Silentium T1 and T2 owners - PSU mod pics inside...

[jlovell]

http://rootminus1.com/freepics/thumbnails.php?album=60

(copy/paste link above for close ups of psu innards and the 'hidden' fan connector)

A while ago I read about an spcr'er modding thier Silentium T1 becasue noisewise the PSU seems like the loudest part.

Inspired by this, and as my first ever 'mod', I had a go!

Basically, it's far easier than it looks and I urge T1 and T2 owners to have a go too, it's soooo much quieter! Doesn't seem to impact on temperature much either - CPU 36, MB 34 (Athlon 64 3000 with Zalman heatsink) - Graphics card is passivley cooled low-end as I only do 2D work.

Hope the psu isn't burning up, will follow up if this becomes a problem but it seems good.

Next steps - get a propper fan controller rather than those Zalman fanmates - great up to a point, but a 4 way controller will look the part and give me every control I need ta my fingertips

Recommendations? preferably 3 1/2 inch size - anyone got experience of door clearance issues on these models? seems tight...

Jo
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[Christopher]

Nice pics, thanks for sharing.

I also looked after a good 3 1/2 inch fancontroller but I settled for a ZM-MFC1, 4 channels with variable voltage 5.5 - 11V and two switches 0/5/12 volt. It sits in the 5.25" bay. The knobs is clear from the door in a silentium t2. It has LEDs that glow in blue but it doesn't matter because the door is always closed.

About the psu burning up, I think it's alright as long you can feel a steady draft of lukewarm air comming out of the front of the case. That is how it is for me. But try to undervolt the cpu or atleast use CnQ to be on the safe(r) side.

[sanse]

http://rootminus1.com/freepics/thumbnails.php?album=60

(copy/paste link above for close ups of psu innards and the 'hidden' fan connector)

A while ago I read about an spcr'er modding thier Silentium T1 becasue noisewise the PSU seems like the loudest part.

hey, thanks for sharing this!

at what speed are you running the psu-fans now?

[jlovell]

Hi sanse,

I'd have to guess, there is no fan speed infomration - the fanmate goes down to 5 volts, which is nice and low - some controllers only go to 7v - and my impression would be about 1000rpm. It's 2 fans being controlled on the PSU remember - it's really a barely noticable breeze (virtually silent too), but it doesn't seem to affect mobo temp - 39 degrees, CPU at 38 at rest (Athlon 64 3000+).

You can still feel cool air being drawn in at the back of the case

I just hope the PSU won't fry....next biggest for noise are the hard drives, so I'm gonna have to look into drive enclosures....

Jo

[Christopher]

jlovell what temperature is your harddrive? The harddive temp goes up when you make the psu fans slower I've noticed. Mine is at 37C with only Azureus (always) running.

About the harddrive noise it's very easy to get cables nearby the hd enclosure to vibrate if theres any contact between them, and if these cables touch the case then you get alot of noise. The 12V feed to the harddrive I had to use the plug that is shorter than the others, it's the one called hdd1 in the manual. Ask if I don't make any sense. I cut off the the other end plug (called VGA in manual) to make sure it didn't touch the case.

sanse you asked jlovell but I thought you might be interested. I've replaced the two fans on the psu with two papst 8414NGL fans. They are at 1250 RPM the original speed is 1500RPM. So these two fans should push 2*1250RPM/1500RPM*20cfm = 33 cfm, I estimate. I'm to chicken to go lower. The two fans in the top back are the at 5.5V. 2*5.5V/12V*28cfm + 33cfm = 59cfm total in the case. These numbers isn't exakt goes without saying. Cpu temp never goes over 39C even after a long period of cpuburn because the processor is at [email protected] all the time, and case temp at 34 at the most.

[sanse]

sanse you asked jlovell but I thought you might be interested. I've replaced the two fans on the psu with two papst 8414NGL fans. They are at 1250 RPM the original speed is 1500RPM.

thanks for this info. gonna give it some thought.

i'm running an asus a8n-sli premium with a x2 dualcore, lots of ram, 2 harddiscs, a dvd-writer, a fanless videocard and a xifi soundcard in a silentium t2.

the whole machine is quiet, but not quiet enough. indeed the psu-fans are pretty audible after a while. idle temps are 33 for the cpu and 30 for the mobo. at load that changes to 48 and 33. harddiscs (a raptor in the box and a spinpoint in the lower 3.5' bay) run at about 33 after a while in idle.

i'm very charmed of the pc mikec built for his friend in thailand. blowing out the heat of the video-card is on second thought waay smarter than using a fanless hot videocard. the p150 seems a very good proposition to built a silent pc. and it offers more silent harddisc places and very good cable-management.

this latter is another drawback of the silentium: the horrible cable management blocking the airflow to the psu-fans. i think this seriously adds to the problem.

[sanse]

Recommendations? preferably 3 1/2 inch size - anyone got experience of door clearance issues on these models? seems tight...

the Enermax Frontpanel UC-3FATR2-B might be an option. it's a two-channel 3.5' bay manual fan-controller with acoustic and display warning.

[Christopher]

sanse you're right about antecs p150 seems to be a very nice case. I would gladly swap cases if someone is interested. Cablemanagement in a silentium isn't very easy either as you have said. Are you considering buying another case instead of make do with what you got?

[sanse]

sanse you're right about antecs p150 seems to be a very nice case. I would gladly swap cases if someone is interested. Cablemanagement in a silentium isn't very easy either as you have said. Are you considering buying another case instead of make do with what you got?

yes, indeed considering. it seems there is still some time to do that, cause the psu in the p150 is having some compatibility problems with the asus a8n-sli premium.

maybe i'll do both. my new rig to a p150 and an old win98 setup with only one harddisc to a 'modded' silentium.