My PC: Part Oven, Part Jet Engine, and what I'm doing about it...

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  • megawhompertoo
    oldswab
    • Dec 2005
    • 2124

    #1

    My PC: Part Oven, Part Jet Engine, and what I'm doing about it...

    So, I've noticed that alot of the hoopla around AMD processors (in general) and Intel's new Core 2 is the greatly reduced wattage they consume relative to the instruction executed. And I've got to say freakin' hooray, and I'll buy one when the upgrade cycle comes around again (12-18 months from now). In the meantime, I want to improve my total heat output (the Oven Factor), and decrease my noise (the Jet Engine factor) produced by the HSF combo on my processor. First off, my "specs":

    --Intel p4 3.0E (hot as a mofo) prescott w/stock heat sink and fan
    --1gb (2x512mb) pc3200 (although one stick is recognized by Everest home edition as pc 2700)
    --ati x800xt AIW stock cooling (although I've considered a cooling solution from Acrtic Cooling to make it cooler/quieter)
    Antec Sonta I including 380W PSU
    --Asus P4S800-MX (yes it is a micro; yes it is "good" for a micro-board)
    --2x120mm fans (one pushing air into the case from the front, one pulling air out the exhaust in the back)
    --audigy 2zs
    --and last but no least, a sony trinitron Dell labeled 21"CRT that is about eight years old, model d1626ht)

    Ok, so I wanted a quieter, cooler computer without breaking the bank...perhaps in preparation of buying Core 2 when the prices come down some. Today I purchased a new monitor, to cut my watts from "normal" usage of 166W to "max" usage of ~42W this way:

    http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?Sku=6732798

    and I also bought a new heat sink to reduce the Jet Engine that came with my stock processor, coming to me from this direction:



    I did some research before buying...both components seem to excel at what they do, and with the HSF, I don't plan on overclocking so the weensy heat sink is ok, given (especially) the price.

    But I wanted to get some other folks opinions. How do I further reduce the noise? I was thinking about dampening my gpu with one of these...

    We’re sorry, but this page does not existing. Please visit our home page for more information.


    The benefits are that is (apparently) compatible with the newer chipsets and (obviously) generates less noise that the stock HSF on the gpu. The disadvantage is that there would be no net change in fan number. This company does, however, also offer other cooling solutions that I am also considering, a PCI cooling device to exhaust hot air out the of the case:




    and also this, slightly more complex CPU/GPU cooling solution:



    Anyway, any thoughts on how to further reduce my noise and total system watt output for the next 18 months, until I get a good price/picture on what my next upgrade should be? Are water cooling solutions really as quiet as I'm thinking they ought to be...or does the radiator fan kill the difference?

    Any advice from those who have sat beside a P4 Oven/Jet Engine and a 21" CRT Oven would be greatly appreciated, as would advice form anyone else with similar experiences.

    Thanks in advance...but if your advice is to buy Core2 the day it comes out, or to buy a new Athlon x2 system...don't bother replying. I understand they are better (Edit: read the reviews: MUCH better, even the low-end 6300), but a new system simply costs more money than I am willing to part with to upgrade my current 3.0ghz/agp x800xt system.
  • Bloodsport

    #2
    Re: My PC: Part Oven, Part Jet Engine, and what I'm doing about it...

    Zalman FTW!

    Seiouslly, they are brilliant coolers, very light and are ver very quet.

    Comment

    • Merlin
      Member
      • Apr 2007
      • 861

      #3
      Re: My PC: Part Oven, Part Jet Engine, and what I'm doing about it...

      Yeah like Bloodsport said Zalman are the way to go. Reviews have said the Zalman Aero Flower is one of the quietest and best performing air cooling solutions.

      Comment

      • megawhompertoo
        oldswab
        • Dec 2005
        • 2124

        #4
        Re: My PC: Part Oven, Part Jet Engine, and what I'm doing about it...

        Originally posted by Merlin
        Yeah like Bloodsport said Zalman are the way to go. Reviews have said the Zalman Aero Flower is one of the quietest and best performing air cooling solutions.
        Ok; thanks. Price is VERY important to me, which is why I'm trying the artic cooler first--Silent PC reviewed it and endorsed it as a very low noise HSF, but with the caveat that it just barely UNDER-performs compared to the stock intel cooler at dissipating heat. If the arctic cooling HSF isn't up to snuff, I'll definitely check out the Zalman. I have heard good things about them--some of their all-copper HSF's do look very promising.

        Comment

        • Bloodsport

          #5
          Re: My PC: Part Oven, Part Jet Engine, and what I'm doing about it...

          A friend of mine had the artic coolers on his 7800's and didn't rate them much better then the stock coolers. He also said they weren't the quetest peices of kit either.

          You get what you pay for at the end of the day. Incedently he now has Zalman V900's and he rates them very highly.

          Comment

          • Heavy552 AWG

            #6
            Re: My PC: Part Oven, Part Jet Engine, and what I'm doing about it...

            I use the Thermaltake Series 7 on my CPU, but any silence is destroyed by the 4 80 mm Vantec Tornadoes backed by a 6000 BTU Window air conditioning unit. Im deaf so it does not matter to me.

            However, for cooling solutions Zalman is very good and I would expect water cooling to be very quiet as well.

            120 mm fans of good quality can move just as much as 80mm without as much noise.

            Comment

            • megawhompertoo
              oldswab
              • Dec 2005
              • 2124

              #7
              Re: My PC: Part Oven, Part Jet Engine, and what I'm doing about it...

              Originally posted by Bloodsport
              A friend of mine had the artic coolers on his 7800's and didn't rate them much better then the stock coolers. He also said they weren't the quetest peices of kit either.

              You get what you pay for at the end of the day. Incedently he now has Zalman V900's and he rates them very highly.
              Yeah...if the el cheapo $9.00 arctic cooler performs ok, I may go with the Zalman vf900 for the gpu. If not, I will def check out their cpu cooling products first, and put off the VGA aftermarket cooling until later.

              My problem with spending money on a PC is that I really like to get good values, and I don't mind waiting. I have been buying and building pc's and pc components for a lot of years, and one thing has always, always, always been true: Prices will fall tomorrow.

              Originally posted by Heavy552(AWG)
              I use the Thermaltake Series 7 on my CPU, but any silence is destroyed by the 4 80 mm Vantec Tornadoes backed by a 6000 BTU Window air conditioning unit. Im deaf so it does not matter to me.

              However, for cooling solutions Zalman is very good and I would expect water cooling to be very quiet as well.

              120 mm fans of good quality can move just as much as 80mm without as much noise.
              Yeah--I'm hooked on the 120's. May even get another set--my Vantec stealths are getting a tad old, and there is a newer version out.

              Comment

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