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| Trying to silence my spare media center PC Hey guys, I have a spare PC which I am using as a media center box basically to play movies off of. It's older hardware but it still runs what I need it to. It would be fun to build a new system but for the time being I want to save money if possible.
The specs are:
AMD Athlon XP 1600+ CPU
512 MB PC2100 Ram
Antec 430 Watt Power Supply
WD800 80 GB Western Digital Hard Drive
ASUS Nforce 2 Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9200 Video Card
Like I said it's an older system, but its good enough to play video clips and light web surfing on the TV for now. The TV has VGA input and does 1024x760 crystal clear.
I'm trying to silence the sucker, so when I was trying to find the source for all of the noise I determined it to be the CPU Fan. Currently it is using a Thermaltake Volcano 5 HSF, and the fan is just way to whiny for my tastes. Do you guys have any recommendations for a near silent Socket A CPU Cooler? I was looking at the Zalman CNPS3100+ and that seems to be the way to go, but it's out of stock at all the big sites online. I hope it doesn't prove to be too much of a challenge to find something for this older system.
Here's a few Socket A coolers on Newegg:
»www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi···hInDesc=
Also I was thinking of putting dynamat or foam on the case panels to help deaden the noise. Do you think this is an ok solution, or does any online retailers offer silent PC kits?
Thanks for your input. |
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 n1zukBreak out the checkbookPremium
join:2001-10-24
Malta
kudos:2 | I have that Zalman in my last system that I ran for many years(and is still running for my son). It is an interesting heat sink. If you are one who panics when things get even slightly warm, it isn't for you. But I've never had a CPU go bad, but I always run at/near stock speeds and voltages.
You need to check your motherboard and power supply for clearance, as 1) the sucker is pretty big, and 2) you need room to position the fan over it. BTW, it is quiet, but not silent, when you run the fan at low speeds. Crank the fan up, and it is as noisy as anything else out there.
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| what have you got for a case?
I found 90% of noise issues were generally due to crummy cases reverberating all the time
ie amplifying the existing noise |
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 benytoPremium
join:2000-07-09
Chico, CA | reply to cypherstream
I'm a little late to this topic, but I hope this is still of some use to you.
I've found that the Nexus CPU coolers provide better cooling with less noise than the Zalman units. For example:
»www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/std···200.html
Note that the noise rating for this is 19dB, which is lower than the "silent" setting for the Zalman HSF you mentioned. I have the Socket 939 version of the Nexus HSF for my home desktop. Even when under full load (3D Games, video transcoding, etc.) the temperature does not exceed 47C.
Another benefit of these Nexus HSFs (if quiet, efficient cooling isn't enough for you) is that they are roughly the same dimensions as a stock Intel or AMD HSF. Due to this, I find that installing them is much simpler than an HSF with odd dimensions.
A few other things to note: Western Digital hard drives have been notoriously loud and "whiny". Also, if your video card isn't passively cooled you may notice an irritating noise from its fan once you start replacing other loud components. |
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