[mojo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by compuryan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Put your pc on the floor.

Careful to keep it clean though. The fans will stuck a lot of dust off the floor.

 

[hardnrg]

This is my main rig configuration:

[size=xx-small]Opteron 170 CCBWE 0534SPMW (naked) @ 2799 · Swiftech Storm · 2x 1GB G.Skill HZ
2x 7800GT 256MB @ 522/1260 (Vmod) · 2x DD Maze4 GPU · 16x OCZ BGA Ramsinks
Swiftech MCP-655 (Laing D5) · Swiftech MCR-220 · Custom Fibreglass Air Intake · Swiftech MCRes-Micro
DFI NF4 Ultra-D (623-1, SLi) · SB X-Fi XtremeMusic (Hotrodded, Creative/Pax-Fi) · PCP&C 510 SLI/Express
2x Hitachi 7k250 160GB SATA1 RAID-0 · 2x Hitachi T7k250 250GB SATA2
Seagate 7200.7 200GB IDE · Hitachi 7k250 200GB IDE
Chieftec Mesh Bigtower · Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 230SB (22" CRT)
Cherry Cymotion Expert · Logitech MX518 · X-RayPad Thunder8[/size]

it's incredibly difficult to air-cool SLI'd 7800GTs with 3rd party cooling, unless you have two slots between the cards... I have a DFI NF4 Ultra-D with a single slot in-between and the VF700-Cu heatsinks are choked by the other cards (1st 7800GT choked by 2nd 7800GT, 2nd 7800GT choked by soundcard)... they worked, but the temps were too high to support the overclock on the cards... so now I have watercooling (and voltmods lol)

please don't listen to xinoxide, he obviously doesn't build performance systems, fanless heatsinks lol (an X2 4400+ Toledo creates a LOT of heat, even at stock voltage and speed)

anyway, it might be an idea to sell the 7800GT's and get a single 8800GTS, not for reasons of dropping SLI, but because it's a lot easier to cool a single card on air... this is probably more important if you have the cards overclocked and overvolted (either by graphics card bios modification, voltmod, or both)

 

[mojo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hardnrg /img/forum/go_quote.gif it's incredibly difficult to air-cool SLI'd 7800GTs with 3rd party cooling, unless you have two slots between the cards... I have a DFI NF4 Ultra-D with a single slot in-between and the VF700-Cu heatsinks are choked by the other cards (1st 7800GT choked by 2nd 7800GT, 2nd 7800GT choked by soundcard)... they worked, but the temps were too high to support the overclock on the cards... so now I have watercooling (and voltmods lol)

Take a look at the Thermalright VGA coolers. One major advantage is that you can mount them either way, with the heatsink on the top or bottom of the card. As long as your mobo has enough space between the CPU and top PCI-e slot, you should be able to mount the top card with the HSF on top and the bottom card with it on the bottom.

Of course it helps to have air exhausted out the back as much as possible, and cool air comming in from the front. Again, Antec cases are brilliant for this kind of thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hardnrg /img/forum/go_quote.gif please don't listen to xinoxide, he obviously doesn't build performance systems, fanless heatsinks lol (an X2 4400+ Toledo creates a LOT of heat, even at stock voltage and speed)

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums...ic.php?t=30626

85W apparently. Hot, but not that hard to cool on air. Hard is a 135W P4.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hardnrg /img/forum/go_quote.gif anyway, it might be an idea to sell the 7800GT's and get a single 8800GTS

I have to agree.

 

[hardnrg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mojo /img/forum/go_quote.gif 85W apparently. Hot, but not that hard to cool on air. Hard is a 135W P4.

at stock volts it's 85W.. It would be difficult to cool it on passive air, active air would be fine...

with extra volts, the TDP skyrockets and mine is somewhere between 150 and 200W @ 1.632v (CPU-Z) / 1.69v (DMM at CPU socket)... even a 226W peltier assisted waterblock was worse than straight watercooling (the heat overpowered the TEC)... the heat output is more akin to an Intel Core2 Quad Extreme

 

[Scrith]

I'll echo some of the suggestions here, and I have a new one:

- A nice case helps (I use an Antec P180). By the way, I have the top hole on my P180 covered to further reduce the noise coming out of the computer.

- A quiet power supply also helps a lot (I use a Seasonic 500W).

- There's no reason your CPU can't be used in a quiet computer (I use an AMD XP4800+ with a giant Thermalright heatsink)

- Replace all the fans with quiet ones (silentpcreview has lots of info on these...I have one Nexus 120mm in the back, another in the bottom compartment of the case, and another on the CPU heatsink).

- Use an application like SpeedFan to control the speed of the fans automatically (they'll run faster when you need them to, like when playing a game, and slowly when doing something that uses very few CPU resources, like playing music while you surf the net).

- Replace the stock cooler on your video card (I am using a 7800GTX that is basically silent except when I'm playing a 3D game in high res).

AND...

- Keep the computer on the floor. Put acoustic foam above, behind, and on one side of it (this helps A LOT...but remember to leave room for proper airflow). If your computer is going to be near a wall (which reflect sounds), make sure there is acoustic foam on that wall near the computer. And remember to clean the air filter (the P180 has these in front, and they help a lot) every 2-4 weeks.

 

[SubDiv]

Here are some things that i have done/learned that have a great impact on system noise as far as fans are concerned:

1. take a close look at quality case fans - madshrimp fan roundup , silent pc leaderboard ...if you look closely at the madshrimps roundup, note that many fans perform optimally(acoustically) below their maximum speed. You'll need a fan controller to do this, I can highly recommend the CoolerMaster Aerogate3, it can spin 4 fans from max to zero RPM, and has 4 thermal probes too. Another advantage is that it lets you adjust how the air moves through your case, which is a huge help when your setting things up at the start. Generally you want to pull air in through the back of the case(strongest fan in the back, slower fans in the middle,front) FYI I use GlobalWin NCB's, not the best now, but they are super cheap($6) and if you put them one rpm notch under max, they are very quiet
2. 
   
   completely remove or drill out the wire mesh that covers the fans(on case), this has a rather large impact by reducing resistance thereby reducing vibration and increasing cooling ability
3. 
   
   replace the fan mount screws with rubber mounts, they are relatively cheap and easy to install, these are fantastic at eliminating the fans vibration from the case
4. 
   
   Scrith beat me to this one, but i would also recommend replacing your PSU with a quieter one, I like SeaSonic's too, solidly built and very quiet. I use them exsclusively, they have a good rep at SilentPC too. Another option is to get a modular PSU, one that lets you only plug in the power cables you need, a great way to cut down on case clutter
5. 
   
   Tape up any holes in the case, remove or rerout cables out of the way of the fans
6. 
   
   Suspend a fan inside your case with rubber bands, this is highly case dependant as far as positioning goes, you may have to reroute some cables to make room. I have an aluminum Lian-Li case and I drilled a couple holes so i could suspend a fan pointing at the rear fan to help move air from the front to the back, one thing that's cool with rubber band suspension is that the fan will be as absolutely quiet as possible, no vibration, all you will hear is the noise from the blades moving the air

As far as sound damping goes I have not needed it, but everything I've read recommends you fix your sources of noise first, damping may or may not help much, and in a lot of cases it only changes the pitch of the sound. Here is some good damping material if you want to pursue that.

As previously mentioned, where you put your case has a great deal of impact on what you hear, for example my PC is sitting in a floor compartment of my desk(front part of the compartment is totally open, back is 3/4's open), approx 8" from a wall, I sit about 3ft to the left of it, and all i can really hear is the rear case fan...one problem I ran into because my PC's rear fan is so close the the wall is hot air blowback, I reduced this by cutting out cardboard pieces and taping them onto the side of the compartment to cover up the open "holes" around the case that the air was coming back through.

Also remember to occasionally open up the case and clean the dust/hair out, any high airflow system will suck up a lot of gunk, especially during winter...and especially if you have pets!

PS If you need a visual aid, I could pull my case out and take a pic for ya

 

[mojo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hardnrg /img/forum/go_quote.gif with extra volts, the TDP skyrockets and mine is somewhere between 150 and 200W @ 1.632v (CPU-Z) / 1.69v (DMM at CPU socket)... even a 226W peltier assisted waterblock was worse than straight watercooling (the heat overpowered the TEC)... the heat output is more akin to an Intel Core2 Quad Extreme

That's incredible. A system with a 200W CPU is not going to be a quiet one, even with water cooling I think. I too water cool (for reduced noise) but am moving back to air now.

BTW, the Core2 Quad Extreme (QX6700) is rated at "only" 105W TDP.