Scythe Ninja + Asus A8N-VM CSM

jwillans · Post by **jwillans** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:45 am

I don't usually chase silence particularly, but the PC I have just finished I am using as part of a church organ setup. I have used an Antec Sonata case which seems quiet enough on its own, however I am getting a lot of fan noise from the CPU fan (the processor is an Athlon 3700 and the heatsink and fan are standard) to the extent where I can't hear some of the quieter stops! I'm trying to evaluate what my best options are for quieting this and to this end have been lurking for a while. It seems that the scythe ninja is held in high regard, I have a few questions:

o Will this fit my Asus A8N-VM CSM motherboard?

o Is this difficult to fit, the instructions seem to suggest putting a new component on to the motherboard?

o Are there any alternatives that I should consider (for example replacing the fan on the supplied heatsink)?

Many thanks.

James

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 2:02 pm

It must be your lucky day, since I have both these components lying around for new builds. Well, not exactly lying around: the A8N-VM CSM board is already in a system that is up and running with a Zalman 7000B AlCu on it, so I could not test-fit the Ninja on it. I didn't feel like removing the Zalman, but I'm pretty sure it won't fit: the row of capacitors above the CPU socket in this picture [asus.com] is in the way.

Mind you, all I did was hold the Ninja over the Zalman so I could be wrong, but if it fits it would be extremely tight. I would not recommend the 7000B in stock form, but with a Nexus 92mm fan swapped in it is very quiet and most likely below the noise floor of your system (most hard drives make more noise).

jwillans · Post by **jwillans** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 2:15 pm

teejay wrote:It must be your lucky day, since I have both these components lying around for new builds. Well, not exactly lying around: the A8N-VM CSM board is already in a system that is up and running with a Zalman 7000B AlCu on it, so I could not test-fit the Ninja on it. I didn't feel like removing the Zalman, but I'm pretty sure it won't fit: the row of capacitors above the CPU socket in this picture [asus.com] is in the way.

Mind you, all I did was hold the Ninja over the Zalman so I could be wrong, but if it fits it would be extremely tight. I would not recommend the 7000B in stock form, but with a Nexus 92mm fan swapped in it is very quiet and most likely below the noise floor of your system (most hard drives make more noise).

Teejay - This is really useful info and much appreciated, it has saved me from making an expensive mistake. So your saying that the heatsink/fan here will fit okay. Does this fit into the standard Athlon 939 mount, or must I remove the motherboard to fit a new mount?

Thanks again for the info.

James[/url]

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 2:29 pm

Yes, that 7000B will fit. You do need to replace the standard mount, so unfortunately: yes, you will have to remove the motherboard. The standard backplate does come off easily enough though. Just unscrew the two screws that hold it in place and it's loose (no glue or anything).

One other thing to note: a standard 7000B will not be very quiet (although a lot less noisy than a stock A64 cooler): the standard Zalman fan tends to sound a bit... "growly" I suppose. Not bad but for maximum result you should swap the fan on it, preferably by a Nexus fan. Not a very complicated thing to do, but it does require a bit of patience to get it right.

OTOH, 7000Bs get cheaper all the time so you could try it with the standard Zalman fan first and decide to do a fan swap it it turns out too noisy for you. It would still turn out cheaper than a Ninja, which is why I still tend to use the 7000Bs for A64 rigs.

jwillans · Post by **jwillans** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 3:01 pm

teejay wrote:Yes, that 7000B will fit. You do need to replace the standard mount, so unfortunately: yes, you will have to remove the motherboard. The standard backplate does come off easily enough though. Just unscrew the two screws that hold it in place and it's loose (no glue or anything).

One other thing to note: a standard 7000B will not be very quiet (although a lot less noisy than a stock A64 cooler): the standard Zalman fan tends to sound a bit... "growly" I suppose. Not bad but for maximum result you should swap the fan on it, preferably by a Nexus fan. Not a very complicated thing to do, but it does require a bit of patience to get it right.

OTOH, 7000Bs get cheaper all the time so you could try it with the standard Zalman fan first and decide to do a fan swap it it turns out too noisy for you. It would still turn out cheaper than a Ninja, which is why I still tend to use the 7000Bs for A64 rigs.

Teejay. Many thanks again, I have ordered a 7000B. I'll stick with the standard fan in the first instance and then perhaps change it if it proves too annoying.

James

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 3:11 pm

You're welcome. Just curious: how does an Athlon 64 mix in with a church organ? Are you doing digital recordings or something more exotic? Somehow I keep seeing this image of a computer-driven church organ

jwillans · Post by **jwillans** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 3:19 pm

teejay wrote:You're welcome. Just curious: how does an Athlon 64 mix in with a church organ? Are you doing digital recordings or something more exotic? Somehow I keep seeing this image of a computer-driven church organ

I have a church organ console that outputs the notes played/stop settings etc as midi into the PC. The headless PC (no monitor/keyboard etc.) then uses midi and the Hauptwerk software to generate the correct sounds taken from samples of real church organs. The whole setup operates in real time and is frightingly realistic.

James