[Retired Sticky]My guide to silent, high-performance air cooling

[dsb1829]

Nice writeup. Time has passed, but the basic guidelines are timeless.

 

[yaso]

Cool...thanks

 

[1Time]

I think it's great this guide has helped many with their air cooling. However, my take on silent, high-performance air cooling is different. Here's what I've learned about it. I'm sure these points are not new or exhaustive. Please use or disregard as you deem best.

- Insulate the case with sound deadening material in an attempt to make it air and sound tight.
- Use only one intake fan with a fan controller, 92mm or 120mm, 30 to 40 CFM. Position it no higher than the HS so a duct may be positioned from it to the HSF. Depending on the case, the intake fan can be positioned in the front, bottom, rear or side.
- Put something about 6" from the outside of the intake fan like a piece of carpet to absorb sound.
- Duct the intake fan to the HSF.
- Use an 80mm HSF (optionally ducted to the HS) or a 92mm HSF ducted to the HS, 30 to 40 CFM
- Position quiet 80mm fans inside the case to blow directly onto components needing air cooling, 20 CFM max each. 7 Volt mod or use fan controllers if necessary to quiet each fan.
- Use a quiet PSU that is powerful enough.
- Use a passive exhaust near the PSU exhaust to augment the PSU exhaust and help neutralize the positive air pressure.
- Don't bother positioning additional fans to direct air flow. Just let the hot air exhaust on its own.

 

[I_Gorbot]

silence is golden

Thanks for the great article. - For those of us that live in old houses with lots of dust - no matter how much we vacuum - what do you think about filters? I have been using a very thin half layer of material from a Swifter pad on the intakes and the small places that air comes in from the front. For some reason I get more dust gathering near the front power button etc than through my passive pci covers on my Antec p180. I'm just worried that I may be starving the beast for air.

Also, is that electrical tape that you use to keep the wires down? I just used some on my new build to hold a broken fan mount and wondered what your mileage was with your rig.

 

[pSychom1nd_X]

It's not working anymore . 404 all the time.

 

[Grayfox]

link no longer works

 

[muddocktor]

Since he decided to take his page down on this, I will unstick this thread and let it drift back into the grave.

 

[syrian_gamer]

aww i wana see the great guide! time to see if the waybackwhen machine will work. see you yesterday!