[mythtv-users] Recommendations for quiet Athlon cooling?

[Jeff Williams]

In my desktop PC running a 2600+, I have an Alpha PAL8045 (like someone else who already posted) combined with a Thermaltake Smart Case Fan II for the CPU that I control manually.  Something like this would work well for your Myth box, because a) you want a large heat sink that's efficient at dissipating heat, and b) a manually-controlled fan will let you adjust fan speed to the lowest setting possible for your setup.  The Smart Case Fan II is also pretty efficient in that it seems to provide more airflow at a given speed than other fans I have, and it seems to be somewhat quieter at a given speed as well.  (Of course, you can wind it up and turn it into a proper lawnmower engine if you want to...)  I normally run my CPU fan at about 3000 RPM, though that would probably be unacceptable for an HTPC (still a lot quieter than what you have) - but with a slower CPU I'm sure I could get away with 2000 RPM or even less.

I built my desktop system specifically to run fairly quiet, and since my htpc is using hand-me-downs it's also built the same way (though I only have a cheap Speeze cooler in it right now, which works fine on the 1700+ I have in that system, but probably is too lightweight for a 2200+).  I say this because you have to plan your entire system right from the start this way.  Large heatsinks generally need to be bolted onto your motherboard, for example, and about 80% of motherboards I've seen have capacitors in the way of the bolt holes, if they even have bolt holes.  There are heatsinks like the Thermalright SLK800 and SLK900 (not to be confused with the SLK800U and SLK900U) that can clip on, but personally I think it's pretty suicidal to try that with a huge heatsink like that - you can easily damage your motherboard if you move your PC around (rip off the clips, rip off the CPU mount, crack the motherboard).  And it still doesn't solve the problem of capacitors being in the way around your CPU mount.  So check your motherboard for whether or not you can have a heatsink like this - you may need to replace the board.

You also want to look at your case.  If you are using one of these small cases I see talked about here a lot of the time, your system is going to cram a lot of heat energy into a small area and you will need to remove all that with just one or two fans.  I think that's a bad idea.  You want a larger case with space for more (and again, hopefully larger) fans, which you can then run at a lower speed.  5 80mm fans running at 1,000 RPM or a mix of 80mm and 92mm fans running at even lower speed will be quieter than 1 or 2 60mm fans running at 4,000-5,000 RPM and they will move more air in the process.  If you want to get a standard PC case designed for good cooling, I'd recommend looking at Coolermaster or Lian-Li - there are other good manufacturers too, but you can't go wrong with either of those two.

And hand in hand with that, you'll want to choose your case fans carefully.  Look at db ratings when you buy fans and don't just accept whatever comes with the case (though this depends on the case manufacturer - Coolermaster puts pretty good fans in their cases, for example).  The Vantec Stealth line of fans have a good reputation for quiet, though I personally think some of Coolermaster's rifle-bearing fans are even quieter.  FYI, ball-bearing fans are more durable but louder than sleeve-bearing fans... rifle-bearing fans are supposed to combine the best of both worlds.

And if you're a real control-freak like I am, get a fan controller.  I have an Enermax fan controller in my desktop that controls six fans.  I like my fan controller a lot, though be wary of these as poorly built controllers can overload easily (they actually use more power the slower you run the fans, and not all of them are made to take high loads very well) and they can also introduce their own electrical noise into the mix, which some people find annoying.  My Enermax model does not do this and has worked fine from day one, so I feel safe in recommending it.

I'd avoid the Zalman coolers - even with a fan on them, they don't cool as well as a good standard heatsink/fan in the tests I've seen.  They cool "adequately" from the way I've seen it described - they're not really a compromise between good cooling and quiet, they're way too far on the quiet side for my taste.  If you leave your PC on all the time, especially in the summer, you really don't want to go for the absolute quietest thing you can get at the expense of good cooling.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Wells [mailto:jb at sourceillustrated.com]
> Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 8:14 AM
> To: mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> Subject: [mythtv-users] Recommendations for quiet Athlon cooling?
> 
> 
> I have a box I'm converting to MythTV that has an Athlon 2200+ XP. 
> Athlons are known to run hot, so when I built this box eight 
> months ago I
> added quite a bit of fans.
> 
> Now that the box is sitting beside the TV, the fan noise is *very*
> noticeable.  I currently have a Thermaltake Volcano 6 CU+ 
> with 7000 rpm
> fan.  This is a very *loud* fan, and I feel the overall noise 
> in the box
> would be significantly reduced if I replaced it.
> 
> Can anyone recommend a low noise cooling solution for Athlons that
> actually cools?  I've heard nightmares regarding the Zalman zero-fan
> solutions, so I'm hestitant to go that route.
> 
> Thanks for your input...
> 
> John
> 
> 
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