Thermaltake Silent Boost

DD · Post by DD » Wed Sep 17, 2003 8:59 pm

Check out the online reviews. There are a number that prefer the Silent Boost to other HSFs.

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 6:41 pm

They're not borrowing Panaflo technology, it is a panaflo.

LAC Augmented fans

Peel that Tt sticker off and you've got yourself one of the rare Panaflo FBL series fans. Digikey carries them, I've never seen 'em anywhere else. Don't bother checking panasonic's site, they're not even listed.

There was some discussion of them here a long time ago: Panaflo FBL series? and Panaflo FBA vs FBL series fans? In a nutshell, the L1A's are quieter in free air, but the FBL's may be quieter with backpressure, although the CFM will drop. Which one would work best is very application-specific. Tt is probably using them because they look different and new, and sometimes that's all you need to move product.

You're absolutely right. I was disassembling my Tivo today for further noise optimization, and I was shocked to find that the 60mm fan inside a stock Tivo Series 2 is this exact same panaflo model. With panaflo label intact.

Pictures here, but sadly this guy removed the fan and put some dorky 80mm adapter on it. Little did he know, he had one of the best 60mm fans you can get already

http://homepage.mac.com/snsimon/photo/TiVo/

I was planning to replace the fan, but it seems there's no further improvement possible. I cut out the fan grille, and left the super-fancy 60mm Panaflo fan as is.

Who knew the Tivo guys had such good taste? They use this fan, plus the EAR hard drive grommets-- all stock on Series 2.

Post by **Rusty075** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 7:04 pm

Cool, I didn't even know they were available in 60mm. Now I have a new pre-set answer for the "what's the quietest 60mm fan?" question

DougS · Post by **DougS** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 7:15 am

Rory B. wrote:I don't like the litigious attitude Thermalright is taking about its product. It seems like they are trying to scare away potential competitors so that they won't have to compete.

Anyone take a look at the front page of the Thermalright website recently? And I quote:

"THE FOLLOWING PRODUCT ADMONISHMENT DRAFTED BY OUR CORPORATE COUNSEL SERVES AS NOTICE TO INFORM THE PUBLIC REGARDING THERMALRIGHT INC.'S RESOVLVE IN THE PROTECTION OF ITS' INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.

WARNING: ALL OF THE DESIGN ELEMENTS OF THIS PRODUCT ARE LEGALLY PROTECTED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS. ANY COUNTRERFEIT COPY, IMITATION, RE-CREATION, DUPLICATION OR SALE AND/OR DISTRIBUTION OF THIS PRODUCT OR OF ANY ELEMENTS OF THE DESIGN OF THIS PRODUCT WILL CONSTITUTE A DIRECT VIOLATION OF PROTECTED INTERNATIONAL PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS..."

After seeing this I just had to go purchase a Silent Boost for my latest PC build.

Doug

Smokeey · Post by **Smokeey** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 3:25 pm

Some more reviews:

Techtastic

Ninjalane

Both reviews are very positive indeed - even compared to the veteran Thermalright SLK800

Also found this interesting link which shows how to make a pretty damn impressive duct using this HSF. Definitely warrants some further research methinks...

MikeC any chance of you getting hold of one of these puppies for review? Despite all the positive press about it, I wouldn't dare buy anything unless it gets the SPCR seal of approval first!

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 5:41 pm

Hello:

I'm pretty sure one of these will be in my next Socket A systems. But from the looks of the bottom surface (in the TechTastic review):

...it could use a bit o' lapping. Which might make it even better!

al bundy · Post by **al bundy** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 5:51 pm

Smokeey wrote:...Also found this interesting link which shows how to make a pretty damn impressive duct using this HSF. Definitely warrants some further research methinks...

Hey that is an interesting tidbit there, thanks for posting that!

DougS · Post by **DougS** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 12:46 pm

Just received the Silent Boost hsf from allthingstech.com for $19.40 + shipping. Not a bad price for a pretty hefty chunk of cooper with a panaflo atop. I think they still have a few left in stock.

Will give my thoughts once I put together the system (nothing revolutionary--evercase, fortron 120mm, panaflo 80l's, barracuda v).

Doug

PS--for those shopping, keep in mind there are TWO versions of this. One is item #A1889, which has 41 fins. The other is the #A1838, which has 46 fins (Silent Boost for K8).

frosty · Post by **frosty** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 2:32 pm

Thanks Doug for the price fr allthingstech, 19 for the hs and fan is awesome, my brain bearings are spinning, or should I say my sleeve bearings are spinning. :}

DougS · Post by **DougS** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:51 pm

My system: case--Evercase 4252, noise-making components--2 80mm panaflo 80L1As (case fans), fortron 300W power supply (1 120mm fan), seagate barracuda V 120GB hard drive, silent boost hsf on an athlon barton xp 2500+

Pluses: price ($20), performance (idle temps between 35 and 40 degrees with fan at 2/3 speed), solid construction, panaflo fan is smooth and quiet even at reduced speeds

Minuses: the metal housing that the fan screws into vibrates, particularly at the higher fan speeds--this vibration noise is definitely noticeable

Final word: I loosened the four mounting screws that attach the fan to the housing and this solved most of the vibration noise. I also decided to order up a fan "gasket" and the thermaltake ducting mod to see if I could reduce the vibration noise further and create a little better airflow in the rear of the case.

Overall I give it a thumbs up as a low cost alternative to the slk-800 and 900 that don't even come with a fan.

I will update this review after I mess around a bit with the ducting mod/fan gasket.

Doug

Dethheat · Post by **Dethheat** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 3:36 am

On my Palamino 2100+ Athlon XP (undervolted to 1.7V), I get average CPU temps of 42 idle, 46 load with the Silent Boost + AS Ceramique. Keep in mind that's a Palamino that runs very hot. With the stock cooler I was getting mid to high 50's in idle. Case temp is 26C as of this moment. It's a pretty solid performer and very quiet for a CPU fan.

Rory B. · Post by **Rory B.** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 5:12 pm

All that ducting mod project needs is a cardboard shroud like the Dells have and then you would be good to go.

pingu666 · Post by **pingu666** » Sun Oct 12, 2003 6:32 am

still a tt product

Rory B. · Post by **Rory B.** » Sun Oct 12, 2003 11:53 am

My beef with Tt products in the past has always been with the Everflow fans, though. And this one has a Panaflo fan. I will definitely be using this heatsink with my next processor, a Barton 2800.

pingu666 · Post by **pingu666** » Sun Oct 12, 2003 3:51 pm

my beef is there friggin crap products most of the time
and i dont like sayin beef, cos i had some really nice beef for tea
its like insultin it :\

cliche · Post by **cliche** » Sun Oct 12, 2003 4:25 pm

pingu666 wrote:my beef is there friggin crap products most of the time
and i dont like sayin beef, cos i had some really nice beef for tea
its like insultin it :\

lol

cmorris · Post by **cmorris** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 4:38 am

Sorry if anyone had their hopes up, but this thing is completely awful. The stock AMD fan is MUCH quieter. I bought one a couple weeks ago and am extremely disappointed. And I've been talking to Thermaltake about trying to replace the fan to see if that's the problem, and while they are going to send a replacement, I'd have to say they've been far less than cooperative. I really have to wonder if any of the good reviews the Silent Boost has gotten are nothing more than Thermaltake employees/enthusiasts (if there is such a thing). It's running at the specified RPMs, the screws are tight (though I tried loosening them, too) and it's just LOUD LOUD LOUD. Completely drowns out my 28db graphics card, and three case fans, And seasonic super tornado (forgot that before, see comment below). I mean there is no comparison, the silent boost is all you hear.

Actually, can anyone out there who knows more about cooling than I do, tell me why I shouldn't just try mounting the AMD fan on top of the Silent Boost heat sink (different sizes, I know, I'd just run the screws between the foils as AMD does anyway). Could the base thicknesses differ and somehow cause overheating with the AMD fan? I'm not sure I want to go through the trouble of removing my motherboard and trying to remount a different cooler. Wish the Zalman had worked, but the DFI Lanparty NF2 Ultra doesn't have the mounting holes required (why why why?).

And yeah, the back of the silent boost fan does indeed say "Panaflo", but whatever the case, it's loud. I have no prior experience with Panaflos, just know that everyone says good things. And it sounds like a very noticable hum, with a lot of air.

Look forward to hearing others experineces, suggestions. I'll update when Thermaltake finally sends a replacement fan and I get a chance to try it out.

And I'll add one more comment (I just keep adding to this post). Despite some of the problems others have reported with the Seasonic Super Tornado 300 during spin up, I've had no problems. It' been great, and presumably very quiet, too, since I can't hear it at all, even with my ear right next to it, at least not with that freakin silent boost running.

Can anyone recomment a replacement fan that would have similar rpms/airflow as the one that comes with the silent boost. If thermaltake's replacement doesn't do it, I have to try something else! My cpu temp usually hovers at 49.5 when it's been working (inside a lian li pc6070, my splurge purchase, since I thought the Neo Classic was out-of-stock), though I haven't really tested it with prime95 or anything. The case is pretty good, by the way (there's not a lot on it here, review-wise huh?). Although nothing could quiet the silent boost, this case drops the noise level a bit better than I would have anticipated.

21db behind a steel door, 30 meters away, maybe... How do we know what 21db means anyway, when no one says at what distance it was measured, etc. And it's always sound pressure level reported anyway, presumably, not power, so the distance does matter. (I'm very suspicious of how and where and under what condidtion thermaltake got their 21db rating.)

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 5:14 am

cmorris - WELCOME TO SPCR!!

I may have posted it earlier in this thread but I used some of those same LAC AFT Panaflos as case fans and heatsink fans a few years ago and they were noticeably louder than a standard L1A Panaflo. There was a lot of air turbulence noise compared to a regular L1A (that has the same specs). I put them away because they were so noisy. I've been wondering why everyone likes this Silent Boost so much because the last thing I would call that fan is "quiet". Maybe they've got better since I was using them but I doubt it.

I guess you could try putting a regular L1A on that cooler. It might not flow enough air to keep your CPU as cool as it was but there's only one way to actually find out.

Thermalright SLK800/9xx or Zalman 7000. You want good, quiet cooling, that's what you need to get.

cmorris · Post by **cmorris** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 5:25 am

Ralf, Thanks for the suggestion, and for the welcome. I will definitely try the L1A you recommended and see what temps I get.

I originally bought the Zalman 7000A-cu, but never even opened it since I found out it requires mounting holes that my motherboard does not have (there's no way around that, is there?). So I went with what I thought was my #2 Silent Boost. Do you know off-hand if the Thermalright SLK800/9xx requires the same heat sink mounting holes for the cpu cooler? I'll try to look that up on my own now.

Thanks again!

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:16 am

cmorris wrote:Ralf, Thanks for the suggestion, and for the welcome. I will definitely try the L1A you recommended and see what temps I get.

I originally bought the Zalman 7000A-cu, but never even opened it since I found out it requires mounting holes that my motherboard does not have (there's no way around that, is there?). So I went with what I thought was my #2 Silent Boost. Do you know off-hand if the Thermalright SLK800/9xx requires the same heat sink mounting holes for the cpu cooler? I'll try to look that up on my own now.

Thanks again!

The SLK800A has clips for Socket 370/462/A boards without mounting holes in the mobo, but I think it's in the early stages of being discontinued and replaced by the SLK900-A. That will work fine on your board as long as there's no clearance issues. Thermalright also has a brand new heatsink called the ALX800 that has clips for S370/462/A boards and looks smaller so it will have less compatability issues. It's a hybrid aluminum/copper cooler too so it will be much lighter than an all-copper heatsink.

cmorris · Post by **cmorris** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 7:20 am

Well, this is interesting. I just found a document at panasonic's website that has the specs for the fan sitting on top of the Silent Boost. Here it is:

http://industrial.panasonic.com/www-dat ... 000CJ8.pdf

CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN HOW YOU MOUNT A 28 DB FAN (which in my estimation is still too low for this fan) ON TOP OF A HEATSINK AND THEN CALL IT 21 DB???!!!

The fan is the FBL08A12M.

ruprag · Post by **ruprag** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 8:05 am

that is easy, you measure it when it is off

cmorris · Post by **cmorris** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 8:40 am

Actually, I'd say I'm still getting 50db or so when it's off... No, wait... nevermind, it just screwed up my ears.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:34 am

cmorris wrote: The fan is the FBL08A12M.

Yes, you're 100% correct about that. Someone over at Anandtech peeled the label off his "Silent" Boost fan and it's clearly an M1A. The L1A's I tested were loud, I'd hate to hear the M1A version of these augmented fans.

I just sit there and chuckle (silently

) to myself when I see people raving about what a great, quiet HSF this "Silent" Boost is.

TT...pffffffttt...

cmorris · Post by **cmorris** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:52 am

Ralf, when you get a chance, would you mind explaining briefly how the "AFT LAC" fans and the "regular" Panaflo L1As (if not the M1As) are different? This is getting way off topic from the Silent Boost thread however. [Edit, ok now I know what the LAC is, that's the layered ringcage, which I don't think causes any noise since I can cover the slits and listen. But what's the AFT? And so aside from the ringcage, how is this Panaflo different?]

I'm going to try swapping out the fan on top of the Silent Boost, but I want to make sure the replacement has enough airflow (though not necessarily as much as it has now, if the temp's still ok). When everyone here talks about the Panaflo do you mean at a full 12V, or always less? How does a "regular" M1A compare to the L1A when undervolted, or ona fan control, noisewise?

Thanks everyone, especially Ralf.

next up... getting rid of my brand new, but obnoxious Seagate 7200.7 HDD. It might have low bels when idle, but when seeking it's the WORST! (next to the Silent Boost). Anyone know how well a Smart Drive Enclosure will get rid of seek noise? Nevermind, I'll find a HDD thread.

bradwark · Post by **bradwark** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 9:17 pm

I have to agree that the Silent Boost is loud. Although the noise level is (barely) acceptable, it is noticeably louder than the stock AMD cooler on the Barton 2500+ @ 3900 RPM. What is also interesting are the cooling results with the Barton 2500+ (from quietest to loudest):

Stock Thoroughbred 2100 fan + AS Ceramique = 46 idle, 53 load
Stock Barton 2500 fan + thermal pad = 37 idle, 45 load
Stock Barton 2500 fan + AS Ceramique = 41 idle, 50 load
SilentBoost + AS Ceramique = 39 idle, 46 load

I have now attached a Zalman FanMate to the SilentBoost and am running it at 2250 RPM. Now, if I could only do something about the high-pitched whine from my Radeon 8500 and Seagate 7200.7....

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 6:33 am

cmorris wrote:Ralf, when you get a chance, would you mind explaining briefly how the "AFT LAC" fans and the "regular" Panaflo L1As (if not the M1As) are different? This is getting way off topic from the Silent Boost thread however. [Edit, ok now I know what the LAC is, that's the layered ringcage, which I don't think causes any noise since I can cover the slits and listen. But what's the AFT? And so aside from the ringcage, how is this Panaflo different?]

I'm going to try swapping out the fan on top of the Silent Boost, but I want to make sure the replacement has enough airflow (though not necessarily as much as it has now, if the temp's still ok). When everyone here talks about the Panaflo do you mean at a full 12V, or always less? How does a "regular" M1A compare to the L1A when undervolted, or ona fan control, noisewise?

Thanks everyone, especially Ralf.

Here' more info than you probably ever wanted to know about Augmented Fan Technology. Be sure to read the White Paper too.

I think the only difference is the added ring cage, the rest of the fan is visually identical.

When I talk about Panaflos (or just about any other fan for that matter) I'm almost never talking about running them at a full 12 volts. I always undervolt my fans.

Do a search in the Fan forums for comparisons of L1A vs. M1A noise. There's literally dozens and dozens of posts on this exact subject.

luggage · Post by **luggage** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 12:40 pm

bradwark wrote:Stock Barton 2500 fan + thermal pad = 37 idle, 45 load
Stock Barton 2500 fan + AS Ceramique = 41 idle, 50 load

This looks fishy to me, havn't heard of anyone getting better temps with thermal pad than with AS before, with any hsf...

Anyway as has been discussed here the similarities (and differences) between the TT and the good TRs makes me wonder how it would perform with with a L1A or similar fan compared to a SLK900/800/94 L1A combination, undervolted and stock. Perhaps with that tranclucent duct also.
Mostly because it's easy to find and a good deal cheaper than a SLK900 without fan here in Sweden.

don't hit me cause I'm new

Likif · Post by **Likif** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 4:43 pm

Just bought it, I'm happy with the heatsink itself, it needs lapping though. The fan is...well, it's good and quiet at 5 v, but has a 'wrrrrrr' sound to it still. I'm looking into replacing it with a L1A as soon as Dorothy drops her prices a little. That would still be cheaper total than Thermalright here in Denmark. Atm it's keeping my new 2400+ undervolted at 53 load, which I find entirely acceptable with my case temps of 34 degrees.

MikeK · Post by **MikeK** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 10:22 pm

pingu666 wrote:my beef is there friggin crap products most of the time
and i dont like sayin beef, cos i had some really nice beef for tea
its like insultin it :\

You had beef for tea? LOL oculdn't resist.

Thermaltake Silent Boost

It's looking quite good!

just got mine...

my take on thermaltake's silent boost

IT'S HORRIBLE, I OWN ONE

Interesting

Re: Interesting

Noisy Silent Boost

Re: Noisy Silent Boost