Operation "Shhhhhhh!" - Plan of action!

[Aeradin]

I don't know if it's going to settle the Zalman vs. Thermalright battle, but I've decided I'm going to go with the XP-120. I'm going to be building another new system (and handing this one off to my wife!) some time in December, so this is more of an experimental playground for me than anything else.

I'll post a follow-up after I get all my stuff, and see how things changed.

Aeradin

 

[Aeradin]

I think I'm cursed.

I sat down tonight, thinking I was ready to order most of the components for this effort. (With the exception of the VGA Cooler for now... I'm waiting for them to come out with the dual slot support.) When I went to order the XP-120, I ran into another issue. What fan should I get for it, and where should I get it?

I had hoped to order the exact Panaflo they have listed on Thermalright's site, but I can't seem to find the Panaflo FBA12G12L1A they have listed anywhere?

I know this is starting to sound like a broken record...but... Anyone have any suggestions or recommendations?

Aeradin

 

[Degrador]

Just look for a Panaflo 120mm 12V L1A - that's pretty much what the rest of that code is saying.

 

[sbuckler]

How quiet do you want to go?

I have a quietish w. very effective aircooling setup (modded Sonata w. 3rd 120mm fan drilled into the side + acousticpack sound damping material throughout, Zalman 7000Cu running at 12v, P4 3.2, 6800 GT). I get a low whoosh from the rear 120mm fan (only one turned up much, the others use the psu fan controller which never spins them fast), and a whine from the geforce (which I will improve with an NV 5 in a little while). I can't really hear the psu, zalman, hd, or even the cd rom drive (if I keep case door shut).

Looking at your setup I wouldn't worry too much about choices between cpu fans for silence - they will all be drowned out by the rest of your system, particularly the 6800 ultra. The quietest air cooling you can get for that is an NV 5 and that will still be a lot noiser then either cpu fan.
Putting dampening on the fans and hd's will make a difference.
The other thing is sticking good quality sound damping material to the inside of the case (I use acousticpack standard), this really takes the edge of the noise.
I don't know if your case has a door in front of the cdrom drive, etc, but putting sound damping material on the inside of that and shutting it makes quite a bit difference as well.

 

[Bugler]

Has anyone tried to upgrade to the Zalman 7000A?

FROM THE ZALMAN SITE: The 7000B has slightly improved upon the 7000A heatsink not only in performance, but in an 18g weight reduction. The 7000B comes with the easy-to-use Fan Mate 2, and even includes a high strength fiberglass reinforced plastic Backplate for use with AMD Sempron/AMD64 motherboards.