Case with twin 60mm fans - best plan to make quiet?

[Arfa]

Ok first post, finally fed up of the noise from my machine, time to look into fixing it.

I have the Silverstone LC03 case, with the twin 60mm fans at the back, just above the mobo sockets. I also have the Silverstone auto fan controller FP52. I'm pretty confident in saying this pair are making all the noise that's bothering me, even when the controller doesn't have them running at full speed.

So, I realise 60mm fans are always louder and of higher pitch. However I don't think I space to mount a bigger case fan at the back. Does anyone have any suggestions or strategies to improve my noise levels?

Other details: P4 2.5Ghz, Zalman CuAli flower heatsink + 92mm fan. Leadtek geforce FX5600 vivo (small fan on the heatsink). Two hard disks. one maxtor 40Gb, one Seagate 80Gb. I don't have the hd fan installed on the base of the case.

[NeilBlanchard]

Greetings & welcome to SPCR!

If you cut out the fan grills and used quieter fans, that might have a chance of being tolerable. Here's a picture I found on a Google search:



I'm not sure if the Silenx fans are good or not -- that company has a tainted reputation here at SPCR; but the idea is good. You might also be able to mount some 80-to-60mm adaptors on the outside and use two quiet 80mm fans? The spacing looks like it could be made to work?

[Arfa]

Ok, just investigated my case a little more. In fact it look practically identical to the photo you have there. I have a pair of SilentX 60mm fans, and the holes have been cut away completely. Looks like it must be a slightly later revision to the photos on the Silverstone website (which has one fan and a grill).

Anyway, I've been through my case stopping each fan in turn to find the noise culprits and it isn't the SilentX pair at all! Its my 92mm Zalman fan above the flower heatsink and the mini fan on my graphics card. Stopping the SilentX pair made only a little difference to noise. So yeah, moral there, investigate properly before jumping to conclusions..

So I've been looking at the AcoustiFan DustPROOF fans, seem pretty good on paper, anyone had any experience? My computer gets very dusty, so seemed ideal.

As for sorting out the graphics card: get the Zalman ZM80D, big blue passive heatsink or get the Gigabyte 6600GT passive grfx card? The former is a lot cheaper, but seems a lot of hassle, the latter more expensive but a nice upgrade too. I currently have an FX5600, in AGP. Am sticking with Nvidia because of good Linux support.

[NeilBlanchard]

Greetings,

For 92mm fans, there is the Nexus, and I would add the Scythe DF as a very good candidate. They also make a 1600RPM version.

[fastturtle]

As to your CPU fan, check out Nexus as they're the preferred fan for silent operation.

On the Video card front, if you can afford it, go for the passive 6600GT although I'd sugest a cheaper alternative. It's what I'm eyeballing for a Quiet Rebuild that runs cooler and has the hardware accel that's laking in your FX5600. Check out http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6814130200 and look at this MX4000 with 128 megs onboard. Should be a very nice upgrade while being silent and not dumping lots of heat into the case.

[Arfa]

Yeah have been checking out the Gigabyte 6600GT's. Seems to be a few different models, some with vivo and some with faster mem. They seem to be a bit thin on the ground over here in the UK. A few places list them, but nowhere seems to have them in stock. Keeping my eye out for a cheap one on ebay.

As for the Nexus fan, anyone know of a UK seller off hand?