Silencing my CPU cooler

[RichardH]

I decided that as my HCPC's going to be a decent way away from where we'll sit, I wasn't going to splurge on a Zalman, so I took a chance on the
Thermaltake Volcano 9+ (http://www.thermaltake.com/products/heatsink/v9.htm) - noting that it's quoted at 17Db at it's lowest spin speed. I've found it seems to have a bit of a buzz to it. Taking the fan off the heatsink seems to quieten it down a little, so I thought I'd put some padding or other between the two. Any other tips? Or should I bite the bullet and go Zalman (cheapest I've found for that is £31.71 delivered here (http://www.theoverclockingstore.co.uk/browseproducts.php?categoryid=101) for the AL version. Any other recommendations for quiet coolers? I guess I could replace the fan on the existing cooler with a Papst....

[Garrett]

I do not know if it helps, but you can get special padding to put on the inside of your case to quieten it down, but could run as expensive as a new fan and cooler.

[Kramer]

The best HS (air) is here (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Other_CPU_and_System_Coolers_18.h tml#ahs_2d003_2dtr) .

Not cheap, & I don't think it includes a fan, but you can fit an 80mm Papst & still have relatively good performance.

Or fit a Zalman fanmate for options of good performance/noisey or reasonable/silent.

I have the Volcano 7+ at the mo, a good cooler (modded for silent options), but still not silent enough for me.

Hence my foray into water cooling in the coming weeks.

How do you fancy pumping 600 litres per hour through your HTPC? :grin:

The Flower is fine I believe, but not recommended for high performance systems, & requires good case cooling also.

[RichardH]

Kramer - I presume you modded the Volcano by changing the fan to a Papst?

Garrett - saw an article on overclockers.com about using mouse pads to damp the case - see here (http://www.overclockers.com/tips635/)


For all you overclockers here (expect we're mainly underclockers!!) - an amusing article (http://bbspot.com/News/2002/08/house.html)

[ChrisAllenFiz]

Even quiter than the pabst is the Verax, available from www.pcsilent.de . I have both and the verax is quieter, but also more expensive :)

Chris

[RichardH]

....just been tinkering, and the existing fan IS quiet as long as the RPM stay below 2000 or so. I think I'll experiment with keeping the flow of cool air in to the case up, to try and keep things moving - maybe a duct to pipe cool air in to the right place....

[KarlRobinson]

Another item that can make things quiter is the HD, running the 2.5" micro drives are a lot better.

[RichardH]

HD not an issue - Seagate Barracuda - nice & quiet. I'm also pleased with the Antec power supply, which seems pretty good.

[Garrett]

Originally posted by Kramer
I have the Volcano 7+ at the mo, a good cooler (modded for silent options), but still not silent enough for me.
Same here mate, when using for word processing or Internet work, I can use it in the whisper mode, then when playing games click it over to the fast mode, and as I use floor standing speakers, and I have a full tower on the floor under a desk the fan noise tends to get deadened. I can hear it when not playing games in fast mode, but like a clicking clock I soon switch of to the noise.
Kramer how did you mod it I would not mind doing it myself, despite what I have just wrote above.

Thanks for the tip Richard H.

[Garrett]

RichardH, By the way that Volcano 9 looks funny I thought the heat sinks are better made of copper than aluminium, for better thermal conduction. The fan also looks to be copper what’s the point of that?

[RichardH]

It's a mainly alu sink with copper insert which sits on top of the cpu itself, so it conducts the heat away fairly well (in theory!).
The fan IS plastic, but a funny orange colour.
Comes with a connector to a thermistor (supplied too) that sits under the CPU to monitor temp - seems to do a good job, as I have it running at 1600RPM when first switched on (and it's v quiet then), asn as temp rises, so do the RPM, and then the temp stabilises. Currently stabilises at around 40 dec C.
Alternatively you also get a rheostat to manually ater the speed, but it seems to only govern it from ~3500 to top whack (~4500 IIRC), so it's NOISY then. But at least if I push the PC hard I know I've got some cooling power there.

[Garrett]

I have seen them on other Volcanoes they have a round part underneath that is copper. From the picture that is pointed to it looked as though the got all the materials in the wrong place.

[Kramer]

Hi all,

Copper is a better thermal conductor, so absorbs heat better than Aluminum. However, copper is slower to release heat. Here aluminum is better.

So, theoretically, using copper to absorb & then aluminum to dispell the heat is the best way.

But in practice, all copper HS (well designed) do tend to perform better.

Re modding my Volcano 7+, a Papst can't be fitted as the cowling will only take a 70mm fan (as supplied), unless it's modded.

I've a baybus fitted (home made in a blank faceplate of my Lian Li PC-7 aluminum case). I've modified the switch arrangement controling the Volcano, added some extra zener diodes & resistors & now have speed options of <1500, 3300, 5500 & 6500RPM, aswell as control of all my case fans (all 5,7 & 12volt switching).

BTW, Garret, I found that reversing the fan on the 7+, so it sucks rather than blows, has improved cooling by about 3C on the lowest setting (3300RPM). But I have a rear exhaust fan ideally placed just above the Volcano to extract the hot air (7v normally).

M/board temps are now just above ambient, & the graphics card is also about 7C cooler as a result.

This is in an XP1800+ running @ 1.85v & 1725mHz 'ish.

[RichardH]

I might try reversing the fan on my Volcano 9+, then. Nice one!

[Kramer]

Originally posted by RichardH
I might try reversing the fan on my Volcano 9+, then. Nice one!

I forgot to say you need to physically reverse the fan. The impeller is not symetric, so reversing the supply cables won't be as good.

[Garrett]

Originally posted by Kramer

BTW, Garret, I found that reversing the fan on the 7+, so it sucks rather than blows, has improved cooling by about 3C on the lowest setting (3300RPM). But I have a rear exhaust fan ideally placed just above the Volcano to extract the hot air (7v normally).
So you just turn the fan upside down!
What do you mean a rear exhaust fan ideally placed just above the Volcano to extract the hot? Did you make brackets to hold the fan?
I’m finding this most interesting.

[Kramer]

My Lian Li case has an exhause fan directly above/behind the CPU heatsink (just below the PSU).

I'll take a pic later & post it if you want.

Also, my Enermax PSU has twin fans, the bottom being right overhead the HSF, also helping extract the hot air.

Obviously sucking air through the HS will help with M/board cooling (when blowing, you're blasting your Ram with hot air!), & help GPU etc... provided you can get the heat out fairly quickly.

[Garrett]

Originally posted by Kramer
My Lian Li case has an exhause fan directly above/behind the CPU heatsink (just below the PSU).

I'll take a pic later & post it if you want.

Also, my Enermax PSU has twin fans, the bottom being right overhead the HSF, also helping extract the hot air.

Obviously sucking air through the HS will help with M/board cooling (when blowing, you're blasting your Ram with hot air!), & help GPU etc... provided you can get the heat out fairly quickly. I wouldn’t mind if you would be so kind.
I have a case intake fan at 90 degrees and 2 inches away from the Volcano 7 (extra one I put on it) do you think reversing both will help. I see what you mean about the heating up of the ram. I also have a special extractor fan just under my graphic card, that blows out of the PCI slot in the back of my case.

[Kramer]

Originally posted by Garrett
I wouldn’t mind if you would be so kind.


Will do, check here in a while.

[Kramer]

As promised.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~scoobydooby/Hope%20this%20works.jpg

Soon all will be gone! Water gear on it's way :grin:

[MuFu]

Nice, H20 is the way to go. :)

I definitely recommend getting fanbus/baybus too Richard, although you might find that they are slightly impractical for use in an HTPC and a little on the expensive side (quite easy to make if you have moderate EE knowledge though). Rheostats are ok, but are very hard to calibrate and the ones that come with HS's (such as the 9+) tend to set the fan RPM very high and leave it there for more time than is actually needed.

http://muthafunker.homestead.com/files/miscmessageboard/fanbus.jpg

It the moment I'm running an 1800+@1938MHz, 2.1V in almost total silence on my main system (WD 800JB HDD is the only thing you can hear - very fast, but fairly noisy). The mobo northbridge is Zalman passively-cooled and my Enermax lower fan is also wired into the fanbus. When CPU usage goes up, it's as easy as turning a couple of pots just to keep temps in check. I find the best thing is that I can now leave the PC on all night and sleep in peace! :cool:

As for the HTPC, here (http://muthafunker.homestead.com/files/miscmessageboard/HTPC.jpg), I will be undervolting the CPU (a Cel-T 1.2GHz) to ~1.2-1.3V and running it passively cooled. That leaves just the GPU fan to get rid of and a Barracuda ATA IV + 75GXP which don't really make any noise at all. The PSU fan is running at 5V and is virtually inaudible.

What CPU do you have? You can get away with undervolting (slightly underclocking if necessary) and passively cooling in many instances, as long as you have a decent HS and reasonable case airflow. The best heatsink available right now is the Thermalright SLK-800, IMO, although stick with that Volcano - you'll probably find that once you have it all set up and installed, the noice is much more tolerable than you imagined. As a cheap alternative to a Papst, Evercool make pretty good medium-ouput, low-noise 80mm units.

MuFu.

[Garrett]

Thanks Kramer

Sugar I only got a new power supply unit last year. The fan I mentioned that was two inch away from my volcano is similar to the one on the left of the picture but is just a little lower down.
Anyway you picture is food for thought.

[RichardH]

MuFu - I beat you to it - I ordered a couple of Evercool 80s for case cooling yesterday, with the intention of getting the case temp down nicely and (as you suggest) sticking with the Volcano, which, if running at low RPM, is quiet enough for the final location of the HCPC - currently in my office, which is a bit "cosy", so you hear the noise more! I'd considered building some speed controllers, but I'll hold on until I see what the final setup's like.

I'm running an Athlon XP1600+, so cooling's always going to be required - I'd started looking at the underclocking thing, but of course the multipliers are locked on these, so voltage will be the only way - or can multiplier locked CPUs go down but not up??

Garrett - your case fan you are considering reversing - I'd say you want it extracting air FROM the case to pull the hot air away - I'd be suprised if it's not like that already.

I'm intending to put 2 case fans in - one on the front of the case pulling cool air in (may mount this in the hard drive bay to help cool the HD too - plus it's then closer to the CPU), and one in the position pictured by Kramer pulling out. CPU fan pulling air UP from the heatsink. (Thanks Kramer BTW, I had intended to turn the fan upside down!).
Does that sound like a plan?

EDIT: For anyone interested, I got my Evercools from The Overclocking Store (http://www.theoverclockingstore.co.uk) - £4.23 inc VAT & free postage - they're in the Colling|Fans section.

[Garrett]

RichardH No it sucks air in, it is one I added myself to balance all the ones blowing air out.

Can you under clock the CPU in BIOS as I did to get my 1600 to a 1800 for a trial run, but put it back as I really do not need the extra speed at the moment. I think I altered the frequency.

[RichardH]

I can alter the bus speed (it sounds like this is what you did), and also the voltage, but obviously the mutliplier is locked. FSB can only increase not decrease, so I may try dropping the voltage - looking drop performance and hence temperature, not overclock!!

[MuFu]

Originally posted by RichardH
I'm running an Athlon XP1600+, so cooling's always going to be required - I'd started looking at the underclocking thing, but of course the multipliers are locked on these, so voltage will be the only way - or can multiplier locked CPUs go down but not up??

Garrett - your case fan you are considering reversing - I'd say you want it extracting air FROM the case to pull the hot air away - I'd be suprised if it's not like that already.

I'm intending to put 2 case fans in - one on the front of the case pulling cool air in (may mount this in the hard drive bay to help cool the HD too - plus it's then closer to the CPU), and one in the position pictured by Kramer pulling out. CPU fan pulling air UP from the heatsink. (Thanks Kramer BTW, I had intended to turn the fan upside down!).
Does that sound like a plan?

EDIT: For anyone interested, I got my Evercools from The Overclocking Store (http://www.theoverclockingstore.co.uk) - £4.23 inc VAT & free postage - they're in the Colling|Fans section.

Good store that. :)

Yeah... that sounds like a plan! - I bet you could get away with just the one fan in the position Kramer has it. A fan there is very, very effective because without it you just get a dead, hot air pocket around the CPU (unless your heatsink has an intake on the bottom like certain Enermax/Antec/Sparkle models do).

It's pretty simple to unlock the multiplier on an Athlon XP (albeit not quite as easy as unlocking the older Athlon "T-Birds"). There's a good guide here (http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/xpunlock/xpunlock.htm), so if you feel like voiding your warranty give it a shot. I've done quite a few now and that method works first time, every time if done properly.

Having said that, I doubt you'd be able to get away with underclocking, undervolting and passively cooling and AthlonXP unless you have very good case airflow and use a mofo of a heatsink. They run pretty hot "per-clock". The only chips I'd consider "easy" to do such a thing to would be VIA C3s (cool but crap, hehe), Durons and Celerons (esecially the Tualatin-cored "Cel-T's").

Go nuts! :grin:

MuFu.

[Kramer]

Originally posted by RichardH
FSB can only increase not decrease

The FSB can be reduced to reduce the mHz of the CPU. Some m/boards default to 100 FSB if problems are detacted with improper CPU speed.


so I may try dropping the voltage - looking drop performance and hence temperature, not overclock!!

The CPU will need the same voltage unless you reduce the freq.

Reduce the FSB (if the multiplier is locked - as you indicate it is), then you could reduce voltage.(note this will slow all system performance - not recommended)

BTW, unlocking is relatively easy, & gives option for both over & underclocking.

[RichardH]

Garrett - I wasn't going to the passively cooling the beast - I'm sure the required case fans would be louder than my existing setup!
Bought an original Chrome Orb from Overclockingstore when they first came out - ahh the simple days of joining the bridges with a pencil line...

Kramer : "The FSB can be reduced to reduce the mHz of the CPU" - not on my MB - seems to only have setting for 100Mhz up!

Hey ho - maybe I'll try an unlock of the XP, but I'll see what happens with the Evercools....

R

[Garrett]

Hi Kramer, I turned the fan about and the one on the case, but before I thought to look at the temprature yesterday the HD went down.
I was un-installing some cover disk software, and it must have taken some other files with it that my system needed, and when I re-booted it crashed. So I’m working on a small HD with very little room left to put new programs. A good mate of mine is going to send me the corrupted/missing files, and I will install them. But of that fails it looks as though it is a re-install job. :(

[Sinzer]

I am suprised none of you have looked at Acoustic Mats

http://www.xpcgear.com/akpaxmatacab.html

I am sure it wouldn't hurt and is a helluva lot simpler than underclocking your Athlon.

For a quiet PC, you should really look at pentiums due to the advantages of being able to run it with a HS only.

[RichardH]

Yeah, you're right re Pentiums, but certainly I started this as a cheapy box, and with a mobo at £42, and processor at about the same, AMD are cheaper.
To be honest, I find the box reasonably quiet as it stands, but I'm still considering the use of a load of mouse mats as acoustic damping - I'm sure it'll do a decent job, if not quite in the Acoustic Mats league.

One other thing I'm considering - an upgrade of the thermal transfer paste as supplied with the Volcano - does the Silver stuff REALLY make a big difference?

R

[Garrett]

Originally posted by Sinzer
I am suprised none of you have looked at Acoustic Mats

http://www.xpcgear.com/akpaxmatacab.html

I am sure it wouldn't hurt and is a helluva lot simpler than underclocking your Athlon.

For a quiet PC, you should really look at pentiums due to the advantages of being able to run it with a HS only. Ahh Sinzer that was the stuff I was on about in my first post. Is it any good? Trouble is I have a tower case. Also I have some sound deadening from the carpet, and the side of the case is up to the side of my computer stand.

[Kramer]

Originally posted by RichardH
One other thing I'm considering - an upgrade of the thermal transfer paste as supplied with the Volcano - does the Silver stuff REALLY make a big difference?


Yes, Arctic Silver 3 is better.

But apply it as per the site's instructions - sparingly.

Should yield about 2 3 degrees improvement, well, it did for me.

[RichardH]

Reasonable price for acoustic pads here (http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/product.php?view=2026)

[Garrett]

I had some thin sponge foam that I used to use as padding for some speakers I made to go at the rear of the room across the corners. It is about 3/16 thick, as I had some left I taped some on the inside of my tower, and it has quieted it down a fair bit.

[RichardH]

Well, a quick update. Got some Arctic Alumina (near the Silver performance, and much cheaper), which hasn't bedded in yet, so I'm still hoping for a temp. drop.
Also got some draught excluder foam and carefully stuck it round the edges of the fans where they meet the cooler/case, to stop noise passing through to the case - this seems to have made a difference - no vibrational noise now, just a lot of whooshing air :grin: - I'll try some damping materials on the panels next...

[RichardH]

Now getting there nicely - I've glued mouse mats to the inside panels of my case, plus lapped the CPU cooler and reapplied the Alumina paste. Also hacked the Rheostat that came with the Volcano 9 so it controls the rear Evercool fan - just got it ticking over now - much quieter, and the case and CPU temp still remain OK. I'd like to make a front panel baybus-a-like - anyone any ideas on what value rheostats etc to use?

[Sinzer]

Did the mats make a lot of difference? I suppose it is difficult to isolate their contribution due to the amount of work you have done :)

[GJC]

Hope this is of interest to you guys.

PC/Cooling/overclocking..... (http://www.tweak3d.net/)

--------

GJC

[RichardH]

Did the mats make a lot of difference?
A bit, yes. Although the case is a nice solid one (Antec), apart from anything else, the sides just go "thunk" now if you whack them, rather than "dinnnngggg". I think to do a proper job with that stuff, you'd need to get in every nook & cranny. Mats were only 20p each, so no great loss!!

[MuFu]

Originally posted by RichardH
Now getting there nicely - I've glued mouse mats to the inside panels of my case, plus lapped the CPU cooler and reapplied the Alumina paste. Also hacked the Rheostat that came with the Volcano 9 so it controls the rear Evercool fan - just got it ticking over now - much quieter, and the case and CPU temp still remain OK. I'd like to make a front panel baybus-a-like - anyone any ideas on what value rheostats etc to use?

20-50 ohms is usually cool. Since it's your CPU fan then I guess you're looking more at the 20-40 range as anything more and the fan may stall (usually fans have a startup potential of about 5V). Just make sure that the pot is rated at 3W+ otherwise it'll burn out. Bear in mind that you'll lose RPM sensing if you use the 3-pin header. Best thing to do is to wire the fan up to the +12V and 0V pins of a molex connector and then feed the yellow RPM sensing wire separately to a motherboard fan header.

Yeah, mats/open cell foam sheets are pretty inexpensive and effective, for taking out UHFs especially - good if you have a whiny HDD.

MuFu.

[daren jackson]

For a completely silent solution you will need to do away with the fans altogether - and get a water cooler kit! It's fairly easy to fit, and will keep your processor at a constant temp. The only down side is the cost (approx £90 - available from Maplins).

[RichardH]

Kramer, you were going water cooled - how's it going (or have you flooded your CPU, and so can't communicate any more? :grin: )

MuFu - thanks for the info - Maplin don't seem to have much at that level, so I'll have a wander on the web and see what I can come up with....

[MuFu]

You know quite a simple idea is to attach a 2-pin header in series with the fan (the tiny black ones - as used for motherboard connections - power LEDs etc). You can then just get a few standard co-axial resistors of varying values and slot them in one at a time. If they get a little on the hot side, then just get two of twice the resistance and wire them in parallel. I've used this system quite a few times and it's fairly effective for taking fans down a notch. The 2-pin header is simply for convenience. Once you've settled on a value that gives good performance:noise then you can do away with it altogether if you want. I don't think that continuosly variable fanspeed is actually needed for most people.

H20 is very good, superior to air cooling in pretty much every I'd say, but it's not really necessary for an HTPC. Since performance is not an absolute priority then trying to get away with passive cooling as much as possible is probably the way to go. A little bit tricky with Athlon/XPs but perfectly possible with Durons, Celerons, even PIII-T's.

This is me, BTW...

http://muthafunker.homestead.com/files/miscmessageboard/wc.jpg

:cool:

MuFu.

[Garrett]

Originally posted by Garrett
I had some thin sponge foam that I used to use as padding for some speakers I made to go at the rear of the room across the corners. It is about 3/16 thick, as I had some left I taped some on the inside of my tower, and it has quieted it down a fair bit. At that point I had only done one side (the one facing the MB) I decided to do the other side of the case which I though the would be no sound coming from I was wrong the machine is as quiet as it was back when I had a Pentium 100.
The foam was1/4 inch.

[Kramer]

Originally posted by RichardH
Kramer, you were going water cooled - how's it going

Hi Richard,

Still working on it. Decided to make most of the bits myself, hence it's taking a little longer than I had hoped.

I have the "radbox" finished, i.e. radiator (heatercore from a VW Passat), 2X x 120mm YS-Tech fans, Eheim 1048 pump, home made reservoir etc..

I'h having trouble machining the copper the way I hoped, so I may opt for a Maze 3 in the interim & complete my own design later on.

Don't worry, I'll post pics & results in due course.

BTW, I'd avoid Maplin for any WC gear.

Best to go to a specialist with a good selection or gear.

[Kramer]

OK, some pictures of the work in progress.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~scoobydooby/Copper%20blocks%20raw.jpg

http://homepage.eircom.net/~scoobydooby/box%20with%20copper.jpg

http://homepage.eircom.net/~scoobydooby/1st%20test%20in%20box.jpg

http://homepage.eircom.net/~scoobydooby/everything%20for%20scale%20etc..jpg

It's come on a lot since then, haven't taken more pics since those, but more will follow, if req'd.

[Garrett]

Hi Kramer

EHEIM!!!!! They make pumps and filters for fish tanks.

[Kramer]

Originally posted by Garrett
EHEIM!!!!! They make pumps and filters for fish tanks.

They sure do :grin:

They're also the #1 choice for PC watercooling.

[MuFu]

Use the 1046 myself. Pretty low output but anything more powerful would be wasted. Nice pumps. :)

I totally second the idea not to buy watercooling gear from Maplin! There are so many specialist PC o/clocking stores now that have much better gear in stock (at a similar price). I had to wait about three weeks to get my gear in from Germany but it was well worth it. Vorsprung durch technic and all that. :grin:

MuFu.

[General Skanky]

Interesting thread.
Just whipped through it and have a question. How do you all rate the Lian Li cases vrs the Coolermaster ones?

I intend to use one or the other, ie ATC 201 Coolermaster vrs Lian Li PC 60.

As the thread follows the lines of noise with cooling, I wondered how good these cases were as is.

I'm going to use Quiet PC psu's and cooling solutions and can't imagine needing much else. The cpu will be an AMD 2200+ though.

[Mr.D]

The only thing I was happy with from QuietPC was the zalman cooler.
I replaced the PSU with an enermax one : it was quieter cleaner and cooler. I bought a HD quiet enclosure and its very poorly made and of little use to be honest just get a seagate barracuda instead and its quiet anyway.

[General Skanky]

My shortlist includes Enermax, Seagate, Lian Li, Coolermaster, IBM and Pioneer for the DVD drive. Interesting your comments on the psu from Quiet PC, as their blurb comes across quiet well with the odd good reviews that can be found around the place.

However, the Enermax 431W psu (I like plenty of reserve), oozes with blatant quality, so I'll go with that.

Thanks.

[loafer316]

What an excellent thread!!!! a m8 has just mentioned that he can get me a KT400 board and AMD 2700 for around £200-250. So it's time to upgrade!. Never had a AMD.

I'm sure this will result in more cooling and therefore more noise! and considering i will be using as a HTPC too this is crucial.

Can anyone tell where to get a well made/reliable H2O kit for a new system? i would not really be able to make one myself. Someone mention a place in Germany...i'm in the UK.

The enermax PSU seems to be the one for me...plus water cooling it should keep the noise down with a Aluminium case it will stay even cooler...thx for the help...and to those who have contributed so far...:grin:

[RichardH]

Try The Overclocking Store (http://www.theoverclockingstore.co.uk/) in their "extreme cooling" section. They are pretty helpful too, so an email to them should get any further info on the stuff they have if it's not on the site.

[MuFu]

Originally posted by loafer316
Can anyone tell where to get a well made/reliable H2O kit for a new system?

Yes, the Large Capacity Innovatek kit from http://www.over-clock.co.uk/acatalog/Full_Kits.html

Absolutely SUPERB, although maybe slightly on the expensive side at £160. Since I got mine (was only £120 back then - see previous page), they've uprated the pump and radiator and thrown in a bottle of Coolant. Demand is ridiculous though; I had to wait three weeks to get mine and I don't suppose there is much less of a wait if you order now.

Oh... and another thumbs up for the Enermax 431W Active. Nice PSU. :)

MuFu.

[Kramer]

Originally posted by loafer316
Can anyone tell where to get a well made/reliable H2O kit for a new system?

I can whole heartedly endorse extremecooling.co.uk (www.extremecooling.co.uk)

I ordered 2 YS-Teck 120mm fans from them. Unfortunately one was broken on arrival :(

I took a picture of it & e-mailed them. Obviously the cost of me returning it was hefty with regard to the original cost of the fan (<£10), so they asked me to dispose of the fan & sent a replacement.

It duly arrived 2 days later.

Great customer support & really appreciated by me given the level of support I've rec'd from some/many other retailers.

Plus they deliver FREE in the UK :eek:

They're a division of tekheads.co.uk (www.tekheads.co.uk) & so have been around for ages & are a well respected company in this area.

I'll certainly buy from them again.

[Kramer]

Getting back to my rig ;)

I made my own CPU block (& just completed a Northridge block - damn thing is scorching at >200 FSB:grin: ) & TBH, wouldn't recommend going this route. Very time consuming given the relatively low cost of commercially available blocks.

But the results are great.

Running an unlocked XP1800+ (stock 1.53gHz) I was able to achieve a stable (Prime 95 ran flawlessly for > 24 hours) 1.91gHz :eek:

That's a 380mHz overclock, & in blissfull silence.

It will operate fine at 1.97gHz, but fails Prime 95 after 20 mins. I reckon the Northbridge is overheating causing this - hence the new block (not fitted yet).

I'd love to see 2.0gHz, just for the hell of it & hopefully will soon :eek:

I'd also have to fully recommend Enermax PSUs. I have the 350W switching model.

Build quality is top notch & voltage readings are very acurate (an indicated 4.97v on the 5v rail at full load). Virtually silent also with the rear fan on it's lowest setting - fine for HC use.

[Kramer]

I've made a "radbox" which is situated outside my house, so the 2 YS-Techs (@ 7v) aren't a problem.

Space isn't an issue inside my case either (a Lian Li PC 7) as the res, rad & fans aren't even in the same room.

Best place for Lian Li cases is here (www.scan.co.uk) . I really like the Lian Li case & so has everyone who's seen it.

I'll be fitting a GPU block to my Rad 9700 Pro (when I get it :grin: ), so the only real source of noise will be the Enermax PSU - I don't think that'll be a problem :grin:

I think there's 2 different types of user for whom watercooling is beneficial:

1. The dedicated HTPC user who wants virtual silence &
2. The tweaker/overclocker - general use PC, great gaming abiities etc...

Fortunately the benefits for the latter category also apply to the former.

As I use my PC for all manner of things, & silence is a must, watercooling IS the only option.

I should have done this ages ago (with hindsight actually buying the waterblocks :rolleyes: ).

Probably the best currently available WBs are by Dangerden in the US. They're reasonably priced & they'll ship to the UK for $18.

Web site here (www.dangerden.com) .

Long post I know, but I'm well chuffed with the results so far :grin:

Some pictures for those interested.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~scoobydooby/waterblock%20in%20place%20004%20edited%204%20web.j pg
http://homepage.eircom.net/~scoobydooby/waterblock%20in%20place%20008%20edited%204%20web.j pg
http://homepage.eircom.net/~scoobydooby/200FSB%20smaller%20for%20web.bmp
http://homepage.eircom.net/~scoobydooby/1970%20smaller%20edit%20for%20web.bmp

BTW, running a new Epox 8K5A2+, XP1800+ (unlocked), Samsung pc2700 ram. Idle (CPU) 33 C, full load (i.e. Prime 95) 42 C.
That's at 2.0v & 1.91gHz & silent.

Coooooooooooool ;)

Sorry for 3 separate posts, but the system wouldn't take it in 1, or even 2.

[RichardH]

I'm still hunting for a bit more silence, and am finally considering a Zalman 6000Cu for my AthlonXP. MB is an ECS K7S6A - anyone using this (or a K7S5A) combo - does it fit? Bit nervous about the weight of a Zalman in a tower case.
Cheapest I've found the 6000Cu is £28.61 inc VAT, but plus £5.50 postage. Also found the 600AlCu for £30.40 inc VAT and Del from extremecooling (thanks Kramer for the link). Is there a performance difference?

[MuFu]

I've built a couple of client systems based around the K7s6a. Yes... from what I remember there is plenty of room around the socket so that Zalman should be fine.

Not sure about performance as I have never used them (has a mate with one and he raves about it all the time). Overclockers Online reviewed them both...

http://www.overclockersonline.com/images/articles/coolers/roundup0102/zalman6000.gif

...as did a few other sites, HardOCP (www.hardocp.com) being one of them I think.

MuFu.

[RichardH]

thanks MuFu - think I may dip my toe in the Zalman water....

[feet14]

I'm currently using a 60mm Papst fan on a standard heatsink that won't fit 80mm fans, which is too noisy for me at 27dB. I've found an 80mm Papst fan that runs at 12dB and offers slightly better airflow than the 60mm one and by use of a 60mm to 80mm fan adaptor it will fit! The fan and the adaptor are available at www.overclockers.co.uk .

It will cost £17 plus postage - cheaper than buying a brand new Zalman, although if I'd have bought a Zalman in the first place it probably would have been cheaper. But this solution will work in smaller cases where the Zalman won't fit.

[RichardH]

Is that the Papst 8412 NGL? http://www.chillblast.com stock them too, and don't charge for delivery for orders under 0.5kg, so they work out at £13.99. Not sure if they stock the 60>80 adapters, though.
I'm considering putting one of those Papsts into a power supply (Gary Lightfoot has done so (the 19db version) to apparent excellent effect). I'm replacing a CPU cooler on another box in the house anyway, so I need a whole new cpu cooler anyway. Not sure if the 12Db fan will have enough airflow, so may have to go for the 19Db jobbie.
Anyone got any ideas on how to measure airflow? I could test the existing PSU fan before ordering if so....

[feet14]

Originally posted by RichardH
Is that the Papst 8412 NGL? http://www.chillblast.com stock them too, and don't charge for delivery for orders under 0.5kg, so they work out at £13.99. Not sure if they stock the 60>80 adapters, though.


It is indeed. They don't stock the adaptor and the fan is actually £12 at OcUK; £17 includes the adaptor.


Not sure if the 12Db fan will have enough airflow, so may have to go for the 19Db jobbie.
Anyone got any ideas on how to measure airflow? I could test the existing PSU fan before ordering if so....

If you could find a datasheet for your current fan, it should have the airflow on it. If the new fan offers a reasonable amount more airflow then you should be ok. It's easier for me as I'm comparing fans from the same manufacturer.

[RichardH]

Yes, I realised that the price is lower for the fan at overclockers, but for me (as I don't need the adapter), it ends up cheaper at chillblast, as postage is free.

Think I'll have to take the PSU apart and see what fan's in there and try and get a spec!!

[RichardH]

Update time, folks!
I now have a silent PC. Here's what I did....

Bit the bullet and installed a Zalman on the CPU - See http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50861 for more on that.

Bought a Papst 80mm case fan (the 19Db one). Put it in the PSU, but decided to run the fan cable out of the PSU and power the fan from a motherboard fan header rather than from inside the PSU - that way I can monitor the fan speed.
Although the fan is very quiet when held in the hand, I have found that as soon as there are air restrictions and/or it's bolted to something (i.e. it's in the PSU), I get noise. I cut out the finger guard from the back of the PSU to make sure air flow was unrestricted, but still a hum.

Then I found this website (http://www.silentpcreview.com/) - has a nice article on building a 5v/12v fan switch (in the mods section). I happened to have the parts required to hand, so a bit of drilling and soldering later, I have a fan switch. I left the speed cable attached to the motherboard connector, so I can continue to monitor fan speeds.

I've connected both the case fan and the PSU fan to the one switch for the moment - seems to power them both OK, and in "low speed (5v)" mode, the PC is silent.


In summary and hindsight, I think I would have not bothered with the Papst, but instead used another Evercool in the PSU - they are dirt cheap and pretty quiet - especially in 5v mode - this is what I have as the case fan - and just built the switch.