Ralf Hutter's P4C Quiet Rig

Show off your quiet rig.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Sun Aug 01, 2004 5:51 am

ONEshot wrote:Ralf:

I know this may be a stretch, but could you pleeeease take more pictures of your computer? Maybe one with the backside w/side panel removed?? That would help a LOT with helping me organize my cables in my new 3700!!
I think this one's been posted here before, but this seems to be the only one I have of the back side of the 3700AMB. Unused wiring is bundled up behind PSU.

Image

ONEshot wrote:And a question about the 3700... I had trouble putting back on my side panels... Any tricks to getting that done? Or am I just being stoopid?

Thanks, Ralf.
I dunno, there's nothing special about installing the doors that I can think of. Insert the front end into the space behind the bezel, swing the door closed, snap the latches closed (front door) and screw in the screws (front and back doors).

ONEshot
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Post by ONEshot » Sun Aug 01, 2004 10:38 am

Wow thanks Ralf, I didn't think you'd bother to go looking for a picture for me! You're awesome.

whoiswes
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Post by whoiswes » Sat Aug 28, 2004 11:36 am

If anyone is starting a group buy on those fans (or if ralf has a few left over), I'm in need of two.

Great post and AWESOME setup, Ralf. I'll be picking up a LX-6A19 and (trying) to duplicate your setup - absolutely beautiful.

Your machine is the REASON side windows were invented.

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Sat Aug 28, 2004 12:33 pm

whoiswes wrote:Your machine is the REASON side windows were invented.
Hmm, isn't that ironic. I can't stand the things.

Sam Williams
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Post by Sam Williams » Tue Oct 26, 2004 11:54 am

Hey Ralf, please could you fix the images in your initial post? I'm thinking of trying my hand at the old cablegami this weekend and it'd be helpful to have the genuine article to refer to :)

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Tue Oct 26, 2004 1:11 pm

Sam Williams wrote:Hey Ralf, please could you fix the images in your initial post? I'm thinking of trying my hand at the old cablegami this weekend and it'd be helpful to have the genuine article to refer to :)
Oops, sorry. :oops:

I deleted a bunch of stuff off my server a few weeks ago and I guess I got a little too heavy-handed. It's fixed now.

Sam Williams
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Post by Sam Williams » Sun Oct 31, 2004 9:39 am

Thanks Ralf, that's great.

Of course, the downside is that I may end up having to buy a whole new system to reach that level of neatness...

threevok
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Post by threevok » Sat Nov 27, 2004 10:08 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:
miker wrote:Excellent system. Very neat and orderly. Nice folding and wire management.

3 questions:

1. What did you use to cut the 120mm fan grill out?

2. Where'd you get the 120mm OEM Panaflo?

3. Did I read you right, when you said it was quieter than an 120 mm L1A?
1) $8 nibbler from CompUSA.

2) Electronics wholesaler in Colorado. $75, shipped for 40 fans. It's hard to beat $2 each for a 120mm Panaflo! You can also get them in single unit purchases for $13 from Thermalfx.com right here in smoggy LA.

3) Yes, they are definitely quieter. I tested four of these against four regular L1As at 5, 7 and 12V. It was about a toss-up at 12V but at 5 and 7 volts the OEMs are noticeably quieter. They have less "clickyness" and less air noise.
When you were "nibbling" were there any metal shavings produced? In other words, would it be prudent to tape the inside of the exhaust grill and nibble with the motherboard installed?

Secondly, I also have the 120mm OEM Panaflo. Have you since replaced it with something quieter?

Thanks in advance.

Edward Ng
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Post by Edward Ng » Sat Nov 27, 2004 10:11 pm

Nibbling/snipping does result in some dust/particles/bits. I don't recommend snipping with sensitive components installed. I got away with it once by taping a bag to the inside of the hole while I snipped, but that's a gamble. To be safe, don't do it.

However, the amount of particles made isn't even remotely as bad as using a rotary tool, and the bits that come off while snipping aren't dust-like in size or shape, so I suppose a cleanup afterwards wouldn't be too difficult.

Maybe I'm just paranoid when it comes to this sort of stuff.

-Ed

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:59 am

I agree 1000% with Ed. While there aren't too many small chips produced by nibbling, it just takes one to ruin one of the delicate electronic components of your system. Personally, I would never do any metal work on the case unless everything was removed from the case first. But I'm sort of an old lady about these sort of things. My reasoning is that you may get away with it, but if you do it right the first time you won't have anything to worry about. My 2¢, FWIW.

threevok
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Post by threevok » Sun Nov 28, 2004 1:29 pm

Thanks Edward and Ralf for the responses. I'm interested in not having extended down time. A shorted motherboard would certainly be more time costly than spending an extra hour to do it right the first time.

frankgehry
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gray flexo wrap + ( heat shrink | tubing | other )

Post by frankgehry » Mon Jan 10, 2005 8:05 pm

Ralf,

In your p4 quiet rig, when you use flexo wrap, do you terminate it with tape, heat shrink tubing, or something else. I see there is also a cable tie over the black material that I'm wondering about. Don't tell me you take all the connectors off, but I guess that's another possibility, but one that I like to avoid. TIA - FG

Ralf Hutter
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Re: gray flexo wrap + ( heat shrink | tubing | other )

Post by Ralf Hutter » Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:36 am

frankgehry wrote:Ralf,

In your p4 quiet rig, when you use flexo wrap, do you terminate it with tape, heat shrink tubing, or something else. I see there is also a cable tie over the black material that I'm wondering about. Don't tell me you take all the connectors off, but I guess that's another possibility, but one that I like to avoid. TIA - FG
If you're talking about the ATX power cable, it's shrink tubing over the ends of the Flexo sleeving. Problem is, because of the large ATX connector (that I'm too chicken to try and remove), you need to find 4:1 shrink tube, which is not easy. Normal shrink tube is 2:1, and you can sometimes find 3:1 but 4:1 is tough. The cable tie is to secure the shrink tube over the Flexo. Just a bit of added insurance.

evalachovic
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elastomer fan mounts

Post by evalachovic » Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:24 pm

Does anybody know where to find elastomer fan mounts or something similar?

frankgehry
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Post by frankgehry » Tue Feb 01, 2005 8:46 pm

E,

There are a lot of place where you can get these thing and there are several sizes that are mentioned in the forums.

To get you started you can go here:


www.mcmaster.com - look up miniature pvc fan mounts
http://www.siliconacoustics.com/fanisolators1.html
www.ncix.com - elastomeric fan isolators
www.earsc.com

These things come from a company www.earsc.com. I've heard you can write and ask for a sample set.

There are a lot of other places that sell these things, but if you search for mcmaster, or ears, or fan mounts on this site you find out a lot. Sometimes its hard to look through all the posts so I thought I could help you get started . Somewhere there is the correct model number to order from mcmaster.com. - FG

follow this link:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=4864

evalachovic
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EARS

Post by evalachovic » Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:35 am

Thanks for the links. A couple of them were still very difficult to locate the right products, but EARS was the easiest. I called an 800 number and they are sending free samples of all their fan mounts and HDD mounts. They were very friendly. Thanks.

The like for the fan mounts is:
http://www.earsc.com/fantechniques.asp

for the HDD mounts is:
http://www.earsc.com/hddtechniques.asp

each of these pages also links to the other.

Ephemeron
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Post by Ephemeron » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:01 pm

Ralf, did you use anything to 5v your 120mm fans or did you just switch teh wires?

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Mon Apr 25, 2005 5:32 am

Ephemeron wrote:Ralf, did you use anything to 5v your 120mm fans or did you just switch teh wires?
The latest iteration of this system is using Zalman Fanmates to run the fans at 5V. Depending on the situation, I also hardwire them to 5 or 7 volts, or use the Zalman MC-1.

John Robinson
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Post by John Robinson » Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:52 am

Lots of great info. You've inspired me to try a spot of cablegami in my EPIA system - see http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/quietcubid/ for pics. I had the HDD and DVD on separate rounded IDE cables, but I wanted to try (i) using a definitely-in-spec cable and (ii) putting them both on the same one, because of the still-present IDE lockup bug - see http://forums.viaarena.com/messageview. ... adid=60131 for details.

A suggestion for others who want to try a bit of cablegami - do it with paper first. I guess the origami reference made me think of it. I made an 18" long paper ribbon and drew the connectors on it; it now has hundreds of folds in it, and I think I would have ruined a dozen cables before getting it right.

I've just managed to get an 18" cable to run from the mobo, straight up to under the DVD, round the side of it avoiding fouling the RAM, to the upside-down IDE connector on the back of the DVD, then twisting round again to the hard drive, which has its IDE connector the right way up and is mounted sideways at the back of the case.

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Post by Wedge » Sat Jul 09, 2005 7:15 am

I modeled my first build after this one of Ralf's. I think it's excellent, especially for newbies.

Ralf, I just noticed in your sig that you have changed the processor/mobo to the Pentium M and Aopen 855GME. Are they in the case you used for this project?

Shadowknight
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Post by Shadowknight » Sat Jul 09, 2005 8:07 am

Wedge: look at the end of his signature.

Wedge
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Post by Wedge » Sat Jul 09, 2005 8:13 am

Got it. I haven't been around here to browse much lately. So the P180 is the going thing here now..



oh and John Robinson, Welcome to SPCR !!

John Robinson
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Post by John Robinson » Sat Jul 09, 2005 6:08 pm

Wedge, thank you! I know I've been to SPCR before, did you only get the forums recently? ...ish? Hmm, even Ralf has been on the forums for 2.5 years; maybe SPCR was here longer ago and I never noticed the forums since. D'oh!

The EPIA system immediately had a Zalman NB47J motherboard heatsink stuck on the CPU - it's a low power CPU so it's just enough in the case I have with a fan and vent on the side next to the CPU. Before that the last PC I built is older than that, and it's still not quiet enough; I've got an Enermax Whisper PSU and an Alpha PAL 8045+Papst 8412NGL, but it needs more cooling to put the side on and it's got to be quiet... sometime I'll get the right ideas here :D

Edit: I shouldn't be posting after a night in the pub, I typed 8045 twice, but I don't think Papst do an 8045 fan :roll: Maybe time to learn about the "Preview" button!

Wedge
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Post by Wedge » Sat Jul 09, 2005 8:25 pm

John Robinson wrote:Wedge, thank you! I know I've been to SPCR before, did you only get the forums recently? ...ish?
Well, i've been here a while...3 years+ now i think? Anyway, you're welcome. Greatest forum on the net and I genuinely mean that (awesome, friendly, knowledgeable people dwell here).

And just to keep this on topic: Ralf has built yet another kicks-ass rig Image

GamingGod
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Post by GamingGod » Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:42 pm

How does the OEM 120x38 panaflo compare to yate loon and globalwin fans? I still have 4 OEM panaflo's lying around and was wondering if it would be any better to get GW or yate loon's to use in my next build? Im guessing the thicker oem panaflo at least had a max cfm advantage but how about cfm at similar noise between it and the forementioned fans?

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Sat Aug 05, 2006 5:57 am

GamingGod wrote:How does the OEM 120x38 panaflo compare to yate loon and globalwin fans? I still have 4 OEM panaflo's lying around and was wondering if it would be any better to get GW or yate loon's to use in my next build? Im guessing the thicker oem panaflo at least had a max cfm advantage but how about cfm at similar noise between it and the forementioned fans?
The OEM Panaflo is somewhat louder than the Y-L or GW fans. If money's real tight, try the Panaflo first. If it's too loud for your taste, go with one of the quieter alternatives.

Rory Buszka
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Post by Rory Buszka » Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:26 pm

I'm betting that when I slow it down with an MCubed TBalancer BigNG, the 120mm Panaflo will be nigh untouchable for low noise, but able to supply as much cooling as a SLi/Crossfire/AMD X2 system could need. It will be the main exhaust fan in my silent P150 build, which will come around sometime this year or early next year. Whenever that AMD/Intel price war is supposed to ramp up.

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Post by jaganath » Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:42 pm

the 120mm Panaflo will be nigh untouchable for low noise, but able to supply as much cooling as a SLi/Crossfire/AMD X2 system could need.
You'll get more airflow out of a 120x38mm fan, but not that much.Also, if the Panaflo is louder than a YL/GW, it won't be a "silent" P150 will it? (my pet peeve is misuse of the word silent) 13mm more on the fan depth is not going to give you an order of magnitude increase in CFM.

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Sun Aug 06, 2006 5:57 am

FWIW, all the OEM Panaflos that I have (at least a dozen) all have more mechanical noise than the Y-Ls, and the overall tone of the noise is a bit more bothersome than the Y-Ls, but this may be a "YMMV" sort of issue.

GamingGod
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Post by GamingGod » Sun Aug 06, 2006 4:21 pm

and between the YL and GW which would be your preference? Again most cfm/db

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