SHUT UP SHUTTLE!!

[Nkcowboy]

I have a shuttle SN45G with a fairly hot AMD 3200+ XP and a Radeon AIW 9800 Pro.

Basically, I have had this system for a few months, and while I think it looks and performs like a F1 Racing car, sometimes I feel it sounds like one too.

I can't work out which fan is causing the majority of the noise, but I assume it is the main case one (I ASSUME that is the one controlled by the BIO's. I normally set this to automatic ajust depending on the temperature, or "Ultra Low" which only comes on when it gets hot)

I was wondering if there were any techniques or things I could do to make my system just a little bit more quiet. I obviously don't want to over heat it, but I just wish it was not so loud.

Thanks for any help!

 

[ShellGuy]

You may want to get some quiter fans and maybe a controle panle to tweak it. Just an idea.. Sorry 4 the spellin...

Will

 

[Psychosylph]

There are a few things you can do to quiet it down, like replace the 80mm fan, cut out the mesh grill in front of both the 80mm and 40mm fans, etc. But I would bet that the loudest part at this point in time is the fan on your video card. Maybe a replacement for that?

 

[CRXican]

you need to replace the stock Sunon master blaster 80mm ICE fan. That will help a lot. You should also check out www.sfftech.com but don't post, just search and read, I repeat, search and read.

 

[Dman877]

Stock fan on 9800's is pretty noisy too.

 

[loup garou]

Am I the only one who finds the PSU fan on shuttles to be unbearably annoying? They're so high pitched. That was the first thing I replaced on mine...

 

[Nkcowboy]

I read somewhere about "7 volt"ing the ATI card. It is supposed to make it a lot quieter, but no one would explain what it is. Anyone know?

Will, I would get a control panel, but the XPC only has one cd drive slot. The floppy one is being used by a memory reader.

It looks like replacing the fans is the way to go. I'm assuming that the 80mm fan at the back will be easier to replace than that on the video card. I've never done this before, so I'll search around for a guide on how to do it.

If anyone knows a place where I can find a good guide, I would much appreciate it too! Cheers for all the help!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: werk
Am I the only one who finds the PSU fan on shuttles to be unbearably annoying? They're so high pitched. That was the first thing I replaced on mine...

I found setting the speed manually instead of smart fan stopped it.

 

[nortexoid]

speak up.

 

[eelw]

The I.C.E. fan is easy to replace. Take the thumbscrews off the back and the fan shroud just lifts out. Disconnect the cable and unscrew the fan out. When installing the new fan, just ensure it blows out before installing it.

 

[Nkcowboy]

Originally posted by: eelw
The I.C.E. fan is easy to replace. Take the thumbscrews off the back and the fan shroud just lifts out. Disconnect the cable and unscrew the fan out. When installing the new fan, just ensure it blows out before installing it.

Great! Glad to hear it is so easy, and thanks for the reminder about which way the air flows, that is exactly the kind of thing I would forget!

Looks like that will be what I will do first. Any recommendations on a fan? I found a few reviews, but it sounds like you (or someone) has done this before!

Also, does anyone think it would be necessary to use the rubber "gromits" I think their called. To isolate the fan reducing friction noise? Cheers for all the help guys!

 

[Nkcowboy]

I was wondering though, do I need a fan with a temperature sensor?

I was looking around at some nice (quiet) fans, and this seemed to be a major difference. Cheers!

Do you have any idea how much air flow I would need? Some claim to be very quiet, but they may be crap at cooling then. Cheers again!

 

[dannybin1742]

There are a few things you can do to quiet it down, like replace the 80mm fan, cut out the mesh grill in front of both the 80mm and 40mm fans, etc. But I would bet that the loudest part at this point in time is the fan on your video card. Maybe a replacement for that?

when i had one of these, i cut out the grill with tin snips, then i put a wire grill in its place, and i replaced the sunon fan with a high, but very quiet cfn panaflow fan, it made the cube very quiet, i also cut the grill out of the psu fan, that seemed to help some too.

i've also seen other people mod the case to have a 80mm, 10mm thick fan pull air, this fan must be quiet too in from the left side (where space is.- this is a bit harder though)

 

[byum]

The PSU fan is quite high pitched...annoys the crap out of me too..

 

[fragstar]

If you have a 200W PSU you will need to change the fan or get an upgrade. The Silent X PSU is pretty damn quiet.

Also, I hear that Shuttle's will start coming with a 92mm fan starting with the SB83G5, that should help a lot

 

[tbrooks40]

here's some info on 7volting...

http://www.heatsink-guide.com/psplug.htm

in regards to the radeon fan it may be a bit different but the colors are normally universal with wires in most pc's and components.

good luck!

** edit to add... you may also want to look into picking up one of those all-in-one 3.5 bay controllers that allow you to control your fans, have usb 2.0 ports, and a couple of flash card slots. just a thought **

 

[byum]

Originally posted by: fragstar
If you have a 200W PSU you will need to change the fan or get an upgrade. The Silent X PSU is pretty damn quiet.

Also, I hear that Shuttle's will start coming with a 92mm fan starting with the SB83G5, that should help a lot

Any faq sites to replace the PSU fan? I opened up my PSU but it looks like I need to cut the wire and rewire it?

 

[Nkcowboy]

Hey,
Aren't any 3.5 bays with a memory stick slot as well as fan controls it seems (they are all 5.25 ones), so I was thinking of buying a 3.5 fan conrol, and moving my current memory stick reader out into an external bay.

I was just wondering if anyone know of any good external 3.5 inch bays? Most of the ones I find are only for harddrives, so have no front opening. Cheers.
NK

 

[Glendor]

I've replaced the PSU fan in two or three Shuttles. You have to find a 40mm fan. I can't remember where I used to buy them, so if anybody knows where to get cheap QUIET 40mm fans, please let us all know.

Glendor...

 

[puffpio]

Replace the power supply w/ the new SilenX 250W PS (part # PC40 I believe) It made my SN45G quieter and run cooler and let me overclock my video card higher all at the same time.
Once that is done, cut out the rear grille so the ICE has better airflow. Both those things will help the ICE cool better and the CPU/ICE fan will not ramp up as often. If that is still too noisy, replace the 80mm ICE fan w/ a quieter one. SilenX are the obvious choice. They dont flow as well as the stock fan though, so an option people are doing is to go up in size to a 92 or 120mm fan on the outside of the case sucking air out through the ICE instead of inside pushing air out. But to do that you need an adapter plate. And also vibration isolator mounts so the fan doesn't vibrate on the stuff.

Ideally this is what you can do:
1) Switch power supplies to the PC40
2) Cut out rear grille
3) Replace 80mm ICE fan w/ SilenX 80mm fan using vibration isolation mount
4) Add a 120mm or 92 mm SilenX fan on the rear of the case with an adapter + vibration isolation mount
5) Add vibration isolation mounts to your hard drive.

Should make for a really quiet case

 

[wpeng]

What about those Vantec vibration dampener kits? How about the rubber fan silencers?

 

[CZroe]

Well, the fan is in a specially designed cage and and the cage is attached with rubber mounts to dampen vibrations. You can't really use a standard dampening kit on that. Other than the PSU, it's the only fan in the system. You can find the Enlight PSU's cheaper on Pricewatch than from Shuttle and they are the same thing.

Let me ask you something Nkcowboy: Is your system stable at 400FSB? I haven't tried to install Windows until I solve my stability problem but my system keeps giving me errors when I run memtest86. I can run it at faster speeds and it works fine as long as I lower the bus speed (My multiplier is unlocked) so it is definately either the CPU or the motherboard that can't do 400FSB. I mean, 200x6@1.65v even spits out errors (400FSB, 1200MHz, stock 3200+ voltage) while 166x13.5@1.65v works flawlessly (333FSB, 1200MHz, stock 3200+ voltages). I've tested two mobile Athlon XP 2400+ CPUs which are supposedly all capable of 400FSB and greater speeds both with the latest and most desired stepping and I'm pretty sure it's the board.

 

[Glendor]

I was having very limited success getting my 2700+ to go above 166fsb. I have PC3200 OCZ ram, and could get windows to work at speeds up to 13.5x171, but I had random reboots within an hour of booting. I though it might be the NorthBridge causing the reboot, so I installed one of the Zalman northbridge sinks I've been reading about, but I didn't add a northbridge fan. Is QUIET & COOL too much to ask for ?!?!

Anyway, it's been running for a day without any crashs at 13.6 x 166 including Sandra Burn-In, and continuous 3DMark2001. I guess it's time to start jacking up the FSB. I'm still running stock voltage, and I don't now at what point to start ramping up the volts. Any suggestions?

Here's a nother question: Has anybody tried to replace the ICE cooler with something else? I was looking at one of the Zalman 'FAN' style coolers, and was wondering if that would cool as well as the ICE.

Glendor...

 

[Nkcowboy]

Originally posted by: CZroe
Let me ask you something Nkcowboy: Is your system stable at 400FSB? I haven't tried to install Windows until I solve my stability problem but my system keeps giving me errors when I run memtest86. I can run it at faster speeds and it works fine as long as I lower the bus speed (My multiplier is unlocked) so it is definately either the CPU or the motherboard that can't do 400FSB. I mean, 200x6@1.65v even spits out errors (400FSB, 1200MHz, stock 3200+ voltage) while 166x13.5@1.65v works flawlessly (333FSB, 1200MHz, stock 3200+ voltages). I've tested two mobile Athlon XP 2400+ CPUs which are supposedly all capable of 400FSB and greater speeds both with the latest and most desired stepping and I'm pretty sure it's the board.

Actually, you have a point. I can only use 333 ram in my system. I must admit that I bought it whole from a small company, but they tried and tried to get the 400 mhz ram to work, and it just didn't. 333 is running fine though, if a bit slower than would be.

 

[Munkies123]

i have a beastly little shuttle my self and he aint too loud