My first quiet build!

Show off your quiet rig.

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Overconfidence
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My first quiet build!

Post by Overconfidence » Thu Aug 28, 2008 6:30 pm

Well, I wouldn't go as far as to call this a particularly powerful computer, nor is it that quiet, but it uses a few silent PC tricks so I figured I may as well post a few pics of my new setup.

Specs:

NSK3480 w/ stock 380W Earthwatts
E8400 @ 3ghz (no overclock... yet) w/ HR-01+
4GB OCZ PC-6400
Geforce 7600GT (nabbed from my old rig, don't plan to do much gaming, just a lot of photo editing) w/ Accelero S1
150GB WD1500HLFS Velociraptor w/ elastic rope suspension
120mm Yate Loon as rear exhaust (12V, ~1300RPM, taken from my last compy)

I had to pull the velociraptor out of the new hot-swappable-friendly casing, which was a bit tricky but not impossible. I was able to save the tamper-seal as well in case it craps out on me and I need to send it back. It's noticeable quieter out of the Icepack, I couldn't believe how quiet the seeking is (no AAM, but I'm used to a loud compy). Right now the Yate Loon is a bit noisy, I'd say louder than the power supply, although I haven't heard it with the side panel on yet. But either way the system is quiet enough that if the fridge is running a couple rooms down I can't hear it anymore haha.

Let me know if you guys think I need more airflow... I've had it running and everything seems fine, the video card gets a bit hot but then they always do (and the accelero gets warm so I didn't mount it wrong). I figure I could have bought a Nexus fan and a seasonic 120mm PSU but that's an extra $100 I can spend down the road if this quiet comp actually starts to bug me (unlikely!).

Now, onto pics. Sorry for the terrible quality, these are taken on my dad's ancient 2 megapixel powershot since my DSLR is in the shop. The main rig:

Image

Image

HDD suspension:

Image

Image

Image

m0002a
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Post by m0002a » Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:02 pm

What do you think of the 380W Earthwatts PSU. Is it fairly quiet?

Overconfidence
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Post by Overconfidence » Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:33 pm

m0002a wrote:What do you think of the 380W Earthwatts PSU. Is it fairly quiet?
Quieter than my old 485W Enermax haha. I would say, subjectively, that it's about as loud as the hard drive idling and the 120mm fan is louder. Really, it's an 80mm fan running at pretty low speeds at the back of the case, and I haven't put a great deal of load on the comp.

It's "fairly quiet" in that I wouldn't spend $80 right now to get a quieter model, but I don't have a lot to compare it with. Maybe if I undervolted the case fan it would become a factor, but the quality of the noise is pretty unobtrusive.

gogos7
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Re: My first quiet build!

Post by gogos7 » Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:47 am

Overconfidence wrote:
150GB WD1500HLFS Velociraptor w/ elastic rope suspension
Hi,

What's that plastic legs? :shock: How it called? Where did you get them? It goes with the "elastic rope"?

Emyr
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Post by Emyr » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:02 am

Turn your heatsink 90 degrees so that more of its hot air gets pulled out by the rear case fan. That way, the PSU fan should run quieter since it'll be getting cooler air.

frenchie
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Post by frenchie » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:13 am

Hi,
Same question about the legs... they look like you tweaked them (zip ties)... did they come with the right size screws or did you put now ones in ? What are they used for originally ?
Thanks for sharing your mod, it's quite interesting !!!!

that Linux guy
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Post by that Linux guy » Fri Aug 29, 2008 6:15 am

I definitely agree about turning the heatsink. With an E8400, what kind of temps are you getting? I'm still using the stock Intel heatsink with mine, and it takes exactly 60 seconds to reach 62C with Orthos. Plus it's doing this annoying rev up, then quiet down, then rev up again.... It's changing RPMs every 1 to 3 seconds..... annoying.

How about your chipset and GPU temps? With no intake fans, what are your temps like?

And another HR-01+ question... how do you like the including mounting? I know it's better than Intel's push-pins, but do the Thermalright mounts feel secure? Would you feel comfortable adding a fan to the weight of it? Just curious.

I really like your rig. It's very simple, and I can tell you put some research into your build.

Overconfidence
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Post by Overconfidence » Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:49 pm

Emyr wrote:Turn your heatsink 90 degrees so that more of its hot air gets pulled out by the rear case fan. That way, the PSU fan should run quieter since it'll be getting cooler air.
When I mounted it, I thought it could only go one way since it looked like there was a row of capacitors that would block one of the mounting brackets.

You can see in this pic how if it were mounted the other way (LGA775 is square, right?), some of the components might get in the way:

Image

But now that I look at it, it would probably clear it anyway, as you can see in this picture I stole from the internet:

Image

Anyway, would switching up its orientation give me that big of a thermal advantage? Note that the power supply in the NSK3480 is a single 80mm straight-through design. There are vents at the top of the to pull air in, and the top/power supply/optical/HDD section of the case is thermally isolated from the bottom. If I have it running for a while at idle I can't feel any heat coming out, but I haven't really stressed it yet.

I figured that with the low airflow it would allow for more heat to escape from the heatsink up and then be whisked away by the fan, rather than have all the hot air trapped inside the heatsink... but that was just my rationale. Definite advantage? 'Cause if so, I'll change it.
that Linux guy wrote:I definitely agree about turning the heatsink. With an E8400, what kind of temps are you getting? I'm still using the stock Intel heatsink with mine, and it takes exactly 60 seconds to reach 62C with Orthos. Plus it's doing this annoying rev up, then quiet down, then rev up again.... It's changing RPMs every 1 to 3 seconds..... annoying.

How about your chipset and GPU temps? With no intake fans, what are your temps like?

And another HR-01+ question... how do you like the including mounting? I know it's better than Intel's push-pins, but do the Thermalright mounts feel secure? Would you feel comfortable adding a fan to the weight of it? Just curious.
I have not stressed it yet so I don't know any of these temperature things. I've looked up the e8400 temperature thing and apparently it's really tricky to tell the actual temperature as the sensors are in weird places and not very much software can track it correctly. Maybe I'll do that this afternoon!

The mounting is very easy once you get the backplate on... with most heatsinks I wouldn't dare trying to mount it while its in the case but with this, once the backplate is secure, it shouldn't be a big deal putting the rest on. It's pretty light, but you can move it around some when its mounted... its tight to the CPU, though.

I will install ATI tool/prime 95 and some monitoring software and let you know.
gogos7 wrote:
Overconfidence wrote:
150GB WD1500HLFS Velociraptor w/ elastic rope suspension
Hi,

What's that plastic legs? :shock: How it called? Where did you get them? It goes with the "elastic rope"?
Hahaha. My dad came up with the idea. He found these plastic things lying around. This is what they are (my crappy mspaint rendition):

Image

So the mounting screw that attaches the icepack to the 'raptor goes through the middle, from the bottom, and attaches to the drive. We had to put some plastic spacers between these things and the drive because the screws bottomed out without 'em.

Then we lockstrapped the little tabs of the "feet" onto some elastic cord that you can see just doubles around and is tied up.

The reason for this is 'cause I plan to transport the computer around a fair bit, and I can just sandwich it between some foam up there and I don't have to worry about it sliding out of the suspension mechanism.

I'm really bad at explanations so if you don't get it, I can try again hahaha.

edit: yeah, the screws that attached the icepak to the hard drive just happened to fit these plastic things (the hole is a bit big for the threads but the head of the screw doesn't fit through so it's all good). I'll ask my dad what they are exactly and maybe I can let you guys know.

Overconfidence
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Post by Overconfidence » Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:17 pm

Alright, I don't know how much I can trust the sensors on the board/CPU, but here are the results after 20 minutes of ATItool + prime 95. I put the side and top panels on, too. I turned down the system fan to 50% in Speedfan so it's running at 800RPM now.

Idle:

CPU0: 43C
CPU1: 37C
GPU: 45C

After 20 mins:

CPU0: 55C
CPU1: 51C
CPU*: 45C (this is the IHS or whatever?)
System: 45C
GPU: 60C
HDD: 35C
I'll let it run for a bit longer and see if I need to turn up the fan haha.

HammerSandwich
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Post by HammerSandwich » Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:14 pm

A nice build. Note that its temps are a bit higher than my somewhat similar, ducted system's. Do you have a Kill-a-watt? Also, try CoreTemp in "delta" mode if you don't trust the mobo reporting.

The Earthwatts is a surprisingly quiet PSU when you consider the 80mm fan & price. It is good enough to impress the teeming millions, and you'll need to mod any PSU (I've ever heard) for weirdo, SPCR-approved levels.

For the HD mounts, see the bottom of page 1471 at McMaster. Looks like P to me.

I saw the "not overclocked - yet" line. Don't be afraid to turn up your E8400. The wattage & temps will increase only slightly unless you overvolt the chip.

Overconfidence
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Post by Overconfidence » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:15 pm

HammerSandwich wrote:A nice build. Note that its temps are a bit higher than my somewhat similar, ducted system's. Do you have a Kill-a-watt? Also, try CoreTemp in "delta" mode if you don't trust the mobo reporting.

The Earthwatts is a surprisingly quiet PSU when you consider the 80mm fan & price. It is good enough to impress the teeming millions, and you'll need to mod any PSU (I've ever heard) for weirdo, SPCR-approved levels.

For the HD mounts, see the bottom of page 1471 at McMaster. Looks like P to me.

I saw the "not overclocked - yet" line. Don't be afraid to turn up your E8400. The wattage & temps will increase only slightly unless you overvolt the chip.
Alright, it's settled at 58C/54C for the cores after a couple hours, and 49C for the "CPU". Is that acceptable? The GPU settled at 63C. The 120mm fan, again, is at 800RPM. System temp was also around 48C, with hard drive staying at 35C.

Will I see any big advantage to switching up the heatsink's orientation, given that the PSU is not sucking in air from the main compartment?

I don't have anything to test the power draw, and I'll try the "delta" mode.

Those little plastic things are also I believe the same used for this setup.

lowpowercomputing
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Post by lowpowercomputing » Sat Aug 30, 2008 2:56 pm

Sorry if you mentioned it, but I couldn't spot what mainboard you're using, can you enlighten me?

The VelociRaptor's suspension is very nice. :)

Overconfidence
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Post by Overconfidence » Sat Aug 30, 2008 4:05 pm

lowpowercomputing wrote:Sorry if you mentioned it, but I couldn't spot what mainboard you're using, can you enlighten me?

The VelociRaptor's suspension is very nice. :)
Asus P5Q-EM with the new G45 chipset

that Linux guy
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Post by that Linux guy » Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:20 pm

WOW, even running passive, the HR-01+ does noticeably better than the stock Intel HSF. Very nice. And I think your heatsink would benefit the better air flow by rotating it 90 degrees.

You're running a 7300GT and getting those temps? I've heard of others getting the same temps for the HD4xxx series cards (which are known to be very hot).

I really like the build overall. Very nice. A+.

Overconfidence
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Post by Overconfidence » Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:33 pm

that Linux guy wrote:WOW, even running passive, the HR-01+ does noticeably better than the stock Intel HSF. Very nice. And I think your heatsink would benefit the better air flow by rotating it 90 degrees.

You're running a 7300GT and getting those temps? I've heard of others getting the same temps for the HD4xxx series cards (which are known to be very hot).

I really like the build overall. Very nice. A+.
I might switch the heatsink up eventually, but I had to pack up the comp last night since I'm moving away to university and it's gotta fly on a plane.

I sort of want to think that it's better this way since it's mostly passive with one slow-speed fan (so there's more upwards heat dissipation), but it would probably be the best with the cooler rotated and the fan ducting to the CPU heatsink (but then what happens to the video card heat? oh noes!).

7600GT. It's a bit old but plays counterstrike source smooth and that's about as intense gaming as I get. It ran around that hot on the stock cooler in a case with 2 yate loons @ 12v and a watercooled CPU, FWIW.

lowpowercomputing
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Post by lowpowercomputing » Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:29 am

Overconfidence wrote:
lowpowercomputing wrote:Sorry if you mentioned it, but I couldn't spot what mainboard you're using, can you enlighten me?

The VelociRaptor's suspension is very nice. :)
Asus P5Q-EM with the new G45 chipset
That's great, exactly the board I'm considering currently for a new build. (After reading the thread about the Intel DG45FC I'm not sure whether to buy this one.)

that Linux guy
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Post by that Linux guy » Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:01 am

Overconfidence wrote:
that Linux guy wrote:WOW, even running passive, the HR-01+ does noticeably better than the stock Intel HSF. Very nice. And I think your heatsink would benefit the better air flow by rotating it 90 degrees.

You're running a 7300GT and getting those temps? I've heard of others getting the same temps for the HD4xxx series cards (which are known to be very hot).

I really like the build overall. Very nice. A+.
I might switch the heatsink up eventually, but I had to pack up the comp last night since I'm moving away to university and it's gotta fly on a plane.

I sort of want to think that it's better this way since it's mostly passive with one slow-speed fan (so there's more upwards heat dissipation), but it would probably be the best with the cooler rotated and the fan ducting to the CPU heatsink (but then what happens to the video card heat? oh noes!).

7600GT. It's a bit old but plays counterstrike source smooth and that's about as intense gaming as I get. It ran around that hot on the stock cooler in a case with 2 yate loons @ 12v and a watercooled CPU, FWIW.
I hope you took off the heatsink before you packed it up. Airport baggage workers aren't known for being careful. It seriously could damage your mainboard, CPU, or video card... not to mention the HR-01+!!!

Upward heat dissipation isn't really a factor in computers. Were the case bigger (IE, as big as your bedroom), then it would become important. In the relatively small space of a PC case, then whatever direction the fan(s) are flowing is which way you should try to orient your heatsinks. Plus, it's one of the things we Intel boys can brag about to AMD guys. All their heatsinks have to be set, blowing up towards the PSU :)

My bad. I thought you had a 7300GT. The 7xxx cards are still decent performers for a lot of games. I'm still running my 7900GS. It was great when all my games were standard aspect ratio, 1280x1024... I could run 'em all maxed out. Now, trying to play GRiD, Assassin's Creed, CoD4, Crysis... my card is asking for a gun! I seriously get 10fps at the same res. And it all looks like crap on my 22" widescreen.

OT, I've tried playing CS. Spawn, walk around, get shot.... respawn, walk around looking for someone, get shot.... respawn, get shot by a spawn-camper.... Alt+F4.

lowpowercomputing
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Post by lowpowercomputing » Sun Aug 31, 2008 7:49 am

Overconfidence, another question if you don't mind. Did you play with the RAM settings in the BIOS? If so, have you had any problems arising from that? I ask because Intel's new G45 boards don't like this at all and was wondering if the Asus does better.

Overconfidence
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Post by Overconfidence » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:31 am

that Linux guy wrote: I hope you took off the heatsink before you packed it up. Airport baggage workers aren't known for being careful. It seriously could damage your mainboard, CPU, or video card... not to mention the HR-01+!!!

...

OT, I've tried playing CS. Spawn, walk around, get shot.... respawn, walk around looking for someone, get shot.... respawn, get shot by a spawn-camper.... Alt+F4.
I left all the heatsinks on but I packed it up pretty good with foam. Everything arrived safely!

As for CS, that doesn't sound like it at all... everyone spawns in at the same time :D !

Also, I haven't messed around with the RAM at all via the mainboard, but it's running at stock (which is slightly overclocked?) speeds fine.

that Linux guy
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Post by that Linux guy » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:51 am

I must've been remembering a different game. Glad to hear everything made it ok! :)

What did you use to get your temps for your E8400? I've been reading into this, and a lot of people are having problems getting good temp readings on Wolfdale chips (E7xxx and E8xxx series Core2Duos)

Overconfidence
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Post by Overconfidence » Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:30 pm

that Linux guy wrote: What did you use to get your temps for your E8400? I've been reading into this, and a lot of people are having problems getting good temp readings on Wolfdale chips (E7xxx and E8xxx series Core2Duos)
I know... I used coretemp and speedfan and they both gave the same results (~49 for the "CPU" and ~54/58 for each of the cores). Most of the problems with reading temps seem to be with a constant/stuck temperature, so at least it's registering an increase in temp (about 15C apparently).

gomunkul
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Post by gomunkul » Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:43 am

Looks GREAT ! :P

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Post by ntavlas » Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:44 am

Very clean and tidy build :)

While your max temperatures are perfectly safe I also think that you would benefit from turning the heatsink 90 degrees.

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