Creating a Silent & cool PC Advice needed

[lsaveski]

Hi just wondering if someone could give me some advice on what?s the best way to set up the fans in a PC Case so that my hard drives are kept cool and video card as well. Trying to build a near silent system.

My system will be mounted in a coolmaster CM 690 case running a Asus P45 Chipset M/B
with a Intel E8400 3.0ghz CPU and a Noctua NH-U12P Fan.

I have also purchased 2x 120mm Noctua NF-S12-800 Case Fans & a faster NF-S12-1200 Case Fan.

Should i have the faster fan at the front sucking in more air to cool the 3-4hard drives and 2 slower fans one at the back and one at the top to pull the hot air out.

Also i plan on getting a silent Gigabyte 9600GT GPU or a ATI 4850 and putting a ARCTIC Accelero S1 VGA Cooler on it. If this is the case should i have the side fan pulling the air out from the GPU.

Any Help would be great..

 

[Jessica69]

I do hope you don't have anything between the Noctua fans you've chosen and their intake/exhaust. As repeated independent testing has shown on those particular fans, any obstruction in their air flow really hampers their output....sometimes quite drastically.

As was said in one test of the S12-1200 Noctua:

Open air rarely happens....even a fan filter or a non-wire fingerguard will hamper this fan horribly. Noctua even recognizes this and has introduced a new line built for radiators/HSFs/real-life. (The P12-1300) It's a good fan with a very serious design flaw.

 

[RallyMaster]

Noctua is a waste of money. I'll be very honest here and say that Yate Loons are cheap with great performance and should they die (I've run mine for a good year and a half), you can just get another one for ~$6.

 

[lsaveski]

Hi thanks for the info.. Well the stronger 1200 rpm fan will be at the front of the case blowing through the hard drives which will be spaced apart.. The will be replace the one from the coolmaster cm690 case.. i will also be placing one one on the top i think to suck air up and out and one at the back.. Im also going to take the side case fan out..

As for the PSU that's at the bottom. I might need to put a Noctua 800rpm drive on the ARCTIC Accelero S1 VGA card or on the bottom or side to suck air in..

Having the system as quite is important to me as well as having it cool.. I dont like seeing my Hard drives getting over 40degree's when they are on sometimes 12 hours a day..

Do you know the web site regarding the Noctua airflow and obstruction issues.

Thanks

 

[Serradifalco]

I have the cm 690 case. I have the 3 stock fans installed as they came with the case. I purchased 3 additional 140mm Yate Loon fans. So here is the orientation of my fans:

120mm front intake
140mm bottom intake
120mm left side(door) intake
2 X 140mm top exaust
120mm rear exaust

My case is kept cool even in a relatively warm room during the Summer. You will definitely have a problem with the silence part unless you also replace the 3 stock fans. It is not so much the fans themselves but the air flow making the noise. My goal was cool over silence which I accomplished.

FYI... the Yate Loon fans I have are the medium speed variety. They also have a low speed fan which makes less noise. I do have to say even the medium speed fans are very silent. I may eventually purchase 3 more to replace the stock cm fans.

As for your setup, I would mount the faster fan on the bottom as an intake. You already have an intake on the door. I would mount the other 2 fans you have on top as exaust fans. You already have the stock rear exaust fan. The stock front intake fan cools your hds. That is my recommendaion anyways. Good luck to you!

 

[Serradifalco]

Originally posted by: lsaveski
Hi thanks for the info.. Well the stronger 1200 rpm fan will be at the front of the case blowing through the hard drives which will be spaced apart.. The will be replace the one from the coolmaster cm690 case.. i will also be placing one one on the top i think to suck air up and out and one at the back.. Im also going to take the side case fan out..

As for the PSU that's at the bottom. I might need to put a Noctua 800rpm drive on the ARCTIC Accelero S1 VGA card or on the bottom or side to suck air in..

Having the system as quite is important to me as well as having it cool.. I dont like seeing my Hard drives getting over 40degree's when they are on sometimes 12 hours a day..

Do you know the web site regarding the Noctua airflow and obstruction issues.

Thanks

I am not sure that is a good airflow scenario. You have 1 intake blowing air into the case between 2 hds. That one is really designed to cool the hds. That is the reason they mounted an intake on the door... to bring un-obstucted air flow into the case. If you don't want a fan on the door, at least mount 1 intake fan on the bottom.

 

[lsaveski]

I don't mind how many fans i put in the system as long as it's quite...

Is it better to have the intake from the bottom or the side..


Ok so i guess ill place the stronger Fan at the front to cool the 3 HD's
1 on the side or bottom to suck air in..
1 at the top to suck air out
1 at the back to suck air out
Then i have the PSU at the bottom with it's fan..

Does it matter if it's 2 fans sucking air in and 2 out..?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Even airflow is good.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster
Noctua is a waste of money. I'll be very honest here and say that Yate Loons are cheap with great performance and should they die (I've run mine for a good year and a half), you can just get another one for ~$6.

your buying your yates expensive.

i havent paid more then 5 dollars per yate.

 

[Tullphan]

I had a CM690 set up similar to Serradifalco.
2 of the Yates 140mm's on the side and top and 3 of the 120mm Yates positioned at the bottom, front & rear. I also had the 80x15 mounted under the mb tray. I had the side & top Yates pigtailed & hooked into a Sunbeam rheostat. I also had the 80x15 hooked into the rheostat...if you get that fan you'd better...it's LOUD!
I got good temps & it was fairly silent as well.

 

[RallyMaster]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: RallyMaster
Noctua is a waste of money. I'll be very honest here and say that Yate Loons are cheap with great performance and should they die (I've run mine for a good year and a half), you can just get another one for ~$6.

your buying your yates expensive.

i havent paid more then 5 dollars per yate.

Well that's after shipping I think.

 

[Liberator21]

Well I for one am a big Noctua fan, and use their products when I get the chance. I don't recall any obstruction issues, I've alway took the time to route the cables properly.

About the 800rpms, I'm using a couple of them right now on my Antec NSK4480. Here's my setup

80mm 1600rpm Noctua intake
120mm 1200rpm Noctua exhaust
2x 120mm 800rpm Side exhaust
Oh yeah, and the Noctua low-profile cooler! Gotta have that!

I'm pleased with the silence, ever since using laptops regularly normal computers drive me nuts !

 

[lopri]

I did experiment a bit with two fans vs one fan exhaust, and they're about equal in performance but having two lower RPM fans seemed to help noise-wise. I followed Aigomorla's recommendation and got 140mm fans for the top exhaust and the side panel, then lowered the RPM to 800. Very quiet considering the case isn't meant for silence.