The Silent Boost isn't "silent"

[WobbleWobble]

I just bought a Silent Boost for my XP2500+ and it's quite a bit louder than what I expected it to be. I think it's louder than the stock AMD HSF...

I'm going to try some minor O/Cing with it now and hopefully I can get a bit further than I could with a stock HSF...

 

[RalfHutter]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Thermaltake marketing hype. That's what they do best.

 

[Peter D]

Originally posted by: RalfHutter
Welcome to the wonderful world of Thermaltake marketing hype. That's what they do best.

 

[WobbleWobble]

It's rated for 21dba but either I don't know what 21dba is, but I don't think it's 21dba. I really didn't expect it to be louder than the stock HSF.

However, it did help me O/C a bit further and does keep my temps a nice bit lower by about 10-13 degrees celcius. At least I'm running at XP3200+ speeds with my XP2500+ (which I couldn't do with stock).

I'll try to replace the fan with a Panaflo L1A (I think the Silent Boost has the M1A) and see how it goes.

 

[dweilbacher]

Clearly it is not silent, but the reviews for the Silent Boost seem to indicate that it is fairly quiet. Maybe you just got unlucky and got a bad fan. I went ahead and ordered one along with a 2500+ with stock HSF. I can try both HSF and compare. I'll let you know what I think.

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: Vegetto

Originally posted by: RalfHutter
Welcome to the wonderful world of Thermaltake marketing hype. That's what they do best.

...and 21db is what a Panaflo L1A sounds like at 12 volts.

 

[WobbleWobble]

I would really like to hear what you have to say about it, dweilbacher. Maybe I'm just really anal about computer noise. My last HSF was a Zalman and I was very very impressed by that so I had high hopes of another silent cooler. If you could let me know how it sounds relative to the stock HSF that'd be great.

Cerb, I don't think the fan is a L1A, I'm pretty sure it's a M1A. So unless they originally intended to use the L1A or have modified the M1A somehow, the 21dba rating is wrong.

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble
I would really like to hear what you have to say about it, dweilbacher. Maybe I'm just really anal about computer noise. My last HSF was a Zalman and I was very very impressed by that so I had high hopes of another silent cooler. If you could let me know how it sounds relative to the stock HSF that'd be great.

Cerb, I don't think the fan is a L1A, I'm pretty sure it's a M1A. So unless they originally intended to use the L1A or have modified the M1A somehow, the 21dba rating is wrong.

Thermaltake wouldn't use Panaflo...even the H series is too quiet for them . Thermaltake hasn't changed in that regard since they got the Orbs over here. Because of that, I'm not getting a Thermaltake product if I can help it.
...however, you can always get a Panaflo L1A and try it. IMO, the L1A is the perfect fan for a heatsink. Worst case, you can move it to an SLK-800a, 900a, 800u or 900u, which can all cool a 2500+ overclocked no sweat.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: Cerb

Thermaltake wouldn't use Panaflo...even the H series is too quiet for them . Thermaltake hasn't changed in that regard since they got the Orbs over here. Because of that, I'm not getting a Thermaltake product if I can help it.
...however, you can always get a Panaflo L1A and try it. IMO, the L1A is the perfect fan for a heatsink. Worst case, you can move it to an SLK-800a, 900a, 800u or 900u, which can all cool a 2500+ overclocked no sweat.

But it does use a Panaflo, I took the fan off and the label says Panaflo. I'll try undervolting it using my fan only 7-volt leads and see how it goes later.

 

[blade]

Thermaltake wouldn't use Panaflo..

It is indeed a panaflo fan on the silent boost, see here

Noise tolerance differs to each person of course, but I think it's pretty quiet. Performance is rather surprising also.

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: blade

Thermaltake wouldn't use Panaflo..

It is indeed a panaflo fan on the silent boost, see here

Noise tolerance differs to each person of course, but I think it's pretty quiet. Performance is rather surprising also.

/me gasps :Q

 

[lazybum131]

It's a Panaflo M1A, but it's not the same type of fan as the normal panaflo's.

There's two types, FBA and FBL. I forget which one is the 'normal' one that's widely available (not at my computer so I can't check!). The type that the Silent Boost has is suppose to move more air with less noise (depending on number of factors however, there's suppose to be graphs comparing the two), the 21dBA rating is not a lie, but 21dBA is not close to silent either (so a normal Panaflo L1A should be about as loud as the special type M1A).

If your Silent Boost is louder then the stock AMD HSF, then I think you got a defective unit. Try exchanging for another one, maybe the fan is unbalanced or something.

 

[RalfHutter]

Originally posted by: blade

Thermaltake wouldn't use Panaflo..

It is indeed a panaflo fan on the silent boost, see here

Noise tolerance differs to each person of course, but I think it's pretty quiet. Performance is rather surprising also.

the fan in that picture is indeed an "M" version of the 80m Panaflo which are rated at 28dB. If the fan in that picture is the fan that's normally supplied on the Silentboost that's why it's noisier than WobbleWobble was expecting. 28dB isn't particularly quiet so if he's concerned about noise he probably won't be satisfied with that fan.

 

[WobbleWobble]

I double checked the noise between the stock AMD HSF and Silent Boost and I the Silent Boost is just slightly quieter than stock.

28dba sounds right. I checked the RPM of the fan and it spins at the same RPM of a M1A.

I'll try to get a Panaflo L1A and see how it goes...