how silent is silent?

[dgr]

so i;ve got an epia M10000 in a travla 134 case, absolutely tiny thing, being used as a linux server/downloadbox/ftp/ssh/younameit.

i've replaced the original cpu fan with a 40mm ultim8pc one - 20db apparantly.

oh and i removed the case fan.

thing is, the little thing drives me INSANE!. i've tried sleeping with it on, to no avail, can't even work at my desk with it on.

short of putting a rheostatic controller in the (tiny) case, it looks like i'm stuck.


thing is i want to silence my big pc (in sig - near to 10 fans is driving me insane). but given my experience with silencing my server, do you guys think it will be fruitless? have i just got abnormally sensitive ears?

dgr

[MrFlibble]

Silence is subjective - one man's silence is another man's din. All I can say is that true silence is nearly always achievable, but it will probably cost you a packet. See www.silentpcreview.com for all your hushy needs.

[malfunction]

Well you could run the fan from 7v or 5v without hacking the case (just changing the pins around). So there's only 1 fan? IIRC there's no HDD in your travla... So only the fan is making any noise... Is the fan close to the top of the case? Is there an intake for it (which can be made less restrictive?) Rubber grommits to isolate any vibration from the fan? How hot does it get without the fan? Can you undervolt the CPU?

Sorry - no answers - but lots of things to think about.

[Theo]

Have to agree with MrFlibble, there.. My server has one >20dB fan, which is hardly noticable at all. Really doesn't bother me. It's the din of the hard drives! 2x120GB Maxtor DMax+9s, which are comparatively quieter than most other hard drives I've had in the past. They still drive me up the wall, though.

clickclickclickclickclick.....click.....clickclickclickclickclickclickclick..SHUT UP!...clickclickclickclick

[Allen]

My Samsung makes no noise.

My CPU and case fans make virtually no noise.

My PSU on the other hand is silent at first from a cold boot, then when it warms up the fans start going and it's as annoying as hell!

Getting a new one soon hopefully!

[joshwa]

you can replace the heatsink on an M10000 with an AMD Zalman Copper Flower .
I have a samsung drive which is Very quiet - but it's on foam so it's virtually silent. Then I replaced the fan on the back of the PSU on my case with a papst 20dba or panaflo can't remember, but i can't hear it anyway. the noisiest thing in this pc now is the actual power supply which makes a sort of whistling noise...

perhaps it's your hard drive that's the noisiest?

[da_ging]

my download box aint silent i can clearly hear it at night but its a noise that doesnt bother me and that includes the constant harddrive access yet my old dell cpx with 1 tiny fan in it would stop me sleeping ?!? so its not the db its the type of noise i guess

if u want to silence ur big rig get rid of as many fans as poss and also use 92mm and 120mm fans on a rheobus or 7v'das they shift more air while being quiter that way compared to 80mm you might also stop trying to get it really cool and just get it so it doesnt get too hot

[dgr]

well there is a hard disc in the box, but its a notebook 2.5'' jobbie and really is quiet - most of the time the system really does just sit there, maybe streaming some stuff over network or from the hard disc, but only very minor - i really cannot hear the disc whatsoever.

would love to put a zalman flower in there, but travlas are TINY - there is no way it would fit.

btw my temps are low enough - with the fan i get ~35degrees idle, maybe 50degrees when compiling.

would love to fit 92mm or 120mm fans in my big rig but its a CM201 - anyone done this without recking the looks?

dgr

[malfunction]

On the zalman flower thing how much room do you have (and does the NB need cooling too?) Could you rig (probably glue) a wider 1U copper heatsink on the CPU (or the CPU and NB) with a bigger fan (60mm / 80mm?)

[joshwa]

i did what this guy did, with a Venus 668 case:
http://www.codebunny.org/tech/image/drmatt.jpg

Josh

[dgr]

perhaps yuo guys don't appreciate how small the space is i have to deal with



thats it

dgr

[XTR]

nice rig.... nice coolermaster too

[malfunction]

Some measurements would make it easier... If that fan is 40mm though it looks like the heatsink is about 120mm long and about 35mm deep... I suppose you could hack up a few better heatsinks... Maybe get a couple of cheap low-ish profile copper sinks and cut them up a bit... Doesn't look like you'd be able to fit a 60mm fan in there - maybe if you re-routed the ATX cable and let the fan extend towards the RAM. Would have to be a low profile fan (I'm presuming the 40mm is 10mm high... It's pretty easy to find 10 or 15mm high 60mm fans IIRC)... Maybe low profile RAM would help. It's quite a mess of cables isn't it? Do you need all of the stuff on the front panel? If not then removed the cables might make it less cramped in there. Where is the optical drive? Any more pics? (inside and out?)

[unrealrocks]

Silent is SILENT, I'd call my rig VERY quiet with only two 2400rpm 80mm fans in ... case fans are overstated, you don't need em

[shredisn@tdead]

Anyone looking for an ultra quiet PSU should be overjoyed with a Nexus 300W. They're #1 at www.silentpcreview.com and www.novatech.co.uk has them for £36+VAT. I just bought 2 and they're superb.

[dgr]

hi

i'll post more pictuyres when i get back from lectures.

as far as optical drive goes, um there isn't one - it will take an optical drive if you want (at the bottom of the picture) but i don't need one and you'd need STUPID STUPID 0.9'' RAM.

dgr