Matthi's hive

vEnEx · Post by **vEnEx** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 2:55 am

This is my first silent rig, since I started about 3 months ago, by buying the Antec 3700BQE case.

Click on images to get a larger picture.

Specs:

* Antec SLK3700BQE with cutout fan grills, cut out HD rack, Nexus intake & outtake fan.
* AMD Athlon Sempron 2600+ (1.83 Ghz standard) with Thermalright SLK-900 socket A and Titan 92mm fan.
* MSI K7N2-Delta-L.
* 2 x 512 MB Apacer PC3200 (dual channel) with Nexus copper heatspreaders.
* Hercules 9600SE passive cooled.
* Seagate 120 GB in Nexus Drive-a-way.
* NEC-3500 DVD writer.
* NEC floppy drive.
* Sunbeam fanbus controller.

Pics:

* Front: Resident Evil Umbrella case badge. Replaced 2 of the 4 front leds (power & HD activity) with bright blue ones.

* Front: Sunbeam fancontroller. home made 2x16char LCD, controlled by LCDSmartie (and can display about anything: cpu/mb/hd temps, date, winamp titles, songs, graphs, ...). NEC DVD writer.

* Side panel: Home made window, with molding. A lot of casebadges (but too much if you ask me, might remove them). Mind the little scratches on the side panel. Making a hole is a risky business.

* Front without panel: Cutted front fan grill, with molding. Nexus is mounted inside the case, instead of outside (there is enough clearance inside, because HD rack is removed).

* Intake fan: Mind the 2 10cm blue CCFL's. Although I didn't want to add lights onto the case, I couldn't resist

Next case will be a LianLi, no window or case lights in there for sure. Notice the zipties to attach the Nexus fan to the case.

* Overview: All cables put away in the upper part. Nexus drive-a-way lying down on some eggcrate foam. Although you notice a lot of wires on the lower right part of the case, they do not block the intake air at all. There is a clear and open path from intake to outtake fan.

* CPU cooler: Thermalright SLK-900 with a titan 92mm cooler, which is inaudible at 5V. I didn't know the Titan brand, some local computer shop sold me this one, and I was surprised how good (read: silent) this cooler performs at 5V. Notice that the clips don't really fit the 92mm. I think the clips should be holding the fan at the screw holes. Since I bought this cpu heatsink from someone else, I have no idea if this is right. Anyway, the cooler stays in place and does a good job of cooling it.

* Outtake fan: The standard orange Nexus outtake fan, like must of you guys use

Attached to the case with special Nexus' own rubber grommets, designed for this type of fan (no clearance in between the 2 holes).

* PSU: OCZ Modstream 450W. Not much to say about this one, perhaps that the MB power cables are rather stiff and not that easy to work with. I still prefer the normal cables from f.ex. an Antec or Seasonic, so you can easily put non-used cables in the sidepanel of your case. This type of cable management says: don't use the power cables when you don't need them, so there are no extra cables to put away.

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Just about any suggestions and remarks are welcome. I'm always prepared to modify this system some more.

Things I've planned for the future: I just might replace the plastic yate loon fan from the OCZ PSU with a Papst 120mm one.

And this 'thing' wouldn't be possible without the experience & help of all you guys. Since this is my first system, I've learned a lot. I know what's good and I know what's bad, to say it that way. I think I have enough experience to put a whole system together any day now. But this time I'm waiting for all the parts so I got everything from the beginning. Otherwise you're dealing with temporary situations, fans that are loud but will be replaced within one week because your packet did not arrive yet, etc.

vEnEx · Post by **vEnEx** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 4:08 am

Two topics I forgot to mention:

1) The Nexus drive-a-way is lying on the surface because airflow is passing by the top of it. If I installed it in a 5.25" bay, it would run even hotter then it is now.

2) You might be interested in some temperatures. I must say, my room is rather warm at the moment. I think it's somewhere near 26/28°C.

MB: 32° C
CPU: 42° C
HD: 43° C

These temperatures are well in range if you ask me, but perhaps the HD temperature is a bit high. All fans are running at 12V at the moment (when fall/winter starts and my room will be quite a few degrees less, I'm sure I can run this setup at 5V 24/7). When I go asleep, I put all fans on 5V, and let the cpu cooler spin somewhere around 6 or 7V. When the room doesn't cool down at night, CPU get's around 44°, HD stays around 42° and MB idles at 30° max I guess.

When things do cool down around here the CPU drops to a pleasant 38°, the HD idles at 38° too, and the MB temperature isn't a problem at all, showing a 26° C. Keep in mind that I did not run cpuburn or prime. I might want to do that to see how hot the cpu gets. My guess is it will hit a max of 52° C. The HD max temperature would be around 46° C which is rather hot, but still within it's limit I guess.

teutonritter · Post by **teutonritter** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:01 am

No pictures in a dark room with all the LED's turned on?

I like your idea of mounting the intake fan on the inside! I might do it for my BQE too (having partaly remove the hard drive rack). I always thought the location of the fan was a bad idea, being too close to the plastic bezel

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 7:31 pm

Looks good, and nice photos.

A touch of Resident Evil... any plans to carry the idea further?

ONEshot · Post by **ONEshot** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 8:08 pm

And people say you can't have a flashy computer case that's quiet.

Looks like you got all of it down. I hope it's quiet

vEnEx · Post by **vEnEx** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 9:16 am

teutonritter wrote:No pictures in a dark room with all the LED's turned on?

I like your idea of mounting the intake fan on the inside! I might do it for my BQE too (having partaly remove the hard drive rack). I always thought the location of the fan was a bad idea, being too close to the plastic bezel

You got it. When I find the time, I'll take some shots.

BrainE wrote:Looks good, and nice photos.
A touch of Resident Evil... any plans to carry the idea further?

Nah, not really. I'm not that big of a fan of Resident evil, but thought the case badge would look pretty cool on the front.

ONEshot wrote:And people say you can't have a flashy computer case that's quiet.

Looks like you got all of it down. I hope it's quiet

It pretty much is when running all fans at 5V. Just the PSU fan cooler isn't that silent, but I might replace it with a Papst fan later on. I'll keep y'all updated

kloppe · Post by **kloppe** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 9:41 am

Nice case... the rubber fan mounts should be on the other way around though.

vEnEx · Post by **vEnEx** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 1:19 am

kloppe wrote:Nice case... the rubber fan mounts should be on the other way around though.

You mean the special long Nexus fan mounts in the back, cause that could be

I received these fanmounts with no instruction set at all, so I had to guess a little.

TMM · Post by **TMM** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:38 pm

those clips on the SLK900 are for an 80MM fan, thats why they don't fit your 92mm properly. Have you tryed having the fan blow onto the SLK900? it would probably get lower temps then having it suck the air through it.

vEnEx · Post by **vEnEx** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 1:01 am

TMM wrote:those clips on the SLK900 are for an 80MM fan, thats why they don't fit your 92mm properly. Have you tryed having the fan blow onto the SLK900? it would probably get lower temps then having it suck the air through it.

Those are the biggest clips I got. Other pair of clips are even smaller.

You think they are sold seperately?

And I did not yet turn the fan upside down so it would blow air onto the CPU instead of sucking it away. I asked this question before, and people here said it wouldn't make a big difference.

TMM · Post by **TMM** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 4:11 am

The SLK900 was only designed to work with 70mm and 80mm fans, so there are no 92mm clips provided. It was the SLK900-A that introduced support for 92mm fans.

Thermalright do sell the 92mm clips (for 900-A and 900-U) but they should be compatible with the original SLK900 too.
http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main ... cc_fan9092

either way, i wouldn't bother, it looks like those 80mm clips are holding the fan fine since it has a recessed bit in the frame

I'd try mounting the fan so it blows onto the heatsink if possible, as the SLK900's usually work better that way. You may see temps drop a few ºC

kloppe · Post by **kloppe** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:30 am

vEnEx wrote:You mean the special long Nexus fan mounts in the back, cause that could be :D I received these fanmounts with no instruction set at all, so I had to guess a little.

Ya, those. The way you have them mounted they're actually touching the case, which is not really recommended. :p

vEnEx · Post by **vEnEx** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 12:28 am

kloppe wrote:
vEnEx wrote:You mean the special long Nexus fan mounts in the back, cause that could be I received these fanmounts with no instruction set at all, so I had to guess a little.
Ya, those. The way you have them mounted they're actually touching the case, which is not really recommended. :p

Ok, I'll mount them the other way around then

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 12:32 am

kloppe wrote:Nice case... the rubber fan mounts should be on the other way around though.

Phew! I got mine without instructions too, but it seems like I installed them the right way then.. 50% chance!

vEnEx · Post by **vEnEx** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 1:02 am

Ackelind wrote:
kloppe wrote:Nice case... the rubber fan mounts should be on the other way around though.
Phew! I got mine without instructions too, but it seems like I installed them the right way then.. 50% chance!

Good job Ackelind

Bye the way: I've noticed your signature, and it says you got a Seasonic PSU. Did you get thatone shipped from the US, because I thought a Seasonic was pretty much no-go in Europe. I'm pretty sure of the fact that there is not one reseller in Belgium who has Seasonic PSU's. So, may I ask, where you got it from? Thanks.