Quiet CPU cooler for Pentium 4

[pm]

I'm looking for a quiet HS/fan combo for a 2GHz Pentium 4 system to replace the retail set up. Any suggestions under $20? Thanks

 

[Adul]

I thought the AVC sunflower was pretty quiet.

 

[Jeff H]

pm, I recently put an Arkua 8568 on my 1.6A cpu. Newegg.com has it for $26. Probably the easiest mounting HSF I've used. FWIW I combined it w/ the Thermaltake fan control unit from Pham Computer and am running it at the mid setting. The fan on the 8568 is barely audible.

 

[pm]

Adul, thanks for the suggestion. I've heard of the Sunflower. I'll look into it, but I can't seem to find the "dBA" stats for it anywhere.

Jeff, that's an interesting idea. I wonder if I could just use it with the retail H/S. Or make my own by buying a 10W resistor and a 3-way switch. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Jeff H]

pm, I don't know why you couldn't use the Thermaltake fan control on the retail HSF. But, AFAIK the retail unit doesn't make enough noise to necessitate that. The main reason I chose not to use the retail HSF was the bend the unit puts on the motherboard. I know Intel and the board manufacturures say this is normal and it's not an issue, but I'm nevertheless uncomfortable w/ it. So, I did a lot of researching and reading and narrowed my HSF choices down to the Arkua, the Sunflower, and the Volcano7+. The review of the Arkua on overclockers.com cinched it for me.

FWIW the other thermal solutions I've employed in my box (Enlight 7237) include an Enermax 430w p.s. w/ speed controllable rear fan, YS Tech variable speed 80mm fan in the front (dial control is at rear of machine), and a 92mm Panasonic Panaflo M fan running at 7v.

 

[astro]

AVC Sunflower is pretty quiet....lists at about 38dB.
Got mine from PC Power and Cooling under $20.

Keeps my non-overclocked 2.2Ghz around 32C under full load.

 

[pm]

What I'm trying to do is make essentially the "silent PC". I want to leave it on all of the time in suspend mode and literally not know if it's on or off except by looking at the status lights.

My computer is not overclocked so I don't have to worry about temperature much. I bought a quiet power supply, replaced the chipset and video fans with extra quiet ones and now, when I unplug the CPU fan while it's running, I literally can't tell if my computer is on or not - which is the goal that I am seeking. So I think that all that is left is to replace, or to quiet, the CPU fan and I'm done.

The retail fan is not particularly loud, but you can hear it so I'm going to come up with something. I think using a switch or a rheostat and a large wattage resistor to cut the voltage to the CPU fan by about a 1/3 should do the trick. Or I'll save myself some time and just buy the solution from Thermatake.



<< Keeps my non-overclocked 2.2Ghz around 32C under full load. >>

Wow. That is truly impressive. I have a non-overclocked 2GHz Northwood and it's running about 50C under load currently (39C case temperature - both as measured using the thermal monitoring program from MSI that came with my motherboard).

 

[Taz]

pm...have you considered Zalman Coolers? They rate their P4 set up at 20 db when set on low. I've also seen a couple of posts from folks using just the flower without the fan in a passive cooling setup (w/ the Northwood, of course).

By the way, when you said

<< I bought a quiet power supply >>

exactly which one did you buy?

I'm looking at the PC Power and Cooling 400W Silencer (rated at 24dB(A). Just wondering if there's anything in that power range that's any more quiet. I know a Panaflow mod on an Enermax quiets things quite a bit, but I haven't found any stock PSU in the 350W to 400W range that's rated as quiet. Open to suggestions, though.

-Taz

 

[astro]

pm....My case temp runs around 25C/26C. All temps measured by MBM5.

Taz...I have the 400W Silencer from PCP&C and have been very happy with it. Nice and quiet without having to mod. Plus it delivers good consistent levels across all rails.

 

[Tranquility]

Less fan is better but If you absolutely must to use a second fan, I suggest attaching a Y splitter to the PSU fan power and cooling the cpu using a identical sized fan already spinning inside your PSU. A fan of a different model is going to add an extra tone to the overall noise and will be more noticable than 2 similar sized fans rotating at the same speed.

 

[zzzz]

avc sunflower is not as quiet as the retail HSF. Maybe zalman is quieter.

 

[doan]

Why not the Big Alpha 8942T.....You can whatever 80mm fan you like for as much noise or cooling you want.