My first PC build-Not quiet enough-WHY!!antec solo case etc

Mad_Matt · Post by **Mad_Matt** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:27 am

I bought a ready- made pc from ebay(can hear the groans already!!) as I could not build it with the seperate parts for the price, and changed the case to try and quieten it(after reading the reviews on the antec solo case)
The original case is a fancy blue led fans everywhere gaming case called a wizard wi20a and although this kept all the internals extremely cool it seemed noisy.I put it down to the huge fan on the side and 2 more fans on front/back so replaced it with the antec solo.
Now although this IS quieter, it isn't by much and I wondered if you good peeps could pointy me in the right direction for where the bulk of the noise is coming from.
The complete setup is this:-

Antec Solo case
NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT Graphics
E6750 2.66GHZ(not overclocked)
WinPower 600W Power supply
ASRock 1333-D667 mobo.

The fans running in the case are all stock items-the graphics the CPU the P/S and the case.
What should I look to change to make this silent(er) running.
I am on a bit of a budget but and info greatly rec'd, also would you recomment a fan controller, can I use one with this mobo.I use my pc for video editing a fair bit so the cpu is at 100% now and then and could turn the fans up when I know I am about to max out the chip(when rendering)

Thanks in advance and sorry for the VERY long drawn out question.

Matt

Big Pimp Daddy · Post by **Big Pimp Daddy** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:17 am

You need to work out which components make the most noise. Make a list of all the noisemakers in the PC, ie; PSU fan, CPU fan, chassis fan(s), graphics fan, chipset fan(s), hard drives(s), then work out which are the loudest/most intrusive by stopping one at a time, or unplugging them before turning the PC on. Generally, smaller fans are the worst as their small size gives them a high-pitched noise, and they tend to spin very fast.
You don't give a lot of details, but I suspect the worst offenders are the hard drive and the power supply, plus maybe the graphics card if it has a small fan on it.
Once you have worked out a list of the noisemakers from loudest to quietest, start eliminating or taming them in order. Replace small fans with larger heatsinks and/or bigger fans, try undervolting the fans you already have before buying new ones (search forums for 5v/7v trick). Get a fan controller if you want, the manual ones are pretty cheap.

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:56 am

WinPower 600W Power supply -- this has to be a major culprit, along with the GPU and CPU coolers. Replace all from the top/mid ranks of the recommended lists.

ntavlas · Post by **ntavlas** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:14 am

You have quite a few candidates: the stock cpu cooler, the stock vga cooler, the psu and finally the stock antec case fans!

You could easily undervolt the case fans. There is a zalman adapter that gives you 2x5 volt fan headers, quite cheap too. Just remeber to put the antec fans on "high" before feeding them with less than 12 volts.

You could also swap the psu fan. I would overide completely the psu fan controller and use a 800rpm fan running off a m/b fan header (12volts).
I would like to warn you though, changing the psu fan will void it`s warranty and you should be careful not to touch any capacitors inside it.

Some people have managed to slow down the vga fan using some software utility, hopefully someone who knows more will be able to walk you through it.

Finally, suspending the hard disk will not make a noticeable difference until you change the stock coolers but it won`t do any harm either and it`s possible to do with couple of shoe lashes.

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:35 pm

Hopefully you can do a lot of the quieting cheaply.

* If it's not, suspend the HD
* Make sure the Antec case fan(s) are on L(ow)
* In the BIOS, try to fiddle with the quiet fan settings
* Try Rivatuner or ATITool to fiddle with fan speeds on the vidcard

Get one of the budget quiet heatsinks--it's nice to have modular cables and sheathing etc, but quiet and functional works too--not like you will ever really see it.

Myth! · Post by **Myth!** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:17 pm

do you mean budget quiet PSU?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:01 am

Greetings Matt & welcome to SPCR!

Stock fans are rarely very quiet -- as has already been said, you should look at the noisiest bits and replace them, and go on from there. Also, does your motherboard have a fan on the northbridge?

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:31 pm

Myth! wrote:do you mean budget quiet PSU?

yeah

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:59 pm

Figure out up front if your motherboard plays nice with Speedfan. You need to know what temps you are dealing with and if you can control the speed of your fans from software. Since it is free the bang for the buck is huge.

If you have any 92mm fans in the Solo you should hardwire them for 5 volts. If they are still noisy at 5v you can get slower 92mm fans by Scythe or Yate Loon cheap enough. The front fans on a Solo shouldn't be used at high rpms. You only need a bare minimum of intake airflow just so your hard drive(s) is/are cool (not cold, just cool enough they don't fry). I'd set your target temp for a hard drive at 35c some people prefer quieter setups and put up with higher temps. If you keep the ambient air conditioned just about any 92mm fan at 5v is going to keep your hard drive safe.

Tricool fans on Low in the rear aren't that bad. If you are using any tricools set them at low and forget about them until you've conquered your top 3 remaining noise sources. Even on Low a tricool will move enough air for your rendering.

As for the money issues I'd start with the PSU and get a Corsair VX450W or HX520W depending on your opinion of modular cables. If you really need to cheap out you could consider the Antec Earthwatts series but they aren't nearly as nice.

If dealing with a heat sink on a chip that has no heat spreader doesn't scare you then Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 or S2 might be worth looking into. I don't have any idea of the top of my head if they fit your card but assuming they do and you don't break your video card in the process or putting one on they would be huge bang for the buck vs active cooling. I just have a hard time thinking about doing it myself because it reminds me of the days when Athlons didn't have a heat spreader. If you are squeamish consider buying a passive video card you like and selling the old card on eBay.

There are no chipset fans to worry about on that motherboard so your next target is the CPU fan. Fix the PSU and video card cooling first and see if you are happy with the stock cooler after the worst of the noise is gone. No sense spending money on an aftermarket heatsink if you aren't overclocking and the stock unit isn't just clearly outclassed by the CPU. Again this is a fan that speedfan might be able to keep the noise down for you.

If it is an obvious problem (speedfan doesn't work or even with speedfan you aren't satisfied) you have tons of choices.

The Scythe Andy which now ships with a slipstream fan is the clear budget choice as far as I can see.

The Ninja and Ninja Mini are more for passive or near passive use and take a little planning and testing to find the right balance of airflow vs noise. You'll spend more time and money on a Ninja but the rewards could be worth it.

Heatsinks Compared at ~23 dBA@1m:

Code: Select all

Heatsink/Fan                             Noise Fan V  Â°C Rise Â°C/W MP Height Weight
Asus Triton 75, Nexus 120         ($45)  23   12      18      0.24    90/115 473* (350+fan)
Thermalright SI-128, Nexus 120    ($45)  23   12      21      0.27    92/117 633* (510+fan)
Thermalright SI-128 SE, Nexus 120 ($60)  23   12      ??      0.??    92/117 633* (510+fan)
Scythe Andy with stock fan        ($45)  20   12      16      0.21   100/125 685  (???+fan)

Scythe Ninja Mini, stock fan      ($40)  28   12      19      0.24     115   678* (580+fan)
Scythe Ninja, Nexus 120           ($50)  23   12      14      0.18     150   788* (665+fan)

Mad_Matt · Post by **Mad_Matt** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:42 pm

Well Thanks for all the replies guy's. I used speedfan and it isn't as cool as with my old case but that had fans everywhere so didnt expect it.With the cpu at 99-100% for 5 mins its in the high 50 low 60 degrees in the solo.
Will start to look into the psu as fear this is the no.1 noisemaker, followed by the cpu fan, and will look at slowing the graphics card fan thru speedfan, but realise my mobo is cheap and nasty, and replacing this will mean a reinstall of vista.(another problem that i'm having trouble with is connecting the fwd firewire port on the case-my mobo has no firewire connectors on it and the antec connection lead is hard to find to connect internal firewire card to antec fwd i/o port)

Mad_Matt · Post by **Mad_Matt** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:26 pm

Have tried to slow graphics fan, but it has no effect.Am using an expertvision 8600gt and my mobo(asrock 1333-d667) and there is no leads from graphics card to mobo fan connector.Is my mobo able to slow fan speeds?if so how- do i need this cable and if so where can i get it?Matt

floffe · Post by **floffe** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:33 am

No, the mobo is not able to change the graphics card fan speed, but the video card might. Speedfan might be able to set it, or you could use a specialised app like nTune.

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 2:03 pm

yeah ntune, rivatuner, or maybe even atitool might be able to set fan speeds--atitool has been increasing nvidia card support, might need to check and see if the stable version has support for your card or if you would need to try a beta.

Mad_Matt · Post by **Mad_Matt** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 6:24 am

Hi, Speedfan made no effect on the fan speed.Have just rec'vd a Scythe Andy CPU cooler this morning after reading an earlier response to this question.Hopefully when fitted this will be a bit quieter.I feel the power supply is my next upgrade.What is best value for quietness?Thanks for all the replies by the way chaps!!

Conroy · Post by **Conroy** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:21 am

viewtopic.php?t=46476
and Earthwatts 380 is $35
Newegg has deals on earthwatts very often

Have you listened to different parts of your computer to see which is the noisiest?

xan_user · Post by **xan_user** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:15 am

Mad_Matt wrote:Hi, Speedfan made no effect on the fan speed.Have just rec'vd a Scythe Andy CPU cooler this morning after reading an earlier response to this question.Hopefully when fitted this will be a bit quieter.I feel the power supply is my next upgrade.What is best value for quietness?Thanks for all the replies by the way chaps!!

It can take a while to figure out the right settings in speedfan. google your mobo + speedfan.

also if the case is thin metal you might want to think about some kind of case vibration absorption.