Quiet from the GetGo

rpc180 · Post by **rpc180** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:43 pm

5 years ago it was impossible to make stuff quiet with off the shelf stuff (I had a thread back in 2003 on page like 35 of the gallery on spcr, no more pictures though

... in 2008, 3 days and Newegg shows up my doorstep with this:
Gigabyte's EP35-DSR3
Antec Solo
Intel E8400
Xigamtech 1253 cooler w/ Nexus PWM 120 fan
120 S-flex 800 fan
Seasonic S12II power
ECS S2 cooler equipped out-the-box 9600GT
2 Western Digital Scorpio 2.5 120gb SATA drives

I masked off the default vent holes and opened up the two slots behind the S2 - the negative pressure pulls air primarily through those and over the card. Works really well: average 53C GPU during DX9 gaming.

Max fan speeds are 800 for the S-flex, 1350 for the PWM, no clue about the Seasonic. It blows out less air than the S-Flex though. I probably goofed getting the 420w, since there's almost nothing in the system that pulls the 12V rail, I get wonky readings from monitoring software on that line.

Suspended Scorpio drives - only the seek noise is a just a tad noticeable cause its higher pitched, but not bad.

Temps:
Folding, cores: b/w 38-41C
Idle, cores: 27C
Idle, GPU: 36C
Gaming, cores: 42C
Gaming, GPU: 53C

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:12 am

those are quite impressive temps, well done, how does the cooler perform without the fan?

im am looking to build a quiet pc, the most noise is going to come from the case fans and the cpu cooling fan, i want to find a good cpu cooler that can work as well without a fan, im not a gamer so temps wont be pushed that high anyway.

im convinced on 1 of the scythe fans for the case fans, s flex or slipsteam ifi can get hold of the 800's.

where would you say most of the sound is coming from now?

rpc180 · Post by **rpc180** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 5:21 am

I've had the CPU fan running as low as 400rpm for an extended period (overnight while folding). Temps were similar, probably 2-3 degrees higher per core while folding. I've never had it completely off though. The xigmatech is an excellent low airflow cooler. I let the bios control the speed because 1300 rpm seems to have no appreciable audible difference to the 400rpm. I suspect that its because its deep inside the case.

The solo with a seasonic 120mm ps and a s-flex 800 fan gives plenty of airflow for cool running components with big heatsinks. I suspect that a "square" heatsink like the ninja could be run fanless with the s-flex 800 case fan mounted behind it and a 120mm ps fan above it leaving the whole system with only 2 fans.

The loudest thing now is the seek noise from the laptop HDs. I can't wait until solid state drops in price.

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:27 am

thanks for the response, i think i am leaning towards the xigmatek hs ahead of thermalright hs's.

why do you say that about the 'square' hs? sorry if its a stupid question but im not to sharp on temps and cooling aspects of pc's, but im learning!

im worried about my WD hdd aswell, im hoping they wont be loud once everything else is done, im going to wait until iv finished to see if the gpu or hdd's can be heard.

thanks again.

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:55 am

rpc180 wrote:...1300 rpm seems to have no appreciable audible difference to the 400rpm.

Something MUST be wrong. Your components are all great choices, and a 1300rpm fan should dwarf system noise.

rpc180 · Post by **rpc180** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:37 am

Since you mentioned it, I checked out what would happen acoustically if I stopped the CPU fan. It *is* the loudest of the quiet components in the system but not attention getting - definitely a broadband type of noise. And by loudest, I mean its drowned out by things like A/C in the living room running, windows open, even just breathing through your mouth.

The HD access noises, though also quiet, are more pronounced, a combination of them happening unexpectedly in "spikes" when Windows accesses the page file and being slightly higher pitched. I notice it "punch through" the broadband fan noise. Its like how a soprano can blow out bass in a chorus even if they're the same in terms of loudness?

While its certainly quiet enough for me, now you got me thinking I should mount my spare S-flex 800 on the CPU to see how it fairs!

Modo · Post by **Modo** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:51 am

rpc180 wrote: The HD access noises, though also quiet, are more pronounced, a combination of them happening unexpectedly in "spikes" when Windows accesses the page file and being slightly higher pitched.

Why would you need a page file with 4 GB of RAM? I've turned it off with only 2 GB in the system. It doesn't seem to cause any trouble.

rpc180 · Post by **rpc180** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:03 am

You'd be surprised how fast ram gets eaten by multiple virtual machines to practice for exams.

Even without VM running, I've watched how the memory / pages per second and page fault counters runs on the system. There are still hard page faults that happen with 4gb (3.5 recognized) and low utilization.

amyhughes · Post by **amyhughes** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:05 am

Modo wrote:Why would you need a page file with 4 GB of RAM? I've turned it off with only 2 GB in the system. It doesn't seem to cause any trouble.

I should try that. Windows seems to swap out anything that is inactive, even if it doesn't need to.

Leave Mozilla alone for a few minutes and when you bring it back...thrash thrash thrash...just to paint the screen. Hit the Edit menu...thrash thrash thrash...to display the menu. Make a selection...thrash thrash thrash...to display the dialog. Make a selection in the dialg...thrash thrash thrash...

It's *far* worse than if you start the program fresh. But if you have the brilliant idea that you'll just re-start the program...thrash thrash thrash...to exit the damned thing.

2008. Near top-of-the line processor. Two cores. 4G RAM. And I can't run two programs simultaneously?

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:31 am

rpc180 wrote:While its certainly quiet enough for me, now you got me thinking I should mount my spare S-flex 800 on the CPU to see how it fairs!

Go for it. Your CPU temperatures have plenty of headroom right now.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:27 am

put those drives in the 2.5" scythe quiet drives. You can still suspend them like normal in a solo, but it will give you that little extra dampening needed to make them completely silent.

You can get them at newegg for like $30 a piece.

Modo · Post by **Modo** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:33 am

rpc180 wrote:You'd be surprised how fast ram gets eaten by multiple virtual machines to practice for exams.

Ahh, I see. I guess you can't go around that then.

rpc180 · Post by **rpc180** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 6:25 am

Did the swap, current ambient is approximately 25C, or 77F. GPU is idling at 40. The cores are 25 and 27 idle and 40 and 41C while folding. Basically the same as they were before. The GPU now idles about 4 degrees higher though - probably less pressure from the cpu fan pulling in a smaller volume of air across the fins. However 41 passive for a GPU is pretty good imo.