Alan
12-07-2003, 03:22
For those of you who have any remaining interest in my pursuit of a silent PC read on for a tale of woe...
To recap, I changed my IT7 Max2 with passive North Bridge, 2.6GHz P4B and a fanless Zalman heatsink cooled Radeon 9500 Pro, for an IC7-G with an active north bridge, 3GHz 'C' P4 (still with a Zalman 7000) and a Radeon 9800 Pro which has a fairly quiet fan (Hercules version).
The previous spec. was very quiet a little sound of rushing air but that was it - I don't mind the sound of moving air as long as it's fairly low.
But the temperatures have gone crazy. Even before I changed the Radeon 9500 Pro for the 9800, the CPU temperature was 50ºC at idle and the north bridge at 39ºC. It wasn't just inaccurate temperature sensors 'cos I have the Lian-Li sensors taking ambient within the case and the Zalman PSU kept on running it's fan fairly high - something it rarely did with the old spec.
I finally decided that there wasn't enough exhaust speed on the rear Papst fan and changed it for the Titan aluminium fan - it whines. I then tried the Kustom blue LED fan with the three temperature settings. It quickly ramped up the speed and it made a terrible racket - again mechanical whine. I disconnected it, now the only fans on are the Zalman PSU (at low speed), the Zalman 7000 HSF (cut down to 2,000rpm from 2,650), the north bridge fan and the Hercules fan and it's bearable again.
But the temperatures (after only web browsing - nothing else) are 52ºC on the CPU and 40ºC on the North Bridge. Ambient temperatures just above the graphics card is 38ºC and at the side of the CPU HSF, 37ºC. If I take the side off the case, the CPU temperature falls to 46ºC.
Why did I do it? The original set up ran everything I wanted, was silent and had reasonable temperatures. My Matrix Orbital sits there, flashing these horrible temperatures in regular remonstration!! I haven't ONCE, since upgrading, dared to try the slightest overclock!?
Boys and Girls, if your rig serves your needs properly, don't bother changing it just to be faster for the sake of it! Think of me muttering at two in the morning, cursing my expensive machine, say to yourself "what a muppet that old fart is" and promise yourself that you will buy 'cos you need, not 'cos you want!!!!!
(Er.. Graeme, I'll be on to you for another order soon... :o :o )
To recap, I changed my IT7 Max2 with passive North Bridge, 2.6GHz P4B and a fanless Zalman heatsink cooled Radeon 9500 Pro, for an IC7-G with an active north bridge, 3GHz 'C' P4 (still with a Zalman 7000) and a Radeon 9800 Pro which has a fairly quiet fan (Hercules version).
The previous spec. was very quiet a little sound of rushing air but that was it - I don't mind the sound of moving air as long as it's fairly low.
But the temperatures have gone crazy. Even before I changed the Radeon 9500 Pro for the 9800, the CPU temperature was 50ºC at idle and the north bridge at 39ºC. It wasn't just inaccurate temperature sensors 'cos I have the Lian-Li sensors taking ambient within the case and the Zalman PSU kept on running it's fan fairly high - something it rarely did with the old spec.
I finally decided that there wasn't enough exhaust speed on the rear Papst fan and changed it for the Titan aluminium fan - it whines. I then tried the Kustom blue LED fan with the three temperature settings. It quickly ramped up the speed and it made a terrible racket - again mechanical whine. I disconnected it, now the only fans on are the Zalman PSU (at low speed), the Zalman 7000 HSF (cut down to 2,000rpm from 2,650), the north bridge fan and the Hercules fan and it's bearable again.
But the temperatures (after only web browsing - nothing else) are 52ºC on the CPU and 40ºC on the North Bridge. Ambient temperatures just above the graphics card is 38ºC and at the side of the CPU HSF, 37ºC. If I take the side off the case, the CPU temperature falls to 46ºC.
Why did I do it? The original set up ran everything I wanted, was silent and had reasonable temperatures. My Matrix Orbital sits there, flashing these horrible temperatures in regular remonstration!! I haven't ONCE, since upgrading, dared to try the slightest overclock!?
Boys and Girls, if your rig serves your needs properly, don't bother changing it just to be faster for the sake of it! Think of me muttering at two in the morning, cursing my expensive machine, say to yourself "what a muppet that old fart is" and promise yourself that you will buy 'cos you need, not 'cos you want!!!!!
(Er.. Graeme, I'll be on to you for another order soon... :o :o )