Ed's (Effectively) Silent K8 Rig--Moving Beyond Sigma One
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 6:57 pm
Okay, I admit that this is rather long past due. I've revamped my silent rig twice since doing Sigma One, but was too lazy to go through the trouble of shooting pics etc. Since I had a bit of free time finally, I figured that while I was at it for the second overhaul, might as well get some photos in, too. Here it goes...
Moving past the old school tech in my first silent rig, this new one is running with a Venice 3000+ (1.8GHz stock @ 1.4V stock). I left everything on Auto, enabled Cool n' Quiet and let 'er rip. According to the ABIT EQ monitoring software, my chipset so far has not hit or exceeded even 40C since I installed this board over the weekend. The CPU has not hit or exceeded 55C yet, either--the Venice is way cooler than the NewCastle that I replaced with it! Also, thanks to the low power draw of the CPU, the PWM modules (most likely a sensor near the MOSFETs) has never reported a temp. of 40C or higher. Keep in mind that I have not yet run any really intensive load software like CPUBurn; this is just under normal usage patterns.
Sitting here typing, I see 39C CPU, 36C chipset and 36C PWM according to ABIT EQ monitoring software. I am also using DTemp to monitor the temperature of the three hard drives; the highest temp I've seen any of the drives register at was the MHT2080AT at 40C after an hour and a half of defragging; the other two drives have never exceeded 36C, also under at least 30 minutes of defragging. Sitting here typing right now, the Fujitsu is reporting 33C, the Samsung is reporting 34C and the WD is reporting 30C. The room is currently at 22C. Please note that none of the temperature sensors have been specifically calibrated, so these figures are purely FYI.
The system is configured as such:
Antec SLK2650-BQE, all openings sealed except CAG and Silent-OTES I/O shield vent
One Nexus orange 120 in the rear, at 8.0V (~800rpm), no other case fans
SeaSonic Super Tornado 400 w/orange Yate Loon 120 fan swap; avg. speed ~700rpm--the ABIT AN8-SLI works fine with only 20-pin power input; I also plugged in the separate 4-pin P4 connector and a molex line in the optional input. According to ABIT EQ, 5V, 3.3V and 5VSB lines are a rock stable 5.12V, 3.30V and 5.09V, respectively.
ABIT AN8-SLI in Normal mode (not SLI)--completely fanless, with stock heatpipe cooler on the chipset and stock passive heatsinks on the MOSFETs
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Venice core) with a fanless Thermaltake XP-120, stock voltage, stock speed, CnQ enabled
One stick of PQI Power PC3200 (carried over from previous S754 platform; I'll be ordering a second stick to make this a dual-channel, 2GB machine)
XFX PCI-Ex GeForce 6600 256MB card with stock fanless cooling and dual DVI outputs--using Dualview across two LCDs, stock speed, stock voltage
IDE 0/0: Western Digital Scorpio WD800VE, inside a SilentDrive enclosure
IDE 0/1: Samsung MP0804H, inside a SilentDrive enclosure
IDE 1/0: Fujitsu MHT2080AT, inside a SilentDrive enclosure
IDE 1/1: Plextor PX-708A
Echo Audio Mia MIDI
Considering the fact that all the hard drives are in stuck up inside SilentDrive enclosures yet never get past 40C, and only two Nexus fans around 700rpm are used to cool everything in the entire machine to more than satisfactory temperatures, I'll admit that I am not only satisfied with the system's performance, but actually quite amazed that the system runs as cool as it does!
Anyhow, on with the pics (per usual, please click on an image to bring up a large version--narrowband warning on the large versions!):
Outside shot.
Opened up, with lights on.
Opened up, with lights off.
The ABIT AN8-SLI has an array of multiple red LEDs towards the rear, producing a great deal of light if you have a case window or don't close the side panel--luckily, I keep my solid side panel on at all times, as I don't want to see that light.
Closer up, straight on. I took the liberty to clip off the factory grille on the PSU intake when I did the fan swap.
This image shows the Q-OTES cooler in entirety, as it runs to the back of the board via a single pipe.
Same shot, but closer in.
Even closer still, showing only the rearward portion.
And now just the portion that actually attaches to the nForce4-SLI chip.
The video card.
The CPU cooler, as it runs (no fan attached).
Same shot, lights off; you can locate the LEDs easily from this viewpoint.
The hard drives are all enclosed in SilentDrive enclosures, without even breaking a sweat--this is really inaudible.
The Scorpio is split into a small head partition for the OS and a secondary large partition for network file share (this computer is the only one on 24/7, so I made a share on this drive). The Samsung has a small lead partition for the software applications and then a large secondary partition where I housed the internet and e-mail cache, two TEMP/TMP folders and a Photoshop cache as well as A/V mass storage. The Fujitsu is a single large partition for my A/V mass storage needs and is also where my pagefile is located.
Finally, out back.
Looking at the inside of the front intake area, you can see the blue masking tape I used to completely seal the front off. This is perfectly viable due to the low heat output of the HDDs and video card, the airflow design involving the CAG and because of the design of the Q-OTES system
And again, but closer up.
The special I/O shield ABIT includes with the board has a wide, mesh-filtered opening for the copper sink array cooling the nForce4-SLI chip. Since I used tape to seal off all intakes except for the CAG, when I stick my hand out behind the Q-OTES opening, I can actually feel air flowing through into this opening. Air flows in from either the CAG or the Q-OTES vent, and out from either the 120mm exhaust or the PSU. Because overall heat is so low, any air that recycles into the Q-OTES vent from the 120mm exhaust is hardly warm enough to really affect the chipset's temperature critically.
That wraps up this installment of Staff Rigs.
-Ed
PS Btw, this is Sigma Two.
Moving past the old school tech in my first silent rig, this new one is running with a Venice 3000+ (1.8GHz stock @ 1.4V stock). I left everything on Auto, enabled Cool n' Quiet and let 'er rip. According to the ABIT EQ monitoring software, my chipset so far has not hit or exceeded even 40C since I installed this board over the weekend. The CPU has not hit or exceeded 55C yet, either--the Venice is way cooler than the NewCastle that I replaced with it! Also, thanks to the low power draw of the CPU, the PWM modules (most likely a sensor near the MOSFETs) has never reported a temp. of 40C or higher. Keep in mind that I have not yet run any really intensive load software like CPUBurn; this is just under normal usage patterns.
Sitting here typing, I see 39C CPU, 36C chipset and 36C PWM according to ABIT EQ monitoring software. I am also using DTemp to monitor the temperature of the three hard drives; the highest temp I've seen any of the drives register at was the MHT2080AT at 40C after an hour and a half of defragging; the other two drives have never exceeded 36C, also under at least 30 minutes of defragging. Sitting here typing right now, the Fujitsu is reporting 33C, the Samsung is reporting 34C and the WD is reporting 30C. The room is currently at 22C. Please note that none of the temperature sensors have been specifically calibrated, so these figures are purely FYI.
The system is configured as such:
Antec SLK2650-BQE, all openings sealed except CAG and Silent-OTES I/O shield vent
One Nexus orange 120 in the rear, at 8.0V (~800rpm), no other case fans
SeaSonic Super Tornado 400 w/orange Yate Loon 120 fan swap; avg. speed ~700rpm--the ABIT AN8-SLI works fine with only 20-pin power input; I also plugged in the separate 4-pin P4 connector and a molex line in the optional input. According to ABIT EQ, 5V, 3.3V and 5VSB lines are a rock stable 5.12V, 3.30V and 5.09V, respectively.
ABIT AN8-SLI in Normal mode (not SLI)--completely fanless, with stock heatpipe cooler on the chipset and stock passive heatsinks on the MOSFETs
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Venice core) with a fanless Thermaltake XP-120, stock voltage, stock speed, CnQ enabled
One stick of PQI Power PC3200 (carried over from previous S754 platform; I'll be ordering a second stick to make this a dual-channel, 2GB machine)
XFX PCI-Ex GeForce 6600 256MB card with stock fanless cooling and dual DVI outputs--using Dualview across two LCDs, stock speed, stock voltage
IDE 0/0: Western Digital Scorpio WD800VE, inside a SilentDrive enclosure
IDE 0/1: Samsung MP0804H, inside a SilentDrive enclosure
IDE 1/0: Fujitsu MHT2080AT, inside a SilentDrive enclosure
IDE 1/1: Plextor PX-708A
Echo Audio Mia MIDI
Considering the fact that all the hard drives are in stuck up inside SilentDrive enclosures yet never get past 40C, and only two Nexus fans around 700rpm are used to cool everything in the entire machine to more than satisfactory temperatures, I'll admit that I am not only satisfied with the system's performance, but actually quite amazed that the system runs as cool as it does!
Anyhow, on with the pics (per usual, please click on an image to bring up a large version--narrowband warning on the large versions!):
Outside shot.
Opened up, with lights on.
Opened up, with lights off.
The ABIT AN8-SLI has an array of multiple red LEDs towards the rear, producing a great deal of light if you have a case window or don't close the side panel--luckily, I keep my solid side panel on at all times, as I don't want to see that light.
Closer up, straight on. I took the liberty to clip off the factory grille on the PSU intake when I did the fan swap.
This image shows the Q-OTES cooler in entirety, as it runs to the back of the board via a single pipe.
Same shot, but closer in.
Even closer still, showing only the rearward portion.
And now just the portion that actually attaches to the nForce4-SLI chip.
The video card.
The CPU cooler, as it runs (no fan attached).
Same shot, lights off; you can locate the LEDs easily from this viewpoint.
The hard drives are all enclosed in SilentDrive enclosures, without even breaking a sweat--this is really inaudible.
The Scorpio is split into a small head partition for the OS and a secondary large partition for network file share (this computer is the only one on 24/7, so I made a share on this drive). The Samsung has a small lead partition for the software applications and then a large secondary partition where I housed the internet and e-mail cache, two TEMP/TMP folders and a Photoshop cache as well as A/V mass storage. The Fujitsu is a single large partition for my A/V mass storage needs and is also where my pagefile is located.
Finally, out back.
Looking at the inside of the front intake area, you can see the blue masking tape I used to completely seal the front off. This is perfectly viable due to the low heat output of the HDDs and video card, the airflow design involving the CAG and because of the design of the Q-OTES system
And again, but closer up.
The special I/O shield ABIT includes with the board has a wide, mesh-filtered opening for the copper sink array cooling the nForce4-SLI chip. Since I used tape to seal off all intakes except for the CAG, when I stick my hand out behind the Q-OTES opening, I can actually feel air flowing through into this opening. Air flows in from either the CAG or the Q-OTES vent, and out from either the 120mm exhaust or the PSU. Because overall heat is so low, any air that recycles into the Q-OTES vent from the 120mm exhaust is hardly warm enough to really affect the chipset's temperature critically.
That wraps up this installment of Staff Rigs.
-Ed
PS Btw, this is Sigma Two.