No Intake fan on my AMD64 SLK3600AMB system... advice needed

ChiBOY83 · Post by **ChiBOY83** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:55 pm

OK, so i just built an AMD system (see specs below) and i currently ONLY have the stock exhaust fan running. My mobo is giving me readings of around 48 C for the CPU and around 31 for case(average btw idle and running things, this system won't be gamed on so it will never really run at full throtle). Am i going to need to have a front 120mm intake fan in tihs system. My major concern is that the seagate 160 gig HD may need it, but i don't really know. So should i look inot adding a 120mm fan

ALSO, i am already concerned aobut the noise in htis case, where is it coming from, is it the retail CPU fan or is it the PS ??? thanks for any help in advance

AMD64 2800 w/ retail fan & heatsink
ABIT KV8 Pro rev 1.1
Seagate 160 gig ATA 100
Gigabyte Radeon 9550 (only heatsink on the card)
NEC 3500 DVD DL
Antec SLK3600AMB w/ SL350 PS

(p.s. this was my first system i have built!! )

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 2:17 pm

Hello ChiBOY83, welcome to SPCR!

Best way to check drive temps is by a little tool called Dtemp, you can find the link on the download page on the main site. Supposedly Speedfan can monitor SMART temps as well but never did that myself. This will tell you whether your drive temps are ok or not. As a rule of the thumb you can consider anything below 40C acceptable, although opinions vary on this subject.

A single harddisk does not need much airflow, so a low-volted quality fan should do nicely if you decide you need one. As for the noise: main source is definitely your retail cpu heatsink fan. Just try stopping it with your finger for a few seconds to get an idea of what I mean. Easily remedied by throwing money at it, though: the latest Thermalright XP coolers with a Nexus fan are your ticket to silence, but the Zalman 7000's are rapidly dropping in price so that is a good option as well, with a slightly lower price tag.

Your psu is a middle-of-the-road kind of thing I think: not very good but not the worst either. Chances are that once you silence your cpu it will start to annoy you...

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 3:08 pm

hello chiboy83,

You've got the beginnings to a quiet system but the true answer to your question is "EVERYTHING"

Don't despair, I have just about the same hardware (2x120 Seagates, 3000+, a much hotter video card and a Nec 2510 instead of 3500) and I consider my setup among the quietest. However, it did take a bit of work to get there. Click the "Thor's Hammer" in my sig to see what I did.

To go over items individually,

#1) Stock AMD fan is noisy. It's a good enough cooler and with Cool & Quiet turned on from the BIOS, you may get it quieter but it's never going to be enough. As teejay said, the prices on the Zalman 7000 have come crashing down so get a 7000-AlCu if you can.

#2) The PSU is definitely not good. Especially the 92mm on the one that came with my case. Since this is the first time you built a computer, I will NOT advise you to go and mod your PSU, it's dangerous. Buy a Seasonic Silencer or Tornado 400W. It'll be worth every penny you pay.

#3) The grill on the exhaust fan is very restrictive. It would do lots to the noise & airflow if you cut it out. I did it with a Dremel. If you have one, great, if not, buy tin snips (quality ones, there's a nice post somewhere on this forum on tin snips)

#4) Try to find some way to suspend your drives. My method was both easy and cheap. Suspending hard drives makes a LOT of difference in noise.

If you do all 4 above, you'll get dramatic reduction in noise. As for the heat situation, your present temperatures are fine. If you buy a proper heatsink like the zalman, i'd advise you to get the free CrystalCPUID utility and undervolt (NOT underclock) your CPU. That'll reduce the heat from the CPU by up to 40% so you can go about with the one fan you have. Which will allow you to land the final blow to noise, running your exhaust fan @ 5V.

Good silencing

ChiBOY83 · Post by **ChiBOY83** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 4:24 pm

THanks for the advice guys.

Teejay- i dl'ed hte HD temp gauge and it shows that my drive is running at 35-36 C. (this somewhat worried me since the software has a defualt warning at 41 C). However, would an intake fan really improve this reading??

ALSO, after posting, i popped the case open and ran it w/ the exhaust fan OFF. And i relized that this was a HUGE (relatively speaking for my rig) contributor to the noise coming from my setup. I am considering getting an upgrade for the exhaust

burcakb- I forgot aobut ethe cool n quiet so i will get to that next. ALso, i don't want to spend much money, but i will still look into the CPU cooler that you mentioned. However, a new PSU is def out of the question. BUT.... i had heard a TON about cutting out the exhaust grill. BUT i am curious, how does it reduce the noise. I wouldn't think that a restrictive grill makes more noise

... time to check out prices on a quieter 120mm fan and CPU fan

p.s. Burckab.. impressive setup you have going there, im reading thru your quiet mods right now. nce work

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 11:50 pm

I wouldn't think that a restrictive grill makes more noise

Oh yes it does. A LOT. See, if you've got a quiet fan (and the stock Antec 120mm v1.6 is a pretty nice beginners fan IMO) most of the noise from the fan is airflow noise.

When you hold up the fan close to any obstruction, air will a) hit the obstruction causing vibrations, b) try to around it and form cavitation noises (imagine the flushing of a toilet). Plus, the obstruction increases the pressure the fan has to fight against, usually by putting excess strain on the motor and increasing motor noise in the process.

Cutting out the fangrill allows free airflow. If you MUST have some sort of grill, cut out the stamped one and put it wire grills. The obstructing surface is much less and the round wires will avoid cavitation noise.

For quiet 120mm fans, I'd advise the Globe sleeve bearing, 12L model to be used with a resistor/fanmate, or the Nexus. Globe is cheaper, Nexus is quieter.

If the PSU change is out, you could at least take out the 92mm or 80mm fan. Still do a LOT of reading up on PSU modding, it can be very dangerous.

ChiBOY83 · Post by **ChiBOY83** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:02 pm

Ok, so i guess my plan of attack will to be cutting outhte rear grill, which should be done later tonite (i have a construction friend who has good tin snips who can do that for me). And i will be ordering a Nexus fan to replace the antec stock fan. I found online thathte stock antec fans have 44 decibles!! to me thats shocking, and makes hte 22 rating on the nexus that much more apealling.

UPDATE: Cut the rear fan grill out, and WOW, it made a HUGE difference in noise....... and it evne seems like the cpu temps are lower alnog w/ others...but im gonig to look inot that a bit more..... still going to get the nexus fan to replace the antec stock exhaust fan