I have $100

SLCentral

Diamond Member
Feb 13, 2003
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I just got $100, and I'm thinking about spending it on my HTPC/System to make it quieter then it is. It's by all means quiet as it is, but I'd like it quieter.

Specs are:
Antec P180 w/ 3 120mm stock fans
eVGA nForce 4 SLI
Athlon 64 3000+ Venice (Stock HSF, no OCing)
eVGA 7800GTX (Stock HSF, no OCing)

Now, the NB fan is pretty damn loud as well, and I'd like to replace that too. I was thinking about grabbing the Scythe Ninja with a 120mm fan, and a cooler for the 7800 GTX. As to which one, I'm not sure which. I also am not sure what to cool the NB with.

Any ideas to keep the budget under $100?
 

Unkno

Golden Member
Jun 16, 2005
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get a zalman NB47J, passive cooler for chipset
get like a VF700 or Arctic Cooler for your GPU
Then, there's a choice for the cpu cooler....CNPS9500 or if your budget won't fit it, get like a SI-90 or SI-120 with a panaflo low fan.
 

SLCentral

Diamond Member
Feb 13, 2003
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Originally posted by: Unkno
get a zalman NB47J, passive cooler for chipset
get like a VF700 or Arctic Cooler for your GPU
Then, there's a choice for the cpu cooler....CNPS9500 or if your budget won't fit it, get like a SI-90 or SI-120 with a panaflo low fan.

I don't think that Zalman will fit because of the location of the NB on the eVGA motherboard. It's located right under where my GPU is. I'll move my 7800 to a 8x PCI-E slot since it minimally impacts performance so I'll get some headroom, but I don't think that'll fit.
 

RallyMaster

Diamond Member
Dec 28, 2004
5,581
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well, I say you scratch the NB HSF off the list because you won't have space.

as for the GPU, try an Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5 Rev 3 (Direct Heat Exhaust System FTW!) or one of those Zalman sinks that will dissipate a lot of heat (but make sure you have proper case cooling since it's been proven to have a lot of temp variations for people due to case ventilation).

for CPU, what Unkno suggested is pretty good. but personally, I'd go with a Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro (I like the concept of front to rear airflow)
 

Icepick

Diamond Member
Nov 1, 2004
3,663
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In my opinion, the loudest component in a PC is the video card. I recommend replacing the video card HSF before touching anything else. I own an Arctic Cooling NV5 Silencer and have used it on my 6800GT from last winter until today. After a few months the fan developed a loud vibrating noise that was unacceptable to me. Also, I noticed that the HS seemed to collect dust and it was hard to clean without taking it apart.

Today I received a Zalman VF700-CU. I installed it today and it blew me away. I set it the fan to the low speed (5V) setting and my idle temp dropped 5 degress C. At the low speed setting this is very near silent and much quieter than the NV5 Silencer ever was. Now my PC is very nearly silent. Due to my experience with Arctic Cooling and my (admittedly limited) experience with the Zalman I cannot recommend the Arctic Cooling solution.

I got the Zalman VF700-CU for $28 at Newegg. This is the best investment you can make where quiet computing is concerned. I also use a Thermalright XP-90 with a 1750RPM Vantec Stealth 92mm fan. This keeps my CPU cool enough and is very quiet even though the CPU is overclocked by 400MHz. The other noisy component is the fan on the motherboard's chipset. I just use a software fan controller to keep that fan down to a low speed and can't hear it at this setting.
 

SLCentral

Diamond Member
Feb 13, 2003
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Originally posted by: icepik
In my opinion, the loudest component in a PC is the video card. I recommend replacing the video card HSF before touching anything else. I own an Arctic Cooling NV5 Silencer and have used it on my 6800GT from last winter until today. After a few months the fan developed a loud vibrating noise that was unacceptable to me. Also, I noticed that the HS seemed to collect dust and it was hard to clean without taking it apart.

Today I received a Zalman VF700-CU. I installed it today and it blew me away. I set it the fan to the low speed (5V) setting and my idle temp dropped 5 degress C. At the low speed setting this is very near silent and much quieter than the NV5 Silencer ever was. Now my PC is very nearly silent. Due to my experience with Arctic Cooling and my (admittedly limited) experience with the Zalman I cannot recommend the Arctic Cooling solution.

I got the Zalman VF700-CU for $28 at Newegg. This is the best investment you can make where quiet computing is concerned. I also use a Thermalright XP-90 with a 1750RPM Vantec Stealth 92mm fan. This keeps my CPU cool enough and is very quiet even though the CPU is overclocked by 400MHz. The other noisy component is the fan on the motherboard's chipset. I just use a software fan controller to keep that fan down to a low speed and can't hear it at this setting.

Hm...for $28, I'm willing to give it a try. If it really makes that much of a difference, I won't even have to get a CPU cooler, which I like. I'd like to spend as little as possible. Thanks for your help!
 

Unkno

Golden Member
Jun 16, 2005
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i have to say the loudest part is the chipset fan...try to get a passive cooler, i don't know much about the evga mobo but will the NB37J or something like that fit?
 

SLCentral

Diamond Member
Feb 13, 2003
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Originally posted by: Unkno
i have to say the loudest part is the chipset fan...try to get a passive cooler, i don't know much about the evga mobo but will the NB37J or something like that fit?

I can't find any stores selling it on Google :\.
 

Mogadon

Senior member
Aug 30, 2004
739
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With that Zalman NB47J you can simply break off the pins that will get in the way of the video card using pliers or a small, metal hacksaw, it still works fine.

Check out the zalman video card cooling solution, it's pretty sweet.

For the CPU you could just get the ninja sycthe and you probably wouldn't even need a fan with it. An alternative would be an si-120 with the slowesy panaflo or nexus fan.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
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ziplocpicker

Member
Jun 11, 2005
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Since the VGA cooler shouldn't cost you too much, you can also swap out the stock HSF with a Scythe Ninja and run it with a really slow 120mm fan. That will give you a cooler cpu and a quieter HSF.
 

Unkno

Golden Member
Jun 16, 2005
1,659
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For the NB passive cooler, you can either get the NB47J (then snap some fins off to make it fit, it will still work very good), or get the NB32K/NB32J
 

potato28

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2005
8,964
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Ok... buy a VF-700CU from Zalman for GPU. CPu u could buy a Scythe Ninja, or a SI-120. A good fan controller is the Zalman ZM-MFC1, controls 6 fans. Buy some CoolerMaster fans for the case, or Yate Loons or Nexus fans. Nexus being best, CoolerMaster being very good. Other than that, ur good!
 

eljaye925

Senior member
Dec 22, 2002
230
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71
I'm late to this thread and it's all been covered, but I need to share . I went to jab-tech and priced out everything you need and it comes to about $120.00 Seems like alot, but your case will be very quiet.

(1) ninja

(4) black yate loons

(1) black sunbeam rheobus

(1) zalman 700-cu

(1) zalman NB47J chipset cooler

(3) 3-pin fan extensions

I 'm not affilated with Jab-tech, but can vouch for their service and prices and also vouch for the above setup, because it's essentially what I did to my P180.

The fan on the 700-cu setup in the 5v plug is very quiet. It replaced a silencer that I had on my x800xt. Big improvement!

Hands down, the best thing I did to quiet my case was unfortunatley also the last. It was to replace the stock nothbridge heatsink/fan on my Neo2 Plat with the NB47J. I couldn't make it fit with the silencer but I made it fit the 700-cu. I only had to shorten 6 pins. I guess there's no guarantee you could make one fit your board, but it only costs $6 to try.

Mod'd NB47J

mounted 01

mounted 02

I left the 38mm tricool in the bottom set on low, and put 3 yate loons in the case and 1 on the ninja all hooked up the the rheobus.

With the 4 YL tuned down and the 700-cu on 5v and NO FAN on the northbridge my case very quiet.

Happy New Year,

L.J.
 

Asymptoke

Member
Dec 8, 2005
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You could also set your fans to run at 7v instead of 12v which should reduce noise significantly. You can do the wiring yourself of simply buy some adapters for a couple bucks in toto.
 

whovous

Senior member
Dec 24, 2001
343
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If the case fans will cool your system sufficiently when running at 7v (and there are several ways to get them down to 7V) you do not need to replace them. It all depends on whether you OC, how air flows in your system, and what temps you are willing to live with.

There are three primary noise sources to deal with once you've done the easy work on the case fans. The chipset and GPU fans are almost always noisy, and the CPU fan can be noisy if you do not have something like Cool n Quiet enabled.

As for the chipset, I've been very happy with the Zalman NB47J in a prior system or two. That said, I would not be in a rush to get it, depending on just how your mobo is laid out.

From your prior posts, it looks like you may already have decided against the 47J, but if not, let me throw out another warning. My mobo is a DFI NF4 Ultra D. The board has a great rep among OC'ers, but the pretty little chipset fan gets all sorts of bad mentions. When I spec'd out this current system, I bought a 47J and got rid of the chipset fan. When I went to install the 6800GS video card, it was clear that the overhang of the card and the height of the 47J would never play nice together, and that it was far more than just bending a few pins.

Generally, the faster the card, the bigger the card, and the bigger the card the more overhang. Your 7800 is almost certainly bigger than my 6800. If yours goes right over or near the center of the chipset, and if it hangs as low or lower than my 6800, plan on spending a few hours bending fins, but with no guarantee it is is ever going to fit short of actually removing fins.

In my case, I was able to move the card to a second PCI-E slot (my board is not officially an SLI board, but it is easily SLI moddable) and get around the problem that way. That solved that problem, but moving the video card created other problems I won't go into here.

I had to take my system completely apart because neither the Sunbeam nor the Zalman fan controllers I'd bought would install in my screwless case, a Thermaltake Tsunami Dream. The Sunbeam had other problems, too, but that is another story. I decided to replace the GPU fan with the VF-700 at the same time I replaced the fan controller with a Thermaltake Hardcano 12. I also bought the shorter Zalman 32J to permit me to move the video card back to where it belonged.

It does not work. Even with a couple dozen bent fins, the 6800GS will not seat in the top PCI-E slot.

The moral: YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY.

Right now, I've put the stock chipset fan back in place, but put it on the fan controller, which has decided to run it at minimum voltage. It is 6 degrees cooler than was the 47J under light surf conditions.

I've read of a couple replacement fans that can be made to work on my board that are supposedly more quiet and reliable than my stock fan, though not always easy to install. They may be a good option for you as well but, unfortunately, I do not recall any search terms to help you find them.

As for GPUs, the NF700 warns that it usually takes away an adjacent PCI slot, but with a 7800, you probably already have that issue.

For CPUs, the Zalman 9500 is an attractive and elegent solution. The Ninja may be a tiny bit better, but I do not think it is attractive. Neither is cheap. The SI-90 with a big fan bolted on the side is the favored cheap method of cooling a CPU. It is not pretty, but it works pretty much as well as any more expensive solution to the problem. Given your overall budget, it may be your best choice.

Newegg is the obvious source for anything, but if you are buying multiple small items, their shipping charges can really destroy your budget. Look for a source that ships by weight rather than item count.

Good luck!
 

whovous

Senior member
Dec 24, 2001
343
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OK, just went back to the original note. With your case, replacing the stock fans should definitely be you last priority.

The 8x slot should have no effect whatsoever on your 7800's performance. It is the only card that can come close to saturating the 8x pipes, but not even it can do so. I do not know the layout of your board, but if the 8x slot is otherwise usable for you (mine was not satisfactory for reasons of cabling and airflow), then one of the fanless Zalman chipset coolers may become an option after all. The 47 is better than the 37, but if you do not OC, either should be OK. I have a dual core Opteron 165 that I have stable OC'd by as much as 50%. I backed down to about 33% out of concern over CPU heat more than chipset heat. The 47J did the job well enough to support my OCs. It will definitely do enough for you with no OC.
 

SLCentral

Diamond Member
Feb 13, 2003
3,542
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Originally posted by: whovous
OK, just went back to the original note. With your case, replacing the stock fans should definitely be you last priority.

The 8x slot should have no effect whatsoever on your 7800's performance. It is the only card that can come close to saturating the 8x pipes, but not even it can do so. I do not know the layout of your board, but if the 8x slot is otherwise usable for you (mine was not satisfactory for reasons of cabling and airflow), then one of the fanless Zalman chipset coolers may become an option after all. The 47 is better than the 37, but if you do not OC, either should be OK. I have a dual core Opteron 165 that I have stable OC'd by as much as 50%. I backed down to about 33% out of concern over CPU heat more than chipset heat. The 47J did the job well enough to support my OCs. It will definitely do enough for you with no OC.

First off, thank you for the great, in-depth post. I really appreciate the time you took out to help me out here.

That said, I think that if the 7800 is moved to the top 8x slot, a Zalman NB cooler will fit. It not, they only cost like $5, so it's really no big deal if it doesn't.

I've got one more question. If I get a fan controller and plug all my fans into it, are the fan speeds controlled automatically, or do I have to set them manually. If I do have to set them manually, how do I know how fast each fan should be set to?
 

whovous

Senior member
Dec 24, 2001
343
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0
That depends on which controller you get, and styles and prices are all over the map.

Knobs stopped my case door from closing, but once set, knobs stay set. Those with digital readouts often need to be reset with each boot if not in AUTO mode, while AUTO can restrict some options.

Just getting started with the Hardcano 12, which is digital and AUTO mode seems at least OK. Then again, it completely blows your budget at over $50. Not sure it is worth the extra $, but it fits the screwless case I have, and it seems NOTHING else will.

Gotta run for a while.
 

SLCentral

Diamond Member
Feb 13, 2003
3,542
0
71
Originally posted by: whovous
That depends on which controller you get, and styles and prices are all over the map.

Knobs stopped my case door from closing, but once set, knobs stay set. Those with digital readouts often need to be reset with each boot if not in AUTO mode, while AUTO can restrict some options.

Just getting started with the Hardcano 12, which is digital and AUTO mode seems at least OK. Then again, it completely blows your budget at over $50. Not sure it is worth the extra $, but it fits the screwless case I have, and it seems NOTHING else will.

Gotta run for a while.

Thanks :thumbsup:
 
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