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So I'm working on quietening down my hybrid ht/gaming PC. It used to be a turbine, and now it's much quieter already, but I'd like to take it a bit further. Plus, I want to crossfire the video card soon, and that's going to make the whole thing that much more challenging, so I need everything cooling well.
What I've done so far:
-moved all drives up to the top so that the lower passage (air intake) is COMPLETELY empty (it's a cheap-o mini-tower case).
-Cables routed entirely out of air passages and tied securely
-Swapped out my old radeon 4850 for a passive cooled 5750.
-Removed my stock AMD cooler (WOW that thing was loud!) and repaced it with a xigmatek liquid CPU cooler http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233011
-set up fan control to keep the fan in the cpu cooler on the lowest setting until temps get high
-replaced by generic 450w power supply with a 650w aerocool 0 dba (found for freaking cheap!)
So my finding so far -
This made a HUGE difference. But I want more!
-I think the cpu cooler might not have been the best choice. At lowest setting it keeps the cpu cool most of the time, and at that setting the fan is *almost* inaudible, but not quite. More noticeable is the internal pump noise. Still far below the old fan, but enough that I notice it ... Yes, it's still the quietest cpu cooler I've ever used
-I was worried about passive cooling on a (relatively) high performance video card, but it seems to be OK so far. I've been logging the temps with speedfan and it hasn't passed 70* so far. Which is really good considering I have no case fans (yet) other than the power supply.
-Power supply disappointed me a bit. I've got it set on the quietest setting, but it still warms up enough to turn the fan on once the PC has been on for more than 10-15 minutes... Still, the fan IS very quiet. In fact, if this power supply noise was the only noise coming from the PC, I'd be very satisfied, so maybe there's not much room for improvement in a power supply.
-Hard drives still make some noise - they're normal hard drives in raid-0. Not loud, but audible.
So, my plan right now:
-Start with two 140mm fans - one intake at the lower front of the case, one outlet at the back. Pick fans specifically for silence, and run them at the lowest speed I can keep everything running properly. This doesn't seem to be necessary for cooling purposes, but I think doing so may let the power supply run cooler, and give some more headroom on CPU cooling. Does anyone have recommendations here? I'm thinking:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103077
16db sounds pretty exciting! 60cfm is pretty amazing for that sound level, I'd think; it should be sufficient (especially since I'm working now, and I've got nothing at all)
-With that extra cooling capacity, maybe I could even disable the CPU fan? Or better yet, is there a functional passive CPU cooler (am2 cpu, athlon 64 x2 5600+). I'm not at all opposed to underclocking 5-10% if it will give me the capacity for quieter operation without risk of loss of stability.
-Next, make "room" for crossfiring the video cards. Two problems here. First, since it's mini-tower, the heatsinks are directly underneath the cards. right now that hasn't been enough heat to be an issue, but once I have two in there, I expect the upper one is going to have a problem. Plus, I'm already talking about making the CPU quieter - having those two giant heat production units directly under the CPU isn't helping there. So, my plan there is to cut another fan slot into the door of the case and mount this bad boy -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103072
exhausting directly over the card sinks. Again, 16dba, and the way sound stacks, all three would be just barely 20db even if I ran them at full voltage (which, of course, I wouldn't!
)
-Finally, install a small SSD drive for the operating system and set the actual hard drives to a very aggressive powerdown cycle to shut them up.
So - that's it so far - Any other suggestions that could be done relatively inexpensively? Or suggestions on a good dead silent cpu cooler, or better suggestions on the fans? All ideas welcome!
What I've done so far:
-moved all drives up to the top so that the lower passage (air intake) is COMPLETELY empty (it's a cheap-o mini-tower case).
-Cables routed entirely out of air passages and tied securely
-Swapped out my old radeon 4850 for a passive cooled 5750.
-Removed my stock AMD cooler (WOW that thing was loud!) and repaced it with a xigmatek liquid CPU cooler http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233011
-set up fan control to keep the fan in the cpu cooler on the lowest setting until temps get high
-replaced by generic 450w power supply with a 650w aerocool 0 dba (found for freaking cheap!)
So my finding so far -
This made a HUGE difference. But I want more!
-I think the cpu cooler might not have been the best choice. At lowest setting it keeps the cpu cool most of the time, and at that setting the fan is *almost* inaudible, but not quite. More noticeable is the internal pump noise. Still far below the old fan, but enough that I notice it ... Yes, it's still the quietest cpu cooler I've ever used
-I was worried about passive cooling on a (relatively) high performance video card, but it seems to be OK so far. I've been logging the temps with speedfan and it hasn't passed 70* so far. Which is really good considering I have no case fans (yet) other than the power supply.
-Power supply disappointed me a bit. I've got it set on the quietest setting, but it still warms up enough to turn the fan on once the PC has been on for more than 10-15 minutes... Still, the fan IS very quiet. In fact, if this power supply noise was the only noise coming from the PC, I'd be very satisfied, so maybe there's not much room for improvement in a power supply.
-Hard drives still make some noise - they're normal hard drives in raid-0. Not loud, but audible.
So, my plan right now:
-Start with two 140mm fans - one intake at the lower front of the case, one outlet at the back. Pick fans specifically for silence, and run them at the lowest speed I can keep everything running properly. This doesn't seem to be necessary for cooling purposes, but I think doing so may let the power supply run cooler, and give some more headroom on CPU cooling. Does anyone have recommendations here? I'm thinking:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103077
16db sounds pretty exciting! 60cfm is pretty amazing for that sound level, I'd think; it should be sufficient (especially since I'm working now, and I've got nothing at all)
-With that extra cooling capacity, maybe I could even disable the CPU fan? Or better yet, is there a functional passive CPU cooler (am2 cpu, athlon 64 x2 5600+). I'm not at all opposed to underclocking 5-10% if it will give me the capacity for quieter operation without risk of loss of stability.
-Next, make "room" for crossfiring the video cards. Two problems here. First, since it's mini-tower, the heatsinks are directly underneath the cards. right now that hasn't been enough heat to be an issue, but once I have two in there, I expect the upper one is going to have a problem. Plus, I'm already talking about making the CPU quieter - having those two giant heat production units directly under the CPU isn't helping there. So, my plan there is to cut another fan slot into the door of the case and mount this bad boy -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103072
exhausting directly over the card sinks. Again, 16dba, and the way sound stacks, all three would be just barely 20db even if I ran them at full voltage (which, of course, I wouldn't!

-Finally, install a small SSD drive for the operating system and set the actual hard drives to a very aggressive powerdown cycle to shut them up.
So - that's it so far - Any other suggestions that could be done relatively inexpensively? Or suggestions on a good dead silent cpu cooler, or better suggestions on the fans? All ideas welcome!
