New system woes

Nudz · Post by **Nudz** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:45 am

I made a thread a little while back about making a new computer, and woe has struck.

First of all the Zalman 1000W-HP Silent which was on the recommended list (at the top to boot) emits a constant high pitched whine. It's driving me absolutely up the wall.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a fix?

Secondly, my P180 case is just feeling too small for my components. Both the card and the PSU took up way more space than I anticipated, there's a mess of cabling (i'm not good at cablemanagement even under good conditions, this was hell). I'm looking to probably buy a new case down the line and will be getting something with AMPLE space. Any suggestions for this? The main space problems lies in depth, front to back.

There seems to be less space between my GPU and my Soundcard, so I can't use the VGA cooler I bought, which is disheartening to say the elast since the 280 emits a jet-like sound under load and is most definitely not near quiet otherwise (I bought it full well knowing this, planning to change cooler). The only one that seems to be able to fit is the Accellero GTX 280 from arctic cooling (if I use the power of assumption).

Last but not least I cannot get speedfan to work to get my fans to slow down. Considering the temperatures ramping up under load I don't want to set the fans at a constant 5v or 7v, but now my motherboard runs them at full speed.
It's a gigabyte ga-ex58-ds4 and I bought in part since it's listed on speedfan's site as compatible. I'm not sure what to do about this.

Long post, many sound woes.

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:00 am

If you can wiggle the PSU apart without breaking "Warranty Violating" sort of stickers, you could give a shot of hot glue to coils in the psu. Obviously only do this if you are comfortable poking around inside things and take precautions.

Can you move the graphics card to one of the PCIe x8 slots?

I agree on the P180 and cable management. If I ever get my replacement port pack sent out from Antec I will be making some changes to keep things neater.

Nudz · Post by **Nudz** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:27 am

Can't move the card to any other PCIe slot since the soundcard prevents it. I'm considering using the onboard audio and removing the sound card, but I'm very reluctant (considering the sound won't be as good, which would be sad).

I'm probably not going to open the PSU, I don't feel I am skilled enough. IF I were to do it though, should I coat the coils in glue? Feels risky to say the least.
Another person told me I should give it some time to "settle in", would time perhaps make whine like this dissapear?

Thanks for the reply!

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:52 pm

Don't do the PSU thing then--I've never done it yet but others have reported success with the glue, I guess a simple squirt from a hot glue gun will keep them from whining/vibrating.

Still confused on the soundcard. If I looked up the motherboard correctly, it has 3 full length PCIe slots? And the soundcard blocks them all?

Could always try to return PSU to the vendor if it hasn't been too long, or test out the manufacturer warranty. How much load do you have it on it? Maybe the whining will go away at different load levels...

LM741C · Post by **LM741C** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:40 pm

Nudz wrote: Last but not least I cannot get speedfan to work to get my fans to slow down. Considering the temperatures ramping up under load I don't want to set the fans at a constant 5v or 7v, but now my motherboard runs them at full speed.
It's a gigabyte ga-ex58-ds4 and I bought in part since it's listed on speedfan's site as compatible. I'm not sure what to do about this.

You have nearly the same motherboard as I do (ex58-ud4p). Something I just discovered today...toss speedfan. The m/b bios combo can control analog fans. The trick is to select "voltage" instead of "auto" under "CPU smart FAN Mode." It seems "auto" ramps it up full speed all the time. Go into the bios, pc health status, scroll all the way down and make sure you have the following settings:

Under typical usage, my fan now runs at around 500-700rpm and going up to 1000rpm when running prime95.

xafier · Post by **xafier** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 6:23 am

If your gigabyte is anything like mine then firstly, the only fan headers that are controllable in Speedfan are the 4 pin headers...

Secondly, to make it work in speedfan you need to go into the advanced options bit and change the PWM mode to "software controlled", and then it should work... can't remember the exact names as I'm at work at the moment!

Nudz · Post by **Nudz** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:03 am

I see, that's a real shame that it's like that. Maybe time to invest in some 800rpm fans since I think the real silent nexus fans I have right now are slightly too loud.

xafier · Post by **xafier** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 12:50 pm

What I meant to say was that, yes on my mobo only the 4 pin headers are controllable ones, but you dont have to use 4 pin fans on them, a normal 3 pin fan will work and be controllable

ACook · Post by **ACook** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:15 pm

+1 on the above

Plekto · Post by **Plekto** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:04 pm

I just hard-wired my fans to 7V for the most part.

Nudz · Post by **Nudz** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:29 am

I've contacted Zalman's customer support twice now without getting a reply to my problem. I can't do an RMA either since I don't have the original box left.

xafier wrote:What I meant to say was that, yes on my mobo only the 4 pin headers are controllable ones, but you dont have to use 4 pin fans on them, a normal 3 pin fan will work and be controllable

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I can't for the life of me get any fan to change it's speed. I might not have to do this though since a lot of noise that I thought came from the case fans did in fact come from the stock cooler on my GTX280.

I did install the accelero gtx280 on my card and the difference in both temperature and noise is radical. I wouldn't call it silent or quiet, but if you've got ambient noise the sound of the fans is not noticeable (there's a lot of ambient sounds around me, like neighbours, kids and to some extent the road outside). The woosh that can be heard when things quiet down is not intrusive.
Unfortunately this makes the whine frome the PSU even more apparent (it cuts through any ambient sound. music is the only thing that helps).

walle · Post by **walle** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:46 am

Hi

I should have updated my â€œreviewâ€

Nudz · Post by **Nudz** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:36 am

Thanks for showing me that walle, my noise is not as loud but it's certainly the same kind. If it's as common as it seems these should as you say be promptly removed from the list.

Seeing as how your replacement unit is as loud as it is I'm almost hesitant if I even dare send it back should they offer to.

As it is I'm prepared to see it as money thrown away so the glue gunning is better than having it like this, especially if it will get worse.

walle · Post by **walle** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:56 pm

Your welcome Nudz, regarding my replacement unit it did displayed similar problems, however; I sent it back to my retailer and simply requested to get my money back (I was honestly pissed!), and, I did, reason is that Iâ€™ve purchased so much stuff from them over the years that I do get certain perks and I decided to go Seasonic M12-850 instead, so far its been working like a charm and I hope it will stay that way.

Nudz wrote:Seeing as how your replacement unit is as loud as it is I'm almost hesitant if I even dare send it back should they offer to.

Well, I would give it a try, itâ€™s a lot of money to just have thrown away, doesnâ€™t hurt trying.

Good luck.

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