P2 400 without fan?

offeh · Post by **offeh** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 1:06 am

Hi all!
I used to be rather satisfied with the noise of my computer. Recently, somehow, that's no longer the case. I can hear it, and therefore it is too loud!

There are two fans in my computer; one in the PSU and one case fan which is also acting as a CPU fan (so the case fan is the only CPU fan there is).

The CPU is a P2 400 Mhz. I've been running the case fan at 5V so as to lower noise. It is, however, not quiet enough. Taking it out completely reduces noise a bit, but I am a bit concerned with doing so. Especially now that I joined the F@H team, causing the CPU to be constantly at 100%

.

So my question is; do you think it is safe to run a P2 400 fanless without risking to have it burned?

I might consider putting another fan in instead (mine isn't the quitest one around), but I would prefer running with as few fans as possible, since I am of the opinion that a fan will cause noise. Always.

I suppose I might as well give you the complete system, in case you can find some other usefull info in there:
PSU: Some old one. 200W (came with the Dell. Pretty quiet though, except for air noise.)
CPU: P2 400
Graphics: GeForce4 MX420 (fanless)
HD: Barracude V 80Gb
Case/CPU fan: "can't-remember-which" @ 5V

And of course there's the network card, TV-card, soundcard, optical devices, memory and such as well. But those aren't making any noise

.

nbac · Post by **nbac** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 2:17 am

Nay, I think you'd better replace the case fan. It shouldn't
be that hard to make your PSU the loudest component.

Running the CPU without a fan usually requires a bit more
attention to airflow and in some cases other components.
(even if it is a low power CPU by today's standards)

You could also replace the HSF, but I guess you're not willing
to spend too much money on an old computer.

offeh · Post by **offeh** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 2:29 am

The PSU is already the loudest component, but the case fan still add a bit of noise.

I just thought I might get off without a fan given the fact that it is an old processor at 400 mhz. But I suppose you're right...I might as well get myself a new fan. It's just that I've had some problems trying to find a quiet enough fan in the local shops. (seems a bit silly to order a fan for say $8 or $10 or something and they pay as much for shipping...)

And no, I don't think I will be spending too much money on this machine. If I was, then I would have gotten myself a new PSU a long time ago

bonzichrille · Post by **bonzichrille** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 4:40 am

I used to have an p2 450 running fanless in my computer with a medium sized heatsink. Although i didn't have a case fan, only my zalman psu, temps would idle at around 48 degrees. Now, this wasen't a problem while doing adenery stuff like surfing and wordprocessing, but soon as I got around to putting a divx movie on, the temps would reach the danger zone at around 60-63 C and climbing. However, this would normally take some time, around 2 hours, making it ok for me since I always settle for one movie at a time. Life expectancy probablly went down on the p2 but I knew I would eventually get a p4, and hence, didn't bother that much...

Anyway, when you say your cpu stays at 100% for long periods of time, my gut feeling is telling me your gonna fry the cpu if you dont use an exhaust fan.

good luck!

Zhentar · Post by **Zhentar** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 6:54 am

put a 5v panaflo in each spot; thats a very low power system and they should handle its heat no problem. Even 7v should easily leave your barracuda noisy compared to the fans.

bondiablo · Post by **bondiablo** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 8:49 am

offeh · Post by **offeh** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 8:58 am

bonzichrille: I kind of figured the 100% cpu usage was a problem

. But no big deal; I'll just stop folding if I have to. But I'll probably go ahead and put in a new fan anyway. I do watch some movies on the machine from time to time, and I don't want to have to worry about burning the CPU when doing so.

Oh, since you seem to be from Sweden; Do you know if there is some swedish online computer retailer out there selling these Panaflo's that everyone here seem to be so in love with?

Zhentar I'll see if I can find one of those Panaflo's for the case fan, but changing the one in the PSU will be rather difficult since there seems to be no way to open the stupid thing...

bondiablo: This is an old Dell Dimension XPS R400. And yes, the heatsink is larger than the slot 1 processor.

nbac · Post by **nbac** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 9:17 am

A quick search at http://buggy.no-ip.com/sok.php returns:
http://www.overclockers.se/ have them in stock for 125:-

Henrik · Post by **Henrik** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 9:46 am

All Swedes/Europeans should ( at least in my view) buy their Panaflos from Dorothy (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dorothy.br ... anaflo.htm). She's just great (and the prices are LOW!).

nbac · Post by **nbac** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 10:00 am

It's good to see they ship international, but I wouldn't bother
for a single L1A...

Henrik · Post by **Henrik** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 10:12 am

Yes, you would, if you knew that the shipping would cost cost <1£!

nbac · Post by **nbac** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 10:40 am

Amazing, a padded letter costs more. What do they really do for a living?

Henrik · Post by **Henrik** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 10:56 am

nbac wrote:Amazing, a padded letter costs more. What do they really do for a living?

It beats me...

offeh · Post by **offeh** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 11:07 am

Oh, so they're available at Overclockers now. Great. I might stop by there the next time I'm
going home to Luleå, then.

Thanks for pointing me to Buggy, too. I can never seem to remember the name of that service, so I always have a hard time finding it

.

Henrik · Post by **Henrik** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 11:30 am

offeh wrote:Oh, so they're available at Overclockers now. Great. I might stop by there the next time I'm
going home to Luleå, then.

Thanks for pointing me to Buggy, too. I can never seem to remember the name of that service, so I always have a hard time finding it .

You'd still save ~50SEK if you ordered from Dorothy.

It is still a good price at overclockers though, especially if you compare with the prices of Papst's fans here in Sweden...

offeh · Post by **offeh** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 12:19 pm

They might be cheaper at Dorothy but then I would have to get myself a PayPal account and everything. It's just too much work...

But I might still order from them. It depends on just how annoyed I get with my current fan before my next trip to Luleå

ruprag · Post by **ruprag** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 12:47 pm

actually you can just send Dorothy some pund notes in the mail.

that is what I did

and she promptly sent me my 4 fans

silvervarg · Post by **silvervarg** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 2:01 am

Nice to see lots of more Swedish people discussing here...
Have you tried making a small duct from CPU to either PSU or case fan?
I believe that can make a rather big difference.
I currently run a AMD K6-2 523MHz with an undervolted CPU fan and put an M1A in the PSU as the only fan that creates airflow in the case.
Unfortunately I don't have any temp sensors on that motherboard, so I don't want to remove the CPU fan compleatly.

Tore · Post by **Tore** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 5:59 am

I have an old compaq (

no, I've never bought a compaq, I got it). It has a P2-300MHz. The PSU is located directly over the CPU. The CPU is running without a fan, and the PSU fan is undervolted (I think it's about 5v, but I just moved the thermistor in the PSU, so I don't know for sure). No other fan. It works like a charm, but I just use it for normal work (web, email, multimedia programming, video editing) so it doesn't run at 100% for long periods.

Tigr · Post by **Tigr** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 2:55 am

I replaced the original fan that was getting very noisy with age on my PII 550. This is my main machine so I need it on almost all the time. So, a 90mm Papst went in as a case fan replacement. (it's the same design - case fan doubles as the CPU fan). Runs very cool and very quiet, even when it was 39 degrees C here