one fan Athlon64 3000+ rig

atomidude · Post by **atomidude** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:26 am

Hi guys! Is my first post here, even though i've been reading stuf here for years

This project took me a few months while i was testing different psus, fans, hsfs... you know ho it goes. Finally, I settled down to this:
* Antec AMG 1080 case, with side fan increased to 120mm. using a Evercool 120mm Aluminum fan at 950rpm, SpeedFan controlled, connected to the CPU fan header. All other fans removed and i also cut a hole on top, above the PSU
* Gigabyte K8VNXP 754 mobo, removed fan from chipset
* Athlon 3000+ C0 core, cooled by Thermaltake 103 fanless HSF, undervolted on idle by CrystalCPUID. Idle at 1GHz/0.95V
* Samsung 1614C 160GB SATA HDD, suspended
* Gigabyte nVidia 6800 with passive cooling
* Antec Phantom 350W

It is working pretty cool, idle at 32C/50C for CPU/VGA. Prime95 full speed runs 56C max for CPU. The VGA won't go above 70C during gaming or 3dmark testing. Did i forget to mention i live in Australia, where ambient temperatures could go above 28C?

Despite these adverse conditions, my computer never had a problem!
I can even overclock a bit, reached 18,500/9,900/4,200 in 3dmark01/03/05. Sure, during testing the fan might go towards maximum speed of 2,500rpm, while is pushing 87cfm. That shows how much cooling capacity I’ve got if needed. But the point is, while browsing, downloading, even gaming, the rig is dead quiet. Some of you guys might know how quiet an Evercool 120mm alu fan running at 950rpm could be.
http://www.pccasegear.com.au/prod564.htm

My advise: reduce the number of fans to minimum, and get them to blow where needed; use the hot air's relentless desire to go up, let it escape through a hole at the top; use cool and quiet components, Antec Phantom, A64 and Samsung HDDs are a good start; also, use a big case, much easier to cool then a small one. Easy

silent rig, idle:

after 15' cpuburn:

JanW · Post by **JanW** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:42 am

Welcome to SPCR!!
And, yes, I'd love to see pictures!!

atomidude · Post by **atomidude** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:36 pm

what dou you think guys, should i change my Clawhammer core cpu with a Newcastle? how much cooler would that run you reckon?
or should i wait for AMD to release the Turion? i'm just concerned about fitting my TT103 monster on a cpu without the heat spreder...

JanW · Post by **JanW** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:58 pm

I don't really have an opinion on the CPU cores --- haven't tried any of the Athlon64's.

One thing I am curious about is the HD temperature. It looks like the HD doesn't get any cooling at all (other than convection). And while the Spinpoints run rather cool in general, I was wondering just how cool they would stay in this setup. Did you measure HD temp? Or else, how do the sides of the drive feel to the touch?
I have some ideas for a one fan setup for my main rig, and it would be good to know with how little airflow the spinpoints can put up.

atomidude · Post by **atomidude** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:13 pm

the hdd runs at 36C most of the time. the highest i've seen was 44C, during a very hot day, while defraging.
i have a 80mm silenx fan suspended above the hdd. it is not connected, is there just in case the things are getting too hot. anyway, a 80mm silenx on 7V won't make too much noise.

ilh · Post by **ilh** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:15 pm

Doesn't that make two fans?

EDIT: to add wink (

)

JanW · Post by **JanW** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:33 pm

atomidude wrote:the hdd runs at 36C most of the time. the highest i've seen was 44C, during a very hot day, while defraging.

That's very reasonable. Thanks for the info and for sharing pictures of your cool

rig!

ilh: Now, now, fans that are not connected don't count.

Straker · Post by **Straker** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 11:01 pm

that's cute, sort of the opposite of what i did - i sealed up the front of my antec 1030B, cut a huge hole in the bottom and put an aluminum evercool in there.

atomidude · Post by **atomidude** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 3:35 pm

project update: the hdd is now inside a SilenX Luxurae silencer, mounted using foam at the case bottom front. took me some time to optimize the airflow. the hdd is now stable at 37C,can't complain about that

it is impossible to hear the hdd now, unless i turn the fan off and put my ear on the side fan opening. finally, absolute silence:)
the next thing i'll have to do is to replace the fan. my Evercool 120mm alu has some bearing noise, not too loud, but still some noise there. understandable, it is more than 2 years old now. the new Aerocool turbine fan and the Cooler Master alu 120 X 38 mm look like very promissing candidates. don't think i'll use Nexus, airflow is too low and they seem hard to get in Australia. tried PAPST, too noisy, doesn't like the mobos PWM control much

so, the rig is now as quiet as the fan is. oh, you should hear it when i turn the fan off, that's the ultimate quiet computing! not a problem to run it like this idle, the CPU temps are safe at 46C, only the hot 6800 gets up to 70C.
will post some updated pictures soon.

atomidude · Post by **atomidude** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 5:35 pm

here are a few new pictures:

i replaced the fan, using an Aerocool Turbine 2000 now, pretty quiet, even better slowed down to 750rpm using a fanmate. i also used some pieces of car sun shade, you know, the silly $1.97 one, to keep as much airflow as possible where it counts: hdd, vga and cpu. temperatures seem to be 4-5C lower now, for the same fan rpm. in the third picture you can see how i blocked the front of the case with foam, so the air is forced to flow through the gaps between the hdd heatsinks and the Luxurae enclosure.
what can i say? i'm happy, the computer is incredibly quiet while temperatures are more than reasonable! the only thing is: what's next? what else could i do now? replace the fan with the Coolermaster 38mm aluminium maybe, when available here? or should i sell it and start again?

halfpower · Post by **halfpower** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 7:07 pm

Wow, one fan! I wouldn't have thought it could be done. I can't believe I'm using four in mine

atomidude · Post by **atomidude** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:02 pm

update: turned the hdd 180 deg, so less cable clutter where it counts

and i have access to the fanmate now without opening the case, for even better fan speed control.

atomidude · Post by **atomidude** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:41 am

Update: I just got NEXUSED!
Replaced the Aerocool Turbine with an ugly orange Nexus fan.

Idle, the computer needs only 700rpm of this amazing fan to stay cool! Forget about any other fans, PAPST, Panaflo, whatever... This IS the quiet fan!
Now just imagine my rig, with everything on passive cooling, the silent hdd inside the Luxurae silencer, and this Nexus spinning at 700rpm. How quiet is that?

And this is where my project ends. There's nothing else I can do to lower the dB even further, can I?

I have learned a lot since I started my quest for the ultimate quiet computer, thanks to this forum. There's so much wisdom here!