Having read the Quiet PC article last week I've decided to attempt to give my linux box, which is an old amd-k6 III 450 based thing, the quiet treatment. It's not too bad even now, the ony fans in there are the CPU fan and the PSU fan. I suspect of the two the CPU fan is the loudest, so I thought I'd have a go at that first, then maybe get a silent PSU later. What I want advice on is how to quiet the cpu fan - and whether my initial idea is safe or whether I risk melting my CPU. Now, the K6 series can take quiet a lot of heat, but then they do get bloody hot as it is anyway. because it used to get so hot, when I last replaced the HS/Fan (because I used to have to replace them often because the bearings in the fan went) - instead of getting another cheap generic super socket 7 hs/fan - I bought this really large socket A CoolerMaster HS/Fan. I didn't even know what it was for at the time...athlons were very new back then...thunderbirds has only just come out. The beast actually fitted to the socket ok - which was a miracle. As I suspected, it did help the cooling.....but it's a noisey bugger. not as loud as a delta, not even as loud as my taisol on my athlon, but louder than the old 40mm fans that had been in there, and loud enough to keep me semi awake at night. -- The Plan -- To Fit a Taisol 762 Copper base Heatsink to the cpu, using thermal paste (I could lap the cpu, but I really don't want to scrape it with sandpaper).....but with no fan on the heatsink. Do you think that's wise is my question for the day..... will a big mofo heatsink cool an old k6 passively ? answers on a postcard and send them to bit tech, or alternatively post beow to save time
I found that most sktA coolers fitted on my k6 cpu. I had a crome orb on the beatch which was reasonable noisy. From what I know the taisol would do the job and with a quiet fan. On the other hand you could improve the cooling by removing the top of the CPU, that big metal plate cant be good for the cooling. I think www.dremel.org.uk did an article on removing the top but I might be wrong so dont quote me on it
couple more ideas I had the idea of possibly using a 'low noise' hs / fan - Looking through the Bit Articles, I read the reviews for the two Zalman coolers. The 3100 one that koolvin tested is now available in the UK from www.OverClock.co.uk - but it's £39 Anyone know *how* quiet these things can be ? or does anyone know what the quiet cpu coolers from quietpc.com are like ?
I saw an article somewhere (don't ask me where coz i'm never that helpful!) which really didn't rate the radial fin cooler from quietpc.com very well.
Conclusion I have now tried running the K6 with no fan on the heatsink.... and, well it sort of works. The large Cooermaster Heatsink keeps it nice and cool....so ong as you don't run any CPU intensive stuff...but that's a bit crap. I also notice after unpugging the fan, that it's not the CPU fan making that much noise - the Hard Drive and PSU make quite a racket too. So if I'm going to silence my K6 I've concluded, I'l need an enclosure for the HDD, a silent PSU, and a new quiet HS/Fan. And all that will set me back about £90...so I can't really be bothered.
Well, take some tips from the mod master Put a shitty little 40mm fan on the Taisol, and see if that helps, it should do. It will be very quiet, but should cool just enough to enable you to run properly. As for the PSU, there's no reason why you can't open it up and replace the fan with, say, an Evercool...just because I was too chicken to do it, doesn't mean you have to be! There are articles out there on doing it, have a look.. As for your HDD, try something a bit ghetto...wrap it up in some bubble wrap or something similar, you'll be suprised how much that quietens it..if it's an old hdd, it shouldn't really put out that much heat anyway, it should be ok.
hdd heat The HDD gets bloody hot actually, I had it in a plastic caddy and it started to melt I haven't got a taisol hs on there, it's a coolermaster. I checked, and a taisol wouldn't fit. (too wide) How do you mount a 40 mm fan on a 60mm hs ?
Re: hdd heat just screw it on!! and if that hdd makes enough heat to melt plastic, it might be on its way out mate
Try one of the nice IBM hard drives (the latest ones). They're nice and quiet and mine doesn't seem to get that hot in the caddy it's in.
my IBM drive stays very cool ... no complaints about it, well actually its not quite got enough storage space. I would suggest modding hte caddy with a cooling system.
Which reminds me, Spike. Anyone know where to get some 40mm fans tailered with a 2 pin connector from? I'm looking for 2 or 4 of them for my caddys.
