P182 hum

David Cole · Post by **David Cole** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 6:30 am

I have just finished a P182 build with:

Q9550 - Thermalright Extreme, Scythe 120mm fan
Asus P5K Premium - Nexus (orange) 120mm fan suspended on Zalman bracket with Zalman fan speed controller
3Gb corsair ram
Asus EN8600GT (passively cooled) vga card
Asus D2 sound card
Enermax Modu82+ 625w psu
x2 WD Velociraptor hdds suspended in NoVibes III cradles

Temps: CPU 41C and MB: 40C.

The system is quietish but the the tricool fans are pretty loud on Low setting (strong, coarse whoosh sound, not much hum).

There is also a hum which I can't place. Sounds like an earth hum or a sympathetic hdd hum (which it can't be as the hdds are suspended).

I'd be grateful for advice on any tweaks I can do to the set up. Doing without fans? Changing fans? Could the psu be contributing? The system is noisier overall than I was expecting and certaibnly noisier than my previous Q6600 system.

Thanks

David

victorhortalives · Post by **victorhortalives** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:08 am

David Cole wrote:I have just finished a P182 build with:

Q9550 - Thermalright Extreme, Scythe 120mm fan
Asus P5K Premium - Nexus (orange) 120mm fan suspended on Zalman bracket with Zalman fan speed controller
3Gb corsair ram
Asus EN8600GT (passively cooled) vga card
Asus D2 sound card
Enermax Modu82+ 625w psu
x2 WD Velociraptor hdds suspended in NoVibes III cradles

Temps: CPU 41C and MB: 40C.

The system is quietish but the the tricool fans are pretty loud on Low setting (strong, coarse whoosh sound, not much hum).

There is also a hum which I can't place. Sounds like an earth hum or a sympathetic hdd hum (which it can't be as the hdds are suspended).

I'd be grateful for advice on any tweaks I can do to the set up. Doing without fans? Changing fans? Could the psu be contributing? The system is noisier overall than I was expecting and certaibnly noisier than my previous Q6600 system.

Thanks

David

Almost all the P182 builds I've seen referenced on this Forum have removed the tricools as Step #1 to building a quiet rig.

I've built 2x P182s and 1x NSK3480. All now very very quiet, but with Scythe and Sharkoon fans running at 700 or so RPM. Sell the Tricools to someone else !!!

Are you undervolting the Nexus fans ? Might be worth a try down to 800 RPM or so.

If you can, stop all fans and disconnect one of the VRaptors and see if the hum goes away. Then add one item at a time (second VRaptor first) until the noise comes back.

You might also invest in some 2.5in Scythe boxes for the VRaptors if they are the source.

Luck

thunderpeteii · Post by **thunderpeteii** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:04 pm

did you try turning off your monitor and see if your the hum still occured.

That's what I had to do, at certain brightness levels my monitor has a hum. Not sure if this is the correct hum tho.

David Cole · Post by **David Cole** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:38 pm

Thanks very much for these replies. I'll make further investigations. The pc seems to start very quiet but develop a hum after a few minutes. Maybe this suggests the psu is the problem.

How do you remove the tricools?

David

victorhortalives · Post by **victorhortalives** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 11:49 pm

David Cole wrote:Thanks very much for these replies. I'll make further investigations. The pc seems to start very quiet but develop a hum after a few minutes. Maybe this suggests the psu is the problem.

How do you remove the tricools?

David

They unscrew from their mounts. Top one is easiest. Two black screws plus two slide in slots. Middle one is four screws. Bottom one is a bugger as the fan is screwed into a removable mount, but the mount is difficult to get out. If you want to put drives in the bottom section, then you will need to get a fan grill to avoid wires interfering with any replacement fan.

Try first disconnecting them all and listen.

I have a Corsair 520 modular PSU - so no problems with noise.

David Cole · Post by **David Cole** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 1:34 am

Thanks.

zistu · Post by **zistu** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:34 pm

One easy way to track down hum and other noises I sometimes use is a small Maglite flashlight. Put the flashlight against various parts of the case, and then against your ear. Anything solid should work, and though you may look like a fool doing it, it does work most of the time

David Cole · Post by **David Cole** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:40 am

zistu wrote:One easy way to track down hum and other noises I sometimes use is a small Maglite flashlight. Put the flashlight against various parts of the case, and then against your ear. Anything solid should work, and though you may look like a fool doing it, it does work most of the time

Thanks. Will try this. Quite used to looking like a fool.
I may also try a stethoscope.

David

P182 hum

P182 hum

Re: P182 hum