Debating going (near) fanless

yh125d

Diamond Member
Dec 23, 2006
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Hey AT

I've gotten sick of hearing my PC (sig) over my speakers, so I got to fiddling around with my fan setup.

Old Setup:
Antec 300
140mm Antec Tri-cool on hi
120mm Tri-cool on hi
3x Hiper 120mm fans ~50cfm ~20dB ea
Stock Intel cooler, fixed at 2k with speedstep disabled
8800GT fan fixed at 100%
PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817256037

Current fiddled setup
all 5 case fans unplugged (but still installed, probably blocking some natural air flow)
CPU cooler with whatever it is called that reduces fan speed and speedstep both enabled
GPU fan fixed at 50%

CPUID HWmonitor is reading 38-40C load temps for the cpu, and ~60c for GPU. pretty nice eh? HDD is good, in the low 30s, as is NB sensor. However, the SB heatsink is hot to the touch

My PSU is so quiet, I'm not worried about replacing it or anything


The Questions:

CPU cooler - I'm thinking about replacing it with one of those handy dandy xigmatek 120mm tower coolers running without the fan. What can I expect temp wise compared to the Intel cooler? (remember, passive here)

Southbridge - Do SB's normally run pretty hot? I never really felt one til just now, so I'm not sure if its out of the ordinary. If so, are there any good aftermarket passive coolers out there for SB? I remember a handful for NB replacement, but I don't recall if anyone made a SB HS


Any input welcome
 

WoodButcher

Platinum Member
Mar 10, 2001
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I use these on the stock heatsinks for added chipset cooling or I'd get the enzotech low profile. Both are dead silent solutions but the enzo copper sink will work better fanless than the stock. You reach your goal of silence would best be reached by undervolting the antec fans (toss the hyper) or changing to quiet fans.
 

zerogear

Diamond Member
Jun 4, 2000
5,611
9
81
Why not just a fan controller and undervolt it when you're not gaming, etc?
 

yh125d

Diamond Member
Dec 23, 2006
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My thought behind a fanless xigmatek and having all my fans in place unplugged, is that all I have to do to turn it from ultra-quiet to overclocking monster is plugging the fans back in and adding one to the xigmatek

I decided against a simple fan controller because it would only be able to limit my fans, not turn them off (right?) and would just introduce more wires hanging around in my case I don't need.

About that enzotech, will it fit on a southbridge? It looks like it should, but aren't the mounting holes for a NB heatsink farther apart?


I found out through trial and error that enabling just one of my hiper fans on the case door slot blowing down on my motherboard reduces the temp of my SB by quite a bit (estimated at 10c by the back of my index finger) while still remaining fairly quiet. I think I'm going to go ahead with the xigmatek option, as well as one of the 11dB scythe slipstreams to take the spot of the hiper.

I'm really interested in how quiet I can get this machine, since it will probably become my HTPC when I rebuild next
 

error8

Diamond Member
Nov 28, 2007
3,204
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76
I'm surprised that your hearing survived the 100% 8800 GT fan speed. The sound that thing makes, it is probably higher then all your other fans combined.
 

PCTC2

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2007
3,892
33
91
If you really want to cool your SB (and you don't have the P5Q Premium), you can just get a Thermalright HR-05 and run passive. Those should work pretty well if you can get it to fit.
 

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
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I'm surprised you're not considering getting an aftermarket heatsink for the 8800GT.

I have an Accelero S1 and I love it. Better temps running passively than the stock cooling.
 

yh125d

Diamond Member
Dec 23, 2006
6,886
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I am planning on an Accelero. When I limit the 8800gt's stock fan to between 25 and 50% its nigh on silent anyway. I'm sure I'll eventually get one, I just have alot of things on my list of tweaks

I think I'm gonna pick up a Zalman NB47J for my southbridge. Adjustable mounting, and reviews say it fits most SB even though its advertised as north only. Pretty much any aftermarket heatsink should work wonders, just look at how bad the stock heatsinks are for a fanless system (http://tinyurl.com/667xxg)
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
2
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Running quiet fans is 100x better than running all passive. I've done the passive thing. In RL? Not so good.

IIRC the Sunbeamtech Rheobus fan controller can turn off fans (zero volts), if you want to go that route.

If you don't want to have to actively participate in adjusting the noise level, then just do a few simple things to make it quieter.

#1 set the 140mm fan to low. If too noisy, then leave unplugged.
#2 replace all 120mm fans with Yate Loons, modded to run at 5v.
#3 Replace stock Intel cooler with a tower heatpipe model that uses a normal 120mm fan (check Hot Deals for a Zerotherm Zen deal for around $15 after rebate). Use a 5v Yate Loon on it.
#4 Replace stock 8800 GT cooler with an Arctic Cooling Accelero S1, attach a 5v Yate Loon to it using zip ties.

All this will make your setup a lot quieter without impacting CPU/GPU temperatures too much (if at all).
 

ArchAngel777

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
5,223
61
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Originally posted by: Zap
Running quiet fans is 100x better than running all passive. I've done the passive thing. In RL? Not so good.

This is very, very true. Even one large 120MM fan undervolted blowing across the casse will do wonders compared to nothing and you will NOT hear it, unless you are a werewolf or something like that.

Edit ** Woah, his system IS loud! Pretty much anything would be an improvement... :D
 

BlueAcolyte

Platinum Member
Nov 19, 2007
2,793
2
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The main problems I can see there are the tri-cools and the 8800GT... If you can turn the tri-cools back to low or just use the hipers since tri-cools are loud as **** on any setting...
 

yh125d

Diamond Member
Dec 23, 2006
6,886
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Actually, the tri-cools on medium are very quiet

Well, looks like I have some shopping to do. Thanks guys!