[mythtv-users] EPIA fan noise ?

[Stephen Tait]

>      Yes, but, as I said, the concern is not with keeping the power
>supply cool, but with keeping the M1000, hard disk, etc., cool without a
>fan.  As you've said, there are a number of external PSUs (and
>idotpc.com is one place that sells some, for those of us in the states);
>however, if one goes with an external PSU, there is still the issue of
>cooling the M10000, etc..  I've thought about going this route, but came
>to the conclusion that I'd still have to use a case fan, which would
>probably be noisy unless I jury-rigged a speed control (or found a fan
>with one), and, even then, it still might be too noisy.

Sorry, was just concentrating on the PSU side of things too much.

There's a quite a few fans that have thermal control diodes built in; if 
you can find a case that's sympathetic to it, it's relatively simple to 
chuck and 80mm fan into a case and run it at a permanently low voltage. 
Zalman make a "fan mate" which is a variable resistor type thing, you can 
buy "stealth fans" that run at low rpm, or you can rewire one of your molex 
connectors to run the fan at 7V instead of 12.

These approaches typically make even loud 80mm fans very quiet; I did it 
myself with the two intake fans on my workstation. Even with my ear next to 
them I can't hear them.

If you get a reasonably large case (or one of those uncheap "this case is a 
giant heatsink" cases), you can probably get away without a case fan, but 
it's easily possible to install a case fan that is almost impossible to 
hear. My main Myth box is a mATX job, cooled solely by a 60mm out fan and 
the two fans in the PSU (plus the CPU HSF). The 60mm fan is run at 7V, and 
the 60mm fan on top of the CPU was replaced by an 80mm linked to the 
temperature-controlled molexes from the PSU. It's currently sitting on top 
of a 4U rack which sounds like a special effect from Twister, but I've 
tried it in the front room, and it's utterly inaudible from two feet away. 
No cooling issues either (it contains a PVR-250, which kicks out a fair 
amount of heat, and a passively cooled GeForceFX MX4000 or whatever it's 
called). The only time it becomes barely noticeable is when there's a large 
amount of random seeks from the HD.

You're best off just buying the stuff you want (keeping possible 
cooling/quietness issues in mind); if it proves to be too noisy for your 
tastes it's easily possible to dampen things down with a little mucking about.