a lot of value to the high end segment (not as super high end like rampage), and MSI has been great, their gaming series are very well made, even their low end are really nice mobos, for every new build i try to look what both offer and decide upon my needs knowing that bios fan control is the same (as long as you use PWM fans).

Talking about MSI, i manage to do the testing on doing 0% PWM on the MSI Z370 Gaming M5, again on Bequiets Silentwings3 120mm PWM, and yes it can stop the fans on 0% pwm and start them with load and stop them once the temps go down below the temp breakpoint, so in essence both work the same on bios fan control. Check the bottom for pics.

I did check and the fans spin up on powerup then spins down once the bios loads, also open the case when i was running prime95 to see if the fans spin up and i can confirm they do, and they also spin down when the temp goes lower than 50C.

Sadly i cant do the test on CPU_FAN header, my fans on both builds are Thermalright TY147A, by design you cant stop them, under 0% pwm they spin at 300rpms. To do the test i would need to dissamble the build to reach where the CPU fan header is, maybe when i clean it up, but for now know that any header can (without the confirmation on the CPU_FAN, my guess is that it will run as the others).
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visper
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by visper » Mon Apr 02, 2018 4:48 am

Abula wrote:right now my AsRock Z370 Taichi only has 2 switchable, the rest are pwm, so if you are only using PWM fans both mobos are the same, but for someone wanting to use the inclued fans on their case, and maybe wait to upgrade them...
Good point about included case fans. I checked and the Define C comes with two 3 pin Dynamic X2 GP12 120mm fans.

On the X370 Taichi "CPU_FAN1, CHA_FAN1, CHA_FAN2 can auto detect if 3-pin or 4-pin fan is in use" http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X370%20Tai ... cification

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:48 pm

I had bad experiences with gigabyte, so its very likely that i will never buy one again, but checking today the following video, Level1Tech New Intel Chipset on the H370 Aorus Gaming 3 WiFi Motherboard, it had an interesting bios show at the end, and at the very end of the video you can see the bios fan control for the CPU FAN.

Some interesting things that can be seen from (similar to MSI and AsRock),

1) Has 5 breakpoints, same as AsRock, one more than MSI. Similar to both into the graph, not sure if its restricted or not, seems its not.
2) Has a CPU Fan fail safe warning (on/off), so it can run with the fan off.
3) CPU FAN STOP, not sure what this does, but its an indication that it allows to stop the fan.

All in all, seems they have a very similar bios fan control, would like to play with it some and test it, and see if the headers are switchable or not, but seems they are on the right direction.
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visper
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by visper » Thu Apr 05, 2018 11:59 am

Is it possible to run semi-passively on coolers other than the Arctic Freezer 33 Plus?

On local buy/sell sites I found a Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 3 for about the same price or only slightly more than the Arctic. I also found a Noctua NH-D15 without fans, which is probably not worth it given the price of fans.

Other concerns include RAM clearances and whether the top PCIe x1 slot becomes unusable on the X370 Taichi with one or both of those coolers. But my first thought is about silence.

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:28 pm

visper wrote:Is it possible to run semi-passively on coolers other than the Arctic Freezer 33 Plus?
Yes, as long as the fans that come can be stopped, for example Thermarlight coolers usually come with TY147A that can't be stopped (this is by design), but Noctuas can be stopped (almost all). Prolimatech PWM fans, at least the ones that i have tested, cant be stopped. Scythe im not too sure, i think some can but not all.
visper wrote:On local buy/sell sites I found a Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 3 for about the same price or only slightly more than the Arctic. I also found a Noctua NH-D15 without fans, which is probably not worth it given the price of fans.
Worth is a very relative word, i think in your case in canada, you are very limited into the choices you can get at what most in the US calls good bang for the buck, that said a good cooler will last you years, my HR02 is 10 years old now, and still cooling fine. Most important thing for you into looking for other coolers is to check that has AM4 mounts, until last year, no coolers had this new AMD mount, slowly most manufacturers and retailers have included in revised retail versions, but on canada not sure if any cooler you buy will have support, so crosscheck this before buying.
visper wrote:Other concerns include RAM clearances and whether the top PCIe x1 slot becomes unusable on the X370 Taichi with one or both of those coolers. But my first thought is about silence.
Here depends on each cooler, most of the 120mm wont overlap the 1st PCIe, the 140 in some cases can others have been design asymmetrically to not interfere, but be careful, for example the NH-D15 does overlap with the 1st PCIe, but the NH-d15S was made so it wont overlap, but the NH-D15S don't come with AM4 mounts.... so be careful when you buy.

visper
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by visper » Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:38 pm

Yes, the NH-D15 doesn't have the AM4 bracket, which is another reason I was less interested in it, although I know there are bracket kits sold on newegg etc. Thanks for confirming about the PCIe slot being blocked.

Any similar info about the Dark Rock Pro 3's PCIe clearance? I've read the mounting is a pain... But given the Silent Wings 2 fan(s), I guess stopping them is possible?

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:56 pm

visper wrote:Yes, the NH-D15 doesn't have the AM4 bracket, which is another reason I was less interested in it, although I know there are bracket kits sold on newegg etc. Thanks for confirming about the PCIe slot being blocked.
Some do come AM4 mounts, the new NH-D15 does come with them already, just to my knowledge they didnt refresh the NH-D15S, which is the one that dont overlap with the PCIe slot, so they dont have AM4 mounts for it, that said Noctua said that if you bought the cooler from an autorized seller (newegg is i believe) that you just need to send the proof of purchase and ask for the AM4 mount and they will mail it to you for free, contact their customer service to check if this is still running, they should reply you with in two days.
visper wrote:Any similar info about the Dark Rock Pro 3's PCIe clearance? I've read the mounting is a pain... But given the Silent Wings 2 fan(s), I guess stopping them is possible?
I have 0 experience with Bequiet coolers, i did see from another memeber here (Felipe) that there are revised version with SW3 version (those might stop, although i cant say for certain as its another variation of the fan). But to the one you are considering check SPCR Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 & Cryorig H5 Universal Coolers, in the middle of the page you will find that 0% PWM they still spin around 740/360 rpms, so in essence those fans cant be stopped.

visper
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by visper » Thu Apr 05, 2018 6:34 pm

Abula wrote:Noctua said that if you bought the cooler from an autorized seller (newegg is i believe) that you just need to send the proof of purchase and ask for the AM4 mount and they will mail it to you for free
I was looking at a buy/sell/trade site to see what's available, so that wouldn't qualify for Noctua's program. You're right that the availability of coolers isn't great here.
Abula wrote:check SPCR Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 & Cryorig H5 Universal Coolers, in the middle of the page you will find that 0% PWM they still spin around 740/360 rpms, so in essence those fans cant be stopped.
Perfect, that rules out the DRP3.

The Arctic Freezer is still looking like the best option I can find so far. It's just unfortunate that the price (~65$) creeps up closer to high end cooler prices (NH-D15 ~105$), due to shipping (Newegg brings it from the US).

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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Fri Apr 06, 2018 12:22 am

visper wrote:I was looking at a buy/sell/trade site to see what's available, so that wouldn't qualify for Noctua's program. You're right that the availability of coolers isn't great here.
One cooler that you might want to look into is the Noctua NH-D15 SE-AM4, its not cheap, but already comes with AM4 mount and its sold by Newegg canada, i know the NF-A15 PWM can be stopped, i have tested both the one that comes on the NH-U14 TR4 and NF-A15 PWM (retail versions) and both can be stopped. Its very likely it will overlap the 1st PCIe of the Taichi (a 1x) but it shoudlnt reach the 2nd (the 16x where you should have the GPU).

Personally i dont endorse what you are trying to do, the impact that the CPU has is very big even at low rpms, you gotta understand that pure idle might be fine, im not sure how is linux on CPU power management and automatic downclocking, but on windows the CPU go into different power states lowering the clocks and voltages depending on load, and thus the temperature, but in my experience (with windows), i prefer to set a very low rpms that can sustain low loads, usually on a none delided quad/six core is around 50C, where i open webpages or programs and it spikes in the 40s, but to reach 50s or higher than there where i ramp my fans, so what i try to do is find a very low rpms that its enough to soak all the light load tasks while still remaining inaudible with a constant speed, until a big load comes then the fans ramp up to adapt to the heat that will be generated. Now by this im not trying to say you shouldnt do the turn off of the CPU fan, just i would think its very likely to start with very light load or have a very hot running cpu, all of this you will have to decide once you build. The good thing is something that you dont need to be certain right now, as you can test it and decide there if you still prefer to run the cpu into a passive state, that said to have the best chance into achieving this i would go with the biggest cooler i could find, and thus my recommendation, for your situation on canada, is the NH-D15 SE AM4 (even though the ideal cooler for this passive startup would be Thermalright LeGrandMacho, but out of cost and availability i think the noctua is the best option for its massive size).

visper
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by visper » Fri Apr 06, 2018 7:33 am

You make a good point about temperature spikes. I don't know how significant those are and whether a decent heatsink should be able to absorb them quickly enough.

Even aside from price, I want to avoid blocking slots and possible RAM height problems, both of which exist with the NH-D15 SE-AM4. On the other hand, everyone raves over Noctua's build quality and mounting mechanism. I looked for more compact Noctua models too, but they eventually seem similar to the Arctic model. Maybe I missed some?

Abula
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by Abula » Fri Apr 06, 2018 8:11 am

visper wrote:Even aside from price, I want to avoid blocking slots and possible RAM height problems, both of which exist with the NH-D15 SE-AM4. On the other hand, everyone raves over Noctua's build quality and mounting mechanism. I looked for more compact Noctua models too, but they eventually seem similar to the Arctic model. Maybe I missed some?
The Noctua NH-D15S (not the AM4 version) only comes with 1 fan, part of it is trying to keep the cost down, but also it can operate with one and still be decent overall, with only the middle fan, you shouldn't run into ram height issues as it has a cutout at the bottom of the heatsink that allows up to 64mm of tall memory (without the frontal fan) or up to 32mm memory (with the frontal fan), for reference according to JEDEC standard memory height is 30mm (consider this as the green pcb ram).
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visper
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Re: Possible? Powerful workstation + silent idle

Post by visper » Fri Apr 06, 2018 8:28 am

Would the NH-D15S be offset enough not to block the first x1 PCIe slot?

Actually, I considered running a NH-D15 without the front fan, since I found one locally without any fans for the same price as the Arctic Freezer. But losing a slot bothers me a bit, even if I don't intend to use it right now.

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