Old Dog, New Tricks: My HTPC

Show off your quiet rig.

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TMM
Posts: 71
Joined: Fri May 06, 2005 3:03 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Old Dog, New Tricks: My HTPC

Post by TMM » Thu Nov 08, 2007 9:03 pm

I've had this HTPC for a while but it has (over 2 years) finally got to the stage where i can consider it quiet :) It started off as pretty much worst case scenario. The chipset had a 6000rpm fan, gfx card fan wore out almost immediately, the CPU cooler often ramped up to 5000rpm, the PSU fan was DOA and often failed to start at all - and when it did it made a ticking noise, the silverstone case fans.... you get the point :D

Specs:
Athlon64 3200+
MSI K8N Neo4-F
1GB Corsair PC3200 Cas2
Leadtek 6600GT
2x 250GB Seagate 7200.9 in Raid0
FSP Bluestorm 400W
Silverstone LC14M
Pioneer 110 dvd-rw
Fusion Dual Digital HDTV Tuner

Intake is via a 92mm Nexus @ 7v:
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Ye olde NB47J on the chipset. I planned to put a HR-03 on the graphics card but it didn't fit in the case. So i put the HR-03 on my Gigabyte 7600GT, and put the gigabyte Silent Pipe heatsink on my 6600GT, which fits perfectly! The rats nest of front panels wires isn't as bad as the photo makes it look ;)
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CPU HSF is a stock Athlon64 X2 HSF (the best variety. Picked it up for $10AUD... bargain. Stock fan wasn't half bad either) w/ 80mm Nexus
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The PSU fan was swapped for an Antec Tricool
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In it's natural habitat :p
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Overall, it is dead silent except for the hard mounted drives. Lucky for me the 7200.9's don't vibrate much, but they have a slight bit of whine, and seeks are audible (but not from the couch :D).

C&C welcome.
Last edited by TMM on Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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djkest
Posts: 766
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2007 1:05 pm
Location: Colorado, USA

Post by djkest » Thu Nov 08, 2007 9:24 pm

Wow I've never seen those x2 heatsinks, they look quite nice! I'd be interested in picking one up if I could get one on the cheap.
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nightmorph
Posts: 316
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:07 am

Post by nightmorph » Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:40 pm

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Last edited by nightmorph on Fri Apr 21, 2023 11:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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TMM
Posts: 71
Joined: Fri May 06, 2005 3:03 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by TMM » Fri Nov 09, 2007 2:51 am

i have the Gigabyte 7600GT in my main rig. The HR-03 heatpipes stuck out too much on the Leadtek 6600GT and the case lid didn't fit on, so i installed the HR-03 on my 7600GT, and put the gigabyte heatsink on my 6600GT :)

They are both 3.5" drives (the photo is deceiving) and the cage is a very tight fit - i don't think grommets would fit, or they'd be too tight to be effective :(. Eventually i hope to make a new cage and suspend them properly, or suspend a 2.5" drive (or two!), and move the existing drives to my file server :)

I'm not sure about temps - haven't tried it with the new fan :D. I guess 50-60C *goes to test*

edit: ok with the smart fan target set to "60C", under load the temperature evened out at 57C (coretemp). The motherboard reads about 10C lower for the CPU, so the fan was only just started (700-800rpm). That is good enough for me :). At idle (w/ Cool'n'Quiet enabled) the fan stops and the CPU hovers around 35C.

With the fan running full speed i would expect the cpu to load at ~40C
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jhhoffma
Posts: 2131
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:00 am
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Post by jhhoffma » Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:04 am

Attaboy!!

I love when people resurrect old system into HTPCs. You may want to consider removing the HDD cage and making your own to mount your HDDs quietly. Maybe just a platform to rest the drives on sorbothane (or foam) blocks which would reduce seek noise and still allow the drives to breathe.
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matva
Posts: 130
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2004 7:16 am
Location: South Florida

Post by matva » Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:33 pm

+1 for green carpet.
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