OT - Quiet HS & F Combo for XPs?

GreatWhiteNorth

Senior member
May 8, 2000
311
0
0
Alrighty folks, I know there is a forum for this type of thing but they tend to use games as a way of determining how well a CPU cooler works. SETI tends to keep the CPU warmer and for longer periods of time. I am looking for *quiet* fan and heatsink combo for AMD's XP CPUs. I have two dualies I want to put in a room but the noise level must be reduced. Just so you know I am running these chips at 'stock' speed, so I do not need extra cooling. Just enough to keep the CPUs cool enought to keep the SETI client chugging along.

Thanks in advance!

-=GWN=-
 

Confused

Elite Member
Nov 13, 2000
14,166
0
0
Alpha 8045 and some Panaflo L1A or H1A (can't remember which) but some Panaflo! They've been pimping that as quiet and good for ages in the Cooling forum!
 

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
Moderator
Jul 19, 2001
38,572
2
91
Im a fan of the Thermalright AX-7.... Its the only 'massive' cooler that could fit on my rig... :)
 

muttley

Senior member
Jun 2, 2001
760
0
0
what I use is this for dual 1800's+.
I use the stock MP heatsink/fan or if you don't use MP's then XP's are fine.
Then what I do is is use the heat sensing variable speed enermax fan on the bottom intake of the case.
Next is the exhaust and I use the same enermax fan cause it is so quiet and now I short out the thermal sensor so it runs at max. (the enermax are 2 ballbearing and 50,000 hours as I remember.
Now to decrease the sound further I use enermax power suplies <sp> that have the variable speed fans depending on temperature.
Now what I do is remove a couple of the 5 1/4 inch covers for intake of air and get a material for air intake filtering and tape it in place and put on the cover front and sides.

This has worked the best for me. The Thermaltake company that has the Tt symbol one (the fan guard symbol) that is similar to the design I mentioned of the enermax is to loud.

The next problem is that dual AMD's 1800's in my medium/small (compared to some places) size masterbedroom and ajoining masterbathroom put out a fair amount of heat. I've yet to power up my 1700+ ... also I live in South Carolina and a summer is comming and time for monitors to auto power down to reduce heat.

Changing out that powersupply from a fan that runs at full speed made a big difference. I had a 350 watt supply to run 1 processor for start up testing and when I got in a 550 watt enermax it was a world of difference. I will use enermax from now on. Also for energy savings I would guess that in conversion savings the enermax will pay for itself in an easy 2 years (I did the numbers once based on efficency ratings) and make less wasted energy, heat and noise.

I took the rear exhaust fan and tried to make it an intake and blow out the front the case... well ... it went way hot and noise went way up. Sounded like a hair dryer between low and >medium. Now my 3 drives are cool and DVD and cd/rw basicly the front of the case is cool. I have also a G4-4400 and raid card and standard ribbon cabling, just placed carefully. I have 4 slots one is open and the other has a hard drive that air flows around and the drives in the bottom stay cool from the fan (enermax not over the counter) in the normal bottom of the case.

The alpha heatsink (with a lower speed fan possibly an enermax as I have touted) is really good I have one but not all motherboards will take that 4 hole screw on version. As for other heatsinks I havent tried the newer heatsinks. But like I said I didn't change the stock heatsinks I DID HAVE a motherboard I had to send back so I didn't use the squash tape on the heatsinks but rather Artic Silver 3 and the only thing I did not is that the print on the CPU seemed to be raised but I wasn't going to sand a little to make flat cause it is retail 3 year warranty processors and I'm going for stability also, not overclocking.

muttley


 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
1
0
Alpha PAL8045s would be a wonderful choice if they happen to fit your motherboard, but I haven't heard of any dualies that will work with 8045s or other through-bolt heatsinks. Of the other heatsinks which take quieter-running 80mm fans, the Thermalright AX7 and the new jumbo version of the SK6 are the most likely to fit, along with that one budget one from SVC (cheesy fan, tho).

The old Alpha PAL6035 is still not a bad heatsink, but with a 60mm fan you will walk the fine line between having enough airflow for cooling, while not having too much noise.

What speed of AthlonXP's are you using? What are you using on them now, so we know where you're starting from on the noise level?
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
1
0
Ok, no wonder the noise is getting to you... they've got those Delta 38cfm fans. Four of those would certainly be hard to live with! :Q

I would try replacing the fans on your existing heatsinks. Here would be my cost-no-object choice... Sanyo Denki 60mm fan Others that come in at 32dB or less: these or one of the medium- or high-speed ones here or maybe the 19cfm Sunon here.

Granted, they don't push 40-50cfm, but you're not overclocking either. I've cooled a 1.4GHz Thunderbird with a 21cfm fan and a heatsink that's on a par with your CAK's. Just make sure your case ventilation is getting cool air to the heatsinks.
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
1
0
Oops, forgot to mention (nef) that you could also reduce the noise level for a lot less money by switching the fans to 7 volts, which is done by grounding their ground wire to the +5V line from the power supply (on a 4-pin drive plug, this would be the red one out of the red/black/black/yellow set). If you need more-detailed instructions, I can give you step-by-step on converting the 3-pin-to-4-pin adapters from 12V to 7V.

edit: I'll also mention that rendering on my 3D modelling software raises my CPU temperature significantly more than the SETI CLI client does. It registers about 2C higher at the socket thermistor, which could mean up to ?5-8C? higher actual core temperatures.
 

muttley

Senior member
Jun 2, 2001
760
0
0
I don't know what the current draw is for fans that are 60mm but take a 80mm fan pulling .5 amps I think would be conservitative estimate P=EI or power = voltage x current and you have 6 watts or 12 volts x .5 amps.
So what you can do is get a poteomiter<sp> and use it as a varistor and vary your fan speed depending on climate conditions or if you need to move the computers in the future. The reason that I mention the option is that dropping the voltage to 7 volts is a reduction of about ~60-66% in air flow. It wouldn't seem that but it is. I like doing the job once than having to do it a second time. Actually I think the AMD processors would handle the heat with some case airflow.

muttley
 

vss1980

Platinum Member
Feb 29, 2000
2,944
0
76
I must also say that the AX7 heatsink has also got my attention. Its not so much the overclocking potential of it but more like the fact that you dont need a high-speed (and hence loud) fan to get good cooling performance out of it. From what I've seen, even cheap generic medium speed fans still do a great job when paired up with this.

AX7 review
 

muttley

Senior member
Jun 2, 2001
760
0
0
I was just thinking to make the thing more failsafe you would make a voltage divider. In other words take say a fixed resistor at 100k ohms 3 watt and take a varriable potiemeter of 100k ohms and place them in series this way the minimun voltage to the fan would be 6 volts. If kids or somebody turned down the fans all the way at least they would still keep running at 6 volts and not off. Also if you bought a new motherboard made by Tyan it has a very good heat and voltage monitoring system program that is available for download on the internet and if certain perameters are not met it will do various options from emailing you to turning resetting or turning off the system.

Bruce.

 

IndyJaws

Golden Member
Nov 24, 2000
1,931
1
81


<< thermalright AX7 with a 30CFM panaflo on it >>



Although I have an Alpha 8045, I'd have to agree. I have the the 48CFM Panaflo and it's not bad though. The Alpha is just such a pain to install and remove.
 

muttley

Senior member
Jun 2, 2001
760
0
0
The Alpha wont fit on the Tyan Tiger cause there are no holes for a screw on heatsink.
Also the ASUS holes are just silver spots on the board and don't go through.
The Gigabyte, the rear or next to the serial/paralellel/keyboard etc is the only CPU (1) that the large alpha will fit and that has been in my experience the hotter CPU. The other scocket CPU (0) has 2 capicitors at the raised section of the ZIF or beveled section of the heatsink. However the Gigabyte has not been certified for the 1800+ MP processor.

The Tyan Tiger hasd problems with RAID cards of certain brands and types promise is one and they hope to have the problem fixed in a new BIOS.

In my personal opinion considering what the board is actually designed for not enthusasts I would use the Tyan motherboard over the other 2 boards as I have worked with the other boards and support and have a bad taste in my mouth for Gigabyte and ASUS on there 2 boards... not the company or otherboards but these specific boards.

muttley