Quietening PSU - my mod

[Creosote]

My first mod posting and my first attempted mod, so please be gentle with me :)

I've always been a white box owner, and never really knew about case modding etc until a few months ago when I discovered Kustom PC. I needed a new PC, so long story shortened, last Saturday I took delivery of this great system from Kustom PC. I asked Graeme if he could make me a system that was state of the art fast, very quiet and pleasing aesthetically, and he and Thomas have delivered what they set out to, I'm very happy.

When I got the system it did intrigue me to explore the inside, a new adventure for me! During this past week I have been twiddling and adding some tweaks like a mirror floor, some aluminium sheeting inside, replacing one of the fans, added the legs, nothing too advanced or radical! Oh, and my m8 suggested I stick in an Alien which I have, bloody stupid really.

The system itself is VERY quiet and was built to achieve that, the only real sound coming from it is from the Zalman quiet PSU, but it sorta irritated both me and Thomas that this was the last sound emitting item and I wondered what I could do about that. Please understand it IS quiet but the PSU fans are having to handle quite a lot of the air venting for the case.

I saw something on a US website and it gave me the confidence of making a cover for the PSU, to redirect the air flow into the one remaining case fan exhaust area which would hopefully give a slight venturi effect to the PSU exhaust and also would direct the sound downwards rather than at the wall and bouncing back around the room. So I made a prototype mock-up with a plastic box and lined it with foam, held it in place and Wow! maybe half the residual noise immediately stopped. I monitored temps and it didnt appear to make any difference, so I set about a more a elegant solution.

Found a suitable shaped vent cover at B&Q and lined it with thin foam to help the sound-deadening and sprayed it with Plasticote Alumiunium paint in an attempt to get it to blnd in with the rest of the case, this almost works, but it doesn't quite match the raw aluminium of the case, but pretty close. I had to chop bits out of the cover to get it to fit round the power lead and leave the on/off switch accessible. I knew that I would constantly be taking the window side panel cover off and by nexessity the cover edges protrude over the side panel, so I attached the side with the same single screw in that area that holds the cover in place.
I used some of the thin foam strip that comes with the cover kit around the edges to give a nice seal where it attached to the case.

Cost was £11 for the cover and spray paint though I have loads of the paint left of course. I've stopped about 50% of the sound from the PSU and I dont feel the cover really looks to bad. INternal temps havent changed and the PSU seems to be coping fine without the motor having stepped up at all.

Anyway, Ive really enjoyed reading the postings on these KustomPC forums and thought I'd like to contribute. My little mod isn't exactly radical or advanced but I thought someone may be interested to have a go on their own system.

Here are a couple of pics of the cover in place at the back of the system case:

http://www.joe-davies.com/psucover.jpg


http://www.joe-davies.com/psusideview.jpg


http://www.joe-davies.com/psusideview2.jpg



Looking at these pics the cover looks a lot more shiny and finger-marked than it appears, maybe thats the flash. But if anyone knows of a good satin aluminium paint could you let me know and I'll respray it.

[Alan]

Nissan starburst silver, from Halfords, is supposed to be the closest match to the aluminium case.

It's a very good first mod and I also love the legs!

I have a 110B and a Zalman PSU but I get no noise from it at all - most of my case fans are switched off as well. Is it a 300w or 400w?

[Creosote]

Its 300W PSU.
I have a Coolermaster 80mm fan blowing onto the CPU and an original case fan that Thomas lowered to 7v. Thomas fitted the Zalman fan originally but I didn't like it obscuring the graphics card and the nasty black plasticnes of it so swapped it for the coolermaster fan. I get no noise from the two fans installed but the PSU is noticeable though not loud. Ideally I'd like to make the system silent. It also has QuietPC sound-proofing kit installed and the HD is in a silent drive though I can still hear it faintly blipping.

Any suggestions or ideas on how to further quieten it would be appreciated!

PS - Thx for the tip on the Starburst Silver, a trip to Halfords tomorrow is a must.

[Alan]

I take it you have the Zalman flower as a CPU heatsink as you say the 80mm fan is blowing onto the CPU. If it's not a Zalman flower, don't blow onto the CPU if it has a fan already on the CPU heatsink.

Your gfx card heatsink will certainly benefit from the 80mm fan as well but I have the Zalman 7000 cu but it runs a bit fast and you can just hear it and no more. The rear extract fan is a silent Papst and you can't hear it. I've done the risky bit and stopped all fans but the PSU and it didn't make a detectable sound. The main noise was the fan on the bracket - and it still is.

As for hard drive noise, I have never objected to hearing the heads move as it reads and writes but the majority of the time it does neither, so the Barricuda's quiet spinning is fine by me.

If your PSU is genuinely the source of the noise then you have a noisy one 'cos I can't see how your case can be too warm as you have a similar setup to me - unless the ambient temperature in the room is high or the computer sits next to a hot heat source.

[Creosote]

I have the Zalman flower 700cu, and Zalman GPU heatsink.
The case is well away from the wall in an unheated room. The internal of the case doesn't get warm, and I have tried running it without the side panel and it makes no difference to the sound from the PSU.
When Thomas assembled the PC he found that the CPU needed a bit more airflow, Ive tried that myself and without a fan near the flower it does start getting a bit warm. But I have no issue with that whatsoever, the two fans I have in the case make no noise that I can hear from more than a foot away.
Is yours truly "Silent"? I mean in the late evening when there is no outside noise, no noise in the house and quietnes prevailing can you hear absolutely nothing from your system?

[conan]

I also have the Zalman 300W and that's the loudest thing in my system. I have 4 case fans which are all silent, I've tried stopping the fans and the PSU fan and know the PSU is making the noise. I'm waiting for the fanless PSU's to make an appearance here so I can get rid of that.

I know tha Zalman is Quiet but it's not silent. The loudaest thing I have apart from that is 12dba I think from memory the Zalman is around 20dba?

[Alan]

I can truly say that the Zalman PSU is the quietest fan in my system. I say this because I sit late at night at the PC, sometimes working on databases, house dead silent, and spent a long time trying to shut the thing up. The Zalman was my number one suspect until I unplugged the hard drive and fans then manually held the CPU fan for a couple of seconds and stuck my ear in the side of the case.

I could just, by straining, hear it. The top blow hole fan is a Papst silent fan and when I put it back on again, it was louder!

As it is now, any ambient noise at all, drowns out my PC unless I deliberately concentrate on it. I am not running it completely silent at the moment but the level of noise and the frequency also, doesn't bother me at all ... and I know I can always quieten it further.

(I get my 3GHz CPU tomorrow, I hope that last boast remains true!)

[conan]

(I get my 3GHz CPU tomorrow, I hope that last boast remains true!)

Off topic but are you going for the Canterwood Alan?

/edit me is sorry for going off topic:( The case looks great, love the legs on it. Also, thats the first time I've seen the chrome loom used outside the case, what a great idea:D

I think I'll have to copy that, cheers m8:)

[Creosote]

Originally posted by conan


/edit me is sorry for going off topic:( The case looks great, love the legs on it. Also, thats the first time I've seen the chrome loom used outside the case, what a great idea:D

I think I'll have to copy that, cheers m8:)


I'm having a cable hiding phase :)
I got some extra loom, in blue and silver just in case I needed it and had the idea of covering the system exit wires with it in the blue to match the blue inside the case. It looked naff, so tried the silver and it looked ok. Copy all you like m8.... I'm a newbie to all this :)

Anyone interested in the legs, they are from B&Q. I looked in the local store and they had none, but we have one of those sorta mega B&Qs a few miles away and went there and they have loads of different types, but these are made of the same/similar aluminium to the case and I liked the squared sides/edge look which matches the aesthetics of the case. They were £4.50 each I think, I felt its a nice mod for well under 20 squid.
Just dont ask me how I attached them to the case :)

[Alan]

Yes, gone for the Canterwood. I'm a sucka!

[Deviant]

Hey, I've recently been looking at paints for radio controlled model car bodies, and I've found a pretty good looking company. Not tried anything of them yet but they seem to do some very good colours in all sorts of aluminium/metals/pearessant...

For example:

http://www.alclad2.com/images/lacquer_mid.jpg

Check them out here... (http://www.alclad2.com/index2.html)

If you're intrested in any of the colours, do a search on google for Alclad II Paint or something, and you'll more than likely turn up a few model shops.

Some really nice colours there! I'm going to be buying some Scarab pearlessant spray (blue/green) for my R/C Truck :)

Might make a nice addition to any case actually...

[ZStation]

My AOpen 400W (Sparkle rebadge) had a noisy fan when I got it. It was a NMB thing, not quiet in any sense of the word.

Replaced the NMB with a Papst 19dBA fan, and it's almost totally silent. Slight bearing grumble when the PSU heats up, but it's still quieter than the rest of the machine.

Oh, BTW Creosote, you've done a good job there. Very well done. Looks like a nice machine. What's the specs like?

[iggy]

ive made something similar for my psu with a frosties packet and leccy tape :)

works a treat

[butch]

I also have the Zalman 300W and that's the loudest thing in my system.

why not make a watercooling block for it conan, i have seen it done b4 and i think im going to give it a try!

[Creosote]

Originally posted by ZStation


Oh, BTW Creosote, you've done a good job there. Very well done. Looks like a nice machine. What's the specs like?


Thanks!
The system is just over a week old, built and supplied by our friends at KustomPC. So I cannot take credit for it, except for the few little tweaks I posted that were just my own embryonic attempts at some basic modding and "personalising" the system.

Specs are:
Asus PC4800, Intel 4 3Ghz 800 bus, 1Gig Muskin PC3200 Ram, Radeon 9700Pro, Maxtor 7200rpm 120Gig HD, plus the usual stuff and the nice Coolermaster 110 case.
Its quick: 16,000+ on 3dMark01, 270+fps on Q3 1280x1024 with everything maxed.

Its currently back in its cardbox box awaiting collection to go back to KustomPC for some more mods, fitting a larger window, a fanless PSU, a faster HD and for them to re-install XP after Mr Gates sabotaged my system with his ridiculous paramoia over piracy :)
Hopefully when it returns it will be even faster, almost silent, and prettier!

[ZStation]

Hmm...nice rig. I'm still pootering along with my 7 month old XP2400+. Does the job pretty well considering it's age. I normally replace the motherboard/CPU/graphics every 6 months. It's past my normal upgrade cycle, and I don't really think I need to upgrade.

Could it be true that PCs are finally faster than required? I mean, this thing of mine plays UT2003 at 1280x960 at staggering framerates, CS runs solid 100fps at the same res.

The only thing that slows down a bit is Generals when hosting a 4 player match on the LAN - but I think that's more to do with network bandwidth than anything else.

[Kynoch]

Yeh i have gotten to the same stage, i used to upgrade all the time but i have had this shuttle since last october now and it still runs as fast as i need it to even at large LAN events it can still hold its own, i dont think ill upgrade this until i have to.

But if you look at the speed of processors atm, and then look where we are at a year ago, you will notice that the speed hasnt doubled like it used to do, people are starting to realise speed isnt everything, instead companies are working on the number of calculations per clock cycle, cache sizes and also number generators.

[Graeme*Kustom*]

The Silencer - obviously someone else thought it was a good idea too, as we found these in the states and had to bring some over !http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/product.php?view=1741

[Clarksy]

How does that attach to your PSU then? Any review links or other pics?

[Clarksy]

found the answer

Product: http://www.mitron.com.tw/product_photo.asp?Cat=45&Subcat=229&id=1599

Installed pic (looks big!) http://www.mitron.com.tw/product_cat.asp?Cat=45

Fitting Instructions: http://www.mitron.com.tw/product/product_more/PSU-SNR-01%20Installation%20Instruction.pdf

[Big Adam]

But if I get one of these, no-one will see my pureety LED fans!

:(

EDIT, just seen the installed piccie above. They're freakin' huge! :eek:

Big A

[Simpleton]

Creosote - just want to compliment you on having such a sleek PC - I love the feet! Dont think theyll suit my CM210 with its door :(

great idea - I think I'll have a go at this if I get a chance, and if I dont, will buy the Kustom one

cheers all round :)

[DJ Slaven]

nice case ma brotherdoes that shizzle realy work

[Creosote]

Originally posted by Simpleton
Creosote - just want to compliment you on having such a sleek PC - I love the feet! Dont think theyll suit my CM210 with its door :(

great idea - I think I'll have a go at this if I get a chance, and if I dont, will buy the Kustom one

cheers all round :)



Cheers!

Its undergone a few more mods since those piccies were taken.

Regarding the "feet", I have attached them with, wait for it.... Velcro!! Got hold of some of the industrial strength stuff and it does a great job, but if I ever have to box it to send away again, I can pull the legs straight off easily. Next time I'll get it so that the legs are attached by screwing them into the case but the mod was done after the PPC was built and I found it inaccessible to try and then start drilling holes in the case etc.

[hitto]

I got the atc 101 with the intake fan sited in the bottom of the case , which has a few mill clearence from the floor !!

Those legs would do the trick , and very well spotted .

If you still have the info about them could you list the B&Q product number , that way i can order them online .

cheers

Hitto