New SLK2650-BQE build, no longer loud.

geforce1 · Post by **geforce1** » Sun May 07, 2006 7:15 pm

System details:
Case: Antec SLK2750-BQE
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ E3 (SI-120 HSF, fan pushing down)
MB: ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 (NB47J on NB)
Video: Sapphire X800GTO2 @ X850XT (ATi Silencer 5 Rev. 2)
PSU: Fortron Green PS 400W
2 DVD burners
2 Maxtor PATA hard drives (DM10 300GB, DM+9 160GB)
3.5" floppy
Case fans controlled by a Zalman MFC-1:
Stock Antec 120mm exhaust (rear)
Logisys 80mm intake (front)
Blue LED 120mm fan on SI-120
Hard drive temps are about 42C/107F (which seems really hot) w/ exhaust fan on 11V (never broke 32C/90F in my old X-Dreamer II case)

And it's too loud! PSU fan (stock BTW) ramps WAY up to ~1,700 rpm within 2 minutes. Air coming out of the PSU is about room temp.
It also did this in my old case. CPU temp at idle is 32C/90F. Speeds of other fans don't affect the PSU fan's speed.
The SI-120 is really close to the PSU. Could that be the cause?

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Sun May 07, 2006 10:22 pm

I'd replace the PSU with a Seasonic, it's more efficient and should generate less heat. Your current PSU may have a bad thermal sensor. I had a similar expience with a Sparkle PSU, where the fan ran forever even though it was blowing out cool air.

Suspend the hard drives with rubber or get the Novibes III, elsewise put them on foam.

dfrost · Post by **dfrost** » Mon May 08, 2006 8:51 am

The SI-120 is really close to the PSU. Could that be the cause?

I doubt that would be the cause. My XP-120 is similarly close to the intake fan on the S12-430, and I don't have any ramp-up issues with the PSU. I think Shadowknight is correct in suspecting a bad PSU.

ultrachrome · Post by **ultrachrome** » Mon May 08, 2006 11:18 am

Might be a hassle, but you could try pulling the PSU and running it out of the case to see if it ramps up its fan when receiving only ambient temperature air.

I don't know how big of a difference it would make but the vertical orientation of the fins on geforce1's heat sink would send half of the CPU's heat right into the PSU's intake fan.

Dfrost's heatsink fins are horizontally oriented, directing hot air horizontally into the rear case fan.

Your HDD sandwich might be the cause of the high temps your seeing. The topmost drive looks like it's getting hardly any airflow, certainly none over the circuit board.

geforce1 · Post by **geforce1** » Tue May 09, 2006 6:20 am

Thanks for the tips, I'll get to it shortly.

Update: Moving the top hard drive (my 160GB Maxtor) up one spot significantly decreased temps for both drives.

Update 2: PSU fan runs at max speed even in standby mode and with the case side off. Haven't tried it out of case (I have to remove my SI-120 to remove the PSU and I'm too lazy right now). I'm getting a Yate Loon D12SL-12 (black frame/orange blades) and a Globalwin NCB 120mm. The quieter one will cool the PSU and the louder one will sit on my SI-120.

Update 3: I got both aforementioned fans. The YL D12SL-12 went into my PSU (HUGE drop in noise over the stock YL D12BH-12). The Globalwin NCB is cooling my CPU. It's running @ 12v and 1,425rpm, and practically inaudible in my case.

One note about my NCB: it vibrates only when it's oriented so that its exhaust points straight up.