Silencing "The Beast"

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Jumper
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:33 pm

Silencing "The Beast"

Post by Jumper » Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:46 pm

I built this system in July of 2005 - yes, the AMD tax on the CPU was high at that point, and I won't eve do that again. I was living in California at the time, and was without AC, so I overcooled the thing and left it at that.

Specs:
Antec SLK3800B + stock SmartPower 420W PSU
AMD X2 4200+ + stock 'heatpipe' cooler
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum + stupid 8000RPM northbridge fan
eVGA 6800GT, stock cooling
1x120 mm Antec front intake
1x120 mm Antec rear exaust
1x80 mm Vantec stealth side intake
Seagate 7200.8 250GB and 7200.10 320GB

This thing is *loud*. The cooling fan on the northbridge died a while back, and since I didn't notice any instability, I never replaced it. That cut out the only annoying tone of the noise, what is left is mostly a low 'whoosh'... But it's a lout 'whoosh'.

This summer I am heading back to California for a full time job. I intend to perform a '2 year upgrade' at the same time. My main goal is a graphics upgrade, but I would also like to significantly quiet the system.

Tentative plan:
-eVGA 8800GTS w/rear exaust fan - should help drop overall temps, and the 6800GTs are very hot/loud
-Replace both Antec 120mm fans with Nexus 120mms
-New CPU cooler with axial flow pattern front -> rear
-Remove side intake fan and tape up all holes in case side panels to promote better front -> rear airflow
-Replace stock northbridge heatsink with a (possibly hacked up for video card clearance) Zalman passive sink

Any thoughts? Can I get by with 7 volting the Antec fans instead of replacing them? Would an Ultra-120 and a Nexus fan be a good CPU cooler? I have no experience with modern massive aftermarket sinks, and the thought of the moment on my motherboard scares the crap out of me...

andyb
Patron of SPCR
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Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: Essex, England

Post by andyb » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:11 pm

OK, you seem to be on the right track, you are interested in silencing, but as you have considered such an expensive "upgrade cost" have you considered spending a bit extra and having 2 PC's instead of 1-PC and a shitloadofpartsthatarenotdoinganything.

A second PC does not seem far off of your idea of an upgrade, if that really is the case then you might as well start a PC design from scratch. Just something to think about.


Andy

heat_vision
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:28 am

Post by heat_vision » Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:41 pm

I see the words "stock cooling" there twice - the CPU and GPU. Something like a Ninja Scythe and a PowerColour card should fix that up.

Jumper
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:33 pm

Post by Jumper » Thu Jan 18, 2007 10:00 pm

I'm not too worried about parts I'm not using. I'm not looking to build another system, I paid too high an AMD tax on the just-released X2 in July 2005 to replace it yet.

Most likely what I will do is toss the old fans and the original heat sink in a box somewhere in case I need them for another system, or to put back in this box so I can move the slient fans into a new system at a later date. One of them is a Tricool so it slows/quiets down on its own already. I already have boxes of old 80mm fans that I pulled out of other systems that needed fan replacement ;)

The 6800GT might go up for sale, probably not considering what they will be going for with the 8600 series coming out. I'll probably just keep it with the rest of my old PC junk.

I don't see how looking for a new graphics card and new cooling while I've got the PC out of commission means I need a whole new system, though.

where?wolf
Posts: 198
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:10 am
Location: Southern Sweden

Re: Silencing "The Beast"

Post by where?wolf » Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:44 am

Jumper wrote:I built this system in July of 2005 - yes, the AMD tax on the CPU was high at that point, and I won't eve do that again. I was living in California at the time, and was without AC, so I overcooled the thing and left it at that.

Specs:
Antec SLK3800B + stock SmartPower 420W PSU
AMD X2 4200+ + stock 'heatpipe' cooler
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum + stupid 8000RPM northbridge fan
eVGA 6800GT, stock cooling
1x120 mm Antec front intake
1x120 mm Antec rear exaust
1x80 mm Vantec stealth side intake
Seagate 7200.8 250GB and 7200.10 320GB

This thing is *loud*. The cooling fan on the northbridge died a while back, and since I didn't notice any instability, I never replaced it. That cut out the only annoying tone of the noise, what is left is mostly a low 'whoosh'... But it's a lout 'whoosh'.

This summer I am heading back to California for a full time job. I intend to perform a '2 year upgrade' at the same time. My main goal is a graphics upgrade, but I would also like to significantly quiet the system.

Tentative plan:
-eVGA 8800GTS w/rear exaust fan - should help drop overall temps, and the 6800GTs are very hot/loud
-Replace both Antec 120mm fans with Nexus 120mms
-New CPU cooler with axial flow pattern front -> rear
-Remove side intake fan and tape up all holes in case side panels to promote better front -> rear airflow
-Replace stock northbridge heatsink with a (possibly hacked up for video card clearance) Zalman passive sink

Any thoughts? Can I get by with 7 volting the Antec fans instead of replacing them? Would an Ultra-120 and a Nexus fan be a good CPU cooler? I have no experience with modern massive aftermarket sinks, and the thought of the moment on my motherboard scares the crap out of me...


You could always start with looking at what improvements to silence your case you can do first.

Add damping material.
Softmount fans with elastic cords.
New fans. The Antec fans are'nt very silent even set to low voltage. Nexus or Yate Loon are good for ex.
Cut out all stamped fan grilles, will give better airflow and less noise.
Silent 500W psu with 28Ampere on the + 12V rail(s) You gonna need it for the DX 10 videocard. And you will have enough power for future uppgrades.
Suspending the harddrive with "Stretch Magic" cords for ex.


I dont know if getting the first generation of DX 10 videocards is such a good idea? Maybe you should just get a Zalman VF 900 VGA cooler, and some Arctic Silver thermal paste for the 6800 card. And vait and see what the 2:nd gen of dx 10 cards is made of? Or also check out what ATI (Radeon) have up their sleeve?

I guess we will see the second generation of Nvidia dx 10 cards pretty soon.

Besides, the Geforce 8600GT and 8600Ultra mid performance cards is said to be out in the first quarter of this year. The 8600GT, will cost about 130 bucks and the ultra about 190.

So if you really want a dx10 card soon? That may be an option for you?

Jumper
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:33 pm

Post by Jumper » Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:15 am

I might get an 8600 depending on what the performance difference is. If the 8600s are as fast or a hair faster then the 7900GTs with DX10 support, I might go that route. Don't forget there is going to be a 320MB 8800GTS at the $299 price points. The 640s have an MSRP of $450 and I've been seeing them at $370 with rebates, so I expect to be able to grab a 320MB 8800GTS for ~$250.

No ATI. Bad experiences there with friends and drivers.

I'm not terribly worried about the PSU, I have 29A on my +12V1 and +12V2 as it is, and my peak loads can't be much over 230-240W with the current setup.

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