Vantec Tornado question

[akira34]

I'm thinking about putting a 92mm Vantec Tornado fan onto my SLK-948U cooler. What I want to know is if anyone's had good luck getting the bios/mobo to control that fan... I just installed the cooler last night, and I'm seeing temps that range from 30-34C for idle, with about 40-42C under load... Occasional spikes to 50C are under extreme load and with the cool and quiet function enabled in the bios (can't set the target temp below 40C since that's as low as it goes :|).

If you've been able to spin the Tornado slower with the rpm line on the mobo, post up. If you've used something else to control the fan, post that too... Keep in mind, this is going onto my processor cooler, not as a case fan. Depending on what happens with this cooler, I might be looking to get something new in the next 3-4 months. Maybe even liquid cooling JUST the processor. Especially since everything else inside the computer is so damned quiet. The processor fan IS the loudest thing in my case (besides the hard drives when accessed) so I'd like to get that at least to the same level as the rest of the system (around 20-25db)...

PEACE!

 

[Operandi]

Couple of things....

The Tornado runs off the a 4 pin Molex right? If that?s the case there is now way to control it with software/BIOS. Even if you could run it off you MB it would draw too much power and prolly burn out the header.

Tornado and quiet really don't belong in the same train of thought. The Tornado is really just a high speed Sunon, non of which are particularly quiet even at reduced speeds.

Why insist on such low temps? 40C is plenty cool there is no reason to go any lower the that.

 

[akira34]

Originally posted by: Operandi
Couple of things....

The Tornado runs off the a 4 pin Molex right? If that?s the case there is now way to control it with software/BIOS. Even if you could run it off you MB it would draw too much power and prolly burn out the header.

Tornado and quiet really don't belong in the same train of thought. The Tornado is really just a high speed Sunon, non of which are particularly quiet even at reduced speeds.

Why insist on such low temps? 40C is plenty cool there is no reason to go any lower the that.

Why? Because I'm searching for the holy grail for system cooling... If I put the processor fan to quiet mode (through the bios) I get idle temps closer to the 40C mark... The case temps go down a bit though. Right now, the case and processor temps are within 1C of each other.

While others might be happy/content with this, I'm itching for better. Maybe it's the insane tech in me, or something at least. Besides, I want to do the best possible with air cooling, without dumping a fortune. Otherwise I'll be going the liquid route IF it will get me what I'm looking for. It could be that this is the best I will ever see... Then again, I might be able to do better. I'm thinking about replacing the Panaflo H1 with this fan next... A little more CFM at close to the same db rating (peak)...

"What's the airborne speed of an unlaiden swallow?"

 

[Operandi]

I think your better off with the Panaflow, I don't that that Enermax stacks up.

 

[akira34]

Originally posted by: Operandi
I don't that that Enermax stacks up.

huh?? Think you left out a word of three there hoss...

I've seen other people on the boards post up the opposite, saying the Enermax is better than the Panaflo fans... Which is it? Maybe I'll leave it like this for a month or two and see what happens to the temps... Before summer hits I'll need to make sure the processor is going to stay nice and cool. If not, then I'll be working on it's cooling yet again.

I need to get at least a full year out of the rig as it stands now. I've dumped too much money into it to upgrade the processor and mobo before early 2006. I have no plans to OC this system, just make it run the best it possibly can, for as long as it can... I'd also like to have a good amount of life left on it when I do upgrade. Especially since the mobo and processor will most likely be 'donated' to my mother for her computer... That will give her a healthy upgrade (she has an AMD T-Bird 1GHz now, in a system I put together for her a few years back)...

 

[Operandi]

Enermax is globe, the only ones that compare to Panaflows are the fans that use sleeve bearings.

 

[akira34]

Ah... So I've probably have the best I can get and not have a vacuum cleaner inside my system...

BTW, is 44-46C a good max temp under Prime95 after 33 minutes??

 

[klah]

Originally posted by: akira34
I'm thinking about putting a 92mm Vantec Tornado fan onto my SLK-948U cooler. What I want to know is if anyone's had good luck getting the bios/mobo to control that fan...

That fan draws too much power to be powered by the motherboard's fan header. All of the s939 boards I have seen are rated at ~0.6A while that fan uses 1.0A.

 

[akira34]

I don't have a 939 pin board, it's the 754 pin board... The K8N Neo Platinum is not the same as the K8N Neo2 Platinum (that's the 939 pin board).

From what Operandi is saying, the fan I have is pretty much the best I'm going to get on this cooler... Any thoughts on the temps I'm getting during the Prime95 torture??? It's been running for almost 45 minutes and hasn't gone over 46C...

 

[Operandi]

From the research I've done Panaflows have the best CFM to dBA ratio, the Globe's are quiet too but use cheaper inferior sleeve bearings.

I would say those are pretty impressive load temps, have you thought about using SpeedFan to control the fan based on the CPU temp?

 

[akira34]

I'm not using anything to control the fan at present. It's going pretty much at 100% for now... I've stopped the Prime95 test, after 1 hour 12 minutes, the highest temp I saw was 46C with it more often 45C sometimes dipping to 44C... The processor is already back down to 34C, and the case temp is going down too... I check my video card temp a minute after the test was over... that core temp was at 50C... Of course, that's with the Arctic Cooling unit on it, not the stock cooler... It's down to 49C now (GPU) and giving me the same case temp as MBM5 is...

Do you think I'd do any better with a single 120mm radiator and liquid cooling just the processor???

 

[Operandi]

I haven't built any water cooled systems yet but I'm sure you would get better performance with either a similar or lower noise level. Still I think what you have now is more then adequate, if you to lower the noise level I'd set a target temp (SpeedFan) of 40-45C and let the fan throttle down a bit.

 

[akira34]

I'll look into speedfan and see what it can do for me... I'm going to keep it with the air cooling for now, and keep liquid in the back of my mind (not too far back, since that is the part that scares even truely evil people). Come spring, when the outside air starts getting warmer, I'll revisit improving my cooling again...

 

[Idleuser]

I don't have any experience with panaflo but my enermax 120mm clear blade rocks! they're very quiet and they're able to push 95 CFM under 30dba @3100 rpm

 

[akira34]

Can't fit the 120mm fan onto the SLK-948U heatsink. It can only take up to a 92mm fan, which is why I purchased the ones I did... Maybe if I get the XP-120 heatsink I'll put one of those puppies onto it... Just wonder if I'll see better temps with that setup. heh

 

[Tiamat]

Firstly, afaik, the only way to control the tornado is via some sort of fan controller. Not from software, but from an actual fan speed controller.

Secondly, the Enermax you are looking at, i have the "Red" version. It is double ball bearing. At the lowest the know goes ~ 4.5V it is pretty quiet but with extraneous barely hearable noise and moves very very little air. At 12V it is a noisemaker. But, it moves plenty of air. Noise is mostly a whine noise.

Thirdly, i guess it is one of your projects, but you really dont need <40C temps. I would get the quietest 92mm fan like a nexus, if you can justify buying one, and allow the cpu to hit 45 idle, 56 load. As long as you have decent cooling for your harddrives, you are fine.

 

[akira34]

Thanks Tiamat... I guess I have 'decent' cooling for my drives since I am using the V1100b case. I'm just 'questing' for the ultimate cool AND quiet rig... To me, that's sub 40C processor temps (at least when idle, if that's under load, I'd probably blow one) and sub 25db while at full load.

 

[Operandi]

Your Temps are more then decent, anything below 50 is great Idle or load, doesn?t matter. There is a reason you can't set target temp below 40; it's completely pointless.

You'll prolly get slightly better temps with a XP-90u using the same fan. Another advantage with XP-90; you could reverse the fan to have it pull/suck air which will promote better air flow in the case and possibly lower you ambient system temps a bit.

 

[Anubis]

the tornado draws a FULL AMP, o way to run it off the mobo, you need a conrtoller, i run mine off the 7v lead from the PSU and it runs at l;ike 60% and keeps stuff cool enough for me and its about 1/4 as loud

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Some motherboard CPU fan pin-outs may be sufficient for the Vantec Tornado, but not by much. Others are insufficient. check your mobo manual before you go hooking that thing onto your mobo. Also, keep in mind that there are two limitations on those mobo fan-headers: the limit on amperage for each header, and a limit on the total drawn from all headers by all fans connected to them. My guess is that if your mobo allows for a fan of 12V 1 A connected to the CPU fan-header, you won't want to connect other fans to the remaining mobo headers.

Now I'm looking at your SLK-948(U) ThermalRight. I don't see mounting holes for even a 92mm fan, so I assume that it uses spring-wire clips like the XP120 or XP90. Otherwise, I would suggest this for mounting a low-noise/high-throughput 120mm fan:

Acrylic Fan Adapter

Even so, if you are like me with an enthusiasm for building strange contraptions, and want to try doing the same thing with the same cooler, you could use the fan-frame from a defunct (and gutted) 92mm fan to secure it to the SLK948(U), and then use small self-threading screws (or even machine screws and nuts) to secure the fan adapter, to which you secure the 120mm fan afterward. And actually, you would assembly the fan, adapter and 92mm fan-shroud first, and then clip it onto the heatsink. This would extend the weight of the fan and adapter another 25mm from the motherboard mounts, but I rather doubt that the stress represented by the torque (grams x total height in mm) will be that significant compared to the weight of the copper SLK948. Offhand, I'd recommend the Silverstone 120mmx25mm fan for weight and throughput. An Enermax 120mm would also be OK, but I personally hate'em.

If you want to keep the same heatsink -- and with those temperatures (which are rather good) -- that solution would lower your noise level and increase CFMs -- improving the cooling if there is any room for improvement.

The only other thing you could do is forego using a heatsink fan and replace it with a Zalman bracket to position the 120mm fan above the heatsink, but it would only work better if you could channel the air through a 92mm hole and direct it at the heatsink fins exclusively, so the adapter remains a viable option.

Otherwise, you might try an XP120.

You might stick with the Vantec Tornado, try and deaden the transmission of sound with a silicon-rubber fan grommet, and add some teflon grease by lifting the round label and accessing the bearing of the fan. I cannot promise how much better that would improve the "CFM-to-dB/A" ratio. But with the Vantec, you have plenty of CFMs to be sure.

 

[Cawchy87]

Just don't bother with tornados. Even turned all the way down on a nexus fan controller it is very annoying.

 

[Tiamat]

In the case that you want sub 25 db with below 40s. I would stop where you are right now, and think real hard about Zalman Reserator 1. It is a 250$ish drop, and another 30-40$ for GPU block. Your Northbridge could be cooled passively with the zalman blue heatsink xx 47J or something.

 

[akira34]

The northbridge is right under my video card, so there's not much hope in changing that out unless it's no taller than stock. Before I'd drop $300+ on the external cooler, I'd probably experiment with the Tt big water unit. Especially since I can get that for about 1/3 the cost of the Zalman... My video card cooler isn't the source of noise, which I've confirmed with the cool and quiet aspect of the bios. If I enable those functions, and the fan on the [processor] heatsink spinds down (bringing the temps up) I hear just about nothing from the case. The Panaflo fan is rated at 35db, so if I could even get that 5db (or more) lower, I'd be happy. Of course, I don't want to sacrifice cooling in the process (who does?). I think that when the big water item is in stock again at my distributor, I'll snag it and see how it works out. Worse case, I'll just put the 948U cooler back onto the processor.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: akira34
The northbridge is right under my video card, so there's not much hope in changing that out unless it's no taller than stock. Before I'd drop $300+ on the external cooler, I'd probably experiment with the Tt big water unit. Especially since I can get that for about 1/3 the cost of the Zalman... My video card cooler isn't the source of noise, which I've confirmed with the cool and quiet aspect of the bios. If I enable those functions, and the fan on the [processor] heatsink spinds down (bringing the temps up) I hear just about nothing from the case. The Panaflo fan is rated at 35db, so if I could even get that 5db (or more) lower, I'd be happy. Of course, I don't want to sacrifice cooling in the process (who does?). I think that when the big water item is in stock again at my distributor, I'll snag it and see how it works out. Worse case, I'll just put the 948U cooler back onto the processor.

A kit? where is the fun in that .

On serious note, I don't think I'd get a kit, do it from scratch. Is the Big Water supposed to be good?

 

[akira34]

It's about as much of a kit as the Zalman Reserator 1 is...

Considering how I can get the big water unti for ~$100, it's a good amount of savings. Especially since just about any system I put together from scratch will cost me more. I have a few weeks to think about it, since the big water won't be in stock until the first week of Jan... About the same time the dvd burner I want is in stock too... I'll make the decision at that point, after looking at parts some more. IF I can do the 'scratch' rig for about the same kind of money, then I will... Otherwise, I'll just get the big water and give it a twirl.