newbie with new system questions

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perry59
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2010 12:54 pm
Location: oregon,usa

newbie with new system questions

Post by perry59 » Wed Sep 22, 2010 12:59 pm

This is my first post here so I hope its in the right forum and you'll excuse me for all the noob questions!
I've built a number of systems in the past, but this is the first time I'm putting some effort (and cash) into making it both quiet and cool. This system will be primarily for HTPC but also some gaming and flight simming and also CAD & 3D modeling.

The system I'm working on is:
Case - NZXT tempest evo
Motherboard - Asus P6x58d
Processor - Intel I7 920
PSU - Corsair TX650W
GPU - GEforce 9800 GT
Hard drive - seagate 1.5 Tb
Note: the gpu will be upgraded to a GTX460 or 480 (adding more heat)
additional 2Tb drives will be added (still more heat)

About the case: I initially chose this case because it has lots of expansion room and lots of air flow (hopefully keeping that I7 cool). It has 6 fans. Two 120's in the front, one 120 in the back, one 120 on the side and two 140's on the top. I am hoping that these fans are a "standard" size so that they can be easily replaced.
About the processor: Not much to say here. It still has the stock cooler. Have not yet decided on a replacement.
About the motherboard: I chose this motherboard because it was somewhat future-proof. Employing next-gen USB and SATA. Plus it has lots of disk headers and room for up to 24 gigs of ram. For fan headers it has one 4-pin cpu fan, one 4-pin chassis fan, two 3-pin chassis fan and one 3-pin power fan.

what I'm considering doing:
replace the four 120mm fans with noctua nf-s12-800 or scythe s-flex sff21e ??
replace the two 140mm fans with ??
replace the cpu fan/heatsink with scythe mungen 2? scythe grand kama cross?
control all this with a zalman fan control (which?)

now for the questions:
1. there are 7 fans altogether (including cpu). The fan controllers I've seen so far only go up to 6 channels.
Should I wire the two front (120mm) fans together in series and tie them into channel 1, wire the two top (140mm) exhaust fans in series to channel 2, wire the side fan (120mm) into channel 3, the rear exhaust fan (120mm) into channel 4 and the cpu fan into channel 5 ?
Im not sure how to interface the 7 fans into a 5 or 6 channel controller, and the "manual" I seen from zalman is pretty lame.
2. If I cant, or shouldnt wire any fans in series then I guess I will leave one fan unplugged?
3. Do I even need to use the fan headers on the mobo with an aftermarket fan controller?
4. If I do use the mobo headers which case fan(s) should go in the 4-pin header and which in the 3-pin?
5. finally, has anyone used this mobo or case and have any suggestions or comments regarding cooling?
any other suggestions for case fans/cpu fans?



oh yes and where to buy hardware? quiet pc usa? endpcnoise? suggestions?

thanks all
Last edited by perry59 on Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

m0002a
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Post by m0002a » Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:09 pm

It is unusual that you would need 6 case fans, not even counting the CPU and PSU.

What is this system going to be used for?
How many disk drives will you need?
What video card are you planning?

The case seems like overkill unless you are going to use it for a file server with many disk drives. I would consider the Antec P183.

You definitely need an aftermarket CPU cooler if you are interested in quiet computing. See the recommended list for starters.

frenchie
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Post by frenchie » Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:13 pm

Just a few things :
Sounds like a lot of fans (pun intended) for a rig with no GPU...
Go for scythe or Nexus (better price / performance ratio than Noctuas).
Are you going to use this computer as a storage rig (lots of holes in front of the HD bays where sound can escape) ?

speedkar9
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Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: newbie with new system questions

Post by speedkar9 » Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:27 pm

Welcome to SPCR!
perry59 wrote: It has 6 fans. Two 120's in the front, one 120 in the back, one 120 on the side and two 140's on the top.
+2, You don't need that many fans!

Seems like you've already bought the case, as such, I'd block off the side and one top panel fan spots, and run the system with a top and rear exhaust. You could even get away without front air intake fans depending on how many hard drives you have and the graphics card. Ensure you soft mount your fans (and if possible, your hard drive(s)) to minimize vibrations. You could also attach some material to add weight to the side panels to stop them vibrating.

If your Asus has Qfan, give it a try to see how fast it can control the fans. If I remember correctly however, Qfan only works for PWM 4 pin fans. You set the minimum temperature to say 40*C before the fan starts ramping up, and the max fan speed at 70*C. Paired with a decent heatsink (Mugen 2), your fans may not even ramp up most of the time.

perry59
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2010 12:54 pm
Location: oregon,usa

Post by perry59 » Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:15 am

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Yes I did leave out some fairly important info! I edited my initial topic to include this.
Yes, theres a lot of fans in there. That was a primary reason for selecting this case. In my initial investigations I learned the the chose cpu (I7) was notoriously warm so I looked for a case with maximum air flow. Even idling my cores are running about 48-52C which seems about 10C to warm, but acceptable. I may try disabling a couple fans and see what that does to my temps, which may give me more options on fans/controllers and possible change in case. However, that may well change when I add more hardware. That Antec case sounds (pun) pretty nice, but I worry that it would be cool enough for the hardware I have now, and what I plan to add.

Oh yeah, and you guys who have the antec case, would the "front door" still close correctly if you added a zalman fan control with those big knobs sticking out?

m0002a
Posts: 2831
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:12 am
Location: USA

Post by m0002a » Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:57 am

Keep in mind that this forum (and website) deals primarily with the subject of quiet computing (and peripherally to the related subject of low power systems since low power generates less heat, which needs fewer fans). So that is where the main perspective of replies to your post comes from.

When you have a case that has a wide open mesh front, it certainly helps with airflow, but lets a lot noise out. That is one reason this reviewer said your case is a "A bit loud / poor acoustics":
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NZXT ... EVO/6.html

A case like the Antec P183 (or even P193 if you really need something that large), has good airflow, but not a wide open front. The case panels are a special aluminum/plastic/aluminum sandwich design to deaden sound coming from inside the case.

Even with 2-3 disk drives, you should be able to run a case with less than 6 case fans, but obviously keeping the number of disk drives down to a minimum helps with noise. If you have the bucks, then you might want to consider SSD for your boot drive (which helps will cooling and noise) and then get some "Green" drives for your HTPC to cut down on heat and noise.

Most people on this forum run their fans at fairly low speeds (stock or adjusted voltage), but it is usually not necessary to constantly adjust all the fans in your system, so they don't all need to be connected to a central controller.

But if you want to build an extremely high-powered system with the components you already have, and want it a "little bit" quieter, then the recommended fan section of this website should help.

perry59
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2010 12:54 pm
Location: oregon,usa

Post by perry59 » Thu Sep 23, 2010 9:56 am

I will play around a bit with fans for now and see how that does.
May seriously consider a different case though!

danimal
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Post by danimal » Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:01 pm

perry59 wrote: In my initial investigations I learned the the chose cpu (I7) was notoriously warm so I looked for a case with maximum air flow. Even idling my cores are running about 48-52C which seems about 10C to warm, but acceptable.
cpu idle temps are meaningless, temps under 100% load is the standard of measurement, but 48-52c at idle could indicate an issue... are you using the stock cpu cooler? or perhaps, your measuring software, thermal paste on the cpu cooler, etc., isn't right.

there are plenty of performance people on this forum, and spcr has reviewed plenty of high-wattage power supplies, for instance, so don't put much stock in the opinions of people who build gutless computers :)

perry59
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2010 12:54 pm
Location: oregon,usa

Post by perry59 » Sat Oct 09, 2010 2:58 pm

Well, the brown truck arrived last week with some goodies. :D
I picked up 3 scythe sff21d fans and a thermalright extreme cpu cooler.
One of the fans I attached to the cpu cooler, one went to the font intake and one to the rear exhaust.
Wow! what a difference!
you can barely hear the thing run, and the temps dropped by 12C!
If I were to put all this stuff in one of the nice "quiet" cases, you probably couldnt hear it at all.
The only thing Im a bit bummed about is that I did not know until too late that the scythe fans are not pmw, so I dont know if the asus fan expert software will even controll the speeds. I assume they are going full bore all the time. Guess you need an after market fan controller with these.
So, I got one intake, one exhaust and one cpu fan going and FOUR others that are turned off and its working pretty nice. After adding more hard drives and beefing up the gpu, if temps creep back up I can still plug in more scythes!

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