Ideas on efficient and QUIET cooling?

Hello,
First I'll lay the groundwork and tell you all what I have and what's cooling it.
AMD 2500+ Barton 333Mhz
1GIG Mushkin PC2700 (with stock ramsinks, like it matters)
Shuttle FN45 Motherboard (I have a Shuttle SN45G Case)
nVidia Geforce 5900Ultra 256mb (Leadtek Ultra TDH350)
120gig WD 1200JB Special 7200RPM

All in all, a nice system, enough for what I need.
For those not familiar with shuttle systems, they run heat pipes up from the CPU and cool it through fins, which a fan blows over, they call it ICE.
Now for my video card, the cooling was poor, the entire card was encased in aluminum w/ two 40mm fans, one blowing in and the other out.
When I played farcry, things got HOT. Talking 80c here, hot.

I had a Vantec Stealth on the CPU and was running stock video cooling, was running too hot.
I took the stealth off and mounted a Tornado in it's place, well the tornado is 38mm wide, not the standard 25mm, so I actually mounted it on the outside of my case, blowing in. The slot to the inside of my video card is not used, so I took the backplane plate off and ran the wires through that opening.
I took the encasing off of my videocard, it had a nice heatsink, but it was only held on by the case. I got some brass nuts and bolts, used plastic insulators against the boad, held the heatsink on.
So, I cut a hole in the side of my case, directly next to my video card, so whatever I mounted there, would blow on my video card. Again, because of the size of my case (read: small) I mounted the fan on the outside.
Can you guess, that fan is a tornado too.
So I have 2 80mm Tornados and a small 250watt PSU with 2x40mm fans.(small form factor PSU, yet they fit two fans in, pretty neat)
Think a matchbox for the PSU, with a fan on each short edge, lemme get a picture.
http://www.us.shuttle.com/images/productimages/pc40.jpg
(there is a fan on the other end, thus dual fans)

Ok, there's the book that outlines my current setup.
I am over FPS games, I've just moved on, I have an appreciate for the less-graphic intensive, but more gameplay games. I play Everquest more than anything, some Diablo II after that, etc. I still want to be able to play my copies of UT2004, Doom III, HL2(soon).
I have a temptation to under-clock my PC and Video card and replace my two fans with Stealths.

I'm kinda proud of myself, I've lasted over a month with my computer being as loud as it is. Not being able to talk on the phone, or to other people for that fact, is somewhat...disturbing.
When I play Everquest, I use headphones, so it's not to bad. I had to box up my surround sound, cause I couldn't turn it up enough to drown out my pc, well without also annoying the neighbors.
I am ready for a quiet computer again, if I have to underclock it to be quiet and then clock it back up for the rare FPS splurge, I will do.
This system is small, so no internal water cooling and IIRC the external water cooling systems don't work too well.
What alternatives do I have to making my computer quiet again?
HHEEAALLPPP!!!!
-Jason

P.S. I did not proof-read this for grammer or cohesivness (sp?)

Get this:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=371003

It ranks pretty high on the Overclockers heatsink chart and it's VERY quiet. The only thing might be size considering it's a Shuttle mobo. It's a rather wide heatsink so you may want to measure how much room you have. I tried to find a picture or specs on the mobo and I couldn't so I really can't say.

Video card cooling was my main concern.
The stock cooling isn't too bad and I'd like to keep the ICE setup, since the case was pretty much designed around it.
-Jason

After looking at some other alternatives, I think spending a couple of hundred bucks and placing the core components in another case would suit me well.
Get a new mobo, PSU, and case, I'd be done.

I'm researching it now, I just learned of silentpcreview.com now, going to browse it and see what I can find.
I would appreciate any more feedback, I also just learned underclock is a bad word around here, sorry about that. =)
-Jason

you could mod the sides of the case to extend and give you more room.
ive seen ppl cut the sides off and do some plexy glayy moding to make them sort of buble out aout a inch or 2 (then they mount 2 80 or sometimes 92 mm stealths inside sucking in air

username17 said:

After looking at some other alternatives, I think spending a couple of hundred bucks and placing the core components in another case would suit me well.
Get a new mobo, PSU, and case, I'd be done.

I'm researching it now, I just learned of silentpcreview.com now, going to browse it and see what I can find.
I would appreciate any more feedback, I also just learned underclock is a bad word around here, sorry about that. =)
-Jason

Click to expand...

I was going to say 'build a real computer', but you beat me too it

Here is what I use:



http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-180-001&depa=0

It's 2mm thick aluminum, the thickest I've seen. It is well laid out, and has front and rear mounting locations that will accept 80-120mm fans. It comes with one 120 and one 80 (Top Motor, nothing special). You need to cut out the grilles front and rear to improve breathing. I use two of these for case fans and all is good:

http://www.coolergarage.com/me12fandube.html

The above setup cools my 3.5GHz signature P4 easily with the mild 1500rpm fans. I also have a 5900, and three hard drives. The above should be enough airflow for your system, and unearthly quiet in comparison to your current stuff. And it has a thick plexi faceplate (that looks much better in person that the pictures on newegg suggest) that helps baffle drive and fan noise from the user's ears.

Obviously you will have to get a real mb too, I leave that recommendation to those that know AXPs. Abit NF7-S, DFI Lanparty, something of that nature.

And obviously you will need a heatsink, I have the SP94 and it cools my sig rig with nothing more than an 80x32mm fan turning 2400 rpm. The SP97 provides a similar solution for AXP users:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-109-113&depa=1

You might be surprised how little fan you can get away with. I've tried all types of 80 and 92mm fans. The 80x32 adjustable everflow (Silverstone) I am using now is good if you don't need a lot of airflow (it will crank out 70cfm but is loud doing so). For applications that demand more airflow a 92mm fan turning 2200-2900rpm works great I recommend NMB 92mm fans of the appropriate speed grade for this application for optimum noise/airflow ratio.

Ok, I have my list of what I'm going to do.

Antec Sonata Case with included PSU ($99)
Leadtek nForce2 Ultra Deluxe Limited Motherboard ($128)
SP-97 HS with a 80mm Panaflow ($56)
Zalman ZM80D-HP Video card cooler with fan on top ($36)
All the components from my main system.

Looking at $350 approx even after shipping.
I'm going to mod the case to be quiet as well, but the $350 will get my system a lot of quieter and open for upgrades/expansions in the future.
-Jason

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=330289 <- that will help you on selecting a heatsink (yes your combination is in there if you dont want to read it )

The videocard cooler is good, the case is a little small for my tastes however a good choice for quiet computing. Also if you use a lot of low power fans it will help you keep noise down. Add a top blow hole to exhaust hot air.

I'm going to see what my temps are and my noise level, I will make any necessary mods after that.
It will probably take a while for me to start noticing the small things, since my ears are used to 2xtornado's.
Looking forward to doing the change, I'm not letting myself call it an upgrade though, cause then I'll end up upgrading everything else too.
-Jason

i would say get the other antec case (the SLK3700BQE)
buy a 92 rather then a 80mm for the cpu hs and buy a 120mm vanteck stealth for the front of the case (come with a stealth for the rear)
its the same as a sonota exept its cheaper and well better.

I've actually planned on sticking with my current case and modifying it to be quiet.
My current situation would not react well to dropping $500 on computer parts.
I have a post on SPCR's forum, I'll post here once I'm done.
I do appreciate your help though,
-Jason

np i though of a shuttle also but the heat is just well ya you found out

hahaah think if u were running a 3.2E hahahahahaahhahahaa