CPU Cooling

[JAC]

I hate fan noise.. I like my computer to be as quiet as possible....

This all started when this failed:




so I replaced it with this...




Then I found my Abit AI7 motherbaord has a fan fail alarm for the northbridge fan feedback that can not be disabled in cmos. !!! %&%^&%@@!!!

I also decided to put this in.............




yes.. it is HUGE
...



lol..

oh yeah.. also had to throw in a PIC programmed to give a fake 100Hz fan feedback signal. Now my mobo thinks it has a northbridge cooler running at 2880 rpm.

My cpu fan runs at 600rpm , 120mm on that Tower! .. my machine is very quiet.

[Marcin]

Well done. I like quiet too because my PC stand about 30-50cm near my head I tried to use quiet coolers as possible + AeroCool Panel 2 to navigate voltages - fans rpm.

I preparing to change my actual AM2 box cooler (not so bad) to Thermaltake Sonic Tower - something similar to yours - fansless. Huge, beautifull for eye and with well performance.

On my bridge (north and south integraded in one) have passive copper heatsink with heatpipe to power circuits near CPU where is heatsink too. That is nice design from Asus

[JAC]

Yeah, fanless would be awesome!

but I dont think I will get that for a while.

Just discovered I have to cool the mosfets in the PWM circuit on this board. The zalman I had on before was blowing plenty of air all the way around the base of the cpu, cooling the mosfets very well. Now with that tower I dont have the same airflow and my mosfet temps have doubled. pants. - another alarm when they go past 70 degrees C.

Just added some extra cooling for them now. .. so when you do go fanless / very slow fans, dont forget to check the PWM cooling requirements.

[Marcin]

I have cooling on mosfets from ASUS original.

Without flash :



With flash :



All hot places like mosfets, cpu heatsink, bridge heatsink, hdd are monitored by temp sensors and cooling configure manual by voltage :



Passive heatsink is enough on mosfets. I would use thermal-leading two sided tape. For me it is best solution for light heatsinks.

EDITED : BTW very nice sensor monitor cheater

[JAC]

That is awesome Marcin. I think the Asus is a much better mobo than mine. I really like your computer, that front cool panel is sexy.

I have just added some passive heatsinks to my mosfets . Now my PWM is down to 50-55.. much better than the 70-80 degree C !

[Wizzard1]

Nice. My Christmas system will feature a passive C2D cooler (Thermaltake HR-01-775) with a 200MM fan (AL Antec 900 case) pumping air from the front directly out the top at under 900RPM... Ideal and cool!!

[Marcin]

JAC I see you used Pentagram/Zalman cooling on CPU. Very good cooling also. You use Socket 478 and I use AM2 so these are different platforms not comparatable. ASUS a bit changed visual design politic in "his" last products and that is why I went for ASUS not for Gigabyte with which I was all time.

BTW. Windows in my case I did by own : sheet metal cut by cutting machine and that white rubber is isolation from cabel I didn't used plexi glass but policarbon windscreen which is used also in motors (more resistant than plexi).

AeroCool Panel II is very functional but expensive - about 40-50 EUR.

JAC do you use Matrox VGA ? If yes which model ?

[JAC]

Yeah, Matrox P650 for dual display. It ROCKS!!!!!
This is my work machine, I dont play games on this.

I used to be loyal to particular brands of mobo, years ago gigabyte ( they have been making mobos for a VERY long time).. then abit.. but now I dont care.. I am more interested in small details on the board, not just the brand. Asus is very nice, I have one in my games machine , a very old P4G8X deluxe.. I had it since it came out a few years ago. It still kicks ASS.. but coming up to upgrade time soon though.

I have just realised I have only purchased new Intel cpus from P2 upwards, about 10 years now.

[JAC]

Oh good tip on the panel cutout... wire insulation is very good and neat if done carefully. I am not a fan of see through computers.. I just want them to work! I also wonder about the EMC issues with all plexi cases.

[Marcin]

Plexi cases are "shitty" that is why there are a few models. Good brands making cases not went for only plexi because : dust is very visible and horrible fingerprints ! never touch case !

[FDIV]

I have been building a home theater pc to use as a digital video recorder as well as to surf the web on my HDTV. I started with an AMD Turion MT37 which runs at 25W. I also purchased a fanless power supply and a case with massive ammounts of ventilation. My original plan was no fans at all. I have not tried this yet though. Currently I have reversed the 120mm fan on the gigabyte cpu cooling unit. It now blows outwards exhausting the entire case of heat. The processor runs at something like 27 degrees centegrade. I'll add that this is with the motherboard improperly volting the processor at 1.35 instead of 1.2 volts. Unfortunately the bios does not allow alteration of the cpu voltage so I have to find some program that can write the correct voltage to cmos. My biggest fear is that If I pull out this last fan the motherboard, ram, or HDD will fail. It is very quiet so I think I just may let it stay. This system is quite fast as well. 2.0ghz with an athlon 64 archetecture and 1meg of cache is something impressive. What you will all like best though is the fact that I installed a Tualtin heatspreader with thermal epoxy onto the turion to protect the die from the heavy cooling system. For those of you interested in silent pc's in general or for specificaly using laptop processors to accomplish this check out this website: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article300-page1.html
It was very helpfull to me in choosing the parts to use in my build. Enjoy the pics of my latest project,
Les

[Marcin]

FDIV that is great project what you have done. I think all of us wonder about something like you did. Low power consumption and powerfull home theater system. Great for video playback and music listening and like you said video recording. Impressive !

[FDIV]

Thanks

[bacterio]

are you using a GigaByte G-Power Lite?? i'm currently using one like this and it makes no noise!!

[JAC]

Sweet.