how quiet is a dell?

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WinkOsmosis

Banned
Sep 18, 2002
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My computer is as quiet as a Dell :). The fan on my CPU is an 80mm running at 1800rpm or so. The video card is a Leadtek GF4 that has two quiet fans, and there are two slow 80mm fans on the front. No chipset fan. 3 hard drives.
 

Walleye

Banned
Dec 1, 2002
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Originally posted by: Ornery
"what do u guys recommend for a fanless gaming card?"

Ask Walleye. I'm sure he can tell you how to fabricate an air duct to the CPU and video card, that will be cooled by a 120mm fan. Piece of cake!

say what?

/me is confused.

air ducting over the cpu is done all the time, even my dell has it. it'd be relatively impossible to do the same ducting over to the video card, and still maintain good temps. but you were probably mocking me, but i know not why. i have talked nothing of being an expert on non-standard cooling...



in regards to quieting the video card:

why not just replace the video heatsink+fan with the zalman copper heatsink/heatpipe designed for video cards? then just increase the intake and output fans.
 

Ornery

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
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"my dell's fairly quiet, but i'm sure i could hand-build quieter. "

You could do better, but can't figure out a similar method to cool the video chip? Tsk, tsk...
 

LuDaCriS66

Platinum Member
Nov 21, 2001
2,057
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Dell's are quiet alright... but I would never buy a desktop from them. Besides the fact I'd rather build my own.

At least not after trying to help a friend upgrade his system.. and after pulling the heatsink off, the CPU was stuck on the heatsink.. :Q with a couple of bent pins to boot
 

Walleye

Banned
Dec 1, 2002
7,939
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Originally posted by: Ornery
"my dell's fairly quiet, but i'm sure i could hand-build quieter. "

You could do better, but can't figure out a similar method to cool the video chip? Tsk, tsk...

crystal orbs are supposed to be somewhat quieter.. other than that, why not the zalman heatsink and heatpipe and get some more airflow within the case?
 

Amorphus

Diamond Member
Mar 31, 2003
5,561
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Originally posted by: Walleye
Originally posted by: Ornery
"my dell's fairly quiet, but i'm sure i could hand-build quieter. "

You could do better, but can't figure out a similar method to cool the video chip? Tsk, tsk...

crystal orbs are supposed to be somewhat quieter.. other than that, why not the zalman heatsink and heatpipe and get some more airflow within the case?

Crystal Orbs are NOT quiet, foolboi! :p
Get the Zalman, mos def. If you want, you can jury-rig an ultra-low-RPM 80mm to the end and have it blow over it. Meh.

At least not after trying to help a friend upgrade his system.. and after pulling the heatsink off, the CPU was stuck on the heatsink.. :Q with a couple of bent pins to boot
That's not Dell's fault, really. This same sort of thing happens with the Intel stock TIM a lot, so I hear. The stuff is pretty adhesive.

Dells are a great choice for PC noobs. But go with Falcon Northwest of iBuyPower.com is you want flashiness and such. Not Alienware (eeeeew... ;))

:wine::)
 

zixxer

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2001
7,326
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Originally posted by: Ornery
"my dell's fairly quiet, but i'm sure i could hand-build quieter. "

You could do better, but can't figure out a similar method to cool the video chip? Tsk, tsk...

Here's what I did..

I used a dell temp controlled fan and used the duct on my cpu. The heatsink is a alpha 8942..

for the power supply I used a fan pulled out of a dell power supply.

The video card's fan is a chipset fan with a 7v mod.

It is very very quiet and decent temps.
 

LordMorpheus

Diamond Member
Aug 14, 2002
6,871
1
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Originally posted by: Vic
how quiet is a dell?
VERY. I'm sitting right next to the Optiplex GX150 I have at work and I can't even hear it. If I put my ear right up against the case, I can just barely hear the slightest whisper of fans.

our old PIII 1ghz system is still nearly silent, with the exception of the HDD which devolpes that 'crunching' noise over time, like all other HDD's I've used.

The new workstation Xeon 1.5ghz (dualie mobo, but only proc . . so far . . . ), and something like 3 or 4 HDDs, one of them SCSI, is silent. In contrast, my homebuilt sounds like a fvcking jet turbine with bad engine knock. Gah. I'll build a new one soon, and I will actually by quality fans for it.