P4 XPC vs. AMD XPC - Which is quieter?

[Armoth]

I've had a Shuttle SN41G2 for about a month now and am not overly impressed with its "quietness." One of my friends was claiming that the P4 XPC's are so much quieter because P4's run cooler. Granted, I haven't done any mods to mine yet, like I've been investigating here and over on the Sudhian forums. I was hoping not to have to mess with speedfan or replacing fans right away.

I was just curious to see ATers takes on this topic. What do you think people? Is one quieter than the other?

 

[NorthBear]

Originally posted by: Armoth
I was just curious to see ATers takes on this topic. What do you think people? Is one quieter than the other?

Have an SK41G and an SB51G. The P4 machine stays quieter because it does run cooler. The CPU temp sits around 45 degrees C for the SB51, while the CPU is up to 51 degrees for the SK41. The SK41 is running a 1600+ XP processor while the SB51 has a 2.4Ghz P4.

Since the SK41 doesn't have a floppy, I'm thinking about opening up the floppy slot and directing some air toward the CPU cooler block. A small heatsink/fan, like those that were used on the old Pentiums, could be attached to the cooler block somehow. The SK41 system temp is about 5 degrees cooler than the CPU, so if I could get the CPU temp to drop a bit, I'd be happier.

The SK41 has been reliable, haven't had any lockups or other problems. Just would be nice if it was a bit cooler, like the SB51.

 

[HokieESM]

Definitely play with the settings of the SpeedFan in the bios--it determines when the fan "jumps" in speed. In that respect, the Athlon and P4 SFFs can be identical in noise--but the XP-based systems do run a "bit" hotter (this has to be taken into account).

Unfortunately, having built several Shuttle XPCs, the REAL problem is the fan in the power supply. Its a 40mm fan, and its notoriously whiny. I currently do not own a shuttle, because i couldn't stand the noise.

One recommendation. Go to Sudhian Forums and check out the Shuttle XPC section. Quite a few people have worked on quieting their Shuttles... with varying degrees of effort (and results). With PSUs being made available, you might could buy an extra and see if you could modify it to be quieter (and keep the original as a spare).

Good luck!

 

[Armoth]

Yeah, I've been reading on Sudhian. Just haven't had time to really devote to modding the fans and whatnot on my SN41G2. I guess I was hoping for a higher "quiet factor" right out of the box. Oh well...maybe somewhere down the XPC line...