Coolermaster 690-II Advanced - Part 2 - Final Build

[gcwebbyuk]

A follow up to my previous system build:

System Spec:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 C2
CPU Cooling: Zalman CNPS10x Flex
RAM: Corsair DDR3 1600MHz 8/8/8/24
Motherboard: Gigabyte 790XTA-UD4 (F3a BIOS)
HDDs: 1 x Intel X-25M 80GB SSD OS, 2 x Seagate 7200.11 Data / Backup
GPU: Gigabyte 4870 1GB DDR5
GPU Cooling: Modified Zalman GV1000
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX
Case: Coolermaster CM690-II Advanced
PSU: Corsair HX620

Working backwards, here is the final build:


The CPU is cooled by a Zalman CNPS10x Flex fitted with a Scythe Kaze Slim 1200rpm and a Scythe S-Flex SFF21E in push/pull configuration:

The case and GPU fans are all controlled by a Scyte Kaze Server, with temp probes in both the CPU and GPU Coolers.

There are four S-Flex SFF21Es mounted in pairs in the floor (intake) and roof (exhaust) of the case. These are all controlled from one channel of the Kaze Server. They run at 600rpm and are inaudible. Once temps start to increase above a set threshold, their speeds will increase to bring the temp back down below that temp.

Roof fans from the outside:


Roof fans from the inside:


Floor fans from underneath - note dust filter is removed in this photo:


Floor fans from inside:


There are two Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850rpm fans mounted in the front (intake) and rear (exhaust). I have cut away the honeycomb style fan protector on the rear of the case to aid exhaust airflow. These fans are configured on their own channel of the Kaze Server, but in a similar configuration to the S-Flexs. They run at 900rpm and are barely audible. They make more a whine when their speed is increased than the S-Flexs, but once the speed is increase, this whine stops.

Rear fan:


Front fan - note only one S-Flex mounted at this point:


The GPU is cooled by a modified Zalman GV1000 cooler. I have removed the Zalman fan and retro-fitted two Scythe Gentle Typhoon 92mm 2650rpm fans, these are set as intake fans and run at 1100rpm and are controlled by the Kaze Server to increase in speed if needed - I don't think I have ever needed for them to increase, and idle temp of the GPU is about 15c!


Luckily this case has a VGA retention bracket to help support the card as it now weighs quite a bit:


I have sound deadened the case as much as possible. Firstly I used the sound deadening material from the Sileo range mounted behind the hard disk bays. I have also blocked off the side vents with foam, and covered the foam from behind with Vibe (car audio) AntiVibe, this was removed from my old case and is quite tatty, so I plan to replace this soon:




I have my operating system (Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit) running from an Intel X-25M 80GB SSD:


I run two Seagate 7200.11 drives in Scythe QuietDrive Enclosures. These work as a data drive and a backup drive. For backup I use Acronis TrueImage Home 2010 with Continuous Data Protection running and a scheduled backup of the system disk every Sunday.


At one point, I did decide to braid the SATA and various other cables in the case white, but while this did look quite interesting with the side off, it wasn't needed, so it has all been removed.

I have overclocked the CPU previously to 3.7GHz (95% stable) which still ran silent, but I have set it back to default as I really don't need the extra oomph with a risk of a crash, 3.4GHz is plenty fast enough for me.

I also overclocked the GPU, but also did not notice that much of a change in the apps and games that I run, so will be keeping that at stock.

I will post up some OCCT temp charts at some point over this weekend, along with some HDTune charts to show the speed increase of the SSD.

Well thats about it for now! I don't plan any more changes to the system. I had considered watercooling, either an H50 or a full custom loop, but I have great temperatures and extremely low noise levels with air, so will be sticking with it. At some point I may cut away the honeycomb fan protectors in the floor of the case to aid airflow, but I don't think this is necessary and will only be if I get bored at some point.

My only possible future upgrades might be a 6 core Phenom when they are available and a good price! But I really don't need it, it would purely be to see how good one is!

[bonestonne]

I count 3-4 fans too many.

If you turn off the bottom fans and top fans, what does the noise profile turn into?

What happens if you then turn off your front intake fan?

I just don't see the point of pushing all that air around because you have fans in close proximity to what need it.

[gcwebbyuk]

I have run it with 2 fans - and it worked ok.

The extra 4 fans add no more noise, but have decreased temperatures.

The Phenom 965 C2 is a 140TDW chip, so can generate a lot of heat.

The whole system even when running my usual daily software - Outlook, Word, Expression etc is barely audible.

[BlackWhizz]

I see you've got the Scythe Kaze fan controller. I've got a question about it:

Does it remember the fan speeds?

Also its quite weird for me to see that a build with that ammount of fans is quiet. On how much RPM do you run your fans?

[gcwebbyuk]

Kaze Server can be set in three modes:

Manual: full manual control of fans from their lowest speed to highest
Semi: set minimum speed of fans and then a temp threshold, when the temp goes over that threshold, the fan speeds increase to bring the temp back down below threshold.
Auto: as Semi, although fans are off until threshold temp is reached.

I run the Gentle Typhoons at 990rpm and the Sflex at 660rpm all in Semi mode, with quite high thresholds, so they only increase if the temps get very hot.

[BlackWhizz]

Thanks, thats sounds quite silent.

When you do a reboot, turn of the pc and turn it on later. Does the controller remember the fan speeds yuo've used the last time?

[gcwebbyuk]

Yes it does - it has a reset button on it too to clear any settings you have stored.

Not sure if this memory would work if you removed the power for long periods of time, but certainly a week has passed before with it off and no loss of settings.

[bozar]

You'd probably not notice much increased heat with just exhaust fan, there are lots of people cooling the X4 9900, which is a lot hotter despite the same TDP, with just cpu fan and one exhaust fan.

The most benefit the cooling setup provides is probably the graphics card but the VRM gets nastily hot due to the design of the cooler. VRM's are the quiet gamers worst enemies.

[gcwebbyuk]

I decided to go back to overclocking the CPU to 3.6GHz and GPU to 780 / 1090 MHz

OCCT PSU tests - 2 hours:
GPU -

CPU -

[gcwebbyuk]

All fans on 100%! = not silent!!! but cool
GPU -

CPU -

[BlackWhizz]

Indeed nice temps!

[gcwebbyuk]

New upgrade! Asus Essence STX sound card to replace the Xonar DX:

Out with the old:




In with the new:




Only trouble is that I was unable to fit the card in the same place as before - above the graphics card, as the screw mounts for the Zalman cooler stick out too much and interfere with the metal boxing on the sound card.

I was then unable to mount it in the PCI-E slots below the graphics card as my Scythe fans were in the way... So I have had to go back to the original Zalman fan, and remove the VGA retention bracket:


Very happy with the STX, especially the headphone amp side of things which is driving my Grado SR80i phones nicely

Not happy with the added noise of the Zalman fan when I don't have the headphones on though, so looking for either a replacement cooler (Scythe Mushai probably) or a replacement card. If I go for the card route, I need a card that is better than the 4870, but has a stock cooler that is nice and quiet.

[JamieG]

Not happy with the added noise of the Zalman fan when I don't have the headphones on though, so looking for either a replacement cooler (Scythe Mushai probably) or a replacement card.

What voltage are you running the GV1000's fan on? I had a GV1000 mounted on my old 8800GTX, and the fan started at lower than 5V. I had it connected to a budget 5V to 12V fan controller with an additional inline resistor that normally dropped fan speed from 12V to 10V. I figure it was running at somewhere around 3.5V on idle. The noise difference was noticeable.

My suggestion before abandoning the GV1000 would first be to find something similar that still passes rpm information back to the Kaze Server but reduces the voltage a little further. I suppose you could even use a Zalman Fanmate 2 as a variable inline resistor.

First see how low you can go using only the Kaze Server in manual mode to turn the GV1000 fan down to minimum speed before the Kaze Server turns it off. Then install your voltage limiting method of choice between the Kaze Server and the GV1000. You should be able to dial the GV1000 fan's rpm down a little lower than previously allowed.

Just be aware that the Kaze Server makes a godawful noise if you stall any of the fans (unless you've set the jumper to disable the fan fail warning).

Feel free to send me a PM if you want more info!

[gcwebbyuk]

Jamie - thanks for the reply - but great minds think alike!

1. I have the jumper removed, when I first set the Kaze up, it was about 1am and my wife was in bed (PC is in bedroom ), I was messing with fan speeds - a fan stopped, she woke up, went back to sleep, another fan stopped - she shouted, a third fan stopped - I removed the jumper!

2. I ran the GV1000 as low as it would go on the Kaze - 1600rpm, I then added the FanMate2 and got it down to 1250rpm, which is noticeably quieter, but still thinking about a different card - just not sure if something like a Powercolor 5850 will be as quiet?

[gcwebbyuk]

Decided to dabble with Watercooling, and go for a Zalman Reserator 1 V2:







Slight change to those pics, I swapped the S-Flex fans for the GT 1850s and have set the front 1850 to run at 450rpm and the rear at 850 using SpeedFan (removed the Kaze Server for the time being) to keep the NB and VGA RAM and FETs cool - set SpeedFan so if the NB goes over 65 the fans increase.

Working within temp specs for the CPU / GPU but may add a 120/240 rad to add a little extra cooling...