Building First Quiet PC - Antec 3700 Questions

offroad · Post by **offroad** » Sun May 18, 2003 9:03 am

After years of an overclocked howling PC I'm ready to build something much quieter. Thankfully, I found this site.

Will be using an Antec SLK3700AMB and have some questions.
Sorry for so many.

1. Which works better, the post type (screw replacement) Fan isolators or the gasket type?

2. This case comes with a 120mm Antec fan thats supposed to be temp regulated but from what I read its pretty noisy, could I run it at 7 or 5v or should I replace it? I'm planning to remove the stock case finger guards and replace with wire ones.

3. I'm thinking of changing the Antec fan out for a Panaflow L1A. All the ones I have seen are two wire, so there is no way to monitor speed? Is there any fan in this class (low noise/low volt) that you can speed monitor?

4. This case is a dark grey color, I have a black CD burner coming but how well will this match? How do I change the color of my beige DVD reader to grey or black?

5. Would a homemade rubber gasket between the PSU and the case reduce noise? Should I isolate the fans from the PSU case also?

6. I would like to use some sort of foam for the case walls, I searched and found some references to automotive and Home Depot type of materials but didn't see a consenses as to which to use.
Should I foam the case, and if so what can I use that's economical?

Thanks for any/all advice, sorry for so many questions.

MrMajestic · Post by **MrMajestic** » Sun May 18, 2003 10:40 am

Here's my 2 cents:

1. Fan isolators

2. Replace with Panaflo or Papst

3. I think that speed monitoring is there, but its not wired. I could be wrong about this. I think the same is true for Papst.

4. There is talk about vinyl dye, but I have no experience from it. Remember that there is a door covering the CD.

5. I think its better to isolate the PSU fan. If you do that, there is no need for the gasket.

6. The cheapest alternative seems to be Melamine Foam. If you live in the states then try www.mcmaster.com. If you live elsewhere then I have no idea where to get it.

Post by **MikeC** » Sun May 18, 2003 11:56 am

MrMajestic wrote:3. I think that speed monitoring is there, but its not wired. I could be wrong about this. I think the same is true for Papst.

6. The cheapest alternative seems to be Melamine Foam. If you live in the states then try www.mcmaster.com. If you live elsewhere then I have no idea where to get it.

3. Speed monitoring is not on the 2-wire Panaflos. It does require more circuitry inside the fan. They can be had with speed monitoring but not at the super low prices. Don't know about Papst. In either case, if you plan on running the fans at under ~7V, the monitoring won't work anyway. Most mobo fan speed circuitry doesn't work under ~1200 rpm, and the L speed fans will drop below that when run ~7V or less.

6. Melamine Foam is the cheapest, but the best is the deluxe acoustipack. Check the review in main site under Cases & Damping.

offroad · Post by **offroad** » Sun May 18, 2003 5:46 pm

I need Fan Isolators for 120mm Panaflo and 80mm fans in my Antec PSU.

McMaster sells the following models:

R5801K6

R5801K8

Which ones should I get?

TIA

MrMajestic · Post by **MrMajestic** » Sun May 18, 2003 8:43 pm

offroad wrote:I need Fan Isolators for 120mm Panaflo and 80mm fans in my Antec PSU.

McMaster sells the following models:

R5801K6

R5801K8

Which ones should I get?

TIA

Since you want fangrills, then I think the 5801K8 is the one to get. Do a search on the forum for 5801K8 or 5801K6.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Mon May 19, 2003 4:36 am

4) I personally thing black or beige drives look funky in the dark metallic gray SLK3700, but it is covered by a door. It's up to your personal preference. I painted my drives using vinyl dye, a brand called "SEM". It's used by professional body shops for matching colors so there's lots of colors available. Here's a pic of my painted drives:

offroad · Post by **offroad** » Mon May 19, 2003 5:53 am

Thanks for the responses!

Ralf:

I'm working on a simular setup to yours and bought this case in part due to your excellent review of it. Sorry to ask so many questions below but I would really appreciate your opinions.

Yours color matching looks great! May I ask which color of SEM you used?

Your review of the Antec 3700 shows a chrome fan grill on the back of your Panaflo L1A 120mm exhaust fan. It appears you have hung the grill on the Fan Isolators, whose Isolators did you use and which model?
If I am incorrect please describe its mounting.

I am going to have four hardrives in my 3700 so I am going to do as you did and put a Panaflo 92mm L1A on the front intake. Did you remove the stock grill out of the way of your intake fan?
Was it mounted with Fan Isolators as well? Wasn't sure how I'd be mounting it since the stock grill has rather large square holes and is set up for a 120mm fan.

After reading "Quieting the Enermax & other thermistor fan PSUs" on this site I have also decided to remove the 92mm intake fan and replace the 80mm exhaust fan with Panaflo 80mm L1A on the Antec 350w Smart Power PSU.

Are your 120mm and 92mm fans running at 7 or 5 volts?

Are you very satisfied with the noise level of your setup? Since I will have alot of hard drives I have also considered installing Melamine Foam from McMaster in my 3700? Do you think I would see a sigificant reduction in noise?

Thanks again for all who took time to respond, I'm learning alot.

DanOnKeys · Post by **DanOnKeys** » Mon May 19, 2003 6:04 am

Ralf- I went ahead and vinyl-dyed (all my drives and empty drive-bay blanks matte black which I think looks pretty good, but I think I'd prefer everything to match.

Did you actually have them make you some special matching dye, or did you pick one of the colors they already have? If the latter, would you mind sharing which color # you used?

And finally, do you know where I could buy some of that SEM stuff in Florida or online?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue May 20, 2003 6:27 am

offroad wrote:
Ralf:

Yours color matching looks great! May I ask which color of SEM you used?

mmmm........I was hoping you weren't going to ask me that. I'm laid up in bed until Wednesday because I just had back surgery and my paint is out in the garage so I can't get to it now. I'll post back on Thursday morning with the exct color.

offroad wrote:Your review of the Antec 3700 shows a chrome fan grill on the back of your Panaflo L1A 120mm exhaust fan. It appears you have hung the grill on the Fan Isolators, whose Isolators did you use and which model?
If I am incorrect please describe its mounting.

I used O-rings and 8-32 bolts to mount the fan and grill. It works great but "real" isolators may work better. The problem is that the 120 x 38mm Panaflo has a thicker-than-normal flange and the normal size isolators won't quite fit. I recently got some different isolators that may work better. I'll be trying them out when I get back on my feet.

offroad wrote:I am going to have four hardrives in my 3700 so I am going to do as you did and put a Panaflo 92mm L1A on the front intake. Did you remove the stock grill out of the way of your intake fan?
Was it mounted with Fan Isolators as well? Wasn't sure how I'd be mounting it since the stock grill has rather large square holes and is set up for a 120mm fan.

You might want to consider using a 120mm fan to cool your four HDDs. I kept the front grill on my case so I'd have a choice of what size fan to mount. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to need a 120mm fan so I left the original fan grill to give me a place to mount any fan I wanted. I'd bet that you'd be better off with a 5V 120mm fan to cool your HDDs so I'd blow out the front grill before you install everything into your case.

offroad wrote:Are your 120mm and 92mm fans running at 7 or 5 volts?

They're running at 5V.

offroad wrote:Are you very satisfied with the noise level of your setup? Since I will have alot of hard drives I have also considered installing Melamine Foam from McMaster in my 3700? Do you think I would see a sigificant reduction in noise?

I'm very, very, very satisfied with the noise of my setup. This case, with it's great ventalation has allowed me to run only one 5V case fan and a 5V fan to blow a little cooling air over my HDD. That, combined with my cool-running undervolted CPU has created a system that is phenomenally quiet. Yeah, I could spend more time and money tweaking it further but it's noise floor is already below the ambient noise of the enviornment that it's in (other than at around 3:00AM and even then it's just barely audible from about 2 feet away) so why bother?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue May 20, 2003 6:38 am

DanOnKeys wrote:Ralf- I went ahead and vinyl-dyed (all my drives and empty drive-bay blanks matte black which I think looks pretty good, but I think I'd prefer everything to match.

Did you actually have them make you some special matching dye, or did you pick one of the colors they already have? If the latter, would you mind sharing which color # you used?

And finally, do you know where I could buy some of that SEM stuff in Florida or online?

Dude! You must live right! The place where I get my SEM colors online is Danny's Dealer Supplies in West Palm Beach. You could probably throw a rock from where you are and hit their building.

I used one of their premixed colors. It's *almost* an exact match but not quite perfect. SEM sells the stuff in cans so you could get a professional Paint and Body shop to custom mix it for you and put it in a spray can but I think that's a little over the top. I looked into it and it would have cost about $30 out the door to do it that way. I just spent the $7 for the premixed color and it looks great. You'd have to have a real bright light shining right on the front bezel to see that it's not a perfect match, it's that close.

As for the color number, as I mentioned in my previous post, I'm laid up in bed after back surgery and the paint is out in the garage so I won't be able to get to it until Wednesday. I'll post back Thursday AM with the color #. Sorry.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Tue May 20, 2003 7:53 am

Aww man ralf you had surgery? I must have missed that post. Sorry to hear that and hope you get better soon. By the way the paintjob on those drives looks sweet, makes me reconsider buying black drives.

marc999 · Post by **marc999** » Tue May 20, 2003 8:28 am

Get well soon Ralf. I hope you're doing okay and aren't in too much pain.

The problem is that the 120 x 38mm Panaflo has a thicker-than-normal flange and the normal size isolators won't quite fit. I recently got some different isolators that may work better. I'll be trying them out when I get back on my feet.

Yeah, I ordered the fan isolators from Silicon Acoustics, but I don't think they will work with the 38mm thick Panaflow 120Ls. So anyway, whatever those are that you ordered, please let us know how they fare with the 120L Panaflows as I'm curious too !!

DanOnKeys · Post by **DanOnKeys** » Tue May 20, 2003 8:53 am

Ralf -- I hope you have a speedy recovery.
Back surgery is nothing to sneeze at. I'm glad you're still 'internet-able' in the interim.

Thanks for the solid info on SEM -- they're not quite close enough for my arm, but it's nice to know they're in my quadrant. I look forward to hearing the color you picked (your color-matched optical drive in your review of the SLK3700 [the review that hopelessly swayed me to go with that case] was visually one of the first things I noticed when I started reading the review -- although I quickly forgot until now). I am definitely not in a hurry to hear about the color -- take care of your back first. And no bunjee-jumping for at least a week!

offroad · Post by **offroad** » Tue May 20, 2003 12:59 pm

Ralf:

I wish you a very speedy recovery.

No rush, whenever you can get the color is fine.
I looked locally for some SEM but all I could find is Duplicolor Vinyl "Paint"

Your color looks great in the pic, so I figured I'd just use it.
Wonder if it would go over an already stock black CD Rom or if it would have to be white to work well?

I'm planning on replacing the stock fans in the 350w Smart Power PSU with isolated 80 and 92mm L1A's. I'm going to try the 80mm at 12V and the 92mm at 5V.

I have read the article on Twin Fan PSU's on this site, but want a bit of air directly on the heatsinks. I thought about running the 80mm at 7V but I don't have a fan controller and have read this is hard on the PSU.

I would also like to run the 120mm L1A I'm going to use for exhaust at 7V, but I guess I'll just see if 12V is too much noise and if 5V keeps the case where I want.

Is there anyway to just pickup a resistor at Radio Shack and put it on a single fan? I wouldn't know what size to use.

Originally I had planned on another 92mm L1A on the front intake at 5V but I think your idea of another 120mm with all my hard drives is probably better.

I wonder if the Antec 120mm stock fan would start up at 5V and not be noisy? If so I could just put it up front, I think its a 25mm so might fit better there with my isloators.

I would like to have perhaps a bit more airflow through the case and PSU than your setup has, due to my increased heat load. Hopefully the Melamine foam will get me back close to your setup in noise level.

My current case is an old InWin Q500a with two fairly fast 80mm's on the PSU and two 2600rpm 92mm exhaust fans (none isolated). Add to that four hard drives, a 60mm 4500rpm CPU fan and a Radeon 8500. Plus this case has factory vents in the front "and" sides. Needless to say, its loud!

Thanks again, and thanks for any additional advice on my setup.

DanOnKeys · Post by **DanOnKeys** » Tue May 20, 2003 6:29 pm

I'm running the Antec 120mm stock fan at 5v and it starts up fine. My rig's not the quietest, but it's definitely not loud -- and this fan is definitely (clearly) the loudest component in my setup. Both my 120mm fans start up fine at 5v and would be very satisfyingly quiet if not for the 'clicking' sound that I guess results from undervolting them so much (I tried a ThermalTake SmartFan II at 5v -- really, really quiet, but then gets drowned out by EXTRA bad clicking).

I'd at least try out the stock fan at 5v -- cheap for you to try out -- and a good chance to play with messing with the voltages.

offroad · Post by **offroad** » Tue May 20, 2003 8:33 pm

DanOnKeys:

Thanks for the response, I got my 3700 Case tonight and hooked up the Antec fan to a 5V plug. It has a definate clicking sound as well as other mechanical noises at this voltage.

Can you or anyone following this thread reccomend a thin (25mm) 120mm Fan that doesn't click under 5V?

I have a 120mm Panaflo L1A ordered for my exhaust but its a 38mm thick fan and I have read the clearance (intake side) might be a problem using a 38 with fan isolators.

Are you using the stock PSU with the stock fans? I just had the PSU jumpered to come on (no motherboard) and was surprised that the stock fans are pretty quiet. Perhaps under load they would spin faster.

Thanks again

DanOnKeys · Post by **DanOnKeys** » Wed May 21, 2003 3:23 am

My NMB Tech DC4710NL is not nearly as bad, but it does click. I think it's better balaced than the stock fan as well. I don't have any experience with any of the other 120mm fans...

Oh, and btw, I definitely recommend removing the stock grills for the two 120mm -- I used tin snips and it was a piece of cake. I used u-channel moulding along the edges of my holes and rubber grommets on my (nylon) screws (and had to put the screw holes in the right spot) -- so I had to cut a couple of curved notches in the removable side panel so that it'll close properly. I used tin snips again (still pretty easy) -- a little more nerve-wracking and seemed a little more dangerous because I didn't want to mess up the paint. Just do some of your work with rounded files.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed May 21, 2003 5:25 am

offroad wrote:Ralf:

I wish you a very speedy recovery.

Thanks to you and everyone else for your thoughts, I appreciate it.

I've been posting for the last two weeks laying flat on my back using a laptop with a WiFi card in it. It works fine but it sure is noisier than my regular desktop. This HDD whine is driving me nuts!

offroad wrote:I looked locally for some SEM but all I could find is Duplicolor Vinyl "Paint"

Those SEM paints are kind of designed for professional autobody repair guys to use. I have found it at real autobody repair shops in my area (SoCal) by looking for them in the Yellow Pages. The online selection is always better than what you can find in the stores, but in the stores you can usually talk them into letting you spray a test sample on the piece of beige plastic you brought with you.

BTW - This place has the SEM paints cheaper than the link I posted yesterday but I've never bought from them.

offroad wrote:Wonder if it would go over an already stock black CD Rom or if it would have to be white to work well?

The paint goes on real thin but it seems to cover very well so you may be OK. If not, just spray it with white vinyl dye first, then your final color.

offroad wrote:Is there anyway to just pickup a resistor at Radio Shack and put it on a single fan? I wouldn't know what size to use.

Yes there is but I've never done it so I don't know what size to use. There's been several posts about this exact subject in the last few months so use yhe search to find that info.

mg1394 · Post by **mg1394** » Thu May 22, 2003 3:44 am

DanOnKeys wrote: .......... so I had to cut a couple of curved notches in the removable side panel so that it'll close properly. I used tin snips again (still pretty easy) -- a little more nerve-wracking and seemed a little more dangerous because I didn't want to mess up the paint. Just do some of your work with rounded files.

Dan,

I'm sorry and probably being dense, but why did you get into clearance problems with the side panel when you replaced one 130mm fan and mounting arrangement for another ??? Not obvious to me from Ralf's photo's at all.

DanOnKeys · Post by **DanOnKeys** » Thu May 22, 2003 4:14 am

Fair question. If you check out the bottom photo on the first page of Ralf's review (http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.p ... =76&page=1), you'll see that the outer circumference of the 120mm fan grill overlaps with the side door panel just a little. You can also see how very, very close the holes for the screws are . . . except those holes aren't in the right place for a standard 120mm fan (there are plenty of rants about that one which I would like to echo here: arg!

).

Theoretically, none of this would be a problem if you didn't externally mount a fan grill (visualize how the door would prevent one from being mounted -- or that you would at least be unable to properly close the side panel all the way) AND you mounted the fan using some method that was flush with the back of the case.

In my case, I exacerbated the actual fan hole problem by installing u-channel moulding around the hole (which extended my outer circumference ~1/8-1/4") -- and that stuff is anything but flush with the back of the case (sticks out up to 3/16").

In addition to that, after drilling "normal" holes for the fan screws (see the

above) and adding rubber grommets for those screws, I ended-up having to pull out a little round file and remove two D-shaped notches to accomdate the two screws close to the edge of the case.

I hope that clears that up! I'm sure Ralf can offer more wizened, hard-core knowledge on the topic.

>>> Ha! Found a picture (not mine):

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=4045

These are a pics dinde posted in the gallery. The third one down very cleary shows what I'm talking about (I knew I saw a pic somewhere).

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu May 22, 2003 4:45 am

DanOnKeys wrote:Fair question. If you check out the bottom photo on the first page of Ralf's review (http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.p ... =76&page=1), you'll see that the outer circumference of the 120mm fan grill overlaps with the side door panel just a little. You can also see how very, very close the holes for the screws are . . . except those holes aren't in the right place for a standard 120mm fan (there are plenty of rants about that one which I would like to echo here: arg! ).

Theoretically, none of this would be a problem if you didn't externally mount a fan grill (visualize how the door would prevent one from being mounted -- or that you would at least be unable to properly close the side panel all the way) AND you mounted the fan using some method that was flush with the back of the case.

In my case, I exacerbated the actual fan hole problem by installing u-channel moulding around the hole (which extended my outer circumference ~1/8-1/4") -- and that stuff is anything but flush with the back of the case (sticks out up to 3/16").

In addition to that, after drilling "normal" holes for the fan screws (see the above) and adding rubber grommets for those screws, I ended-up having to pull out a little round file and remove two D-shaped notches to accomdate the two screws close to the edge of the case.

I hope that clears that up! I'm sure Ralf can offer more wizened, hard-core knowledge on the topic.

Nothing I can add, you covered the topic very well. I had to do the same thing to my door. I ground the notches with a Dremel to get clearance for the grommets/washers/fan grill.

mg1394 · Post by **mg1394** » Thu May 22, 2003 10:27 am

Thanks guys. It's clear now (double arg!)

So much for my approach to packing away the side panels (protection, you know) until everything works in the machine.

Out with the Dremel again, I guess.

mg1394 · Post by **mg1394** » Thu May 22, 2003 8:43 pm

Ralf offered to provide the SEM color code when he was recovered enough. We wish you a speedy recovery (selfishly

).

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri May 23, 2003 3:49 am

mg1394 wrote:Ralf offered to provide the SEM color code when he was recovered enough. We wish you a speedy recovery (selfishly ).

I'll hobble out to the garage today and look. Sorry I didn't get to it yesterday. I was just enjoying the freedom of being out of bed for the first time in two weeks.

offroad · Post by **offroad** » Fri May 23, 2003 4:36 am

Ralf: Glad to hear your up and around.

When I removed the stock fan grills on my 3700 I made the hole a bit bigger than I intended to. I have some space between the flat sides of a 120mm fan and the hole now. Is this a problem?

Thanks.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat May 24, 2003 4:27 am

offroad wrote:When I removed the stock fan grills on my 3700 I made the hole a bit bigger than I intended to. I have some space between the flat sides of a 120mm fan and the hole now. Is this a problem?

Thanks.

Nah, shouldn't matter.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat May 24, 2003 4:28 am

OK, finally. Here's the info everyone's been patiently waiting for. The SEM color I used to paint the drives in my SLK3700 is (insert drumroll here) #39423 "Medium Quartz Metallic".

DanOnKeys · Post by **DanOnKeys** » Sat May 24, 2003 6:10 am

Thanks, Ralf! Glad you're truly up and about!

offroad · Post by **offroad** » Fri May 30, 2003 12:02 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote: The SEM color I used to paint the drives in my SLK3700 is (insert drumroll here) #39423 "Medium Quartz Metallic".

Ralf:

Hope your doing much better by now.

Thanks for providing your exact color, I called around and found some locally.
How did you keep the paint from covering the drive LED on your CDRom?
Just trying to figure out how to do this neatly.

I'm planning on using your idea of a Panaflo 80mm M1BX @7V for my CPU fan although I have ordered a SLK-900U (Hope it fits my 8K3A+ AMD board ok).

Any where else to get the 80mm M1BX fans except Digikey and So-Trick?
Digikey has a minimum order, and So-Trick is apparently out of stock.

Thanks for all your help/advice

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat May 31, 2003 8:27 am

offroad wrote:
Ralf Hutter wrote: The SEM color I used to paint the drives in my SLK3700 is (insert drumroll here) #39423 "Medium Quartz Metallic".
Ralf:
Hope your doing much better by now.

Mmm, I'm hangin in there. Recovery is 4-6months according to the Dr. I'm pretty much living on Darvocets nowadys.

offroad wrote: How did you keep the paint from covering the drive LED on your CDRom?
Just trying to figure out how to do this neatly.

You're talking about the little clear plastic window, right? (First of all,you are removing the entire faceplate and drawer cover before you paint them, right??? If not, you have to, otherwise you'll get pain inside your drive and ruin it.) I always pop the little window out of the faceplate prior to painting it. They usually are snapped in or sometimes stuck in from behind with silicon or superglue. If you don't want to pop it out you can mask over it with tape or vaseline or whatever.

offroad wrote:Any where else to get the 80mm M1BX fans except Digikey and So-Trick?
Digikey has a minimum order, and So-Trick is apparently out of stock.

I've got mine from here-and-there but I don't remember exactly where. There's a vendor list on the front page, maybe someone in there will have them.

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