Quieting my shuttle....

cooltoad · Post by **cooltoad** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 5:32 pm

To begin, my sff pc has a core temp of 62C when idling. It pushes 90C when loaded.

I have a ~2 year old shuttle sff pc. It has an AMD Athlon 64 3700+ in it, some RAM and an nvidia 6600 i believe.

Anyway it used to run quiet enough for me, im not a silent pc enthusiast really, but I AM a fan of not having a CPU that sounds like a leaf blower.

Lately all it does is run full tilt (the fan) and so i downloaded the AMD toolset to check temps and what do you know, it is running hot enough to cause some serious damage if I dont do anything.

So, I took apart my cpu, used a can of air, got out all the dust. This helped slightly, so the fan isnt running on max when idle anymore, however the temps are still high.

I ordered some arctic silver 5 and it is in the mail as we speak.

When it gets here I plan to use it and remount the heatsink to the CPU and *hopefully* that will bring down the temps.

Is there anything I am missing though? I mean a cpu shouldnt just sit there at 62C right?

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 5:35 pm

what size fans are on your shuttle case itself? 80mm? they might need replacing, bearing noise could be getting you more than anything else.

what heatsink is on the CPU? i know that just about anything is a tight fit in a shuttle.

the PSU may also be a major source of noise, they're very small, and have screamers for fans in them.

cooltoad · Post by **cooltoad** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 5:42 pm

That is more or less a picture of the heatsink. It is what came with the shuttle case... i dont think the fan needs replacing, it doesnt make any noise a fan shouldnt make, its the fact that it is constantly running at 100% speed b/c my core is so hot.

Also i've taken off the case to see which fan was making the noise, that one in the pic is the only fan in the case other than the one on my GPU, which is not audible while my computer is idle.

didi · Post by **didi** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 12:43 am

Try enabling AMD's cool&quiet (if available for that cpu, don't know for sure). It will at least help keep your idle temps down.
While you're in the BIOS, check that the fan settings are correct. You should have some setting for automatic fan speed...

There are a few simple mods that dan be done to a shuttle. Remove the honeycomb grille at the back, should allow for more airflow.

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:02 am

are there any intake grills for air on that case? part of the issue is how all the hot air in the case is being pushed through the heatsink to leave, which doesn't leave much ability for the CPU to get cooled, leaving a never ending cycle of heat within the case that just can't leave.

you should keep an eye on the other heatsinks, like the one on your GPU, and any chipsets because they'll be problematic.

you may try suspending a fan somewhere to increase airflow inside? it'll be hard with so little room, but i don't see why not.

didi · Post by **didi** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:22 am

@bonestonne: Shuttle's ICE coolers can - in any shuttle - not be beaten by any aftermarket cooler. They are very good and fairly quiet.
Airflow (and air inlet) are well designed in Shuttles. Changing the flow (by adding an internal fan) would only make things worse.

that Linux guy · Post by **that Linux guy** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 1:02 pm

Well, you could try getting two identical fans and arranging them on the ICE in a push-pull config. Past that, without having help from team Dremel, you're out of luck.

If you're willing to hack that box up a bit, then you could fit a couple 92mm fans upfront for intake, undervolted of course. You'll have to relocate the power, reset buttons, and the front USB and Audio ports, and you'd lose your external 3.5" bay, but you'd have one hell of a shuttle too!

If you want to go completely wild, you can mount a 2x120mm radiator on top with a couple Yate Loon fans, a small pump and reservoir, waterblock, and you could water-cool that little guy. It would require nothing more than drilling some holes (which can be easily patched up and painted if you don't like the end result), and you could get pretty quiet with water.

I almost went with a shuttle for my new build. I like challenges and I wanted to waterc-ool mine, but I ended up with another Solo w/ Nexus fans, etc.

I say get creative.

dragmor · Post by **dragmor** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:47 pm

Undervolt your CPU, Shuttle motherboards are normally very good at undervolting. I've got my 3500+ at 1.2v load vs 1.35v default and 0.9 idle vs 1.1v default. This drops the case temps by ~20c at load.

btw which Shuttle do you have?