Can I run with no fan on cpu?

[Syborg1211]

My computer is pretty noisy, and I have lost need for so much speed so I decided to downclock my processor speed. When I went back down to 700, I lowered the voltage down to 1.55 volts. I haven't tried any lower yet. I have an Alpha PEP66 with arctic silver and the heatsink is kind of hot compared to when it had a fan on it. Should I keep or no? Cpu temp difference is supposedly one measly degree, but I tend to distrust my cpu temp readings on this board since it read my P3 550 as running at 99 degrees C.

 

[Jonny]

Hmmm...if its stable, keep it...if its not, put a fan back on.

 

[Mule]

I took a look inside a IBM server and it had dual PIII 550's and they didn't have a fan on them. Both of them were connected using a special heatsink that connected both CPU's. This thing was HUGE but it got the job done, I doubt such a heatsink would fit in a regular mid tower, or even a full tower case.

 

[Stringy]

Well... you certainly CAN run without a HS fan, but I doubt it makes
That much noise, why not get a quieter fan??
the Alpha is Very good, but you're still trying to disapate heat without any active
circulation....

Since you are already conceeding speed for piece and quiet why not get a low rpm
fan that makes little to no noise...
I just have a hard time having only passive heat reduction when the manufacturer
since the P3 (even high P2's) has mandated an active heat reduction solution...

I'd get a better means of temp monitoring, and then if you still wanted to go
fanless atleast use CPUIdle and ShutDown software in order to avoid catastropic
failure of a very nice chip...

 

[Napalm]

If its too loud, get some quiet fans (panaflo), get a quiet heatsink/fan Golden Orb, and a quiet powersupply (Whisper Enermax). When you are done you will have a sytem that is near silent and you will still be able to overclock the $hit out of it.

Cheers,
Napalm

PS - I just need to find me some panaflos and I will have finished the above noise-reduction project

 

[BA]

I've got some 60mm Adda fans, they're ~16db, so for all practical purposes, they're silent. Slap one of those on there if you're uncomfortable about the heat put out. As long as it's stable, don't worry.

 

[Syborg1211]

You think I should try and run at 1.5 volts? Wouldn't that lower my cpu temp?

 

[Syborg1211]

I was thinking about the GORB but I already spent like 40 bucks on thie Alpha so I don't want to just put it to waste. And, my computer is already pretty silent but I want it dead quiet basically. I want to be able to only hear the hard drive. Is this an unattainable dream?

 

[zerogear]

Simple. Don't use fans, use water cooling.

 

[jfall]

The macintosh G4 runs without a fan, and it runs at like room temp

 

[Alfred]

Hey zerogear, you need a pump with watercooling, but the pump itself is noisier than a fan I think.

 

[ratkil]

There were some threads about a year ago where people were using car soundproofing on the side panels of their cases. Seems like that would help greatly in reducing much of the sound. I have also seen people hang the hard drives by plastic straps to reduce even more of the sound generated by the vibration travelling through the case. Also make sure you have all the screws in your case and that they are tight.

 

[Rigoletto]

Does anybody here have links to quiet pc gear? Like quietpc.com is the only one I found.
Syborg, I don't think you will run anything at 1.5V. Like when you overclock you add a max of .1V!
I don't even understand what CPU you are running (not a PIII550@1GHz). Seems to be Celeron 667 or so.

 

[Zenmervolt]

The last x-86 processor I trust without a fan is the 80486 series and maybe the original Pentiums up to 100MHz. Someone mentioned that MAC computers with IBM Power PC 70x (Gx in MAC-speak) processors don't have fans, true. However, the chips are basically embedded and those of us who have taken apart a 70x tower know that the heatsink on the processor is absolutely huge. One must also remember that 70x series processors run at a maximum of 500MHz. Note: If you look into an iMAC, you can see that the heatsink almost spans the width of the case. This comes from working on my ex-High School's network which is based on PPC 70x MACs on a 10 Base T network with 100 Base TX between the computer labs and the hub, and a fibre-optic backbone linking the hubs of all the buildings in our district. Who said Public Schools are short on money?

Aaron Meyer

 

[Syborg1211]

I am running a coppermine 700 and was running overclocked at ghz.

 

[Syborg1211]

Well, they say it couldn't be done, but it has been done. 1.5 volts!!!!

 

[Syborg1211]

Dare I try 1.45? Probably not since I slapped the fan back on anyways and it doesn't matter.

 

[SF DUDE]

Your biggest obstacle to a "silent" PC is going to be the power supply. Most will not last without a fan of some sort.

 

[Bignate603]

If sound is bugging you go out and get a quiet one...

 

[Ben]

Just get bigger speakers and CRANK IT UP!

 

[Syborg1211]

Definitely right that the loudest thing is my ps now. Any recommendations for a quiet ps fan?

 

[Syborg1211]

hehe, I do have some of the best comp speakers out and they cover up the noise just perfectly, but I would like to go to sleep without music on and without being kept awake by my computer. I would turn it off but RC5 is much more important

 

[GD695372]

Sound bugs me too, although I have to tolerate a small fan buzz from ym dual p2-300 workstation. Unless if you want to take the extreme route, just go with a really low rpm fan. If you don't want to spend the money for a new ps(assuming the ps bothers you), see if the configuration of the holes in the ps would allow you to mount an additional fan internally, and use 2 quiet fans. Otherwise get a quiet ps, unless if you think you can run your's with a single low-rpm or no fan(i'd highly discourage this practice because the ps is the last component that you want to have malfunction).

In my opinion, the extreme route would be to gaft one of those monstrous imac heatsinks and somehow rig it up. That would keep it nice and cool(just don't allow the heatsink to make contact with anything plastic cause those imacs smell really bad after a few days of 24/7 operation).

 

[Syborg1211]

After being downclocked, Unreal Tournament went way too slow for my liking. I went back up to 847 with my prophet. Boy, how I wish my motherboard had a 1/2 agp bus ratio for my prophet to run with the full extent of my processor.