New CPU Cooler for Socket A based HTPC

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insaner
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:04 pm

New CPU Cooler for Socket A based HTPC

Post by insaner » Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:54 pm

Hi, I currently have the following:

Case: Silverstone LC-03V
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (Socket A)
CPU Heatsink: Thermaltake Silent Boost (http://www.thermaltake.com/product/cool ... 889-01.asp)
Fans: 1 - very quiet 80mm fan blowing air into the cast from the bottom. I think I replaced this last year with a panaflow or nexus, can't remember. I had another rear 60mm exhaust fan but it was just too loud. I unplugged it and don't care to replace/plug it back in.
PSU: Can't remember, but I'm not worried about it. It's quiet with a 120mm fan (similiar to the Seasonic, if it isn't one).
HD: 3 HD + 1 Optical Drive - 2 of these hard drives will be moved out of the system shortly.
Video Card: NVidia FX5200 Passively cooled

There's only one thing I'd like to do:

1) Replace the current heatsink and fan. The Thermaltake Silent Boost isn't anything close to silent. I'm powering it off the mobo.



That's pretty much it. The problem is that it's socket A and not a ton of stuff out there for Socket A. However, the MAIN problem is that lack of space. As you can see from these pics, there is basically very little space between the PSU, back of the optical drive, and the CPU Heatsink/fan as it is. The current demensions of the heatsink are listed by thermaltake as:
Image

Here's what it currently looks like in my machine
Image
Image
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I'd appreciate any help you can give.

Air2
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:09 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

New CPU Cooler for Socket A based HTPC

Post by Air2 » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:45 pm

hi,
i had a similar problem with my tower. psu covers cpu.
i replaced it with The Nexus AXP-3200 SkiveTek. see link;

http://www.nexustek.nl/axp3200.htm

it states 19db with fan @ 2400rpm. my fan auto spin speed is 2860rpm. a bit faster than it states on the box. but temp is 5c (46c) lower than the stock heatsink.

it is quieter than the stock heatsink i got with my amd athlon xp2400+ socket A. not as quiet as i first hoped, but better.

or you could try one from Zalman, CNPS5100-Cu or CNPS6000-Cu.

nici
Posts: 3011
Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2004 8:49 am
Location: Suomi Finland Perkele

Post by nici » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:14 pm

The Aerocool HT-101 will fit. At least if i interpret your pictures right. From them it looks like the mounting hooks for the heatsink are at the top and bottom of the socket, the HT-101 would blow up or down in that configuration. I have one on my 2600+ T-Bred and it works very well, even the included fan is pretty nice when undervolted. it looks like it would fit even the other way, but it would be tight with the frame on the heatsink. the frame is removable though, and with it removed you could easily zip-tie a fan onto the heatsink.

Edit: If there is 8mm between the current heatsink and the PSU, the Scythe Katana will also fit. Also check out the Thermalright SI-97a.

The first thing you should try is to clean out all the dust and see if you can undervolt the fanon the current heatsink, it loos like half of the cooling are of the current cooler is covered in dust.

insaner
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:04 pm

Post by insaner » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:04 pm

Thanks guys... turns out I had an extra nexus 80mm fan laying around, and I swapped that out for the existing fan on the heatsink. I also got rid of all that caked on dust. It's MUCH quieter now and the loudest thing in there now is the three hard drives. :P :lol:

I think my plan is to actually move all the guts out of this case and into a new case. This computer will actually become a backend server for my HTPC solution (mythtv). I'll then throw all new equipment in this case as a frontend. I'll build it from the ground up to be a little more quiet. Luckily the frontend will have only one hard disk, same graphics card (passive), and that's basically it.

Thanks for your guy's help. Luckily I think I kind of avoided the issue just by replacing this one fan. When I replace all the components for this case, I'll have to research the best way to go about it. Moving in a month so I'll wait until that's over with.

ceraf
Posts: 116
Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2004 6:39 pm

Post by ceraf » Sun Feb 11, 2007 10:15 pm

glad that there's someone else using the silent boost heatsink and happy with it after a fan swap =)

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