P150, Ninja, Fanless XFX 7950GT...

mondo '77 · Post by **mondo '77** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:17 am

Long time lurker first time poster with my new rig I just built:

and further inside:

Yes it is one of the rev 4 cases (September '06) with the fabric elastic suspenders, and the power supply has worked flawlessly.

Motherboard is Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 and it has a coupe of near misses in terms of compatibility with the Ninja (Rev B). It pushes one of the capacitors to one side:

...and has about 1/10 of a mm clearance with the memory heat spreaders:

But neither is a problem and it keeps my X2 4200EE (65W) to within 10 degrees of ambient (the CPU is also undervolted by .05V)

The fanless XFX 7950GT idles around 50 degrees and around 75 under load and I want to under volt it with NIBITOR but will be seeking a bit more advice before mucking around with it.

Overall very happy with the while set up, the Gigabyte smart fan control is great and the whole rig is almost silent at idle and barely audible under load.

Other stuff I have already done since taking those photos is take off the Scythe fan and am using it as the case fan in place of the Antec, and used sticky foam blocks to try to prevent some of the airflow taking short cuts in the case and bypassing the heatsinks.

kater · Post by **kater** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:49 am

nice, clean build, strong system too, fine cablegami

sth to consider - if you feel like making it a wee quieter still

1) duct for the psu - piece of cake to make, reported to help (although i still found my neohe louder than s12 - even with the duct)

2) softmountig the case fan(s)

my p150 was built this summer but had rubber suspension (which i don't need anyway), the psu was from june and also performed w/o problems

how about your nb? i hear lots of folks complaining about hi temps on gigabye nb chips, including my bro

mondo '77 · Post by **mondo '77** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:50 pm

Cheers

, yeah the cablegami was pretty easy with that case.

But yes the chipset heatsink gets toasty, haven't yet found a temperature sensor but it is hot to the touch. I am considering a thermalright HR-05 (or SLI version) but the location of the chipset relative to the graphics card might make the install tricky.

I have seen photos here of ducted PSUs but will skip it for the moment, the fan from the Neo HE isn't the largest source of noise and with the chipset getting so warm any extra air exiting the main area of the case has got to be good.

The next thing on my list to do is cut out the fan grille from the case, when the Scythe case fan is at 100% there is a definite wooshing sound which I believe is from the grille. I will probably soft mount the fan at the same time, but I haven't been aware of any vibration transmitted to the case.

kater · Post by **kater** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:29 pm

true - working with cables with this case AND the psu is surely a pleasure

assuming the golden thingy under your vga and next to the sata ports is the nb radiator either of thermalrights will fit - the real question is "where actuall IS the chip" - the golden thingy is pretty large. i'd personally go for the sli version - seems more manouverable to me (just my 2 c only!)

good thing about thermalright nb coolers is you can position them facing various directions - the mounting system allows you total control. i now have the sli version, before that had the standard hr-05, and it's v easy to orient them. one disadvantage is that once they're in place you need to be careful when fishing inside the case with your hands as they can be easily knocked around

nici · Post by **nici** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:32 pm

The chip is in the middle, between the two white plactic mounting pins.

TheRove · Post by **TheRove** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:26 am

Very nice. I'm surprised the 7950GT stays as cool as it does in that configuration. No heat issues whatsoever?

mondo '77 · Post by **mondo '77** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 3:04 pm

The hottest the graphics card has ever been was 81 degrees, but it was around 26 degrees ambient in the room at the time.

See the following link for a better view of the layout of the chipset heatsink relative to the graphics card slot:

http://www.motherboards.org/imageview.h ... /10294.jpg

Note that my heatsink extends a lot further down than the one picured, the chip itself is about in the middle of the upper half of the heatsink. My best guess is that something like the HR-05 would be very close to, if not actually touching, the power circuits of the graphics card, which may not help the graphics card or the chipset. The SLI version of the HR-05 looks more promising, especially if it can be mounted sideways so it can reach out to the side of the graphics card. I might pull out my measuring stick to see what optioins there are though.

kater · Post by **kater** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 11:58 pm

seems the standard hr-05 will be a v v v close call...

sli version looks more promising. you could place it hmmm downwards - with the big radiator under you vga card. that could probably block some of the sata ports (the bottom three). or not. no, probably not. maybe just one - not a big deal anyway.

or you can just place it at a certain degree - not truly horizontally. that'll be ok as the mounting mechanism allows that - you can actually turn the thing all way round

the further the two heatsinks are (vga and nb) the better of course. try to find maximum distance between them

mondo '77 · Post by **mondo '77** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 11:27 am

Update with soft mounted case fan:

3mm elastic bands securing the fan and a strip of 9mm x 6mm silicon rubber between the fan and case.

And:

The white foam blocks are to block off airflow paths that bypass the heatsinks.