(Quiet) tips?

[Cerb]

OK, before the summer is out I should (God willing) have enough $ to do what I've wanted to do to my computer (and helped others do) for awhile now. So here's my plan:
Keep my PSU (8 month old Enlight 300w) and replace the loud fan with a Panaflow M (or get H w/ Newegg w/ the case)
Get an AX-7 (SVC.com)
Get fan isolators and HD mounting grommets (mcmaster.com)
Get two L1As (preferably SVC w/ the HS, but they've been out of stock for awhile now)
Get an Evercase e4252 (black), just over $50 shipped. Sure I could get an Antec(3700/Sonata), but I'm gonna get the isolators even if I did, and I may end up needing to penny-pinch. Also, every time I make a PC with one, which I just did, I want one for myself .
Get parts to make a 2-knob, 2-switch rheobus from Jameco (not quite $30 shipped). Sure, I could buy one cheaper, but where's the fun in that?
All together, it will be at least $150, and probably closer to $250 by the time I'm satisfied (but that $250 investment should last a few upgrades, unless I get healthy enough to get a job, at which point I won't worry as much about that part).

The CPU fan and PSU fan would go on the knobs, and the exhaust L1A on a switch (12v/7v/5v switches). My video cooling would be a lone suspended L1A at 7v or 5v (don't need much, but want to be sure there's some air on the heatsink).
One switch would remain vacant for future use--because there *will* be something one of these days.

Cooling an 1800+ Pally, with a max ambient temperature of 95F (second story of the house during a Georgia summer that's a few weeks from full-swing), would an M Panaflo be enough? I don't want to go down to L for it, and figure a bit of extra power just in case the summer gets really hot. However, will the Ms go down (I'll, in theory, have 10.7v to 1.3v on the knobs) to the Ls' noise and airflow, or will they make more noise at the same airflow? Similarly for the PSU, but not as critical (if it gets too hot, it will lock the machine and shut down a few seconds later--I know from the experience of a friend who lives in an insanely dusty house w/ the same PSU ), and I think the PSU can go with much less airflow, but since the fan will never be at 12v anyway, why not get a slightly fatser one and undervolt it?

So...
1) Am I missing anything important?
2) Should I even worry about the L/M/H thing, and just get all Hs from Newegg (and run @5v for exhaust and video) or just Ls from wherever?

 

[BG4533]

MPJA sells Panaflo H1As for $2.95, however they sound much worse than the L1As/ M1As at lower voltages. There have been a few threads about this recently if you want to look. The M1As apparently undervolt as well as the L1As and I think they would be a good choice. I recently modded my case to fit 92mm fans and stuck in 3 92mm Panaflo L1As. These are 42.7CFM at 27dB. They undervolt very well and at 7V are extremely quiet and run down to ~5V. I also modded one into my Truepower 430 with good results. You might be able to pick up rheobus stuff cheaper from MPJA or Allelectronics for a bit less, but shipping may cancel it out if you cant get everything from them. Also, make sure to pick up good thermal compound from somewhere, AS3 or something you like.

Brian

 

[BG4533]

I also meant to mention AllElectronics sells Panaflo L1As for $4.50. I think they have flat $6 shipping.

 

[Cerb]

Getting the L1As from them. I guess I'll get an extra and see how it does, if not good enough, use my Enermax adjustable (just that like most ball fans, it's beginning to whine--not bad, but I'd prefer to make a clean start with the cooling this time). Getting the more expensive parts for the rheobus from Allelectronics ended up saving around $4 (counting the $6 shipping). Capacitors and resistors, however, are cheaper at Jameco even if I do have to get some extras. I'll go 90% to checking out (to get shipping) on the Jameco parts when I'm about to fulfill the order and see if Allelectronics is ultimately cheaper.
The rheobus, HSF and fans I can do now for a hair under $100 (which is what I should get once this PC gets picked up), and figure moving to a MicronPC Palo Alto case for the time being, using a Maxtor retail foam thingie (open top for convection cooling, of course) to quiet my WD HD (as much as it can be) until I can get the money for a Seagate 80GB, new case and grommets.
Note that by, "a hair," I mean around $5, unless shipping from SVC is ultra cheap (never ordered there before).

Since goo gone easily gets rid of foam tape, it will be my fan isolator solution for now .

On compound...will be getting the 22g of cremique(sp) w/ the AX-7. It's cheaper than all but the nastiest cheapo silicone crap, tons of it (22g should do a lot of CPUs, even if I use 3-4 times as much needed each time), and isn't messy by all accounts (I've seen ASII applied...that was all I needed to keep using the cheap stuff until I needed better, and not try applying it myself). Cuts my budget close, but I imagine when I need it again in a few months it will have been worth it. No point in getting a pound of cooling of my CPU and using the radio shack stuff.

Looking forward to getting halfway to my goal in a week or so!

 

[BG4533]

If one uses as much Ceramique as AS3 per core, than 22g will go hundreds of cores I think. For your old fan, oiling it may help. I have heard once a fan starts making bad noises oiling is too late, but it is worth a shot. I used 3 in 1 oil from Ace Hardware on all of my fans and it seems to have worked pretty well. I covered up the bearings with avery labels then, but oil still leaked out on to the fan blades.

 

[beatle]

None of the panaflos that I have like being turned down by using PWM (pulse width modulation) that some rheobuses use. If you're using true rheostats and not a circuit to implement PWM, let us know how the H1a turns out. When regulated, the H1a can be the one of the most versatile Panaflos, as @ 7 volts, it flows like an L1a, but turned up it'll push 39cfm.

 

[Cerb]

Defnitely not going w/ PWM, whatever I do. Several sites with info on regulating fans are very clear that some, fans, the Panaflos included, don't like it.

Slight update: A neighbor of mine will let me go through and see if he has acceptable pots and switches, bringing the cost down (hopefully) to around $12 (for the rheobay).

 

[beatle]

Nice neighbor! FWIW, I also tried attaching the YS tech fans that came with my Coolermaster case to the PWM rheobus... they also made a racket when turned down any amount.

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: beatle
Nice neighbor! FWIW, I also tried attaching the YS tech fans that came with my Coolermaster case to the PWM rheobus... they also made a racket when turned down any amount.

Yes, he is, and he's a packrat who used to be big into HAM stuff. If that works out, it will definitely cut out the cost difference with buying one already made.

So far that's basically what I've read about PWM...and since I want to run as low as I can, I'd rather not go with that.