Zalman 9700 noise problem

[relia85]

In my quest to make my newest build as quiet as possible, I decided to go with an Antec P180 case and a Zalman 9700. So far I am very pleased but unfortunately I started noticing an unusual noise and finally isolated it to the zalman. Most people probably wouldn't notice it or wouldn't care but my hearing is sensitive. Anyway, theres this faint "ticking" noise coming from the fan, as if the fan baldes are rubbing up against something. I double checked everything but I did not see any installation errors. I suspect that there is a quality problem with the fan on mine and considering its design, I can't replace it. So, I was thinking about getting a different cooler like a Tuniq or Thermalright, something I can add/replace the fan at any time. At first I didn't want to use any of these big coolers because I move my PC around a lot so I was wary of the stress on the mobo/cpu. What do you think? Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

"Thinking about getting a different cooler . . . . "

This is the psychological weakness of geek-dom. A little impatience and frustration coupled with a desire for closure, and we're like the suburban Wash.DC housewife shopping at Potomac Mills on the local TV commercial: [holding up a mink stole] . . . "I saved 60% . . . " [smiles wide-eyed and holds up a pair of patent-leather boots] . . . "I saved 40% . . . . . . I SAVED 100 PERCENT!!" Am I pointing fingers? Do you have any idea how many redundant purchases I've made in recent months, searching for my own "holy grail" best-est most wonderful computer in all of Geek Kingdom?

I cannot be absolutely sure, but what you might be describing there is bearing rattle. You MIGHT be able to cure it by lubricating the hub of the Zalman fan.

Since the Zalman fan for that cooler is proprietary, I cannot tell you which side of the motor housing should (probably) have a label and rubber-seal that would allow you to drop some 3-in-1 oil or Teflon gun-grease in there with hopes of silencing the bearing rattle (and remember -- I'm just making an educated guess as to what it is, but lubing the bearings modestly shouldn't do anything but help anyway.)

I COULD advise you to dump the Zalman and get a cooler with better performance, but the performance of that cooler is good enough. You also might try replacing that fan, depending on how it's mounted. Might it be possible to "cut up" a regular Panaflo and mod it to fit the mounting holes? The trick there is to investigate and find out without changing anything initially or buying another fan to find out.

. . . . and that's another common quandary of geek-dom.

 

[PCTC2]

here's a replacement fan for the Zalman 9700 LED
Link to RP Fan

 

[RallyMaster]

Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
"Thinking about getting a different cooler . . . . "

This is the psychological weakness of geek-dom. A little impatience and frustration coupled with a desire for closure, and we're like the suburban Wash.DC housewife shopping at Potomac Mills on the local TV commercial: [holding up a mink stole] . . . "I saved 60% . . . " [smiles wide-eyed and holds up a pair of patent-leather boots] . . . "I saved 40% . . . . . . I SAVED 100 PERCENT!!" Am I pointing fingers? Do you have any idea how many redundant purchases I've made in recent months, searching for my own "holy grail" best-est most wonderful computer in all of Geek Kingdom?

I cannot be absolutely sure, but what you might be describing there is bearing rattle. You MIGHT be able to cure it by lubricating the hub of the Zalman fan.

Since the Zalman fan for that cooler is proprietary, I cannot tell you which side of the motor housing should (probably) have a label and rubber-seal that would allow you to drop some 3-in-1 oil or Teflon gun-grease in there with hopes of silencing the bearing rattle (and remember -- I'm just making an educated guess as to what it is, but lubing the bearings modestly shouldn't do anything but help anyway.)

I COULD advise you to dump the Zalman and get a cooler with better performance, but the performance of that cooler is good enough. You also might try replacing that fan, depending on how it's mounted. Might it be possible to "cut up" a regular Panaflo and mod it to fit the mounting holes? The trick there is to investigate and find out without changing anything initially or buying another fan to find out.

. . . . and that's another common quandary of geek-dom.

QFT. Full of wisdom, these words are!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well, I'm glad you thought so, RallyMaster.

I'm just looking back over the carnage of the last four months. My checking account, for instance. I may be "older" -- even an "ARRP member" -- but this isn't the wisdom of age.

It's more like "recent hard-knocks."

Here's the latest development.

See, I can take my time before I jump to "HDTV." I can also "be prepared for it." And as much as I don't need a C2Q for an HTPC, I figured from the beginning to put a tuner-capture card in there. But it doesn't have to be a digital or hybrid analog-digital model.

This house has too many tuner-capture cards. I had a spare PVR-250, and had planned to stick it in my C2Q build. I had my temperatures tamed to rock-bottom on air-cooling, with a respectable 33% over-clock.

Went over to my brother's house to babysit dogs and horses for five days. They keep the thermostat set to 80F degrees. I took the C2Q build with me to do some more work on it. That's when I chose to put the PVR-250 into the box.

And I'm looking at the temperatures, saying "oh-oh-- no-oo!!" The best way to resolve the problem as I continue to refine my cooling solution, is to get a PCI-E tuner-card which will fit next to the VGA and RAID controller, so I can cover them all with the same duct-box and blow air on them with a recycled C2D/C2Q stock cooler fan. So I ordered an AverMedia M780. got a good price on it, too.

Then, I brought the computer back to my house here, and discovered that I'd forgotten my discovery about Radio Shack "digital" thermometers.

My brother's digital thermostat thermometer . . . . . understates room ambients by some 5 degrees.

There was never anything wrong with that PVR-250, and it never caused a cooling degradation in my system.

I'd better finish this project soon. I can see how it . . . . keeps costing me money. Looking for perfection, when it was almost "there," anyway.