Which coolers and fans to get to keep this silent on air?

Rig like in sig.

I basically need the following things:

1. CPU cooler replacement (from box). I don't know if something's happening to my hearing or if I'm just becoming picky, but I can't stand the box cooler. I want something that won't resonate if I close the box. No vibrations at all, preferably an inaudible sound as well. It is imperative that the rotating fan not make the mobo move. I can't stand an iron box resonating from a moving mobo.

2. Cooler replacement for the infamous HD 4850 (Gigabyte). I don't even care if I get to OC the card. What I want is: 1) temp always under 75C for stability reasons, 2) silence. And I don't believe in one-slot solutions or fans smaller than 80 mm. Gigantic passive cooling is fine. Small fans are not. Well, unless you know something that actually works without blowing one's ears off. If we are at it, can this work (DuOrb from Thermaltake) or do I want Accelero Twin Turbo (here)?

3. Efficient 92 mm fan (for the side of the box) that won't resonate, won't roar when it crosses airflows with something, won't vibrate, won't make the case vibrate.

I could pick something that'd work, but most stuff is hard on my hearing and many of you guys have built like 100 computers, so I thought I'd better ask you first. Obviously, I try to listen to fans before buying, but it's not the same on the bar as it is in a case.

For the record, this ugly thing is solid iron. A Chieftec design. We have a love and hate relationship. Case wing for reference. I'm open to putting a fan here or there, but I'm a bit afraid of crossing airflows and causing noise.

For quiet with good flow. Avoid the 92MM. You can open up side panels with larger fans. To allow more air in.

One of the toughest things to describe is ho simple air passing through holes is. So lets get interactive.

Make a thumbs up. look at your thumbnail while your doing it. Now... Put the thumb print under your nose touching the spot that connects your holes. Give a good whiff of yer thumb.. Hear that sound? That is like a 92MM with good airflow.
Why and how does this sound like a 92MM fan. You will have the fan and the hole making the sound. So it sort of is two fold.

Now try this...
Gather four fingers together..See how big that is. Much larger than yer thumb. Make your mouth that same size. Sort of like a pucker. Now inhale as hard as you can using that same size as yer four fingers...
Much more mellow sound.

Lose the grills and try and find less crap to make turbulence. Tried and true fan grills work great. Larger fans are just better for queit and can move pelnty of air.

I have only one 92MM inside of my case. It is 5v and is just used for directing air where i want it. Not for much else.

I can't hear my machine and it is about 2 foot from me. Right now. I can hear the air, but it is really quiet in the room. So the woosh is pleasant. The refrigerator in the kitchen is louder. That is in another room.

I've bought a random pile of 50 fans from retired computers for a couple of bucks, maybe a couple of them will be good. If they are old enough, they may be of the kind I can tolerate. It's just the newer types of bearings I can't stand when they get too loud (woosh is fine, spinning is not). Now I just need some heatsinks... Accelero S1 Rev 2 is quite cheap here. Half the price of a new Zalman or Thermaltake GPU cooler that looks pretty much the same. Or do I want an Accelero Twin Turbo? It's an active solution, which is good, but I'm afraid of the amount of plastic it has on top (unless it's black metal, but I think the fan frame is plastic).

If you can find a 120 X 25 mm fan in your collection that is quiet, well that would be just perfect for an Accelero S1. I have that solution rigged up on an X1950 Pro and it's quiet and very cool running. Be aware that the fan will take up another slot space though (3 slots instead of 2).

In general, for silence, you want (relativitly) low speed fans. So the considerations for #1 are a bit different - you'll want loosely spaced fins. So...

1) Thermalright HR-01 Plus would work the best here.
2) Accelero S1, as per muddocktor. Best cooling for the buck for most GPUs. Thermalright HR-03 can work as an more expensive option
3) As mentioned, low speed fans. But you'll defenitly want 120mm. Scythe Slipstreams probably are a good pick (how about the SY1225SL12M - medium speed fan, and decently quiet at that temp, but it undervolts exceptionally well). A good cheap option would be Yate Loon D12SL-12.

Accelero S1 rev. 2 is pretty cheap here. It's around 50 PLN, which is a bit more than $20. Thermalright's HR's are more expensive, as in really expensive, but there's a greater chance of landing a used piece for say, 1/3 of the price. Probably not as good as a new one, but definitely not three times worse and I don't mind second-hand. Speaking of second-hand, is it a good idea to buy a second-hand high-end cooler preserved in a good condition (say, all copper and gold, many fins, heatpipes, good weight, say, some Aerocool GT-1000), or am I better off buying newer tech even if it doesn't look as solid (smaller, aluminium, same price, newer tech)? Some time ago, I had a heavy all-cooper Thermalright 948U that didn't seem to be all that much better than an aluminium box cooler shipped with Northwood Celerons, so I no longer unreservedly trust the weight in pure copper.

Edit: Well, the price wasn't bad, so I got that Aerocool GT-1000. It cost me 80 PLN, which is $36, and it came with two good after-market 92 mm fans (each costs about 30 PLN new) plus an outlet to connect both into a single molex plug and keep them working at the same rpm. Let's hope I didn't make a mistake. So now I need a good GPU heatsink and a nice arrangement of the salvaged fans. The next step would be putting some rubber on the edges of the case wing to avoid vibrations (this is the reason why I keep the case open).

Enablingwolf said:

For quiet with good flow. Avoid the 92MM. You can open up side panels with larger fans. To allow more air in.

One of the toughest things to describe is ho simple air passing through holes is. So lets get interactive.

Make a thumbs up. look at your thumbnail while your doing it. Now... Put the thumb print under your nose touching the spot that connects your holes. Give a good whiff of yer thumb.. Hear that sound? That is like a 92MM with good airflow.
Why and how does this sound like a 92MM fan. You will have the fan and the hole making the sound. So it sort of is two fold.

Now try this...
Gather four fingers together..See how big that is. Much larger than yer thumb. Make your mouth that same size. Sort of like a pucker. Now inhale as hard as you can using that same size as yer four fingers...
Much more mellow sound.

Lose the grills and try and find less crap to make turbulence. Tried and true fan grills work great. Larger fans are just better for queit and can move pelnty of air.

I have only one 92MM inside of my case. It is 5v and is just used for directing air where i want it. Not for much else.

I can't hear my machine and it is about 2 foot from me. Right now. I can hear the air, but it is really quiet in the room. So the woosh is pleasant. The refrigerator in the kitchen is louder. That is in another room.

Click to expand...

Those instructions should come with an indemnity form explaining that Enablingwolf takes no responsibility for thumbs stuck in nostrils

1. Scythe Ninja rev.B fanless + TR Bolt-Thru kit or Thermalright HR-01 Plus fanless.
2. AC Accelero S1 rev.2 with any good 120 mm fan at ~7-800 RPM
3. Listen Enablingwolf.
For first 2 points below is a picture with my E8400, P5Q-E, Ninja rev.B + TR Bolt-Thru, AC S1+ Nexus @700 RPM on 8800GT 512.



And those are my temps now at 23°C (ignore idle temps on cores on 45nm CPU's).



And those in full-load in a hot day (27°C room temperature)

I'm picking up the GMT-1000 tomorrow. Will let you know how it fares. It's like 750 grams of cooper plated gold where needed. Wonder if it really cools that well.

Okay, got the cooler. Well-preserved and all, price-wise it was a bargain with those two fans included (each comes with a resistor and switch to make them work off one plug), but I'm a bit dismayed... it could be bigger. I'm beginning to wonder if the two-fan tower benefits for the CPU will be worth giving up the orb effect. It seems my mobo was designed with orb in mind, after all. Well. We'll see.

Okay, installed. I get readings of 22C in idle, but on box I had 26, so it hardly seems worth it, considering I switched from a small piece of aluminium to three quarters of a kilogram of gold-plated copper with two fans in concert. I'll have to launch a game to see if there's any improvement. And I can hear the fans. They aren't as quiet as they were supposed to be. There's none of the box cooler's spinning, but the sound is quite distinct and I don't like it being so loud. The other downside is that it seems my mobo and my case would work much better with an orb cooler and a 12 cm rear exhaust.

Edit: Eek, the 4850 is 8C up because of the lack of the air whip on the back side that the box cooler provided. Okay, I was officially wrong. Buying a tower cooler with two fans was a bad idea.

Edit2: Seems if I turn the fans down to the max, I stop hearing them. The price is 36C on the CPU, which is worse than the box cooler.

One of the advantages of the larger heatsink. It will allow more heat under load to dissipate. There is not enough surface area on the smaller sinks to get the heat out when your under a heavy load.

The test of a good heatsink is under longer term load conditions.

For example. I have a Silverstone Nitrogen. It is sort of huge. Looks good and has great idle temps. now when I go to encode a long video. It just can't keep up for very long. It actually limits how far I can push the overclock. I end up overheating and the alarm for temps starts warning me. The heatpipes are just not as good as some of the more refined products out there. When your pushing hardware beyond spec. You have to decide on trade offs. Like myself. The price I paid for the Silverstone is worht not bieng able to really push the setup in Summer. In Winter, I bump it up much more. My little E2200 gets to run at 3.2 instead of the poopy 3.0Ghz.

Having a good flow outbound is critical to making sure no heat is pooling inside. Them hot pockets will make some parts get really hot. If you want, I can post a pic of my setup and what it looks like inside.

Oddly, as opposed to yesterday, I see a stable 26C on the cooler with both fans being turned down to the minimum. This is versus the 22C I had with them rotating with the highest speed. Naturally, dissipation under load will be inferior, but I'll need to check out how far. One bad thing is that my 4850 now reports 100C instead of the typical 80C back with the small orb box cooler. This won't be good for gaming. I wonder if I shouldn't use an exhaust or even an intake fan on the case next to the VGA area. I have a spare 92 mm.

The collection of fans has arrived, but rather disappointingly, it's 80 mm and smaller, with just two exceptions of which one (non-standard size) doesn't work and the other (92 mm) has a two-pin plug that I can't connect anywhere in my case (same as maybe old CPU or PSU fans). So basically, I have a ton of three-pin 40-60 mm fans and a large number of two-pin 80's. No 120's, alas. Looks like I'll have to buy a big heatsink for the overheating ATI and put a strong 120 mm fan on it.

One of the cool things about cooling. Is how you can tinker and make things worse or much better. I found out early on while overclocking. Fast flow is not always needed. Optimizing flow serves much better, than going all out on flow. Unless of course. You have a huge case. Then your going to need more flow to get to the other side of the case. Cobbling in a 120MM in a spot meant for a 92 or smaller is to me very fun. Also it is why a lot of us manage the case wires. It relieves a lot of air flow congestion.

Make sure the exhuast flow is not blowing on parts that dump heat. Or it will make matters worse.

Another thing I noticed. Is that a lot of specs on fans do not jive with what they say they do.

I got really quiet fans and a fan controller. I keep the flow rather low for what I do. I am overvolted and actually use a passive cooler on my GPU. So I had no choice but to add a fan inside the case and direct the air where it is needed.

Notice how I moved the window fan to the HD cage. The front fan on the case is still there and active. I was having issues with the air getting around the cage. So I helped it out some and helped the GPU. The fan held on by a slot cover is the only 92MM in my case. All other fans are 120MM. The setup is cool as room temps allow. Plus is very quiet.

Well, this is what it looks like right now. I know the cables are ugly, but there's nothing to do with them other than stuffing them in the 5.25'' bay. I might only clip them all together and secure the plugs better. Wish I had bought the corresponding Corsair PSU, as it had removable cables.

What I now have in stock is basically one workable 92 mm fan (Aerocool issue that originally came with the cooler) and a couple of small fans that I'd rather not use. The 80 mm fans from the PSU are not a problem. All they do is that sometimes they make me think a different fan is louder than it really is, when I forget that they provide some ambient.

Another thing I've been thinking about is putting a slot fan above VGA, so that it cools the back side, with a huge heatsink and a 12 cm fan facing down (i.e. on the front side of the card). Temporarily, I could use well-placed 40-60 mm fans, but I'd rather not. I could also mount a bigger fan (80 or even 92) inside the case, hanging it on cords (best way to avoid vibration ) or strapping it to the HDD bay wiring so that it sweeps the back side of the VGA.

I also have some spare spare heatsinks (two NB heatsinks from the picture, but I could also take the heatsink from the C2D box cooler or the larger aluminium brick from the Northwood box cooler), but I'm not sure it's worth it. I'd have to use tape or glue to make them stick and I can't stick them on PCB anyway. Or can I just glue one of them to the metal frame on the back side of the GPU? Won't this damage anything?

You have no real good flow happening inside the case. A few options to consider.

One is to cut the side panel and use larger more efficient fans.

Install a 120MM in the rear if the case.

Install a blow hole in the top to exhaust even more air out. Combines with active cooling. It would draw much more air of of the case and let your parts dump the heat to the outside of the case. Not pool inside.

The way it looks like. There is hardly anything getting inside the case in terms of cool fresh air. With all the venting you have. This does not seem to be an issue. Using that same venting with some sort of active cooling . Might improve your temps.

Even if you are not able or unwilling to cut holes. At least get more air in the case and in a more efficient manner. Experiment with what you have and find out what is best for your setup. Right now, it looks like an oven. Stirring what air is inside the case. Then not pushing (or pulling) it out of the case.

You have to have a good understanding of convection to run a passive setup.

I am more than happy to keep helping you. If you do not understand something. Please by all means chime in.

An easy way to figure cooling out. Is to sort of make the case innards into quarters, visually. Then look at how that one section is getting cool air. It is a really basic way to begin to address cooling.

Just bought some fans on the Internet (paying les than $30 total with shipment):

12 cm Thermaltake Thunderblade TT1225
12 cm Xilence Black Pro Fan
2 * 8 cm Scythe Kaze White LED
2 * 9.2 cm Scythe White LED
2 * 9.2 cm Scythe Kaze Jyu

Any suggestions as to the placement? I'm worrying about the whole right over the CPU. If I were to put a fan in there, it would be less than an inch away from the cooler, which would make it pointless, whether intake or exhaust.

And yes, I know I'm an idiot for buying a tower cooler instead of an orb one.

And Accelero S1 rev. 2 is already shipping.

I just have one simple input. Yet willing to help if you are stuck. I want you to learn, which cooling is really simple. Once you do learn basic cooling. You can do any setup easy.


Experiment with the setup. In from the cool bottom, out on top with the hot.

Like oil and water. Cold air is dense. So it sits on the bottom. The lighter less dense hot air will be pushed towards the top(read: hot air ballon). By the cooler air. The trick is to coax the cooler air towards the top.

Accelero has arrived. Looks like I won't be able to fit a fan on the wing on the case without having it touch it. Same goes for the CPU cooler. Also, Accelero hangs rather low, so if I put a 25 mm think fan on top of it, I'll be whipping the case floor. Will see what I get if I have the fan or fans (I have two 12 cm's shipping my way) blow through the fins on the card and up.