What's a quiet CPU fan?
Mar 12, 2008 at 5:06 PM Post #32 of 41
Quote:

How does a 120MM fan mount onto it? Also, is the thermal grease that comes with it okay?


The cooler comes with metal clip-on springs that locks the fan in its place. The cooler also comes with thin rubber-pads which you can attach between cooler and fan so the fan wont resonate.


Stock TIM should be good, but I havent heard much comments HOW good it is. Arctic Silver 5 thermal grease is good, but its electrically conductive and MIGHT cause havoc if some of it squeezes out and manages to drop on electric components. Time has gone past from it though, and many ceramic greases have gone past it in cooling prowess (and without conducting hazzards).

Here is a good TIM comparison.
The HardwareLogic Thermal Compound Round-Up


I personally use Zalman ZM-STG1, its so bloody easy to use! Just paint a hair-thin layer on your CPU and you are good to go. It has rather long curing-in time though, but even new its thermal-conducting properties are above generic TIM, and once properly cured it should be close to older king Arctic Silver 5.

Dont fuzz on TIM too much though, most important thing is that there is SOME between CPU and cooler, and there isnt too much of it. We are dealing with rather small differences in temperatures. The CPU must be completely clean from old TIM junk and such. Buy some very clean (90% IIRC) isopropanol spray, or some other cleaning liquid, (like Arctic Silver's Arctic Clean which is meant for cleaning old TIM) and clean the CPU couple of times to make sure its completely free of impurities.
 
Mar 13, 2008 at 2:24 AM Post #33 of 41
Thermalright Ultra 120, they have a bigger one as well but the 120 is already overkill. Mixed with even a zalman 120mm its awesome. It will really tell you how noisy the rest of your components are so be prepared to shell out for silent case fans/vga cooler. Nexus can't be beat for fans but you pay for them. The Zalman F1 comes with the low voltage adaptor to make it very quiet.
 
Mar 13, 2008 at 3:14 AM Post #34 of 41
Quote:

Originally Posted by rustbucket /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Sorry - I don't know about the fan mounting but please don't use 320 grit sandpaper! you want the smoothest, flattest surface possible for maximum contact with the heat spreader/core of your proc. I cleaned up my Zalman with 2000 grit, wet sanding with the paper on a granite block. I wouldn't bother to do it again - stock is fine.

The thermal paste that comes with the cooler is fine too. If you want to get the best, Arctic Silver 7 (I think it's 7) is the good stuff. In my experience, it only made a 1-2 degree difference in temps, so I didn't bother with that either when I built my new system.


Arctic Silver is amazing with an aftercooler, makes a lot more difference. and also, 1 tube last u like... forever.
 
Mar 14, 2008 at 6:32 PM Post #35 of 41
Surprised that nobody has directed the OP to silentpcreview.com | Everything about Silent / Quiet Computers. I may be new here but in terms of the silent pc front, I have been down that road many times.
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Mar 15, 2008 at 8:25 AM Post #36 of 41
Quote:

Originally Posted by Double Edge /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Surprised that nobody has directed the OP to silentpcreview.com | Everything about Silent / Quiet Computers. I may be new here but in terms of the silent pc front, I have been down that road many times.
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Quote:

Originally Posted by stevenkelby /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I bought about 6 different types of 120mm fan recommended on silentpcreview.com and found that the quietest is this:

Nexus 120mm Fan - D12SL-12 Black and White

I have a few running at about 300 rpm and they are silent from a meter away.

For more info, check the SPCR site.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Zodduska /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I use Scythe S-Flex 120 on my TRUE, and 6 more connected to a fan controller.

silentpcreview is a great resource, the bungie hard drive suspension is an essential tweak:
silentpcreview[/B].com/article8-page2.html]Hard Drive Silencing: Sandwiches & Suspensions | silentpcreview.com




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Mar 15, 2008 at 9:33 AM Post #37 of 41
APACK Zerotherm CF900 was inaudiable through my case after remounting the fan with black rubber bolts with soft blue rubber grommets to completely remove vibration travel and rattle.

Though the HS market has released many newer HS's since mine. It may not be the best ratio of silence to performance.

Coupled with the lowest RPM Sharkoon Silent Eagle golfball fans (Noise development: 8.9dBA - don't bother with higher RPM they are audiable) mounted with black rubber bolts with silicone gaskets (including PSU silicone gasket) and soft rubber washers and a Corsair HX620 on an undemanding system so it's fan always runs at minimal speed. Hard drive in Silentmaxx properly assembled.

I would class the system as about as noisy as having a large tube TV on with the sound muted.

Another option is to get a laptop and underclock enough so it's fans don't run, this is one technique I've done when I wanted to leave my mmorpg shop open overnight. I found having the screen set to shut off is important here (make sure it auto shuts off when you close the laptop otherwise it'll overheat and start cracking), aswell as having the laptop placed upside down near a window to receive cool air helps the fans stay off all night long.

Another approach to improving sleep can be drowning out small annoying noises with a giant constant noise, that after a while you just get used to.

Random noises I think are likely most to disturb sleep and PC noise can be quite random with HD accessing and stuff, having a noisier thing like a home air cleaner makes a more constant noise that will drown out most random sleep disturbing noises. Atleast this is what I've found.
 
Mar 15, 2008 at 4:31 PM Post #39 of 41
I personally have a TRUE-120 w/ a 1000RPM Scythe Ultra Kaze. Very, very quiet, and it's cooling a Q6600 @ 3.2Ghz, with 40C idles and 60C loads.

However, for silence you could very easily make do with an Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro or a Nirvana 120.
 
Mar 15, 2008 at 4:46 PM Post #40 of 41
Quote:

Originally Posted by rmh1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Here is a three part comparison of CPU coolers you may find useful over at Tom's Hardware.

CPU Cooler Charts 2008, Part 1 | Tom's Hardware

Fun reading as some of the more popular cooling fans don't make the grade. I would still guess that an upgrade of your CPU will help keep things cooler to start.




That comparison is SOOO flawed. A fans setted to blow downwards, like in Ninja? What the hell? Yes, new revision isnt as good as old, but they try to fight against laws of physics and then give a cooler low points. Plus some of those coolers are ment for case with flowing air. And when they arent working as they should because they are in open with non-moving air they get low points...? Of course because they are in enviroment they arent designed to work, who uses computers in open without case and case fans? What the hell was Toms Hardware thinking when they did that cooler comparison?
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Mar 16, 2008 at 1:05 AM Post #41 of 41
^^ Yeah, I know. That's why I said fun reading. You always have to read between (and behind) the lines at Tom's Hardware. Looked like the OP had already picked his fan though so I thought I would chuck it out there for fun. It was good to read about some of the install problems though. Wish they had reviewed a few more fans though, like this:

Newegg.com - ASUS Silent Knight II 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail

I have heard from a few people that liked it but the Newegg feedback was a bit wishy washy. Was hoping to get the lowdown, but....
 
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