Trying to build totally silent system,P182,Q6600,QuietDrive

[terere]

I tried to build a 100% noiseless system with hardware reviewd from this
site (that I love).
As you can see many of the items are reviewd from silentpcreview.com

All Components:
Antec P182
3x Nexus 120mm Real Silent fans
2x 5V converters
CORSAIR 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC6400
INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q6600 2.4GHZ
THERMALRIGHT ULTRA-120
ASUS P5N7A-VM PCI-E SOCKET 775 M-ATX
SCYTHE QUIET DRIVE HDD NOISELESS CASE
BENQ FP241W 24" MVA monitor
SAMSUNG SPINPOINT F1 1TB SATA/300 7200RPM
ElanVital Greenerger SSM 450W (passive PSU)

And I expected a 100% silent system. My old computer was almost totally
silent old system

sound profile
When I close all lights, and electric devices in my room that make sounds
I still have a refrigirator that sounds so its not totally silent. I do
however have wery good hearing and there are no traffic sounds in my
neighbourhood.

When I start the computer the fan starts and I can hear a little buzz as
the fans startup, but after that sitting at the desktop, with the computer
at my feet I can just hear a wery faint 'wind' sound. The sound level is
extremley low but It does not pass my test.
My test is to have so little sound that I dont know when the computer is
on or off.

But it is practically silent since my desktop lamp, and refrigirator sounds
more.

I have my 2 chassis fans at 5V and the CPU fan is variable from 60%-100%
depending on the CPU-load.
At the silentpcreview tests the nexus fan got <19db at 680rpm which is at 7V
unfortunetley my 5V adapter I bough just gets the chassis fans to
807 and 774 rpm. While speedfan gets it down to 694(any lower and it says 0rpm)

The sound I hear when I get down to the computer is a whoosing wind sound at the
chassis exhaust places where the fans blow out. Some people had modded and removed
the iron net, but I dont wanna do that to my new case.

Another small sound is the dampened HDD seeks from the spinpoint, I thought
it would be noiseless in the HDD dampening box, but I was wrong, I can hear
seeks a little bit.

Note: When I had the chassis fans at 100% I could hear the difference,
but with the CPU fan going from 100% -> 60% I cannot hear any difference
which tells something about the dampening effect of the P182!

temps
load & idle
54C 37C


I don't understand why I get so high temps, the SPCR got 34C with the same fan at 100% on a hotter Intel Pentium D 950 Presler core. Official TDP of 130W.
--- pictures of hardware and installation ---

All stuff

Difference of a TRUE and stock cooler

cables can be shoved down the HDD mounting rack

The schyte box has thermal plates inside, everything is heavy and feels
to be good quality.

the HDD should be inside the steel encasing

All 5,25" units need to be connected to rails to get them in the case, but
that makes it so I cant put a black plastic cover there and there is small
openings around the schyte hdd-box

cables can be fitted on the back side of the case.

it was a PAIN to mount all the fans after I got the TRUE in, mount the fans
on the cooler first next time. I didnt know/care if the TRUE should be mounted backwards or up, so I wen with up.

[xan_user]

The sound I hear when I get down to the computer is a whoosing wind sound at the
chassis exhaust places where the fans blow out. Some people had modded and removed
the iron net, but I dont wanna do that to my new case.

Another small sound is the dampened HDD seeks from the spinpoint, I thought
it would be noiseless in the HDD dampening box, but I was wrong, I can hear
seeks a little bit. [/URL]

Gotta cut out the grill if you dont want to hear whooshing when that close up. Spcr doesn't test with grills, since its a contributor to increased noise.

Suspend the drive/enclosure to reduce HDD noise.

Baffling the exhaust might help.

Does the PSU have a fan? or is it truly passive?

[xan_user]

edit.
duplicate.

[terere]

The sound I hear when I get down to the computer is a whoosing wind sound at the
chassis exhaust places where the fans blow out. Some people had modded and removed
the iron net, but I dont wanna do that to my new case.

Another small sound is the dampened HDD seeks from the spinpoint, I thought
it would be noiseless in the HDD dampening box, but I was wrong, I can hear
seeks a little bit. [/URL]

Gotta cut out the grill if you dont want to hear whooshing when that close up. Spcr doesn't test with grills, since its a contributor to increased noise.

Suspend the drive/enclosure to reduce HDD noise.

Baffling the exhaust might help.

Does the PSU have a fan? or is it truly passive?

The P182 *amazed* me, it is a wery beautiful piece of engineering, and I will not drill in it!
what does "Baffling" mean? is it a way to reduce exhause noise?
The PSU does have a fan that can be turned on manually or automatically when needed, but thus far it hasnt gone active in years due to increse in temperature so I guess my system is cool enough.

btw, should I turn the TRUE cooler to be blowing backwards? and plug the top duct?

[Monkeh16]

The P182 *amazed* me, it is a wery beautiful piece of engineering, and I will not drill in it!

I've drilled into far more beautiful pieces of engineering than an Antec computer case. Go get a dremel and get rid of those grills.

[that Linux guy]

Terere, I felt the same way about my Antec Sonata Plus (a special edition of the Solo). I didn't want to do anything to disturb this beauty. Unfortunately, you can't silence a computer on just parts alone. That's largely what this community is about. Show us your ingenuity. You can start by cutting the grills. It will help. It won't be a night and day difference, but every little bit helps.

I've heard lots of P18x owners just complain about the top fan. I've heard it can vibrate the whole top panel badly. If this is what's happening, then I would probably lose that fan, and plug the top. If you do this, than definitely rotate the CPU cooler 90 degrees to face the exhaust fan.

Have you tried undervolting your CPU at all? I know quads are hot to begin with, but perhaps you can help it. Start cutting down the voltage bit by bit until it fails stress testing from Prime95 or Orthos. I did it with my E8400 and the stock cooler. It really helped my temps.

Could you describe the Scythe QuietDrive a bit more? I'm interested to hear everything about it. I've been considering one for my 6400AAKS.

[HammerSandwich]

Regarding your noise floor, "There's plenty of room at the bottom."

Do you know how much power the PC pulls? Get a power meter; it's worth it.

Temperatures are plenty low, so figure out how to slow your fans. Don't worry about running at "0 RPM" if the temperatures are okay. The fans usually continue to spin long after the mobo stops reporting their speeds.

Having 3 fans right at the CPU is overkill, and you can remove 1-2 without issue. Uving just 1 exhaust fan ducted to the TRUE should offer a significant noise reduction.

Test 1 item at a time to determine noise levels. For example, with all Nexus fans & HD disconnected, how loud is the PSU? Iterate and make notes.

Too bad you didn't buy a 45nm CPU...

[HammerSandwich]

Could you describe the Scythe QuietDrive a bit more?

Lots of info here about them. If you can't find it, try searching for "SQD".

My take? The SQD works. I'm mostly convinced that the Smart Drive 2002 is fractionally better in noise, significantly better in quality & ease of assembly, but not nearly worth the big price difference. Having said all that, 2009 will be the Year of the SSD unless you need lots of storage.

[that Linux guy]

Could you describe the Scythe QuietDrive a bit more?

Lots of info here about them. If you can't find it, try searching for "SQD".

My take? The SQD works. I'm mostly convinced that the Smart Drive 2002 is fractionally better in noise, significantly better in quality & ease of assembly, but not nearly worth the big price difference. Having said all that, 2009 will be the Year of the SSD unless you need lots of storage.

Thanks Hammer. I know a bit about the QuietDrive. I'm just curious to hear owner's takes on it. Was it worth the $35, even if you have a relatively quiet drive (no pun intended) already?

I can't wait for SSD prices to drop. I'm waiting unti Intel's X25-M, or something comarable is around the $200 mark. My CPU, mainboard and GPU didn't cost as much as the X25-M is currently. I can't bring myself to spend that much money on one part.

[terere]

Thanks for the Input, I will definitly try and get a nice drill on the case sometime to remove the fan grills.

I did as you said and mounted my schyte quietdrive on some soft foam. Now the HDD is inadible, I can hear wery small seeks when I open the case and put my ear close to it, but when I close the case, and just listen I cannot hear when the HDD is seeking or not.

For more info about the sqd, look at the pics and review.

I was wondering about the temps too, and noticed that my idle temps are kinda high. 37-39C. And the motherboard/AUX are kinda the same, so mabye I dont have good cooling inside the box or just that speedfan sucks

These are the mods I will try to do in the future:
1. remove the fan grills at the back
2. remove every 2nd plastic thingie from the front fan grills to improve airflow
3. use some kind of ducting solution for my CPU/exhaust.

But right now I dont have a GFX in the case, when I get one mabye the heat/sound problem will change aspects so I will have to assess that later..

[WR304]

ElanVital Greenerger SSM 450W (passive PSU)

If you've got an Elanvital Greenerger PSU it must be several years old now?

If you put your ear next to the PSU is there any buzzing from it? When my two Elan Vital Greenerger 450w PSUs (purchased 2005) were new they were quiet but after a few years they had both developed noticeable buzzing noises.

I replaced them with Nesteq PSUs (basically the same PSU with a different name.) which work well.

[terere]

ElanVital Greenerger SSM 450W (passive PSU)

If you've got an Elanvital Greenerger PSU it must be several years old now?

If you put your ear next to the PSU is there any buzzing from it? When my two Elan Vital Greenerger 450w PSUs (purchased 2005) were new they were quiet but after a few years they had both developed noticeable buzzing noises.

I replaced them with Nesteq PSUs (basically the same PSU with a different name.) which work well.

Yes it does buzz, but I havent noticed that before now, its such a silent buzz that I have to lie down and put my ear against it to hear. The table blocks the buzzing out completley.

I can say that my mobilephone adapter plugged in sounds more:


If Im buyng a new PSU or if you are, why not the recommended ones from SPCR?
like the Enermax Modu82+ 625W

[relitz]

If you would buy a new PSU a Modu82+ would be a good one, unfortunately I havn't seen them avalible in Sweden, however the Pro82+ is avalible, which I'm guessing is the same PSU but not modular (am I right?).