I was under the impression that hdds alone were around 22-24 dBA?? In the open air, sure. However, I'm using Seagates (pretty quiet) and I've lined my case with Blackhole 5 , which does a particularly good job soaking up hard drive noise. This foam has an absorbtive depth greater than a half wavele...

brad wrote:Ok, I did a quick test with the DDC... I wonder how much sound is absorbed by the reserator water tower.

So... you're running the DDC submerged? I'm pretty sure it's not rated for this.

eander315 wrote: At least Zalman anodized theirs...

Anodizing does not have to have a color. Hard to say if something aluminum colored is anodized or not...

With water cooling, is it possible to get it quieter than a very quiet actively air cooled PC? IMHO it'll be about the same at idle, but water gives you a lot more "headroom" - the temps don't go up much when running for long periods at 100%, even if you've overclocked the CPU. I now have 2 120mm c...

And 3/8 is horrible? I've built systems in 3/8, and when replacing tubing, replaced with 1/2 and seen no change in temps. If you're cooling a CPU, the Swiftech 6000 ( 3/8 ) is actually slightly more efficient than the 6002 (same block but with 1/2 fittings. Then 3/8 has the advantage that if you wan...

Online shopping means you can't check the noise in advance. And in-store shopping simply means that you can tell if the item you're interested in is noiser than ambient. Ever bring something "quiet" home from the store to discover that it wasn't at all? Of course, that might be a US-only kind of th...

Could an XP-120 ducted to a Nexus 120 exhaust cool your system sufficiently, Bob? As in "support the same overclock and run 100% overnight without blue-screening"? Maybe - although I'd think you'd need more pressure/airflow than a nexus provides Would it be any louder than what you have now? If so,...

Mr_Smartepants wrote:Of course, who has a toilet in close proximity to their PC?

I was thinking more along the lines of it being in the next room, but you're welcome to impute whatever you like...

Water-wetter is just an anti-corrosion package. It's "water wetting" properties are a side-effect... Erm... it might have some anti-corrosion properties as a side effect, but it's designed to reduce water's surface tension, which, for rough surfaces, at least , increases contact area. The insides o...

Why not just stick those heat-exchanger coils in the back (water closet) portion of the nearest toilet (assuming you're somewhere where there's in-ground water supply)?
There's a lot of thermal mass in the several gallons in the w/c, and if it warms up, you can just flush...

But I'd bet the air is as quiet in 99% of the real-world PCs out there. The difference is how well you can cool a heavy load - as in 100% for a half hour or more. If you're folding or encoding mpegs or some such, you'll be happier with water. Also, water's the way to go if you're overclocking (oc/i...

...changing up my loop in such a way as to change from a 90-degree angle change... IMHO it would be really nice if there was an optional "top" casting to the housing that included a small reservoir and had one or two possible points for an inlet (barb in one, plug in the other). Reservoir capacity ...

I'm actually getting good results with 6x6x2 heater core coolingworks shroud 2 x Nexxos 120mm fans stacked, with spacer between 'em on the "pull" side Slightly undervolted (or with slight PWM) I'm getting somewhere between 12 and 17 dB and temp results approx 1C higher (MBM on-die reading) than with...

... (I am sure, I am not going to buy another Eheim.) Did you have an Eheim pump fail? Which model? AFAIK, reserators don't come with Eheims - at least not here in the US. The 1046 is submersible and might fit inside the reserator - you'd probably need to rotate the outlet so it lined up with the i...

If you've already got a 1048, already run AC inside your case, then why not just replace the 1048 rotor (the only wear part) and have done? Note that you'd then be best off with something like a Swiftech 6000 series waterblock. Oh - and you also might look at the Innovatek "AGB-O-Matic" push-on rese...

The DDC has higher head, higher flow, runs on 12VDC. It's supposed to be fairly quiet (I haven't heard one in action) and supposed to be quite reliable (Laing is famous for doing lots of accelerated testing - but note that it's too new a model to have an actual use reliability record). It's also a v...

You don't need water wetter - just an anti corrosion package. You can get this either in a for-PC mix (Swiftech, Innovatek) or in for-automotive packages like antifreeze (which contain glycols you don't need) or in Valvoline "Racing Coolant". Any aluminum in contact with water needs anti-corrosion, ...

How big is your rad box? What surfaces can you mount a heater core in? IMHO there are lots of better choices than this particular heater core if you're not constrained by trying to put it into the lower front of a PC case. For instance, you could put a fedco 2-734 (10.25x7x.98) into the side, top, o...

bobkoure , What heatercore are you using? Also, you are running your Nexus fans at 12v right? I assuming that is the case with regards to what you said about adding speed-controlling. I am very curious as to your success with <12v Nexuses on a 2" thick heatercore. I'm using the heater core for a me...

I got a pair of Nexus 120mm fans in to try with my 6x6x2 heater core. I had previously been using a pair of 120mm Panaflo L1As (grey label) at 5V, stacked on the pull side with a 25mm plenum (hollowed out fan body) between. This previous setup worked about the same (MBM based - diode minus case) as ...

The 2123XST has a terminal connection which you can either solder to or use a connector. Allied sells a number of different fan connector cords I'm having trouble finding an image of that fan. Where do the connectors attach? In, next to the hub (where I'd sort-of expect). I'm thinking I'd probably ...

DryFire wrote:HPPS? please elaborate.

http://www.highspeedpc.com/Merchant2/me ... _Code=Pump
Basically a 12V 1046, but produces a bit more pressure than a 1048.
It's made by Eheim but distributed by Innovatek.

Anodized aluminum AFAIK, does not react with copper as it is not bare aluminum. The anodized coating prevents instant contact with the bare aluminum thus protecting it. Ya think? Have a look at http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=10628 http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/attachment.php?a...

The HPPS is the quietest pump I've ever used.
Quieter than a 1046, even.
Flow about like a 1046, head a bit more than a 1048, runs on 12VDC.
I'm about to try one with a Storm (not as restrictive as a Cascade, but pretty restrictive, none the less)...

Well, I can save you some trouble right off the bat - the A7N8X is a N-Force2 board (so 32bit processor not 64). If you go with the AMD64, you want a board that can dynamically underclock the processor when it's not loaded (there were some reviews on this site of the motherboards that can do this - ...

It looks like ARM systems (is/are - pick verb based on US vs UK) doing the right thing. I've been pretty much only building water cooled systems lately, using 32bit XP-mobiles. Because of the w/c and "mobile" they're very overclockable, without going over 25dB (or so - my estimate, not sound meter +...

peteamer wrote:Any questions, just ask...

So post a picture...?

Sounds great.
In fact, it sounds like overkill - but in a good way

A limp wall is something sound waves can bump into but that doesn't conduct the energy it absorbs from the sound very well - and isn't rigid enough for the sound to get a great reflection off, either. You could use something like vinyl pool liner sandwiched between layers of foam. You may also find ...

it's ok, i'm a speaker designer, i'm pretty up on how damping works. cool! Lining the bulk of the case should help to prevent high frequency transmission through the aluminium case walls, as well as cutting back on any resonances that might be present. btw, i will be lining the inside of my case, n...