Critique my soon-to-purchase lineup!

JackBoCracken · Post by **JackBoCracken** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 11:39 am

Current specs:

AXP 2000
Gigabyte GA-7VRXP
WD800JB
WD1000BB
QTechnology 300W PSU (purchased from www.quietpc.com)
Thermaltake Volcano 7 (loudest heatsink/fan combination ever)
Abit GF4 4400
Addtronics 6896 case (or something like that)

What I'm buying:

Zalman ZM80C-HP $26.99 @ SVC
Thermaltake Silent Boost $26.99 @ SVC
Panaflo L1A 3-pin Fan $6.99x4 = $27.96 @ SVC
Sunbeam Rheobus $17.99 @ SVC
Evercase EC5242 $26 @ Newegg (the black one)
20 pk rubber fan mounts $9.71 @ mcmaster.com

One Panaflo is going into the power supply I currently have. I don't know if I need so many Panaflos, if you think I only need one (for exhaust) let me know.

sockeye · Post by **sockeye** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 12:20 pm

JackBoCracken wrote:Current specs:
WD800JB
WD1000BB

These things will drive you nuts. I just replaced 2 WD 7200rpm Caviars with a 7200rpm 120GB/8MB Samsung Spinpoint, and I can't even believe the difference it has made. Those WDs are LOUD! The Spinpoint is virtually silent in idle, though its seeks are quite noisy, but not annoyingly so. I have yet to apply AAM, isolate the drive, or dampen the case.

Athlon 1600
Asus A7M266
Samsung Spinpoint 120GB/8MB SP1213N
Lite-On 52X32X52X LTR-52327S
Asus 52X CD-S520
ATI Radeon 64MB DDR
Enlight 7237
Silenx 300W
Zalman 6000cu
Zalman NB-32J
2 Panaflo L1As
3 Zalman Fanmates

JackBoCracken · Post by **JackBoCracken** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 12:23 pm

Alright, I know that the HDs are loud, but there's nothing that I can do about that (I cannot afford to replace them).

What I would like to know is if the things I intend on buying check out okay.

I suppose I could always suspend the HDs from a bungee.

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 1:24 pm

JackBoCracken wrote:Alright, I know that the HDs are loud, but there's nothing that I can do about that (I cannot afford to replace them).

What I would like to know is if the things I intend on buying check out okay.

I suppose I could always suspend the HDs from a bungee.

Agreed on the HDDs being noisy, but I understand limited cashflow.

Are you opposed to selling the 2 of them (ie ebay) and reinvesting the money into one 160GB drive? (ie Samsung Spinpoint 11614 8mb cache $139.00 at newegg). Suspending the WDs will be of minimal help.

No optical drive?

Curious as to why you are replacing the case?

What you are buying looks like solid, quieting components. It's what you're not buying that will likely leave you with some noise issues.

Extra Panaflos are rarely a mistake. An extra on hand is nice if one starts to chatter or won't start at low voltage, etc.

JackBoCracken · Post by **JackBoCracken** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 5:01 pm

I'm replacing the case because this POS hates my motherboard, and all the cards don't line up properly with their mounting brackets.

That and the only exhaust mount is has is for a 40 mm fan which is worthless.

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 7:11 pm

JackBoCracken wrote:I'm replacing the case because this POS hates my motherboard, and all the cards don't line up properly with their mounting brackets.

That and the only exhaust mount is has is for a 40 mm fan which is worthless.

Umm....If I were you (and I know I'm not, so you may gladly dismiss my remarks), I'd double-check the model number on your case as well as the size of the rear fan. I poked around the Addtronics website just a bit and could not find any ATX case that had less than an 80mm exhaust fan (you don't have a 1U or 2U case, do you?). An 80mm exhaust is exactly what you will get with the Evercase, so double checking might be worthwhile.

Of course, that does not adderss your mobo issue.....don't line up left to right or top to bottom?

JackBoCracken · Post by **JackBoCracken** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 9:20 pm

It's an older model. I bought this thing in 1998.

jverheul · Post by **jverheul** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 10:10 pm

See sig for what I did to silence a my WDHD. It cost about $15 dollars (I did 2 drives and spent $30) per deive and I cannot hear the HD at all anymore.

JV

jsturnham · Post by **jsturnham** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 11:49 pm

I strongly recommend you get the ZMOP-1 optional fan for the ZM80C-HP. My Ti4200 is running at 300 core using the fan @ 5v and it's dead silent. Without the fan the heatpipe alone cools about the same as stock video card coolers.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 3:06 am

JackBoCracken wrote:It's an older model. I bought this thing in 1998.

Yeah, Addtronics has always been famous for changing the layout of their front and back panels. There's all kinds of different configurations of the Addtronics cases running around. Some of the real early ones had no fan mounts on the back wall, only a series of punched holes.

sockeye · Post by **sockeye** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 7:39 am

JackBoCracken wrote:Alright, I know that the HDs are loud, but there's nothing that I can do about that (I cannot afford to replace them).

What I would like to know is if the things I intend on buying check out okay.

They look OK, but I suspect that the $108 it would cost you to get a 120GB/8MB Spinpoint would result in more noise reduction than the mods you describe. You would also get a significant performance gain. Of course, it wouldn't be as much fun, and your computer would look the same from the outside, but it would be a LOT quieter!

Decoupling with bungees probably won't do a lot with drives that produce as much internal noise as the WDs. The rubber boxes sound very promising though...

ruprag · Post by **ruprag** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 12:36 pm

I would recomend the "Rubber enclosure" or the "Sandwich with aluminium" approach to the hard disks.

I currently have 1 WD80GB

which sits upside down on some foam in the bottom of my case, it is also enclosed in 2 6mm aluminium plates with soundblocking material along the sides and 2 old PI heatsinks thermally glued to the plate that is on top. then there is a 5v fan breathing air across the Heatsinks.

The heatsinks/fan may be an overkill BUT WD does not have an internal temperature sensor and I prefer being safe

I still need to find a spot of wire to ground the drive (WD said when I sent them a query that it should be grounded)

Code: Select all

         HSHSHS  HSHSHS
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
BB HDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHD BB
BB HDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHD BB
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

A == aluminium plate
B == soundblocking
HD == hard disk
HS == heatsink

edit:
P.S.
I forgot to mention that i did NOT use screws to fasten the plates I just use long heavyduty cable ties.

JackBoCracken · Post by **JackBoCracken** » Sun Sep 14, 2003 1:55 am

Well when I save up the money again, I'll buy new harddrives and then move these existing ones into a file server and stuff that in the closet.

Until then, where can I buy cheap stamp rubber?

Critique my soon-to-purchase lineup!

Critique my soon-to-purchase lineup!

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