Suggestions to reduce noise in my new Hornet

[Rail Baron]

HI, I just received my first BTO system. Sorry for the lengthy description that follows. It is the Monarch Hornet Pro and it seems loud to me. It has an Athlon 3800X2 processor, dual 150GB raid 1 HDs and an Gigabyte passive cooled 6600GT. For now I am using onboard audio which doesn't sound too bad. M/B is an ASUS A8N-VM CSM. I measured the sound around the case using a Radio Shack analog sound meter and here is what I got.

case front 69dB at intake fan
case left 57dB
case right 89 dB at fan port
case rear 91 at small fan exhaust

This unit has dual temperature guages on the front measuring the temp at the hard drives and on the ram. Max temp after running on idle after 6 hours was 106.8 degrees F at the H/D and about 106.0 degrees at the memory. CPU temp is running about 58 degrees C according to the BIOS.

The unit has the following fans:
80mm case fan in front
CPU fan
40 mm right side vent fan
40 mm optional fan in rear
plus power supply fans

I need to place this computer on a desktop within 2-3 feet from where I sit and use it and there is no real option to place it anywhere else (nor would you want to since it is attractive).

So I have the following questions:

1. Is it reasonable to expect a SFF computer to be quieter than this?

2. I have disconnected the side fan and after about 3 hours of use, the temperature on the RAM and H/Ds is up to about 115 degrees F. What is the maximum temperature that I should aim for that won't significantly shorten the lifespan of the parts? I was told by Monarch that up to 70 degrees C is OK. I checked in the BIOS just now and the CPU temperature is 68.5degreesC/155F so this isn't the answer and I have reconnected the right side fan.

3. What steps could I take that might quieten the system? I have heard about adhesive padding for the insides but I imagine that would retain heat. I added an optional 40 mm fan in the back that is contributing to the noise and I think I could disable it without adding too much heat but it is wired in with the temperature guages so I don't want to cut wires if I am not going to keep this unit. I also tried to spec a Zalman silent CPU fan but it wouldn't fit so we had to substitute a ball bearing fan.


I'm afraid I know the answer to this. I don't see anything that can significantly quieten the system without overheating it. I had read about the tradeoffs with a SFF system but I never thought it would be so loud. I am surprised more hasn't been written about this issue. I would welcome any comments or ideas. I guess I will call Monarch tomorrow and see if I can return it for a fee.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Mm, unfortunately many high-powered SFF's are pretty loud. You might want to check out SFFtech.com for a review of various Shuttles and whatnot as they always give an account of the amount of noise these little critters produce.

Lots of small fans = lots of noise.

 

[irev210]

if you want a quiet SFF, you need to go with something that has a Pentium M chip.

 

[Ionizer86]

Originally posted by: irev210
if you want a quiet SFF, you need to go with something that has a Pentium M chip.

Not necessarily true. I had the Shuttle SN45G (NF2 Ultra 400 system). I got a 35W XP-M chip, overclocked a bit at stock voltage, swapped out the Sunon for a Panaflo L1A, and the loud PSU fan for a ~16dBa adda blower. CPU temp was around 55. Quietest desktop ever. The 7200.7 hard disk ended up being the loudest part by far.

So yes, if you are happy swapping fans, an SFF can be very quiet.

 

[gnomepunk]

Rail, I have the same problem as you. I purchased a Hornet Case here on HardForums and pieced it together myself. I have 1 80mm Panaflo M1A in the front, 2 40mm deltas in the back, a 60mm low profile (don't know the brand/model), a Seasonic 300w PSU w/ 80mm fan, and the stock dual core opty heatsink. This little guy is damn loud and still very hot.

I don't think anything can be done short of moding the case for bigger fans to quiet it down. I'm looking for some options w/o having to change the appearance of it too much. I'll post here if I come up w/ some good solutions.

I'm considering try to stamp out a bigger opening for an 80mm in the side or some type of external watercooling. Good Luck!

 

[frostedflakes]

There may be hope.

First thing I'd do is go into the BIOS and start reducing CPU voltage. You should be able to take it down to ~1.25V (my X2 3800+ undervolts to 1.23V), which would reduce the heat output of the CPU by about 20%. Now you can use software (CrystalCPUID, for example) to lower CPU clock speed and voltage during idle and low load. Next, I'd focus on the video card. You should be able to use a BIOS editing tool such as NiBitor to lower voltage of the GPU. Not sure how low you'd be able to take GPU voltage, you'd just have to experiment and see. As with the CPU, set it up to underclock the GPU and memory clock speeds during 2D (most overclocking utilities support this feature).

With the CPU and GPU undervolted, they should be runninig much cooler. Now you can start undervolting fans/removing fans to reduce noise. 70*C sounds like a good limit for the CPU, try to keep it under this. I wouldn't worry about memory temperature, it's not going to overheat. Try to keep the GPU under 80*C.

Your hard drive temperature does seem a bit high, but I wonder if the front sensor is not giving you an accurate temperature (seems like it should be cooler if you have a front fan blowing on it?). Download a program called SpeedFan and post what it reports for you HDD.

Also, could you post up some pics of the case.