Going Fanless M/B & video whats the best?

[imported_phred]

Hi All,
Just a bit of history first up so you know where I'm coming from;

I built an AMD (3000) PC a couple of years ago now, with one of the first SLI motherboards out there at the time. Plus a half decent Graphics card on board.
Both items had fans (one on the Northbridge chip for the m/b) that failed. The graphics card fan failed one month after warranty expiry, it had not only froze (stopped spinning) but literally fell off and was left dangling off the graphics card. The m/b fan failed 3 times after which I have had to jury-rig a heatsink onto it (in way of pci exp. card surround).

On top of all that the whole shebang is just too noisy - sounds like a vacume cleaner (when case fans taken into account).

So, I have decided that I will need to upgrade sometime next year and have started looking. I want to go down the Intel route (sick of AMD's noise). Looking for the best motherboard that has nothing but good heatsinks, and the best 8800GT graphics card with 'No Fan'! That will not break the bank, that will run MS Flight Sim X and others at a good frame-rate.

If anyone has had similar experiences and wishes to go down this route please feel free to suggest. If anyone knows of products that whilst pricey now, could come down in price eventually please feel free to suggest. I would really value your assistance.

Thanks

David

 

[MDE]

You can go with pretty much any fanless P35 board and be set there (I'm using a DFI Blood Iron board). DDR3 is way too expensive and just plain not worth the small increase you'll get. If you insist on spending that money, put it towards more RAM or a better CPU. Also, AMD systems aren't necessarily "noisy." It's all about what components you're using. As far as the video card, I believe AT just reviewed a fanless 8800GT and liked it a lot, if you can find one.

 

[clickynext]

A setup with fans doesn't necessarily have to be loud. The 8800GT fans seem to be a little noisy, but the 8800GTS fan as well as HD3870 fan are nearly silent. Put that with a fanless P35 mobo, stock Intel fan for the CPU, and Antec Sonata case (comes with a quiet PSU), and you've got a very quiet system.

 

[Wolfrages]

Originally posted by: phred
Hi All,
Just a bit of history first up so you know where I'm coming from;

I built an AMD (3000) PC a couple of years ago now, with one of the first SLI motherboards out there at the time. Plus a half decent Graphics card on board.
Both items had fans (one on the Northbridge chip for the m/b) that failed. The graphics card fan failed one month after warranty expiry, it had not only froze (stopped spinning) but literally fell off and was left dangling off the graphics card. The m/b fan failed 3 times after which I have had to jury-rig a heatsink onto it (in way of pci exp. card surround).

On top of all that the whole shebang is just too noisy - sounds like a vacume cleaner (when case fans taken into account).

So, I have decided that I will need to upgrade sometime next year and have started looking. I want to go down the Intel route (sick of AMD's noise). Looking for the best motherboard that has nothing but good heatsinks, and the best 8800GT graphics card with 'No Fan'! That will not break the bank, that will run MS Flight Sim X and others at a good frame-rate.

If anyone has had similar experiences and wishes to go down this route please feel free to suggest. If anyone knows of products that whilst pricey now, could come down in price eventually please feel free to suggest. I would really value your assistance.

Thanks

David

yea you could buy a fan less system, the one problem i found when going fan less is the power suppy, fanless power suppys only go upto 450, i think it's corsair that makes them not to sure on that info.

video/chipsets/cpus are easy to cool passivley, it really comes down to the power supplys/hd's

you see if you have a raid config you will be hard pressed to get them to cool passively unless you have the spreed out from one side of the case to the other

and the power suppy is normaly above the cpu/video/chipset/memory so it takes the most heat when going passive.

the best way to go is to get a slient 120 for the frount, a quiet psu with 120/80mm fans
and a few quiet case fans on the back/top/sides. that ways the passive coolers at least have Some air flow

then just buy a heat pipe m/b. grab a passive cpu cooler.
then you can buy Any video card from 8800gt to the ultras to the 6800GT on agp, you can find a passive cooler for any video card pritty much

list of some passive parts for you, and quiet fans

passive cpu coolers
-------
ZEROtherm BTF95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835887001
-------
Thermaltake CL-P0024 - you can add a nice little 80mm to this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835106044
-------

passive video card coolers
-------
Thermalright HR-03 Plus - note this thing is huge and takes the slot above the video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835109136
-------
ZALMAN VNF100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835118029

passive psu's
-------
FSP Group ZEN 400 ATX 2.2V 400W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817104035
-------
Antec Phantom 500 ATX12V 500W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817103926

passive hd coolers
-------
Scythe FANLESS HDD BOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835185040
-------
SYBA CL-IB-35HD 3.5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835199002

quiet fans
-------
SilenX IXP-54-11 80mm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835191007
-------
SilenX IXP-74-11 120mm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835191012

 

[imported_phred]

Thank you for all the replies. Very helpfull indeed.

I am still not convinced that putting fans on video cards is the way to go, as most of them only have a one yr warranty, which in my case certainly wasn't long enough. Even the best and most expensive video card out there will be constrained by the quality of the bearings and sealing of its fan system.
I intend getting a good case that has a bit of air-filtration built in. With the larger slower but effective fans sucking air over things like a fanless motherboard and graphics card.

I will defintely retain a fan for the power supply, I've yet to see one without a fan that could handle the high end components.

Thanks for the links Wolfrages they will certainly help.

I'm looking also for any good online reviews of cards and boards. I think that a series of articles and reviews by the experts in IT is well overdue on this very subject. I'd be interested in reading it!.

Thanks,

Cheers,

David

 

[imported_phred]

Sorry,
But I did forget to mention that it is only the Motherboard Northbridge/southbridge chips that I would like fanless (most seem to have gone down that track now anyway). The main CPU obviously needs a fan still - but that is fine as it's easy and cheap to replace if it breaks.
The big issue for me is the Graphics card fan - they're hard to replace as every manufacturer seems to have a different make/model fan which makes it almost impossible to replace outside of warranty.

No fans on the PSU would be nice, but not essential, as, like the CPU they are a component easily replaced (unless one buys a really expensive one - not convinced that is necessary yet).

Cheers,