media pc, part 5: cool and quiet
A media PC in the living room has to be quiet. It shouldn't intrude upon even the quietest sections of music, TV, or DVDs; or even quiet conversation. Knowing how loud PCs can be, I spent a lot of time online learning how to quiet computers. An honourable mention goes to Silent PC Review (silentpcreview.com), which is a very helpful site, explaining silencing theories and providing some practical examples. However, the majority of my education on the subject came from applying the afore-mentioned theories to my own HTPC. Within the entire HTPC project, cooling and quieting formed their own substantial niche, providing hours upon hours of fact-finding, tinkering and experimenting.
The Silverstone LC-13 case comes fitted with a 90mm front intake fan, and two 60mm rear exhaust fans. The front intake consists of two slots on the underside of the front bezel. It's well-placed, but it could be bigger. The rear fans are mounted inside of the case, and the air that they move exits the case through large perforations. I tried this setup first, along with the stock Intel CPU HSF. Operating temperatures were stable, but the computer sounded like a giant bumblebee, and my wife insisted that I put my newfound silencing knowledge to use. Oh, darn; forced to upgrade the computer!
Here's a summary of what I did:
Intake
I cut out the front fan grille using a Dremel, and I replaced the semi-loud 90mm fan with a 120mm Nexus unit, run at around 9 volts using a Zalman Fanmate 2. Fanmates are expensive for what they are, but not for what they do. I mounted the fan to the case structure using nylon zip-ties. It sits inside the case, a few inches from the front, to reduce noise from turbulence.
Exhaust
I used a Dremel to cut out the rear fan grilles, to increase airflow and decrease noise from turbulence. I then replaced the noisy 60mm fans with 90mm Nexus units, again run at 9 volts with a Fanmate. The 90mm fans were too large to mount inside of the case, so I mounted them on the outside using nylon zip-ties. They move the same amount of air as the 60mm fans, but with much less noise, and they're just small enough that they don't block any of the rear connection ports. CPUI installed the large and awesome Thermalright XP-90 (The XP-120 was too big), and bent the included fan clips to fit a 120mm Nexus fan on top of it, blowing downward. Yes, I employed a Fanmate here as well, at around - you guessed it - 9 volts. The XP-90 looks extremely cool, and cools extremely well.
Other
- The large video card acts as a baffle, so that air from the passive PCI-side intake vent will be directed towards the CPU before exiting the case.
- I used a rounded IDE cable (I should have used SATA), which cleaned things up considerably.
- I mounted the optical drive in the lower bay, since warm air rises, and I put slack cables into the empty bay above it. This looks messy, but it's better in terms of functionality, since cables are less susceptible to heat than are components.
- I cleaned up any remaining slack cables as best I could, using black electrical tape.
Considering the number of components installed, and the number of wires present, I think it looks decent.
The Silverstone LC-13 case comes fitted with a 90mm front intake fan, and two 60mm rear exhaust fans. The front intake consists of two slots on the underside of the front bezel. It's well-placed, but it could be bigger. The rear fans are mounted inside of the case, and the air that they move exits the case through large perforations. I tried this setup first, along with the stock Intel CPU HSF. Operating temperatures were stable, but the computer sounded like a giant bumblebee, and my wife insisted that I put my newfound silencing knowledge to use. Oh, darn; forced to upgrade the computer!
Here's a summary of what I did:
Intake
I cut out the front fan grille using a Dremel, and I replaced the semi-loud 90mm fan with a 120mm Nexus unit, run at around 9 volts using a Zalman Fanmate 2. Fanmates are expensive for what they are, but not for what they do. I mounted the fan to the case structure using nylon zip-ties. It sits inside the case, a few inches from the front, to reduce noise from turbulence.
Exhaust
I used a Dremel to cut out the rear fan grilles, to increase airflow and decrease noise from turbulence. I then replaced the noisy 60mm fans with 90mm Nexus units, again run at 9 volts with a Fanmate. The 90mm fans were too large to mount inside of the case, so I mounted them on the outside using nylon zip-ties. They move the same amount of air as the 60mm fans, but with much less noise, and they're just small enough that they don't block any of the rear connection ports. CPUI installed the large and awesome Thermalright XP-90 (The XP-120 was too big), and bent the included fan clips to fit a 120mm Nexus fan on top of it, blowing downward. Yes, I employed a Fanmate here as well, at around - you guessed it - 9 volts. The XP-90 looks extremely cool, and cools extremely well.
Other
- The large video card acts as a baffle, so that air from the passive PCI-side intake vent will be directed towards the CPU before exiting the case.
- I used a rounded IDE cable (I should have used SATA), which cleaned things up considerably.
- I mounted the optical drive in the lower bay, since warm air rises, and I put slack cables into the empty bay above it. This looks messy, but it's better in terms of functionality, since cables are less susceptible to heat than are components.
- I cleaned up any remaining slack cables as best I could, using black electrical tape.
Considering the number of components installed, and the number of wires present, I think it looks decent.
posted by dallas and/or kris at 12:21 PM
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