The Awakening, Quest of Quiet PC

[PushHands]

Awhile ago I purchased a dual AMD rig from a very nice gentleman here at AT ( thank you FS/FT forums). For a few months I didn't mind the noise from the system but now that I have a 18" Dell LCD (compliments of Hot Deals forums) and a brand new set of Logitech Z560s (Hot Deals again!), I plan to watch some killer movies on it and I'm finally taking the plunge and would like a quiet PC.

Case fans: I first need to indentify the size of the fans so that I can purchase the correct silent replacement fans. Here you can see the intake case fan with its its own casing. Air outflow is accomplished by another of that size and the PSU fan which I've switched around so that it blows air out of the case. I don't overclock and my temps more or less stay the same whether I run an open case or closed with the fans.

First I need to determine what size this case fan is. Next I've read someone posting here in the past that said you shouldn't have negative air pressure (more air going out than coming in at any one time, creating less pressure) inside your computer case. Is this correct?

A large culprit of noise are these two Coolermaster fans that are mounted on two Coolermaster HHC 001 Heatpipe heatsinks. These fans are loud so I need to find replacements for them. Here's a review of the Coolermaster Heatpipes. I'd like to only replace the fans, if possible since the heatpipes are great. At full load, I only get an increase of 2-3 degrees C.

I really appreciate some guidance, primarily on the size of the case fan and replacement options for the heatpipe fans since I've search through the forums and I've read good things about Panaflow L1A fans, which I believe are case fans.

 

[Biggs]

I believe that size of that fan is 92mm.

The ideal is equal intake and exhaust.

Your HHC 001 uses a 60mm fan.

Panaflo's are an excellent choice (reliable and has a remarkable trade-off between CFM and noise).

 

[buleyb]

thats an 80mm case fan (~3+1/8" edge to edge)...

and I'll confirm the 60mm fan on your HHC 001

Also agreed on the Panaflos

 

[PushHands]

Thanks guys for your input. I was looking at the 60 x 25 mm Vantec Stealth Fan (12CFM @ 20dBA), which seems to have the lowest dBA rating on SVC. Aslo looking to purchase 3 80x25mm Panaflo 24CFM 3-pin Fan (L1A) Ultra Quiet as well.

What do you guys/gals think about the Vantec Stealth and are there any others that you consider better, dBA and/or air flow wise?

Just noticed that the Vantec Stealth Fans have a 12CFM rating where the original fans on the Coolermaster HHC 001 have a 36CFM rating. My temps run 76C idle and 78C at full load. How much of an increase in temp can I expect with this decrease CFM?

I was also looking at Akasa PAX Mate, which is a sound insulator for your case. Pretty inexpensive but I wanted to hear people's experience and thoughts on insulators and specifically Akasa's or others that you feel that are better.

 

[buleyb]

those insulators usually seem to help more with vibration noise, rather than fans. I considered using them a little while back, but was talked out of it (search for threads on this). Fans usually create more noise with wind-noise and external echoing than they do internally (except for CPU fans). Try changing out your fans with some of those low noise ones, and if its still bad, move on to new solutions like the pads.

 

[PushHands]

up for some additional comments from the night crowd

 

[TheBDB]

Did you say your CPU temps were 76C and 78C??? That seems high.

 

[DaveSimmons]

check out silentpcreview.com for some good quieting content

 

[PushHands]

Originally posted by: TheBDB
Did you say your CPU temps were 76C and 78C??? That seems high.

Indeed I did say that. My apartment is around 70C if not a little more since that's what I feel comfortable with
I've read up on AMD chips and their threshold is a little over 90.

 

[TheBDB]

Originally posted by: PushHands

Originally posted by: TheBDB
Did you say your CPU temps were 76C and 78C??? That seems high.

Indeed I did say that. My apartment is around 70C if not a little more since that's what I feel comfortable with
I've read up on AMD chips and their threshold is a little over 90.

Your apartment is 158 degrees Farenheit????? I think you are confused about your temps.

 

[PushHands]

Originally posted by: TheBDB

Originally posted by: PushHands

Originally posted by: TheBDB
Did you say your CPU temps were 76C and 78C??? That seems high.

Indeed I did say that. My apartment is around 70C if not a little more since that's what I feel comfortable with
I've read up on AMD chips and their threshold is a little over 90.

Your apartment is 158 degrees Farenheit????? I think you are confused about your temps.

I think I am
The thermostat is a mechanical one and I've uped it to around 74. BIOS still says 76C

 

[Sporko]

I just replaced my AOpen300 PSU with an Antec TruePower430, replaced my stock XP1700 hsf with an XP2400/ SLK800 and a Panaflo 80mm, replaced my one intake fan with a Vantec Stealth and added a Vantec Stealth exhaust fan.

Subjectively, it sounds about half as loud as before.

However, I had no idea that hard drives were so noisy!

 

[John]

Originally posted by: PushHands

Originally posted by: TheBDB
Did you say your CPU temps were 76C and 78C??? That seems high.

Indeed I did say that. My apartment is around 70C if not a little more since that's what I feel comfortable with
I've read up on AMD chips and their threshold is a little over 90.

I seriously doubt that your apt. is ~70C (158F). If you bios is truly reporting ~76C then you either have a faulty bios, thermistor, or serious cooling issue that needs to be addressed.

The Panaflo L1A's are some extremely nice fans, and they are priced well. I use them in both of my rigs.

 

[BigMoe]

on your 60 mm fans id go with the Sanyo Denki PICO 25 might even mod a fan on top and side.

 

[buleyb]

Originally posted by: PushHands
Thanks guys for your input. I was looking at the 60 x 25 mm Vantec Stealth Fan (12CFM @ 20dBA), which seems to have the lowest dBA rating on SVC. Aslo looking to purchase 3 80x25mm Panaflo 24CFM 3-pin Fan (L1A) Ultra Quiet as well.

What do you guys/gals think about the Vantec Stealth and are there any others that you consider better, dBA and/or air flow wise?

Just noticed that the Vantec Stealth Fans have a 12CFM rating where the original fans on the Coolermaster HHC 001 have a 36CFM rating. My temps run 76C idle and 78C at full load. How much of an increase in temp can I expect with this decrease CFM?

I was also looking at Akasa PAX Mate, which is a sound insulator for your case. Pretty inexpensive but I wanted to hear people's experience and thoughts on insulators and specifically Akasa's or others that you feel that are better.

What kind of thermal interface do you have between the heatpipe and the CPU die?

 

[Boogak]

Originally posted by: PushHands
Thanks guys for your input. I was looking at the 60 x 25 mm Vantec Stealth Fan (12CFM @ 20dBA), which seems to have the lowest dBA rating on SVC. Aslo looking to purchase 3 80x25mm Panaflo 24CFM 3-pin Fan (L1A) Ultra Quiet as well.

What do you guys/gals think about the Vantec Stealth and are there any others that you consider better, dBA and/or air flow wise?

Just noticed that the Vantec Stealth Fans have a 12CFM rating where the original fans on the Coolermaster HHC 001 have a 36CFM rating. My temps run 76C idle and 78C at full load. How much of an increase in temp can I expect with this decrease CFM?

I was also looking at Akasa PAX Mate, which is a sound insulator for your case. Pretty inexpensive but I wanted to hear people's experience and thoughts on insulators and specifically Akasa's or others that you feel that are better.

I bought that 60mm Vantec Stealth fan for my HTPC and it's not as quiet as I would like. I can still hear a very audible whine/hum from it, I ended up undervolting it to 7v and it's been alot better.

 

[WhoIsThat]

I am so happy to see I am not the only one who wants quiet PCs!! (See sig).

 

[PushHands]

Originally posted by: buleyb

Originally posted by: PushHands
Thanks guys for your input. I was looking at the 60 x 25 mm Vantec Stealth Fan (12CFM @ 20dBA), which seems to have the lowest dBA rating on SVC. Aslo looking to purchase 3 80x25mm Panaflo 24CFM 3-pin Fan (L1A) Ultra Quiet as well.

What do you guys/gals think about the Vantec Stealth and are there any others that you consider better, dBA and/or air flow wise?

Just noticed that the Vantec Stealth Fans have a 12CFM rating where the original fans on the Coolermaster HHC 001 have a 36CFM rating. My temps run 76C idle and 78C at full load. How much of an increase in temp can I expect with this decrease CFM?

I was also looking at Akasa PAX Mate, which is a sound insulator for your case. Pretty inexpensive but I wanted to hear people's experience and thoughts on insulators and specifically Akasa's or others that you feel that are better.

What kind of thermal interface do you have between the heatpipe and the CPU die?

Some generic gone I purchased thermal paste like material at the local computer store. Maybe I should pick up better ones while I'm at it. Any recommendations?

 

[BigMoe]

for paste id go AS III

 

[elzmaddy]

Originally posted by: WhoIsThat
I am so happy to see I am not the only one who wants quiet PCs!! (See sig).

I want a system quiet enough to have on in my bedroom while i am asleep. The fans can be quieted, but I don't think the hard disks can be. And what if you want have two hard disks? you may also have to trade off performance (ie: get a slower rpm drive). I wondered if it was possible to have a box that can be connected to your system which would house the hard disk(s) to be placed a long distance away.. soemwhere where noise could be tolerated better. Sounds like an expensive idea though.

 

[buleyb]

Originally posted by: BigMoe
for paste id go AS III

Agreed...

 

[buleyb]

Originally posted by: elzmaddy

Originally posted by: WhoIsThat
I am so happy to see I am not the only one who wants quiet PCs!! (See sig).

I want a system quiet enough to have on in my bedroom while i am asleep. The fans can be quieted, but I don't think the hard disks can be. And what if you want have two hard disks? you may also have to trade off performance (ie: get a slower rpm drive). I wondered if it was possible to have a box that can be connected to your system which would house the hard disk(s) to be placed a long distance away.. soemwhere where noise could be tolerated better. Sounds like an expensive idea though.

Sounds like a SCSI solution or USB2.0/Firewire solution...depends if you need to boot off the disk in question or not. But SCSI will work for you.