Foxconn NetBox-nT330i (How to shut the NOISY Fan)

Info & chat about quiet prebuilt, small form factor and barebones systems, people's experiences with vendors thereof, etc.

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NixNix
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 1:59 pm
Location: Bristol

Foxconn NetBox-nT330i (How to shut the NOISY Fan)

Post by NixNix » Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:14 pm

Wonderful little box, smaller form factor than the Asus EEE Box, I like the idea of fitting your own memory and HDD ... but very very loud. I can't stand the noise anymore (after 2 days only).

So now what do we do ?

We know that they use a DC BLOWER FAN from a company called Creativdezign.

Model No: NFB61A05H
Size: 68x60x10 mm
Voltage: 5V
Current: 0.30
RPM: 5600
CFM: 5.17
dBA: 40

Yeah exactly, 40 dBA .... that is shocking loud for such a small box, and especially when your goal is to use the box as an HTPC. But hehe, the north bridge is getting hot, the Atom 330 is more powerful than the previous Atom 270 etc ... blabla !!!!

Still, I'm fairly sure that we can do something about it

Our potential/alternative solutions are:

1) - Open the Blower and swap the fan for a much more silent 40x40x10 fan ? (not quit sure about the size yet but it does not matter for the moment)
2) - Fit a resistor in between the fan and the motherboard to convert the 3-pin fans from 5V to 3V ? less power, less RPM, less noise
3) - Drill holes on the top of the case (where the CPU and NB are located) and then fit a larger, quiter fan to suck the air out of the box instead of blowing/pushing it. (using soft silicon fan mounts)
4) - Leave the case open and fit a passive heatsink.

Now ladies and gentlemen, have you got other ideas ? and/or do you think these solutions could work and if yes, how ? (be technical ... as usual)

The max temperature of the CPU should not exceed 85.2°C, some people even say 99°C but I would not bet on it

Mine is running at about 55°C when the fan is running full speed and I'm watching a standard Divx.

My config:
HD Scorpio/640 GB 2.5" SATA 5200rpm 8MB (WD6400BEVT)
2GB 256M x 64-Bit DDR2-800 CL6 200-Pin SODIMM (KVR800D2S6/2G)

There you go lads, I will do some testing over the week-end but I'd like to hear what you have to say about it.

Let the benchmarking begin :lol:

NixNix
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 1:59 pm
Location: Bristol

Post by NixNix » Fri Feb 12, 2010 5:03 am

Thanks for the idea EpsomJames

What did I do ?

1) - I took the 120mm fan from an OCZ StealthXStream PSU (the only one I could find at the time)
2) - I wired an old USB cable to the FAN (using the red and black wires only, cut off the others)
3) - I have fitted 4 ultra-soft arrowhead fan mounts onto the fan
4) - Now the fan is plug in at the back of the box and it lays quietly at the top of the box. (no lid, don't need it anymore)

Check out the temperatures ...

Before (Idle) - GPU 48℃

After (Idle) - GPU 33℃

No need to say that the DC blower doesn't kick off anymore ...


I can't find my camera (yet) but I will post a pic of the wole thing as soon as I find it ...

So what now ? Well, not much to be honest ...

- The box is now REALLY quiet but it can be even better by swapping the fan for a nice, proper, super duper one ... such as, Noctua, Acousti, Scythe ...

- Bear in mind that you should not aim for a low speed one cause it's probably made for 12v and and you will run it at 5v, so it will be quiet anyway but it might not even start or be efficient enough if the RPM is too low ...

- I will now try to attach a 3-pin fan to the main (only one) 3-pin connector so the MB can manage the fan and it will even stop it when not necessary ... like with the original DC blower.

I'll keep you posted

Leave your comments boys !!!

petrv
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:44 am
Location: Czech

Post by petrv » Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:52 am

I have just installed Windows 7 on this machine, installed the upper cover and now the fan is running at max speed most of the time.

I was wondering, is it possible that the graphic card is heating too much? I have installed the big 100MB Nvidia graphics driver and now I can see things like PhysX etc. in the NVIDIA Control panel. Could it be that the graphic card is now running in some "powerful" 3D mode (I have Aero enabled in Windows)?

Do we have any other possibilities like:
- Software fan speed control
- Undervolting

By the way, I have bought this Netbox because it is nice, so removing the top cover or doing any ugly modification is out of question in my case :cry:

TigerUK
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: Foxconn NetBox-nT330i (How to shut the NOISY Fan)

Post by TigerUK » Sun Aug 07, 2011 1:29 am

perhaps there's no need to wreck the design of these sleek and elegant box, i notice the fan makes a lot of noise but it doesn't pack much punch, i can barely feel air being blown out of the case, but its so noisy.. I may be completely wrong with the fan direction, but im just going by the fact that almost all laptops have a fan that blows hot air out, so this should be no exception.

there is now an updated bios that slows the fan down a lot which makes it quier, but a good quality aftermarket fan should be a good solution,

im not so keen on attaching external fans, especially not 120mm ones.

Eddie666
Posts: 24
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 6:07 am
Location: Italy

Re: Foxconn NetBox-nT330i (How to shut the NOISY Fan)

Post by Eddie666 » Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:56 pm

Here is my solution for this nettop; yes, I know it's not elegant like original, but it works fine without noise:

viewtopic.php?p=543452#p543452

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