Switch it off! D'Oh!![]()
Way back before I upgraded my amd palomino box to a P4C 2.6 @ 250fsb (cheers all you folks who helped out there) I bought a Dell Precision.
Dell claim these things are supposed to be quiet, but it's crunching 24x7 (ie warm) and it's FAR from quiet.
The noisiest bit I figure is the exhaust fan that's taking the heat off the passive CPU cooler. It's a 3.06Ghz and having this kind of cooling seems mad. The exhaust fan is thermistor controlled which is why its whirring away like mad all the time.
So, the first step I think would be to take the shroud off and see how much space there is for a replacement HSF, no? I've got the stock HSF from the P4C 2.6 - would this thing mount on the P4B in the Dell? Not sure about socket mounts etc. Ideally I'd shove on a Zalman 92mm jobby but until I open it up not sure if there's enough room in there, plus why spend money if the stock HSF will do for now?
Anyone out there done this to a Dell? There's no intake fan at the front, as far as I can tell, airflow must be an issue in these boxes. Anyone got any other suggestions to keep this thing cooler and quieter??!!
The other noisy bit is the PSU fan, but that I believe is a much larger job to sort out...


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Being made by a big co like Dell really limits your options, it may be best to seek out a slower P4B to stick in there, 3.06ghz should get you a nice price 2nd hand because it's the only way those with 533FSB only mobos can really get top perf and HT. Otherwise I think you'll have to mod the case in order to enhance ventilation and airflow. I think you'll find the P4C cooler will fit as both sockets should be Skt478, should be easy to see when you open it/them up.
Turning down the FSB slightly isn't likely to be an option. Your only likely option is to enable 400FSB instead of 533FSB dropping your CPU all the way down to 2.3ghz although you should keep HT. Changing the PSU is likely to be very hard as Dell tend to use their own mounting and connectors, you may have to chuck out the whole case and maybe mobo too.
(you'll need to look at pg2 of the article) The guy's also replaced the PSU so will eagerly await the next article that details how he did the necessary mods.
