Opinions on "silentish" PC

edwardhuggett · Post by **edwardhuggett** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 1:57 pm

Hi,

Recently purchased 6 Panaflo L1As and now have the following set up:

Antec PlusView 1000 AMG case

- Enermax Dual Fan PSU (Modded to 1 x L1A at 7v)
- Volacano 7 HS on ThB 1800+ with 1 x L1A at 12v
- 2 x L1A exhausts at 5v
- 1 x L1A intake at 5v
- 1 x L1A side fan at 5v, blowing onto :
- ZM80A on Gf4 4200

- IBM 40 GB HDD decoupled resting on foam on bottom of case, with intake blowing on it.

Results? not as good as I would have hoped ..quieter but not what i was expecting... The PSU exhaust is pretty hot / warm, and I am getting the following average idle temps:

HDD: 40c to 41c (!)
CPU: 49c
Case: 43 - 444c (!)

With the CPU fan at 7v it is a noise is a bit better, but then poor athlon gets toasty.

If i could afford it i would buy an SLK-800 but they are about £50 here in the UK and i am not going to spend any more on noise reduction at this time.

Should I be wary of running my 350w enermax with only an L1A at 7v??
What about my HDD that seems pretty toasty??
Plus i might cook my breakfast on the ZM80A tommorow.

My cable managment leaves a lot to be desired ..... would this make a great deal of difference though to airflow + temps?

Thoughts and opinions?

Cheers,
Ed

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 4:42 pm

Your HD temps are running cool at about 40oC, I get 47oC on my HD. Most manafacturer recommends a max of about 55oC. I would say anything below 50oC is fine.

You should be more concerned with your case temps which are pretty high.

Maybe you could increase the voltage of your exhaust, and try too keep room tempertures low. High ambient tempertures certainly don't help..

With regards to your cabling, if it's really messy sort it out! it will help a bit, specially if the airflow is blocked near/ infront of your fans.

SpyderCat · Post by **SpyderCat** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 4:53 pm

Hi Edward,

There is only one way I can explain your problems.
The cool air you are blowing into your case, goes out the back almost immediatly. When I'm right, then a temp. reading in the direct environment of your exhaust fans should read clearly below your case temps.
I really can't imagine that you extract air with 3 fans, and that the air has a delta T of some 20*C. Feeding your PSU with 44*C cooling-air can't be a good thing either.

I have only 2 fans extracting (1 at 8 volts, the PSU-fan probably less), no intake fans, and mobo temps of some 25*C.
Check and check again. This can't be right.

Regards, Han.

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 6:34 pm

Be cautious about letting that Enermax run too hot. They're not the most reliable of PSUs anymore. Used to be much better when they first came on the scene but now they OEM most everything out to the lowest bidder. I burned one out last year -- in less than a year running it with a Panaflo at 6-7V. This was with the grill removed and the 92mm fan hole just exposed. If I do it again, I would close up that hole with duct tape (or something more substantial), and open up the intake slot vents opp. the fan for max airflow through the length of the HS in the PSU. Directing the airflow for maximum cooling effect makes a difference.

edwardhuggett · Post by **edwardhuggett** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 12:21 am

I think my PSU is an EG365P-VE. I got it about 2 years ago ... this was before all the other silent PSUs came out - would this be a "non-OEM" model? Strange thing is I could not for the life of me find the thermoresistor inside it.
I have blocked the 92mm hole wih 2 layers of brown parcel tape. Not ideal but it was all I had to hand ....

My exhausts seems to be producing relitvely cool air even though they are directly to the side of the CPU and above the video card heatsink.

Ambient room temps do vary which does affect case temps too. I always seem to have had high case temps though maybe the diode on my Gigabyte GA-7TVXH is a bit innacurate.

I can put my PSU fan back up to 12v but i get a "wooshing" as the air is sucked through the PSU i think. Grrr!

Also I was mistaken about my Athlon - its actually a Palmino core which is hotter than Tbreds which doesnt help matters.

The only thing I am really concerned about is the PSU. Maybe I should mount another 80mm fan on the grills inside the case??? (back of PSU?)

Hmmm ...

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 3:31 am

edwardhuggett wrote:I can put my PSU fan back up to 12v but i get a "wooshing" as the air is sucked through the PSU i think. Grrr!

The only thing I am really concerned about is the PSU. Maybe I should mount another 80mm fan on the grills inside the case??? (back of PSU?)

Have you considered mounting the the Panaflo outside of the PSU. That's what I did, it reduced the noise of my 7v Panaflo. I can barely hear it now, but I considered it loud before when it was inside the PSU at the same voltage.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 8:22 am

duct the exhaust fans over the heatsink.

edwardhuggett · Post by **edwardhuggett** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 11:20 am

I will certainly try putting the panaflo on the outside when i get a chance. I may even use another 80mm bracket to make a small extension for it. Shame i dont have any of those funny blue rubber pegs instead of screws. i think ez2remember used foam ..... was that just packing foam?

Also re: ducting whats the best material and easiest way to do it? hesitant to do this as then all my ZM80A heat has no exhaust apart from psu fan. and that is YAY hot.

Thanks for the advice
Ed

SpyderCat · Post by **SpyderCat** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 11:42 am

edwardhuggett wrote:Also re: ducting whats the best material and easiest way to do it?

I used PlastaZote foam, and am very happy with it
http://www.atlasortho.com/sub%20Product ... tazote.htm

And even kids can work with it...
http://www.martindalejmi.herts.sch.uk/o ... tazote.htm

edwardhuggett wrote:hesitant to do this as then all my ZM80A heat has no exhaust apart from psu fan. and that is YAY hot.

And where do you think your CPU-heatsink gets it's air from?

edwardhuggett · Post by **edwardhuggett** » Wed Apr 09, 2003 10:05 am

Well I mounted the Panaflo L1A at 12v outside the PSu just now and ... still to noisy (wind flow).
I have left it outside and run it at 7v ... now my system is finally "quiet" (till my psu overheats!!!)

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Wed Apr 09, 2003 10:20 am

If your PSU overheats, your computer will get very quiet.