SPCR

Can anyone recommend a quiet 60mm fan?
I have a Dell Zino 400 HD and the fan is too loud so would like to replace it.
If anyone has any other tips for silencing a Zino I’d love to hear them.

I've had good experience with Papst fans as far as noise is concerned. However, make sure they push enough air for your need ! The smaller the fan, the faster it need to go to push air out !

I think Fractal Design does a 60mm fan. Not sure how easy they are to find or how quiet they are though.

JamieG wrote:I think Fractal Design does a 60mm fan. Not sure how easy they are to find or how quiet they are though.

Worth a punt as they aren't that expensive if they turn out to be crap - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/60mm-fra ... fan-mounts

1) 60mm fans come in more than one depth. The Zino one is thin - I think 15mm. That knocks out the SilenX, for example, as an option.
2) I've had great luck with Noctua, but they don't seem to have a 60mm.
3) The Zino can run hot. I decided not to change the fan since most quiet fans have less airflow. If you do change it - monitor temperature carefully.
4) I would try this one. http://www.acousticpc.com/papst_60x15mm ... 2f_2l.html Need to change the connector or add an adapter.

Let us know how it works.

I remember there was a quality control issue with the Zino HD build (when I was tracking it on AVS Forum in late 2009/early 2010). In many cases, the combined cooler just wasn't attached well during assembly. So, the temps were way above normal and the fans would race at maximum rpm.

Have you had the opportunity to remove/reattach it?

It turns out that it’s a 50mm fan and the connector is seemingly of the type that VGA card fans use so not so easy to replace it.

CA_Steve wrote:I remember there was a quality control issue with the Zino HD build (when I was tracking it on AVS Forum in late 2009/early 2010). In many cases, the combined cooler just wasn't attached well during assembly. So, the temps were way above normal and the fans would race at maximum rpm. Have you had the opportunity to remove/reattach it?

I didn’t have my box of PC parts so didn’t take it apart but now that I have I’ll take a look at it. I don’t think the fan is at full speed but it is possible as I don’t know how loud it would be at full speed. I’ll try reseating the heatsink and use Arctic Silver.

Cool n Quiet isn’t working which won’t help temps and I couldn’t find a fix. According to a post on Dell’s forums AMD have confirmed that CnQ isn’t supported on the Athlon X2 3250e which seems remarkable given its target application. Quote: “The Cool'n'Quiet feature is available for other energy efficient processor models that are operating at 1.6GHz or higher. (E.g. Athlon X2 4050e, 5050e)”

http://en.community.dell.com/support-fo ... 40542.aspx

I have access to another Zino which has a CPU that does support CnQ so maybe I’ll test that one.

Did you have the chance to remove and reseat the cooler?

CA_Steve wrote:Did you have the chance to remove and reseat the cooler?

Not yet but I will. The situation has changed since I first posted in that I’m no longer using the room that the Zino is located in so the noise issue is no longer pressing.
I do want to resolve it though as circumstances will change and if I can’t sort it out I’d rather sell it sooner rather than later.

I suppose a Mini-ITX based system would be better but that means a lot more effort to research and build as well as the extra cost. If it was going to be of long term use I would likely take that route.
I picked up the Zino cheaply from the Dell Outlet as a project but I’m wondering if an Acer Revo or Asus dual core Atom/Ion solution might be better. I figured it would be easier to quieten the Dell but that may not be the case.

Considering that reviewers were saying the Zino was very quiet, I think there's hope for it to be a fixable problem. <fingers crossed>