QUICK! Thermal gurus- does this system need 4 case fans?

[StattlichPassat]

I'll make it short and sweet... here's the specs of the system I'm about to build with an Antec SX-1040BII case. Does it need 2 intake and 2 exhaust fans?

AMD Athlon XP 2700+ w/ retail HSF
MSI KT4-Ultra mobo
Crucial 512MB DDR333
GF4 MX400 64MB
SB Audigy
D-Link 10/100
Western Digital 80GB S.E.
Sony 52x CD-ROM
48x Plexwriter
Windows XP Pro

I want it cool and as quiet as possible. The case comes with two 8cm (80mm) fans already... should I order two more? Please respond ASAP- ordering tonight! TIA

 

[Markfw]

I have a 2100 with the retail HSF and an Antec 1080awg soho tower (comes with two exhaust and one over the video card), and I added the two intake. right now at idle it is at 30c case and 53.50 cpu. When I do games, it goes up. The noisiest thing in the case is the cpu fan (I think). I want a 2700 with a Vantec Aeroflow VA4-C7040. The new CPU's run cooler, and that fan is really quiet.

 

[StattlichPassat]

Well, I also have a slick new Volcano8 here as well that I'm debating using if it would be quieter. Copper base too. Any other opinions? I'm looking for a 'yes' or 'no' answer to my question. I need to order these parts here in the next hour or so.

 

[mechBgon]

I assume that's some Antec-alike case, judging by the dual 80mm + dual 80 front option. Those cases "breathe" well, so you probably don't need anything beyond Panaflo L1A's, maybe just a couple in back. About a third of the air they push out the back will come in through the HDD cage, keeping the HDD cool. Personally, I have a set of five of these (five fans for $11!) in my office system, which is in a similar case, and it runs as cool as pie. But it's not a gaming system.

I encourage you to try my suggestion here for venting the upper few inches of your case. Takes about three minutes and is easy to undo if you don't like it. No noise penalty.

Two questions: why not nForce2, and were you aware that >some< WD 800JB drives put out a pronounced ZZZZZZIING!! noise? Might want to round up a fluid-bearing Maxtor with the 8Mb cache if you're worried about noise.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: NightFlyerGTI
Well, I also have a slick new Volcano8 here as well that I'm debating using if it would be quieter. Copper base too. Any other opinions? I'm looking for a 'yes' or 'no' answer to my question. I need to order these parts here in the next hour or so.

I vote for a Thermalright SLK-800 and an 80mm Panaflo L1A for your CPU or a YS Tech 80mm with the manual adjuster knob if you want freedom to experiment.

 

[StattlichPassat]

Thanks for the good suggestions, guys. I'm actually building this for a client, not myself. I considered the nForce2 a great deal, but just for personal reasons, I'm a fan of discrete devices rather than having everything integrated. I still love the nForce2 and would definitly consider the platform for my next personal system, but I think this will give my client better performance with DDR333 and being able to hold twice as much of it (3GB) to boot. On the hard drive, I haven't heard of any zinging problems from that model yet. The ones I've personally experienced were quieter than the non-S.E. drives, which do have that problem (my non-S.E. 20 and 80GB drives sound like that at times). Nevertheless, I trust no drive but Western Digital. But let's not get into that.

Saying that, I'm not big on these tweaky gadgets like 80mm fans on CPU heatsinks- AMD's stock HSF is my favorite one. I'm a fan of conservative, no-frills approches. Think of my business as the child bred from the solid business workstation reputation of IBM and high performance reputation of Alienware.

 

[arcenite]

Did I need all these case fans?

No, probably not. Being as the system is only a 733mhz Hewlett Packard, I only did it for fun. Though I am very impressed that my harddrives run much much much cooler.

Bill

 

[HokieESM]

Do you NEED them? In a word: no.

But, four case fans can be nice.... if you want to spend the cash. The Antec variable speed fans that come with that case are 'reasonably' quiet... but not incredibly so. With the two that come with the case, I would put one in front and one in back and you'll be fine.

BUT if you want a little more airflow and a LOT less noise, go buy some Panaflo L1As or some NMB quiet fans, and put four of them (two in front, one in back). They put out less airflow (each) than the Antecs... but they're MUCH quieter. And with four, you end up with a little more airflow total. And as a side benefit: one of the fans in front will blow directly over your hard drive, keeping it cool.

With THAT particular case (unless you've gotten a new-old stock one), I think the loudest thing you'll find is the PSU. The "SL" series PSUs from Antec are much louder (as a general rule: there are always individual exceptions) than their "TruePower" line.

As far as a heatsink goes, I would find a decent one for the Athlon. I've always found AMDs retail solutions very poor when compared to Intel's.... plus, there are some great aftermarket heatsinks. One recommendation, though (which is contrary to a lot of people here): look at the weight of the heatsink. If you're going to be moving this case around a lot DON'T buy a heavy one. The SLK-800 on my Athlon rig snapped off during a move, nearly cracking the core (thankfully, it didn't).

 

[jagr10]

As mentioned above, you don't need them, but you can't go wrong with 2 extra fans. They don't cost much either so why not.
JUst remember with all those fans don't expect your system to be too quiet.

 

[SuperSix]

I would add as many as I could until the noise level got too high for my tastes. Do you need 4 fans, I don't think so, 2 should be more than enough.

 

[Ipno]

Just a quick question:

Why are you going to build an otherwise great computer and then put a crappy Geforce 4 MX 440 in it?

A used Geforce 3 would be faster than that card.

 

[StattlichPassat]

if you want a little more airflow and a LOT less noise, go buy some Panaflo L1As or some NMB quiet fans, and put four of them (two in front, one in back).

Thanks for the great reply- I will be ditching the stock Antec fans in favor of 4 NMB fans, thanks to mechBgon's wonderful suggestion. Why didn't I find out about these fans earlier!? I ordered 10 of them- 4 for my client, 4 to redo mine (Antec SX-1030B, essentially the same case), and maybe 2 to resell to you guys in FS/FT. Anyhow, my own SX-1030B case was manufactured in early 2001, so it has an older Antec 300w PSU in it. Not TruePower. My system runs ok (see 'RIG' in my signature), but I really want to get the noise down. Hopefully replacing the 2 Enermax intakes and 2 Antec exhausts will do the job, and I might upgrade to a quieter HSF on my 1.2GHz Athlon over the current AMD retail unit. One of the main culprits are my non-Special Edition Western Digital hard drives (20GB and 80GB) that can get noisy at times.

I dream of 'Dell-quiet' systems...

Oh, and Ipno, the only reason I went with a somewhat low-performance GF4 graphics card is because my client doesn't do a whole lot of gaming at all. It wasn't high on his priority list when we started talking about his needs, wishes and desires for this new workstation. He said he might play UT every once in a blue moon, but this wasn't going to be a gaming machine. I think the MX400 will be a perfectly good card for his uses (and he can easily toss it and get something better later on if he chooses), but yes, a GF3 Ti200 would have been a better option, or even a GF4 Ti4200 since they're getting quite affordable now.

Let's keep talking about case fans and trying to make systems quieter- it's one of my bigger facinations and goals in working with and building computers!

 

[spanner]

I would go with 4 quiet (<20dB) fans. But to answer your question, you should be fine with just the two fans that came with the case. I would also avoid the retail heatsink fan and go for a quieter one. And if you want something really quiet then you will also need a quiet power supply and passive heatsinks for your vga card and mobo chipset if its not already passive

 

[StattlichPassat]

Sound advice... does anyone know the dB rating of the retail AMD HSF units? I've got a new Volcano8 with a copper base sitting here that I'm thinking about using on either his or my system. It's rated at 35dB...

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: StattlichPassat
Sound advice... does anyone know the dB rating of the retail AMD HSF units? I've got a new Volcano8 with a copper base sitting here that I'm thinking about using on either his or my system. It's rated at 35dB...

That Taisol I mentioned a while back has what I believe is the same fan as the stock AMD heatsinks have. 32dB, 21cfm.

 

[everman]

I assume that is 4 case fans in addition to the PSU fans. 2 Exhaust in back + PSU and one in front pulling it should be fine. The airflow caused by the rear fans should actually pull more air in. I would put that front fan in front of the HD to keep it nice and cool if possible.

 

[StattlichPassat]

Well first off, I need to get in the habit of putting hard drives in that bay! I've been mounting them at the bottom of the floppy cage... if it's safer and better for the drives, I'll do it.

 

[Junin]

mechBgon,

Thanks for the suggestion about turning the TruePower upside down. It lowered my case temp about 4 degrees celcius.
I remember thinking about flipping the psu in my case over when I was first putting it together, but I just opted for the (apparently) approved way.


Thanks again

 

[ElFenix]

the two case fans that come with the antecs are completely fine. in fact, a trupower will turn them down a little bit, in my experience. i'm thinking of doing the PS flip that mech detailed, it does seem to blow warm air out of there.

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: Junin
mechBgon,

Thanks for the suggestion about turning the TruePower upside down. It lowered my case temp about 4 degrees celcius.
I remember thinking about flipping the psu in my case over when I was first putting it together, but I just opted for the (apparently) approved way.


Thanks again

What is this turn it upside down thing you speak of?

 

[Junin]

The intake for the Antec Tru power is built facing down (towards the motherboard).
If you flip it upside down, the it will intake from the top of the case. Any hot hair stuck up at the top (and once it gets that high, it is stuck for me. No fans up there) will be sucked in and blown out the exhaust of the PSU. In theory, it gets rid of all that air up top, and the heat stuck behind your motherboard and the mounting plate.

 

[StattlichPassat]

It's a brilliant idea- I'm going to have to try that too. Keep the ideas flowing, mechBgon!

 

[LeeTJ]

i doubt you need to additional case fans.

i got my 2700+ running w/ the thermalright SLK800 and an 80mm fan. nice thing about this setup is that it is QUIET.

very quiet.

also, i'm showing a temp of 34c.

btw, this hs is designed to take an 80 mm fan so nothing fancy is required.