Mother Board Q&a
<div class="IPBDescription">please heeeelllpppp meeeeeee!</div> hey guys how do.
Right recently i bought a Coolmaster Watercooling Kit installed it everthing great. However on my mother board theres a fan that makes hell of a racket when i turn my puter on. I was just woundering if i can replace it with anything to SHUT IT UP! lol
Also any surgestions on how to make a computer even quieter? with maximum cooling?
heres a pic of my mobo and that bloody fan....
Right recently i bought a Coolmaster Watercooling Kit installed it everthing great. However on my mother board theres a fan that makes hell of a racket when i turn my puter on. I was just woundering if i can replace it with anything to SHUT IT UP! lol
Also any surgestions on how to make a computer even quieter? with maximum cooling?
heres a pic of my mobo and that bloody fan....
Comments
Simple guide for silent PC's.
That fan looks to be fixed to your motherboard so I wouldn't recommend yanking it off. If it does come off just replace it with a good heatsink and you should be good to go.
But this advice is coming from someone whose PC sounds like an F16.
and yes i can remove that fan on my mobo, i can see push pins on it, like my VGA
That fan there is your northbridge cooler. And yes they have a habit of sounding noisey.
I took mine of and replaced it with a passive cooler. The<a href='http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Zalman.html' target='_blank'>Zalman ZM-NB47J Northbridge Cooler</a> to exact (about half way down the page.
You can change them pretty easy, but it does involve getting access to the bottom of your mobo, which means a total strip down of your pc.
My only concern is whether or not it will actually fit, due to your water block on the cpu....as the passive cooler sits alot higher compared to the old NB cooler.
That fan there is your northbridge cooler. And yes they have a habit of sounding noisey.
I took mine of and replaced it with a passive cooler. The<a href='http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Zalman.html' target='_blank'>Zalman ZM-NB47J Northbridge Cooler</a> to exact (about half way down the page.
You can change them pretty easy, but it does involve getting access to the bottom of your mobo, which means a total strip down of your pc.
My only concern is whether or not it will actually fit, due to your water block on the cpu....as the passive cooler sits alot higher compared to the old NB cooler. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
my water block is pretty small tbh will be easy fitting a new one.
Lol after posting this thread my mum told me my pc is too noisey and they could hear it last nite.
also UnCritical just woundering if you know any more decent sites like overclockers cuz i just looked a all the fans on there and none of them we very quiet, recent i bought 2 stealth fans from there and they are pretty rubbish tbh no airflow wat so ever!
However for quiet fans, the basic rule is: The quieter the fan, the worse the airflow.
You might wanna try some blowers (<a href='http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/coolermaster_jet7_small.jpg' target='_blank'>the thing on top of this heatsink</a>) they can produce massive airflow, and are quieter that normal fans. Providing they can be hooked up to some sort of fan controler and turned riiiight down to their lowest setting.
The only other option you have is to get the biggest fans you have available to you.
I use 2 of<a href='http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Akasa_Fans_97.html' target='_blank'>these</a> (the first one - 'Akasa AK-183-L2B Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin (FG-024-AK)') but I have them running on 7 volts rather than the usual 12 (or is it 10, I forget) so they are pretty quiet.
However for quiet fans, the basic rule is: The quieter the fan, the worse the airflow.
You might wanna try some blowers (<a href='http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/coolermaster_jet7_small.jpg' target='_blank'>the thing on top of this heatsink</a>) they can produce massive airflow, and are quieter that normal fans. Providing they can be hooked up to some sort of fan controler and turned riiiight down to their lowest setting.
The only other option you have is to get the biggest fans you have available to you.
I use 2 of<a href='http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Akasa_Fans_97.html' target='_blank'>these</a> (the first one - 'Akasa AK-183-L2B Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin (FG-024-AK)') but I have them running on 7 volts rather than the usual 12 (or is it 10, I forget) so they are pretty quiet. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
hmm i aint got no space in my Chieftech dragon for 120mm
alough i have got a window/door fan, 2 rear fans, and 2 front (one on the HDD)
what about this acoustic mat stuff that lines the pc? anygood?
[edit] also are these fan controlers i see, are they any good and are they worth buying?[/edit]
Meh, you can find 5V and 7V differences right there on a molex connector. The black ones are grounds, the +12 is orange and the +5V is red. If +5V and ground is not enough, use +12V to +5V and you have +7V. But be very carefull not to accidentally short the molex connector, proper wire with a single thick copper strand inside and some electrical tape is easy to use. On every fan that I have ever put 'backwards', it simply just didn't do anything at all, no harm done(there's probably a little rectifier in there that prevents it from running in reverse).
Most switching powersupplies have some sort of protection against a dead short if you're clumsy(i.e. short the molex connector with a multistranded wire where the individual strands are protruding every which way) but it may require replacing a little fuse inside the PSU.
If you ever open a PSU that isn't fully functioning, those big capacitors are rated for mains peak voltage, check that they are properly discharged before tinkering with the circuit board(there is typically a bleeder resistor that slowly discharges the caps over the course of a minute or so, but if it's broken(a leg may have been badly soldered and come loose), then you REALLY don't want to short those capacitors through your hand or something, especially not here in Europe where mains is 230 V effective(sqrt(2)*230 V peak)). Best may be to let it sit for a day or so if you are not comfortable opening it, because capacitors typically leak a little current and discharge themselves over time. And obviously, quadrupel check that you pulled the cord out of either the PSU or mains.
Meh, you can find 5V and 7V differences right there on a molex connector. The black ones are grounds, the +12 is orange and the +5V is red. If +5V and ground is not enough, use +12V to +5V and you have +7V. But be very carefull not to accidentally short the molex connector, proper wire with a single thick copper strand inside and some electrical tape is easy to use. On every fan that I have ever put 'backwards', it simply just didn't do anything at all, no harm done(there's probably a little rectifier in there that prevents it from running in reverse).
Most switching powersupplies have some sort of protection against a dead short if you're clumsy but it may require replacing a little fuse inside the PSU. If you ever open a PSU that isn't fully functioning, those big capacitors are rated for mains peak voltage, check that they are properly discharged before tinkering with the circuit board(there is typically a bleeder resistor that slowly discharges the caps over the course of a minute or so, but if it's broken(a leg may have been badly soldered and come loose), then you REALLY don't want to short those capacitors through your hand or something, especially not here in Europe where mains is 230 V effective(sqrt(2)*230 V peak)). Best may be to let it sit for a day or so if you are not comfortable opening it, because capacitors typically leak a little current and discharge themselves over time. And obviously, quadrupel check that you pulled the cord out of either the PSU or mains. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree with changing the voltage on the molex fittings, I've done it in the past. But the Blowers I have used in the past use the 3 pin mobo connecters, rather than molex. But each came with a 2 pin connector for fitting to what I assume is a variable resistor (I'm no electrition) in the form of a dial that you can turn, usually fits into an empty drive bay or pci slot coverplate.
EDIT: Fan controllers.
This is the fan controller I use <a href='http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/11-999-118-05.JPG' target='_blank'>click</a> not sure where I got it from, it was a while ago.
I dismantled it and fitted both dials to a pci coverplate, which can be mounted on the front of my case, rather than the back.
You can get those digital fan controllers, that control loads of fans and temperatures at once. But to me, they are far too complicated for their own good.
I guess they could be handy if you wanted to control alot of fans tho.
also i have 2 of these fans <a href='http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Vantec.html' target='_blank'>http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Vantec.html</a> the 80mm and the airflow is better than those antec ones some one posted up the top :/.
bah im never gunna have a quiet pc <!--emo&:angry:--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/mad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Well sure, if a fan controller came with the fan then use it. But the extra pin on a 3-pin connector is just for fan speed monitoring. There is no problem with just hooking up the fan to the +12V and +5V or +5V and ground on a molex connector with a bit of cable and some electrical tape to make sure it can't come loose.
Spetsnaz, a fan makes much more noise when it is attached to a chassis because the vibrations of the fan tend to make the chassis itself vibrate. A perfect fan is such that the only noise is the rush of air, but even good fans allways tend to click or vibrate a little(ball bearing tends to be noisier than sleve bearing but be more durable). Try to decouple fans and harddrives from the chassis as much as possible, a bit of soft rubber can do a whole lot of difference in the amount of vibrations transmitted. You also want large low RPM fans over small high RPM fans. Small fans tend to sound like tiny little jet engines while big slow ones just produce a low rumble. You also want to avoid letting vibrating objects, e.g. connectors from a hard-drive gently touch the side of the chassis as they can be positioned so the vibration makes it tap into the chassis with each swing and produce a whole lot of unnescesary buzzing. The type of room you are in makes a surprising difference. In an empty concrete room even a quiet computer can sound pretty awful. In a room with lots of carpeting, soft furniture and junk in general the sound will be much more dampened.
A good idea in general is to locate the primary sources of noise(which can be difficult if the noise is caused by resonance in the chassis and dissapears allmost completely as soon as you open the chassis). And then see what you can do about them, if you are unable to remove the largest source of noise then you may as well not bother as it will be of no practical use having the rest of your computer be quiet when it is completely drowned in the noise from a single component. Rubber foam and similar is only practical when you have removed as much noise as you possibly can by other means. If you only put sound dampening material on 50% of the inside of the chassis that will NOT dampen sound to 50% in the dB scale because it is logarithmic and the ear is not linear either, you will hardly hear any difference at all if you only remove 50% of the energy reaching your ear from the noise source. In contrast, removing the single most noisy source in the computer will likely dampen noise by many dB and is often very easy to do.
ive just spent about 4 hours re-arranging my insides of my pc.definate improvement however the main noise source is my northbridge fan on my mobo. Hopfully on tuesday my new northbridge fanless chip will come and it will be replaced. its making soooo much noise.
My case is nice a tidy tho <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<a href='http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=301621&cks=PRL' target='_blank'>http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=301621&cks=PRL</a>
Both good solutions