How to silence an AXP 2600+?

[Mephistopheles]

I was wondering if any of you guys could help me in configuring an existing rig to be silent.

It's my brother's, and it is very important for him that this system be quiet because he's a musician and he will be using the system for recording...

His current rig is an AXP 2600+ running on a Gigabyte GA-7S748-L motherboard and 512MB DDR400 (Corsair Value Select with lifetime warranty). He's also running a Radeon 9200SE-DT.

Now going to the tricky part: he has four mechanical rotating parts in his computer:
- One fan for PSU
- One Zalman 92mm fan hanging by the video card
- One Cooler master all-aluminum blower (set at 3200rpm) for CPU (currently ~56-57C under load)
- One small case fan

While there are still a few details I've got to check, I have some preliminary questions...

First, and most important of all, <b>does that R9200SE-DT really <i>need</i> active cooling? </b>I mean, that video card is actually passively cooled, damn it! The guy who sold this system told my brother that the additional fan was advised "because otherwise the GPU would get uncomfortably hot"... I think he should get rid of that fan, either by just keeping the video card with its own passive cooling or by buying what seems to me to be an effective solution: a passive Zalman ZM80C-HP heatpipe-equipped heatsink.

Second, would it help if I got a more heavy-hitting, low-rpm heatsink/fan combo for the CPU? The damned blower apparently needs to be at at least >3000rpm or the CPU will go beyond 60C easily under load... (BTW, how hot would be too hot?) I was thinking of the XP-120 with a low-rpm 120mm fan, in addition to an upgrade to the size or speed of the case fan (it's a stupid case, with only one small and seemingly high-rpm fan...). Another reason for actually getting the XP-120 is that this Gigabyte board seems to be wonderful for overclocking... And if that can also be done silently, I'd go for it... but, again, only if that doesn't imply too much added noise...

Suggestions, anyone? They would all be appreciated. Feel free to reprimend me if I'm thinking in a too unpractical way... Or if you want to reccomend another course of action...

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Mephistopheles on 04/30/05 05:51 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[pat]

all I can think is to sell the 2600+ and get a mobile. This CPU could then be underclocked and could probably be cooled with a simple HSF and the fan running half-speed. I was running my 2500+ mobile with a thermaltake silent boost with the fan running half speed thanks to a fan controller. All my system fans were running half speed. The noisiest thing was the northbridge cooler and the videocard, which is not a problem with your bro's rig.

I would make sure that the case get good airflow, with large silent fans, if possible.

<font color=red>Sig space for rent. make your offer.</font color=red>

 

[endyen]

Get one of these <A HREF="http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103444" target="_new">http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103444</A> and a better hsf. Loose the vga cooler, and change the chassis fan to a 120.

 

[o1die]

I would try a zalman "fan mate 1" or "2" rpm adjuster (about $5) for the cpu heatsink. You can run your's at about 2k rpm. Or, you can try one of several copper heatpipe heatsinks available that should work fine without a fan. For the video card and case fan, try running them with the fans unplugged, and use a program such as mbm version 5.370 to monitor your system temps. For the power supply, I use a sparkle 300w 12cm (about $37 shipped at newegg). It stays quiet except when doing heavy gaming. Then the fan increases in speed to compensate for the extra heat.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Actually, now that I checked, I found out that he's using a Cooler Master <A HREF="http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s=2&url_place=product&p_serial=CP5-8J71F&other_title=+CP5-8J71F+Aero 7 Lite" target="_new">Aero 7 Lite</A>, which has rpm control in a range of 1900~3500rpm. It's running close to its top rated speed - it's now at 3200rpm... Should have checked that earlier... stupid me...

And it's not quiet... I've suggested that he use an underclock to 1250Mhz and put the fan at its lowest 1900rpm... This fan is rated at 23-38dBA noise rating, which basically means that his fan has to be producing around 35dBA of noise right now, doing the appropriate math and supposing linearity. Reducing its rpm is probably the single most important thing in reducing overall system noise right now...

An important question, though: <b>how hot is too hot for this CPU?</b> 60C? 70C? He's currently at 55C under load with the damned blower set to 3200rpm... Because I'll probably set the blower to spin at 1900rpm and CPU @ 1250Mhz and slowly increase clock until a safe temperature limit has been reached... How much is still safe and stable? I'll also set the memory to async operation (and keep it at 400Mhz speed)...

What about the GPU, how high can its temps be without running into problems?...

Because the Zalman fan is running only 1600rpm ('silent mode'), I suspect it's not too bad to keep it in place, but I'm going to do some testing on it. I just have to keep an eye on GPU temperature... Unfortunately, though, this particular fan can't go below 1600rpm... Maybe there's a better way to use its 1600 revolutions per minute to improve airflow inside the case?...

Speaking of which, I have to check the case fan. It seems to be spinning at a rather high speed... It's a 80x80mm fan... Gotta check it out...<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Mephistopheles on 05/01/05 02:34 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[o1die]

With a 12 or 14cm power supply fan, you'd be able to move alot of hot air with lower rpms. It's the only fan in my desktop case. Thermalright makes good copper heatsinks, but they're not cheap. Water cooling is also an option.

 

[Rugger]

I know there is sound dampening material that you can us to line the case, too. <A HREF="http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/scan/st=db/co=yes/rf=*/fi=products/sf=category/op=eq/se=Case Insulation.html?id=x4cYpzBo" target="_new">Here are some options</A>.

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[Schmide]

So which sound are we talking about?

<A HREF="http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/tecar.html" target="_new">http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/tecar.html</A>

I doubt the vga cooler is contributing that much to the noise.

Dichromatic for your viewing plesure...

 

[Nights_L]

it is very important for him that this system be quiet

Is he going to spend money for it?
I guess everyone define "silence" differently..but I've done the best I can to reduce my pc's noises..I guess it's one thing that I'm proud of my pc
here is my rig and what I did..
AMD Athlon XP 2700+ (stock speed)
Abit NF7 v2.0
Sapphire Radeon8500 Core/Mem 270/243
...sound cards and blahblah which I think are not relevant so I won't list them

For my cpu, I use the Thermaltake's Silent Boost's Heatsink, with the Smart Case Fan 2 as the fan, almost always running at the lowest speed~1500rpm, when I'll let my cpu running for 100% for long, then I'll manually turn up the speed, I've tested that at near 2000rpm, if my pc has some airflow, pc will be stable..@2000rpm about max 66C would be reached but nothing more, idle temp@2000rpm would be able 43, @1500rpm would be about 46, max temp..never checked..but since my pc hasn't crash yet from overheating for so long, I guess it should be fine?

About my 8500, I cooled it with a Socket 7 heatsink (manually glued it), with a 40mm fan running at ~3500rpm
a 40mm fan running at 3500rpm is <b>completely</b> silent, produce no noise at all, and it cooled my 8500 nicely, I've done a 24hours of 3DMark2001SE testing..it didn't crash and came out with a result. Since I'm pretty sure that the 9200SE produce less heat than a 8500..you could try this.

For the PSU, I guess there is nothing much you can do beside buying another good branded silent PSU..that's what I did anyway.. :redface:

As for case fan, you could try to use at least one 80mm, again, I would recommend the smart case fan 2 from Thermaltake, since you can manually adjust fan speed

Good luck!

 

[Nights_L]

oh and btw, the max temp that an AXP can take is 85C...so I gussed that anything below 70C should be fine..

 

[mozzartusm]

Take the PSU out :tongue:

If I would have shot you when I had the chance, I would be out by now
Intel P4 550(3.4)@<font color=green>5Ghz</font color=green>

 

[slvr_phoenix]

Get the <A HREF="http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/4in1heatpipe/cl-p0071SonicTower/cl-p0071.htm" target="_new">Thermaltake SonicTower</A>, and if the exhaust air doesn't provide enough flow then add a low RPM 120mm fan to it. :O

<pre><font color=purple><i>Jesters do oft prove prophets.</i> -Regan in
King Lear (Act V, Scene iii) by William Shakespear</font color=purple></pre><p>@ 187K -> 200,000 miles or bust!