[mythtv-users] Re: [VERY OT] Pundit-R Celeron and memory choices

Nick knowledgejunkie at gmail.com
Sun May 29 21:00:56 UTC 2005


On 5/29/05, j2 <spamfilter2 at mupp.net> wrote:
> >My goal here is a machine that can sit near a bed but people can
> >sleep. Is the Pundit that quiet? For instance I cannot sleep near my
> >laptop when it's running so it must be turned off every evening.
> 
> My Pundit-R is _way_ noisier then any modern laptop (Except the HP nx9010)
> that I have come across.

Agreed - my Pundit-R with CelD 2.4GHz is now 'pretty quiet' after a
few mods - but certainly far too loud (Asus quite blatantly tell pork
pies about this in their literature when they say it is almost
silent).

The mods I carried out were to replace the PSU fan with a Zalman one
(80x80x15) which in turn is connected via a Fanmate to the Chassis fan
connector (hidden under the PCI slot area!). I have routed the fanmate
out of the chassis at the rear under the case for control.

I have also replaced the Asus CPU fan with a much quieter one, also
connected to a Fanmate which is routed out of the front of the case
under the chassis (through the meshwork). I removed the perforated
area of the case over the CPU to increase airflow, and then added a
Zalman fan guard to reduce the chance of losing fingers.

I have a spare brand new Zalman fan (bought 2 in case I had a problem)
in case someone is interested (they came with a really useful
connector which lets you use 4 3-pn fans (2x12V, 2x5V) off a single
power connector, which I think is sold on its own for almost the same
cost as the fan kit.

At least now when the machine turns itself on it isn't noticeably loud
like before (tuning off the fan speed in the BIOS setup eliminated the
whirlwind on startup before the fan is controlled). Having 2
full-height PCI cards obviously doesnt help, but I monitor the temps
in the case and the HDD with lm-sensors and startd, and so far things
are OK. We'll have to see what the Great British Summer does though
...

One time (never again ...) I even went as far as pressing the power
button as I didnt think it was even on - it was, and I ended up having
an in-progress recording chopped in half as a result. I consider this
to be evidence of a great amount of noise reduction compared to when I
first pressed the power button.

Nick


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