It has long been known that a larger, slower fan is better for low noise than a smaller fan at that same RPM. In silencing my Enermax 350-watt dual-fan model, I did not seek to eliminate the bottom fan for that reason. Many have removed this bottom fan in their quest for silence, but the end result ...

I also put a Panaflo 92mm in the bottom of my Enermax. It helps keep the temperatures from getting out of hand. I'm thinking about pulling that thermistor out of that coil and sticking it out of the front grill to also measure the interior case temperature as well, with the 92mm panaflo making sure ...

Or, if engineering and building a silent computer isn't exactly your thing, get a Dell. They are generally very quiet, and they have high-quality thermal solutions. The very small amount of noise they do make is very inoffensive. They have power supplies that feature thermally-controlled fans, and t...

@POLIST8: Mine is attached by some double-sided foam tape and little strips of cardboard. It does a very good job of isolating the fan and preventing the vibrations from being transmitted to the heatsink. A 60mm Panaflo should work well at something like 5 volts. Very little airflow is actually nece...

I replaced both Panaflos in my Enermax. The air coning out the back is very warm, and so is the air that comes out of the front (forced through by the undervolted 92mm L1A on the PSU's underside.) I didn't have to do any special wiring modifications to the Enermax to get the L1As to work. The bottom...

After playing Medal of Honor: Spearhead for about an hour, I opened up the case and found I could not keep my fingers on the card for even five seconds.

As far as case fans go, I have two: a Panaflo L1A in my Enermax power supply, and a 5-volted Panaflo on my hard drives. The two rear case fan spaces in my case (SX1030 clone) are just left as passive vents. I want to avoid having any more fans than I have right now if it is possible: Panaflo L1A 80m...

One concern I have: At high temperatures such as these, should I be worried about the Zalman-brand thermal grease melting and running away from the core or boiling? When I go to LAN parties, the core may be sustaining temperatures such as these for as many as 5 hours at a time.

Addendum: :x I was just sitting here thinking about this...how come Vantec and Zalman don't build these features into their 5-1/4"-bay fan controllers? They already take up an entire 5-1/4" bay, so there's plenty of room for circuitry... Perhaps the manufacturers could even build in discrete thermis...

http://www.directron.com/pl10a.html Pyramid L Fan Silencer This is a microprocessor-based device that, when added into the fans' power supply, can thermally control all of the fans in the system based on a thermal probe readout. It costs just over $20 and I was wondering if anyone had any experience...

During the 3DMark2001 benchmark suite, my newly-installed ZM80A-HP became too hot to touch for more than 10 seconds! Is this safe for the GPU? How can I stick a fan on this without shattering my oh-so-precious silence? Relevant System Info: ATI Radeon 9500 Pro Zalman ZM80A-HP AMD Duron 1GHz ThermalT...

The remarkable thing about it is that it is actually two acoustic filters in series (one formed by the chamber with the four pipe segments and one formed by the chamber with the tailpipe piece in it.) If one were willing to do more tinkering, I think it would be possible to build a series-acoustic-f...

I have had a bad experience with Papsts. When I was building my brother's computer (designed to be as low-noise as possible without sinking large amounts of money into esoteric "silent" components), I ordered a Papst 3412 NGMV "Variofan". The fan Directron actually sent to me was the Papst 3412 NGL ...

From the looks of it, it seems as though you have built something very similar to a tiny bandpass enclosure, like those used in many types of subwoofers. The noise that you wish to suppress (the fan sound) is outside of the acoustic filter's passband, so it is not able to vibrate the air in the four...

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Well, if the case is in good condition, what's it matter if it's used?

So I suppose I can make the ZM80A-HP work on my Radeon 9500 Pro that's coming. I was wondering if it was compatible, but now I know it is. My question, then, is this: I read about the Radeon 9500 Pro just being a detuned version of the Radeon 9700, and with a little overclocking it could be made to ...

Also, Helmholtz Resonators can only be used to increase the output of certain frequencies, not cut them out, as far as I know. Corner bass traps are for that, I think. My room exhibits some very nasty modes, and it makes my subwoofer sound sloppy and boomy. Of course, it could be becuase I have a lo...

Go for the 120mm fan Fortron without the PFC feature. The fan is quiet. The Fortron with the PFC feature is louder. Also get a Zalman FanMate for your 120mm rear fan so you can alter the voltage with the flick of a switch. Don't stick a fan in the front of the Sonata. Intake creates moise.

Do you mean the HP Pavilions? I know they have a 92mm fan in the rear sucking air in instead of exhausting.

What you've discovered is the Helmholtz Resonator effect. As the resident DIY HiFi Audio Guy(tm), let me impart a little theory. When a subwoofer is designed, it is designed to have a very flat frequency response when measured in a condition called "anechoic", which means that it is measured without...

If the computer desk has a place to stick the tower, don't stick it there. That space just offers vibration coupling to the desk, which will amplify the vibrations. Have your friend first call Dell tech support to see what they have to say BEFORE sending the thing back, and then send it back. Once y...

Rory have you heard it or are you guessing because the reviews say its a quiet PC and in all the consumer reviews I read no one even mentioned the noise level. I am just hoping that my freind got a bad install because I cant imagine them marketing a comp that loud. Let me try to rephrase this so I ...

"Quiet" is relative. Relative to just about every other gaming PC out there (which usually incorporate numerous case fans, a power supply with a fast fan, a video card with a dustbuster on it, and a screaming howler monkey CPU fan), the Dell XPS probably IS quieter than the other models to be found ...

all someone would need to do is build a shroud to go over their Zalman so that the bottom fan draws air over it.

It's because the Dell XPS has freaking 5 fans (or was it 6?) while the Dell Dimension and OptiPlex towers have two. Also, two of the XPS's fans are in that low-profile power supply, so they have to be 60mm. Those are going to get loud real quick. FWIW it's probably quieter than my PC used to be befo...

Yeah, spin the fan control dial a few times and it sounds like you're revving your engine. Actually, the other day I was doing just that. I hooked the fan up to my PSU and set it on top of my case and revved it. Then, I turned it all the way up and it started blowing itself away. The Smart Case Fan...

I have an enermax Whisper 350W power supply that is not a whisper at all. I want to replace both the 80mm and 92mm Globe Fan fans with Panaflo L1As of equivalent sizes. Will this be worth the added effort and $17? When I run my system with no rear case fans (just passive vents), and just the one Van...

My brother's quiet computer has a Thermaltake Silent Purepower 360W unit. Its noise level is passable. It has a sort of air-moving rumble to it, but it is not noiseless. It can't be called "silent", just quiet. It does not use Everflow-manufactured Thermaltake-brand fans. Instead, it uses fans from ...

the three-bladed fans... fewer blades = fewer surfaces churning the air = lower-frequency noise, like a lower humm instead of a whirring sound like my Vantec stealths (yeah, I got suckered). Then, the lower-frequency noise might be more easily absorbed. The fans operating in push-pull also may lower...