Ten questions

davidhooper · Post by **davidhooper** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 1:40 pm

Hi everyone,

I’m just back from university and have some spare time and energy. I’ve got ten questions about silencing my computer. I’m living in the UK. Oh & please don’t destroy me if I’ve missed a previous answer somewhere!

Here’s my current rig:
Athlon 1600, undervolted to 1.6V
Zalman 6000-Cu flower hs + supplied fan
Seasonic 300W PSU (I think the model number is 300FPS)
Inno3D GeForce2 440MX
Soltek DRV4, removed northbridge fan
No case fan
Seagate Cuda IV
CPU temp 49C
General case temp 33C

1. I’m thinking of buying some Panaflo fans; one for the CPU, one for the PSU and possibly one for the case. Am I correct in thinking that this is the best place to buy them in the UK?:
http://www.stores.ebay.co.uk/panaflofan

2. How easy is it to replace the Seasonic fan? Has anybody done it? How much difference did it make? Am I correct in thinking that I will need an 80x80mm fan for this? And how difficult is the job?

3. Where is the best link to explain the 7V mod?

4. Is it worth using fan mounts? What are they? Where can you get them from in the UK? And what’s a grommet? And do I use mounts/grommets on every fan including the PSU fan?

5. The fan on my GeForce2 is fairly noisy. I tried disconnecting it, but temps rose too high. If I use a case fan, will it negate the need for this fan?

6. If not, what is the cheapest and best (GeForce2 power or better if possible) replacement card I can get? Or would it be easier to underclock my current card? I’ve installed Coolbits. On that note, does anyone know what the default core and memory clock frequencies are for this card?

7. What size Panaflo is best for the CPU?

8. Should I know anything about what’s on the end of the Panaflo wires?

9. Can anyone summarise the model numbering convention on Panalfo fans? And which model should I get for each of the PSU/case/CPU?

10. Is there anything else I should try?

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 9:40 pm

davidhooper wrote:Hi everyone,

I’m just back from university and have some spare time and energy. I’ve got ten questions about silencing my computer. I’m living in the UK. Oh & please don’t destroy me if I’ve missed a previous answer somewhere!

<snip>

So many questions.....

I'll take a stab at a few and leave some for others.

1. If you have summer spending money, the Panaflos will at a minimum be fun to play with/compare and at best help quiet your system.

2. Working on it myself over the last few days (not because there is that much work, but because my time is limited and I can only drill when my baby isn't napping

). The stock fan removes fairly easily. Cf. MikeC's (Simple PSU Fan Swap Technique) I drilled out the other two fan mounts on the Seasonic so that I could put fan isolators on all four corners. I also cut out the fan grill to remove the impedance. Not sure on noise results yet, but if this is MikeC's personal PSU and swap, then it was worth a try for me.

3. Did a quick forum search for you (hey, I'm a nice guy

) on "7 volt" and found 5 and 7 volt fan mod article. And you may have seen it already, but be sure to note Why is 7V so bad?

4. Use isolators. They make a difference. Another search.....
Grommets vs Isolators (plus UK suppliers?) Grommets don't help much at all with fans and get mixed reviews when used to mount HDDs.

5. No. Check for other video card cooling solutions---Zalman coolers or a fanless GPU card.

7. 80mm will be the quietest. If you can stand the noise the 92mm and 120mm will give greater CFM. You decide on the trade off.

8. Yes. Your question betrays your awareness of the answer. Read Recommended Fans. Panaflos come with one of the following: no tail, tailed with bare wires, a two-prong lead, a three-prong lead, a four-prong molex.

9. on the 80mm: L1A, M1A, H1A....the letters representing Low, Medium, and High CFM respectively and in relation to one another. Search the forums on L1A and M1A (both terms) and do some reading.

10. Have you considered adding noise dampening to your case? Suspending your HDD?

Ah, summer break...I remember those days. *day-dreamy far-off look* I hope you have lots of fun with your time off from classes.

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 11:03 pm

Just a couple of comments --

SAounds like your Seasonic is a non-PFC version. If so, it uses a sleeve bearing fan that is 2-3 dBA quieter than the ball-bearing ones used in ther APFC models. The sleeve-bearing fan Seasonic measures 18 dBA @ 1m at modest load. A Panaflo L or M is quieter, but not by much -- maybe 2 dBA.

The stock fan for your Zalman HS probably makes more noise than the Seasonic PSU (again assuming it is the one with sleeve bearings in the fan). Swap that for a Panaflo, and maybe also swap the 6000. Certainly, check its mounting clip tension, which has a tendency to drop over time. If you push down with 2 fingers on the top of the HS, can you make the temp easily drop by a degree or two or more? If it takes a lot of pressure to drop the temp, then the clip is fine. If it is easy to effect temp drop with finger pressure, then replace the clip with the 2nd one included in the Zalman package or just replace the HS with something better.

If the Barracdua is not suspension mounted, do so. It will make a lot of difference in seek noise.

ruprag · Post by **ruprag** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 1:17 am

For the videocard you can get GF440MX agp8 without a fan from many manyufacturers and it is quite cheap.

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 2:04 am

ruprag wrote:For the videocard you can get GF440MX agp8 without a fan from many manyufacturers and it is quite cheap.

Better yet, some of those new FX5200s are fanless too, albeit bit more expensive.

Jan

ruprag · Post by **ruprag** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 2:16 am

They are a bit more expensive and according to rewievs I have read the directX 9 feature on them is to slow to really be worth it !!

I went with the 440MX last week when I bought a replacement card for my dead 440MX (static shock is nasty) mainly because i don't really need anything better until I get a card with tv in/out and Mpeg2 encode/decode, but currently they are both expensive and with a fan

davidhooper · Post by **davidhooper** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 2:04 pm

Thanks for the replies everyone.

SAounds like your Seasonic is a non-PFC version. If so, it uses a sleeve bearing fan that is 2-3 dBA quieter than the ball-bearing ones used in ther APFC models.

MikeC, how do I find out which model I have?

I'll digest all these replies and post back maybe tomorrow.

Thanks again.

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 2:13 pm

davidhooper wrote:MikeC, how do I find out which model I have?

The label on the PSU will either have the words "Active PFC" after the SS300FS model #... or it won't have those words.

dukla2000 · Post by **dukla2000** » Fri Jun 27, 2003 11:50 am

David - check out Dorothy's post in the vendor forum here. Basically it is cheaper to buy from her ntl shop than the ebay shop. I have bought from her before - no problems of any kind.

davidhooper · Post by **davidhooper** » Fri Jun 27, 2003 2:42 pm

Hi dukla2000, thanks for the advice. The prices have changed slightly since that post and I ended up purchasing from ebay because it was slighter cheaper in the end. Actually, I screwed up my paypal registration, so we'll have to wait and see what happens...

davidhooper · Post by **davidhooper** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 1:27 pm

Hi guys,
I got the panaflo and swapped out that old Zalman fan. It's much better. Are my temps of ~50C OK? That's measured with the onboard thermistor jobby.

Now, just to find out how to underclock graphics cards...

/dh/

dukla2000 · Post by **dukla2000** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 12:31 am

davidhooper wrote:I got the panaflo and swapped out that old Zalman fan. It's much better. Are my temps of ~50C OK? That's measured with the onboard thermistor jobby.

50C isn't stunning, but is well within spec (85 or 90) so no cause for concern. From your 1st post your only case ventilation is from the psu fan: again this is reasonable design with the implicit limitation that airflow through your case will be poor, in which case the 50C is probably damn good

geordie · Post by **geordie** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 12:56 am

The only place I have seen fan mounting isolators in the UK is on Kustom PCs.
Link- http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/product.php?subcat=39

Sadly out of stock at the minute so I can't order any either or say how good they are.

ccorayer · Post by **ccorayer** » Mon Jul 07, 2003 10:03 am

When I talked to the people who make the EAR fan isolators, they told me to check here. http://www.mcmaster.com/

Do a search for fan mount. You should find a link for "Vibration Damping PVC Miniature Fan Mount". About halfway down you will find them under PVC Miniature Fan Mounts.

I forget which size I used. It's one of the two larger sizes. Most likely the middle one if you're going to use 80mm fans.

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