Antec Super Lanboy - hehehe suspension update

Mr_Spork · Post by **Mr_Spork** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:43 pm

This system was built mainly for light gaming, but then every thing started to become loud so luckily this site came to save me.

Case: Antec Super Lanboy
CPU: AMD64 3000+ Venice (Zalman 7000A AlCu)
Motherboard: DFI LanParty NF3 Ultra-D
RAM: 2x512MB OCZ PC3200 EL Platinum Rev 2
GFX: ATI Radeon 9600XT Extreme
PSU: Seasonic S12 430W
HDD: Hitachi 160GB, 2x Seagate 80GB RAID0
DVD: NEC 3520A

Update: here's some new additions.

the result:

One problem that I encountered was that the northbridge heatsink was just a bit tall, and I had to mount it off center so that the graphics cooler was just barely touching:

All the fans (cases, cpu and gfx) are connected to a fan controller which really is rather useful as I can easily turn the fans up for 'gaming' mode or keep it in 'silent' mode where you can just hear the hard drives running. I changed the arctic silencer for a zalman vf700 because it was too big and the northbridge was getting too hot as a result of the impeded airflow.

Anyway this rig isn't as silent as I wanted it to be (it's the 3 hard drives that make it loud) but it's quiet enough so that I can think freely, so i'm happy

Thanks SPCR and for great info!!

Update - HDD Suspension

Lets call this multi-purpose elastic lol

After jamming the drives around I finally got them in and here's the pc before the transformation:

...and after:

theyangster · Post by **theyangster** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:20 pm

not bad, not bad

very clean

Krazy Kommando · Post by **Krazy Kommando** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:55 pm

nice work.

Fat_bloater_dave · Post by **Fat_bloater_dave** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 10:36 pm

nice stuff its all so clean, i realy need to get in there and cleen up those cables.

dddibley · Post by **dddibley** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 12:18 am

Nice clean case there Mr_Spork. Great pics on the Zalman's too. I'm considering them for my own silent/cool upgrade. Figure if you can get the sound below that of your HDDs.. that's pretty darn good.

Mind if I ask which fan controller you're using.. the FanMates? Was wondering if they'd be OK hooked up to a home made one (rheostats). A controller with temp monitoring and PWM might be an idea too.

ddd

Mr_Spork · Post by **Mr_Spork** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:39 am

Thanks for the support!

To dddibley, I'm using quite an old fan controller which is the Vantec Nexus NXP-201.

(Fan 1 - CPU, Fan 2 - GFX, Fan 3 - Front, Fan 4 - Rear)

I have noticed that when I connect any fan to Zalman's FanMate, it doesn't spin as fast as when connected to the fan controller (when both the rheostats are at full blast). Anyway the LEDs on this fan controller are too bright, you can make your whole room turn blue with it.

I've noticed that it is harder to route the wires with the Seasonic PSU because the connectors are placed in wierd places. That's why I prefer the Antec TrueBlue PSU (first 3 pics) but the sound it was making was not worth it.

nici · Post by **nici** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 3:29 pm

One word: clean

I´ve never liked the looks of that case, but it looks much better in your pics than the"official" pictures.. Very nice job with the IDE cables

dddibley · Post by **dddibley** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 4:06 pm

Mr_Spork wrote:I'm using quite an old fan controller which is the Vantec Nexus NXP-201.

LOL.. we must be on the same wavelength. I was looking at those.. only the 3½ version. Nice practical unit. The 5½ might be the way to go considering the Sonata also has a door. I'll need to poke a couple of holes in the case so I can see the internal blue LED fan too

Thanks for the info and pics. You should be a photographer !!

ddd

rootdown · Post by **rootdown** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:46 pm

Nice job. I didn't even see the IDE cables until nici commented on them. Your comp is tidy and clean, nothing to impede airflow. Great work.

ThaArtist · Post by **ThaArtist** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:57 am

Yeah clean is right... I'm wondering how you did that? Where are all your cables??!?!?!?!?!

lol

I see your IDE cable slips in out of no where and your PSU cables are going who knows where?

How is that working?

Anorexicpeanut · Post by **Anorexicpeanut** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:10 am

12345

Mr_Spork · Post by **Mr_Spork** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:09 pm

Anorexicpeanut wrote: So are you going to attempt at trying to quieten those hard drives, and how loud is your seasonic?

To be honest, I don't know where to start at about the hard drives. I could invest in some enclosures but with three of them, it might block the airflow from the front fan. The hard drives are resting on the tooless racks by rubber washers which is better than nothing. Apart from that, I'm out of ideas

I can't really tell how loud the seasonic is because of the three hard drives whizzing away but it is certainly quieter than the antec trueblue 480W I had upgraded from. So at the moment i'm not worrying about the seasonic

ThaArtist wrote: I see your IDE cable slips in out of no where and your PSU cables are going who knows where?

The IDE cable was just barely long enough to run behind the motherboard and up to the dvd drive which was a relief. But the floppy cable was far too short to fold, so I had to wrap it around the atx cable instead and spoilt the cleanliness a bit.

I'm currently debating whether I should ditch the floppy drive or not, but I need it for the bios updates and to run memtest86 when overcocking.

As for the PSU cable, it took quite a bit of effort to shove it in all the slits and the worst thing is was that it is stiff as hell. The good thing is that once the atx cable was routed, it stayed in the same place and didn't fall out.

Thanks for all your comments!!

Heres a pic from back when I had 2 cd drives

This is a pic of my old P4 system lol

timmytimmytimmy · Post by **timmytimmytimmy** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:40 pm

Very nice work! I love the cable management. One suggestion, you might want to get rid of the front 120mm fan grill (under the plastic hood) - it probably only makes more turbulence (and hence, more noise)

With regard to the HDDs, you could try suspending them using elastic. I've successfully suspended 2 HDDs in my SuperLanboy - see sig.

Mr Evil · Post by **Mr Evil** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:48 pm

Your system is so freakishly neat that it's making everyone else's look bad. I demand that you run some haphazard cables around to stop embarrassing us!:lol:

Mr_Spork wrote:...I'm currently debating whether I should ditch the floppy drive or not, but I need it for the bios updates and to run memtest86 when overcocking.

Ditch it. Maybe burn it too. BIOS updates can be done from bootable CDs, or a hard drive, or from Windows. I keep a bootable CD with memtest86 on it. In fact bootable CDs can do most things that you would use a floppy for. I haven't had a FDD for many years now and I've never needed one.

Mr_Spork · Post by **Mr_Spork** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 12:49 pm

Update - HDD Suspension

I was looking for some elastic cord that was long enough and I came across this - lets call this multi-purpose elastic lol

I then took out all the drives and then proceeded to tie the elastic to the hdd cage:

After jamming the drives around I finally got them in and here's the pc before the transformation:

...and after:

With the drives suspended, there's definately a cut down idle in the noise, but the 'whining' noise coming from the Seagates are still noticable when up close.

The quieter hard drives now make the sound of 'air' more audiable, especially the turbulance coming from my old Zalmans that are even on the lowest rheostat. Anyway it was a worthwhile modification and i'm happy

sanse · Post by **sanse** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:31 am

Mr_Spork wrote:Update - HDD Suspension

I was looking for some elastic cord that was long enough and I came across this - lets call this multi-purpose elastic lol

looks very neat. how did you fix both ends of the elastic to each other?

Mr_Spork · Post by **Mr_Spork** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 2:53 pm

sanse wrote: looks very neat. how did you fix both ends of the elastic to each other?

With stitches

Sorry its a bit ghetto lol