Water cooler?
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 594
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From: UK
My tower unit media server has five fans and wasn't the quietest thing on the planet until I fitted air filters having become fed up with the speed at which dust collected inside.
An unexpected side effect is that noise has now dropped to a background hum.
CPU and HDD temperatures remain unaffected, as does the air temperature inside the enclosure with the remote probe I use.
Worth a punt for very few £s.
An unexpected side effect is that noise has now dropped to a background hum.
CPU and HDD temperatures remain unaffected, as does the air temperature inside the enclosure with the remote probe I use.
Worth a punt for very few £s.
Last edited by The late XV105; 14th January 2011 at 20:26. Reason: Typo
Joined: Sep 2007
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From: Paris, France
My tower unit media server has five fans and wasn't the quietest thing on the planet until I fitted air filters having become fed up with the speed at which dust collected inside.
My last server had seven 8-cm fans and was very noisy. The next one I built had only 12-cm fans and was much quieter. My current desktop is in one of those more recent PC cabinets that are equipped with a big 20-cm fan (or even a 30-cm fan), plus a few 12-cm fans. It hardly makes any noise at all, but the CPU and GPU and everything else stay very cool.
As for dust, stretching some women's nylons over the air intakes works really well. Bigger fans that move a large volume of air at lower speeds also seem to help reduce dust.
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Joined: Mar 2001
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From: Twickenham, home of rugby
My experience is that it is the GPU fan that is often the noisiest, especially when it is a bit long in the tooth.
For that reason, I try to only use GPUs designed without fans, just with large heatsinks. All 5 PCs currently in the household are so equipped.
I agree that larger diameter fans at lower RPM are quieter, but one is often limited by the case when it comes to replacement.
Most fans do specify the dB level they operate at (whether you believe the figures or not is another matter), so can be used to guide purchase of fans.
Cost and quality are generally directly proportional, so cheap fans are rarely the quietest.
Unless you are doing serious over-clocking, cooling is highly unlikely to be a problem, and as MB says, investing in quieter fans is a much better (if not as satisfying for the tinkerer in you) solution than water-cooling.
SD
For that reason, I try to only use GPUs designed without fans, just with large heatsinks. All 5 PCs currently in the household are so equipped.
I agree that larger diameter fans at lower RPM are quieter, but one is often limited by the case when it comes to replacement.
Most fans do specify the dB level they operate at (whether you believe the figures or not is another matter), so can be used to guide purchase of fans.
Cost and quality are generally directly proportional, so cheap fans are rarely the quietest.
Unless you are doing serious over-clocking, cooling is highly unlikely to be a problem, and as MB says, investing in quieter fans is a much better (if not as satisfying for the tinkerer in you) solution than water-cooling.
SD
Joined: Oct 2000
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From: Sunny Sussex
For that reason, I try to only use GPUs designed without fans, just with large heatsinks. All 5 PCs currently in the household are so equipped.
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 594
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From: UK
I agree on the fan size and noise discussion - it's my experience too - but for the low cost involved I'd still invest in some filters if I were the OP. It's not going to make it any noisier and it will make it quieter to some degree and that "some" might be significant. If not, so a few quid were "wasted" but at least the dust ingress will be lower!
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2001
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From: Newcastle/UK
Right chaps, one has abandoned the idea of liquid cooling a visit to the local puter boutique has shown that liquid coolers only seem to be designed for tower cases (size of fan radiator ect) the new draper home made super puter lives in one of the new desktop cases,anyway experiments with different fan configurations have silenced the beast a lot,what I wanted to ask is does any software exist for live checking the temperatures of CPUs Mb Hard disks and the like,preferably free to download? one's machine seems suspiciously quiet now and checking temperatures in bios is not really practical.
PS Machine has been running for a couple of hours shut it down and rebooted to BIOS the power monitor shows CPU at 51 C 123.5 F mother board at 38c 100f
PS Machine has been running for a couple of hours shut it down and rebooted to BIOS the power monitor shows CPU at 51 C 123.5 F mother board at 38c 100f
Last edited by tony draper; 21st January 2011 at 10:27.
Hippopotomonstrosesquipidelian title
Joined: Oct 2006
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From: is everything
Passmark, MBM, hmonitor, Intel Active Monitor and many others, probably including software from your motherboard manufacturer. I've used hmonitor in the past.
, I also use SpeedFan.Guest
Joined: May 2008
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From: Somewhere between E17487 and F75775
Silent Running, not on Trust
Needing a good UPS to keep The Works going here in Spain during frequent power outages, I bought a large Trust UPS with a 40 minute battery. Great !
Unfortunately the Trust UPS has a cooling fan which is wired across the mains input and is (a) VERY noisy and (b) runs all the time (even when I turn the UPS off) and (c) despite dismantling 90% of the UPS, the fan is located in the other 10% and can't be reached to install an off switch.
It is so loud I've had to build a silencing cover with air duct. And no, I can't hear my PC any more - sound drowned by the Trust UPS fan.
P.S. Trust do not make this model of UPS any more.
Unfortunately the Trust UPS has a cooling fan which is wired across the mains input and is (a) VERY noisy and (b) runs all the time (even when I turn the UPS off) and (c) despite dismantling 90% of the UPS, the fan is located in the other 10% and can't be reached to install an off switch.
It is so loud I've had to build a silencing cover with air duct. And no, I can't hear my PC any more - sound drowned by the Trust UPS fan.
P.S. Trust do not make this model of UPS any more.
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From: Twickenham, home of rugby
I've been using an APC Smart UPS 1000 for the last 5 or 6 years (the battery now needs replacing - ouch), and it is almost completely silent - apart from the beeps it makes when telling you the battery has had it. 
SD
SD
Hippopotomonstrosesquipidelian title
Joined: Oct 2006
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From: is everything
I've also used the smaller APC's domestically and the big ones for clients. On the domestic ones, I'm not too happy with the relatively short service life of the battery. I'm trying out units by CyberPower at the moment, and very happy with the amount of information available on the front panel and via the computer widget. For example, the front panel shows power used by attached devices, which is great for checking that one's bought the right-sized unit. The only downside of the CyberPower I've found so far is that the power button is VERY easily pressed, which switches the entire unit off instantly.
