Hitting a wall

daba · Post by **daba** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:44 am

Hi folks,

You can check out my system in my signature. I'm nearing a limit of what else there is to silence without sacrificing these marvellous temperatures, great stability, and longevity of my components. My computer is quiet, but not silent. Anyone got any clues?

Thanks,
David

ckolivas · Post by **ckolivas** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:27 am

Very nice setup. Two things - are those your current temperatures? You can sacrifice a bit more temperature on your cpu as you've got it pretty cold and anything below 60 degrees for a cpu will still be fine. 30 above ambient as your maximum under heaviest load is something I've been suggesting. The other things is you make no mention of is what is actually making the most noise

Hard to know what to recommend beyond that....

The obvious step beyond what you've got is a different case... but it doesn't sound like you're really considering that as an option (at the moment?).

freak_in_cage · Post by **freak_in_cage** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:53 am

[quote="ckolivas"]Very nice setup. Two things - are those your current temperatures? You can sacrifice a bit more temperature on your cpu as you've got it pretty cold and anything below 60 degrees for a cpu will still be fine. 30 above ambient as your maximum under heaviest load is something I've been suggesting. The other things is you make no mention of is what is actually making the most noise

Hard to know what to recommend beyond that....
quote]

agreed, sacrifice some CPU temp for slower running fans dude

daba · Post by **daba** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:21 am

Oops, I updated the thread with my current temperatures, but they aren't really that big of a gap.

I've tested unplugging everything and the loudest things are the only moving components: the Nexus fans, the Spinpoints, the Zalman fan, and the PSU fan. They all contribute a relatively equivalent amount of noise to the overall sound of the computer. I guess I could get a new case with less holes, although while gaming I can definitely feel hot air radiating out of the case if I hover my hand on the rearside of the case. Maybe if the P180 is truly a winner I'll make the switch. Supposedly, cutting out the rear grille makes a huge difference at high temperatures; I'm unsure how it would perform (and I don't trust myself drilling a $200 case) with lower temps like mine.

I like my temperature region because it offers me great stability. I've never had a crash due to overheating. It is my all-purpose PC after all. Mobile (other) computing is the X40's field.

Another idea I had was getting some of those hard drive enclosure coolers, then moving the hard drives into the 5.25'' bays. However, I'm a bit skeptical about them because the 5.25'' cage does get quite hot (I've stuck my hand in there before) and then I'd have to worry about vibrations again.

Any other ideas? I may undervolt these Nexus fans (looks like my only choice).

parisjohan · Post by **parisjohan** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 5:37 am

Hi daba!

I'm a bit curious about the rear grill mod. I've ordered a PC-V2000 (can't wait to get it

) and having read some threads about this case I was under the impression the cutting out that grill was a "must" (both in terms of temps but also to reduce noise), but you appear to have good temps & noise levels anyhow? It's an expensive case, but I guess that if you really want to go all the way it's worth doing the mod. At the end of the day, it could end up looking better than the original if you add a nice grill & filter, don't you think (talking about filter, any problems with dust?...common question for this case, I know

, but the opinions seem to vary on this topic)?

daba · Post by **daba** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 10:40 am

My temps seem to be fine. If you click the reference link in my V1000 page, you can see that people get varying results. For most people it works like a charm but in my case I don't think it'll worth it enough to do any modification.

Oh, and I keep my room quite tidy and dusty free so I haven't had any dust problems whatsoever! My PC sits in a hardwood floor area and I don't have any pets.

ckolivas · Post by **ckolivas** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:23 pm

daba wrote:Oops, I updated the thread with my current temperatures, but they aren't really that big of a gap.

I've tested unplugging everything and the loudest things are the only moving components: the Nexus fans, the Spinpoints, the Zalman fan, and the PSU fan. They all contribute a relatively equivalent amount of noise to the overall sound of the computer. I guess I could get a new case with less holes, although while gaming I can definitely feel hot air radiating out of the case if I hover my hand on the rearside of the case. Maybe if the P180 is truly a winner I'll make the switch. Supposedly, cutting out the rear grille makes a huge difference at high temperatures; I'm unsure how it would perform (and I don't trust myself drilling a $200 case) with lower temps like mine.

I like my temperature region because it offers me great stability. I've never had a crash due to overheating. It is my all-purpose PC after all. Mobile (other) computing is the X40's field.

Well as we said these temperatures are overkill. You will still be perfectly stable at cpu temperatures up to 60 degrees sustained (provided your monitored temperatures are real). If all the fans are of equal loudness then provided you're happy to let your temperatures rise a little you should start undervolting them all further. In my opinion you can't win without higher temperatures and/or a new case. The only argument for not letting your cpu temperatures rise further is the oft quoted theory that the life span of electronics shortens the higher the temperatures - however - this will not shorten the lifespan of your cpu to anything in the range of how long you are likely to keep your cpu for.

Sizzle · Post by **Sizzle** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:27 am

Hey buddy, was that my NB heatsink on there? Just wondering.

Anyway, you definetly have room to play as everyone says. 44C at load is great if you are going for low temps, but it leaves a big ceiling if you are going for quiet. I would test your Nexus CPU fan at 7v maybe and see what kind of temps you get. Though I don't see the 92mm Nexus fan as a big noise maker.

Are your two 120mm Nexus system fans running at full 12 volts? I'd put those at 7v and do some testing as well to see where you stand. Right now I have two Papst 120mm fans that push 41 cfm (5 cfm more than those Nexus) and I run them at 7v, I will be lowering that because even at load my case temps don't hit 40C.

The case is nice and I bet expensive, so instead of finding a different one, you could try and dampen the Lian Li. Doing a search in the Cases forum, there are many cheaper alternatives to AcoustiPak.

The Zalman GPU cooler, while it seems to be a good cooler, uses ball bearings in it's fan. I personally have had bearing chatter with every Zalman product I have used, which is a handfull of 7000 series CPU coolers. The new AC Silencers Rev2 will be hitting the market soon, supposedly they are much improved over the current AC Silencers. Might want to keep an eye out for reviews of those. I may put one on my ATI AIW X800XT eventually, like I told you before, I am in no rush to make a $485 paper weight.

You may want to look some thing to absorb some of the vibration of your case on the hardwood floor.

Maybe if you didn't live where it's 90 and sunny all the time it would take less cooling to keep your rig cool haha