Quietest HSF for Athlon

Hey Guys, sorry I didn't do a very thorough search to find the info. I'm at work and not supposed to be surfing at all.

With that out of the way.... I'm building a computer for a friend that wants to use it for a soft-sampler and protools recording computer. That all means it needs to be QUIET as can be.

What are good heatsink fans units to look into?
Also, are the panoflo L1A's the best for quiet case fans right now?
How about the least expensive, best cooling case?

It will have 2 512meg ram sticks, probably an Athlon 2400+ (or 2600+) haven't decided on video yet, something cheap though, Maxtor 80gig 8 meg catch HD, and CD Burner.

Thanks guys, sorry again if this has been covered to death.

-Pete

if you get a slk-800 or slk-900 heatsink you could put a silent fan on it.

Well, the vantec stealth 92mm fan puts out 28cfm of air at 20db. 20db is about as quiet as you get.
Couple this with an SLK-900. It's kinda expensive, but it will get you silence.

Other tips for silence: Try Seagate hard drives. They're supposedly the quietest.
Don't leave CD's in your CD drive... they can make a lot of noise when spinning.
Mod your power supply. Either get one with lots of fan openings and take all the fans out, and/or replace the fans with quieter ones. (Like 80mm, or whatever size, vantec stealths.)
Replace any other fan in the system with quieter ones.

Do 7V or 5V mods on your fans if you cannot afford all new ones.

You could also consider one of the Zalman flower coolers with a 120mm fan rigged up instead of rigging up an 80mm.

Cheap case fans would go to the Vantec Stealths, I say cheap because they come with the 3 to 4 pin connector…The 24CFM 21dB-A Panflos are quieter, but just ever so slightly…Since they come with bare leads they tend to be a more expensive by the time you get the male molex holders and pins or a 3 pin tail to connect to your motherboard…SLK-900 is a great choice for the heat sink because you can use 92m/m fans that provide more CFM versus dB-A over any 80m/m fan…I like these 92m/m Pansonic Panflo’s for the SLK-900 if you want quiet http://www.directron.com/92l1a.html This 350watt Sparkle power supply with a single 120m/m fan is about as quiet as you can get http://store.yahoo.com/xpdirect/35sparpowsup.html You might also consider getting the Antec Sonata case that comes with 120m/m fans instead of 80m/m fans and comes with a 380 TruePower power supply that are extremely quiet, has “fan only” molex connectors to power the case fans for quiet or you can opt for some quiet 120 m/m fans like these Papst http://www.directron.com/4412fgl.html and run them off of the regualr molex connectors...

Pabst also makes great silent fans. A site I look to first when it comes to quiet fans is www.plycon.com because you get a good amount of valuable info about each fan before you buy it. Basically, keep the fans below 26 decibels and you should be fine.

~THT

IF youc an make a mod for an 80 mm fan youc an put on some damn nice quiet panaflos on a 1u cooler or similar

Quietpc.com has some good ideas for making a system quiet.

I recommend the following:
1. Get a case with a 120mm fan opening in the rear.
2. 7volt one of these.
3. Mount the 120mm fan in the rear of the case and use it as the only intake.
4. Duct the 120mm fan to one of the better HSFs like the SLK-800.
5. Use a quiet PSU as the system's sole exhaust fan.
6. Make something to direct the PSU's exhaust upward to keep it separate from the intake if you want; I wouldn't bother.

Also, it would help to set the case on a carpeted floor and point the rear of it away from you and toward something that will help absorb the sound of the fans like a couch or a curtain. Although this rear intake/exhaust configuration won't maximize cooling, I've found it reduces one's ability to hear fan noise. This also allows you to insulate the front of the case to help keep the fan noise from coming at you.

1Time said:

. Duct the 120mm fan to one of the better HSFs like the SLK-800.

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Due to the way the SLK heatsinks mount their fans, you'll probably have to mount the fan on the side pannel of the case and use a cardboard duct to the heastink.

And use rubber washers between fans, especially metal ones, and other parts of the computer. They dampen vibrations, and can have a very significant effect on noise level. Remember the AX-7 heatsink? It came standard with 8 washers so the fan touched only rubber.

Caffinehog said:

Due to the way the SLK heatsinks mount their fans, you'll probably have to mount the fan on the side pannel of the case and use a cardboard duct to the heastink.

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A side mounted fan should cool better than rear mounting it. Mounting a 120mm in the rear would be easier though and may be perceived to be a little quieter. Actually I was suggesting there not be a fan attached to the HS and instead duct the rear 120mm to the HS.

The MIST Silent Twin is the most silent HSF I've ever had, and it still offers very good cooling!

As already suggested by others, the Zalman copper flower with silent 12db 80mm fans.

Cheers, Flix

flixotide said:

The MIST Silent Twin is the most silent HSF I've ever had, and it still offers very good cooling!

Click to expand...

Forgot about this one, probably the best quiet HSF combo.

From personal experience, I've found the Panaflos to be substantially quieter in operation as case fans than Vantec stealths. A lot of this has to do with the bearings and how they vibrate, etc.. While both were fairly quiet in free operation, I found the panaflo a good amount quieter when actually mounted on a case or side pannel, and this was in spite of a double-layer of rubber washers I always use between fans and the case. I didn't have a lot of time to investigate the root cause of this difference, but I suspect the fluid bearings are a bit more stable than the traditional ball bearings.

To give you a feel for what I have (please ignore the outdated sig), I have a Volcano 6cu, which has since been lapped and fitted with a 60mm->80mm fan adapter. On that, I have a panaflo HI. I also have a Panaflo LO rear exhaust and a Panaflo LO side intake right above the HSF. Even when I have it all running at full speed on my fanbus, it makes a low, hushed airflow sound. I can scarcely hear any motor noise.

(I use this on my PIII-S, which is rated for 29.5 W of thermal output at stock speed, and I'm overclocked by about 16.25%, so we're dealing with roughly 34W here. Room temp is roughly a balmy 27C.)

Now, the loudest units are the PSU and hdd, and the CD-ROM/DVD on occasion. I bought a Samsung CDRW-DVD combo that has some pretty good anti-vibration technology. I must say it's the most pleasantly quiet CD drive I've ever operated.

As for hard drives, Seagates are legendary for being quiet, but from my experience, the Maxtors are also pretty decently quiet. (And noticeably quieter than Western Digitals, although I do enjoy their performance.)

As for the PSU, I would be very, very, very loathe to remove ALL the fans. However, you could open it up, enlarge all the air vents, and install quieter fans. (Again, the Panaflo LO comes to mind as an ideal candidate. )

The SLK-900 would be a good heatsink for the task. You could look for a 92mm Panaflo and 7V it if necessary. After having tried many varieties of fans, I'm pretty settled on their fluid bearings. (It's the fourth fan I've used on my HS, and this is my third set of case fans. )

-- Paul

This may be a dumb post.........

But what about the stock AMD HSF? If you are not going to OC there is no need for a SLK.

I think the AMD stock heatsink is adequate for performace however the small 60mm fan is very loud and high pitched. Th SLK's are larger and accept larger fans so have the ability to be quieter.

There are no such things a dumb questions, my teachers said this and now i agree.

I think I'm going to go with the zalman flower for this one. Probably the 6000-AlCu one.
I'm going to add a side panel fan to the case, so this should work really well with that instead of the bracket fan they ship with. I have a very quiet power supply and a nexus HD quiet container thing already.

I can't use it as the exhaust fan though because it doesn't move much air, hence the quietness of it.

I just have one hesitation... nothing I read says they are compatible with socket A. Its all 472 or whatever the Intel P4 chips use. Will that screw right into an Asus A7V8X board?
I don't want to get all the parts and then find out it won't fit, that would really annoy me.

Thanks for the ideas. Rubber washers are a must as always, and I have a homemade external CD drive case that I made that makes them silent and makes it possible to put them in a drawer to quiet them even more. (generic dynamat can be good for something )

-Pete

macklin01: where around minneapolis do you live? I live in Eden Prairie and work downtown.

I have the Asus A7V8X-X mobo and mounted a Vantec Aeroflow on mine. The stock heatsink was very loud and produced alot of vibration. Plus the cooling was lousy, 55 idle, compared to the 37 idle I'm getting now. The Aeroflow is fairly quite as well.

gecko said:

macklin01: where around minneapolis do you live? I live in Eden Prairie and work downtown.

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And I live in Savage..

If you're happy running a little hotter, i'd recommend ducting an AX-7 to the exhaust fan. The fan was placed conveniently in my SLK2600AMB, and as a Panaflo L1A, it was the quietest system i ever owned. (Only one fan in the system, and a PSU fan - Antec SL300)

But i had to replace it with an SK-7 and it doesn't work that well with low flow.