Quiet ways to cool a computer

[Pyramus]

I've recently built a new system. After playing games for a while, the cpu is getting up to 57 degrees, so I'm resorting to taking off the side of the case- it then cools to a more reasonable sub-50 degree temperature (usually 47ish).

At the moment, I have no case fans. I have the standard chipset fan, CPU fan, PSU fan, and graphics card fan, that's it. And to be honest, its already sounding like a tornado, especially with the side of the case off. I really dont want to have to buy a new case with even more fans, more expense and more noise.

So any other suggestions for cooling without adding more fans. Or am I just stuck with leaving the case cover off.

 

[ndbdesign]

Are these just stock cooling fans? If so you might want to upgrade to some better heat sink/fan combo's to get better cooling. But some of those might be a bit louder,but with them you might be able to at least keep the side on.

You could also get yourself some Artic Silver thermal grease to reapply on the heatsink/fan that you have now.That should drop the temps. a few degrees anyway.

Those temps seem a little high to me.
my temps right now=26C processor and 25C system
they get as high as 44C max.playin GR

But i don't hear the 2-120mm fans anymore plus the 2-80mm fans as well as CPU,Vid.Card,PSU fans.After awhile you don't hear them.hahahah!!!

L8R,
ndb@NDB Design

 

[Pyramus]

"Stock" cooling fans? Well the cpu cooler is a pretty good coolermaster, and I used coolermaster thermal grease.

Those temperatures of your system are strange. 25 degrees is very cool, you running a 486 or something? And the temperature almost doubles while playing games? That seems a bit worrying to me.

 

[BChumie]

Hello,

If you don't want to increase the noise but you want better cooling there are couple options. First off you could go water cooling (kooldance makes a case already pre-built for you). Also you could try a bigger heatsink/fan combo. I like the thermalright slk-800 or the Ax-7. both of those coolers allow for the use of a 80 mm fan which pushes more air but isn't necessarily as loud as the 60 mm fans. I also like the alpha 8045(? not sure if that is the right number). Try

http://www.heatsinkfactory.com

they have a lot of good things for cooling. And I agree with ndbdesign in that you should try and use some artic silver 3. As far as his cpu temps go that does seem a little extreme but not unheard of. What are you temps when running under full load? Hope some of this helped.

-Brad

 

[ndbdesign]

HaHA 486 yeah right!!!
No i'm running a 2.0a GHZ P4<512MB DDR><GF4 Ti-4600>

As far as that temp that was the max i've seen my sys. get to.
Yesterday during 3DMark she was running at 34C max immediately after.Also i'm in the coolest room in the house with 7 fans running in my tower.

bye for now,
NDB

 

[Stretchy]

I had the same problem... i use the CoolerMaster HCC-001 copper heat pipe heatsink. It has and exteremely powerful 60mm delta fan on it. Consequently my machine sounded like a harrier jump jet taking off (and produced a similar air flow ) I decided to but an 80mm fan adapter and put in a ThermalTake 80mm (powerful but quiet) which has had a slight effect on temperature in my machine (dropped maybe about 2 degrees) but.... its sooooo much quieter.

The quietest method of cooling is the software coolers such as VCool and Haltcooler. HaltCooler is the one I use and it drops my cpu temp to about 50C on idle (which is cool for my computer) _______________
Stretchy [Pipe]

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

ndbdesign what state do you live in if you dont mind my asking, here in ohio, because here in ohio, when the temp is 95 deg and there is 85% humidity, it is pretty hard to get a computers temp down, im lucky if my proc starts up in the 40 c and my sistem in the mid 20's, i have plenty of cooling using artic silver II and all that , i beleive its just nature, but on the other hand in the winter here, my temps are awesome generally my proc in the mid 30 to low 40and my system in the low 20,

just a little thought on cooling by us location

 

[ndbdesign]

Goldfinger,

I live in Vermont(northern)right now it's 66F with 78%humidity.
My temps are 81F processor and 79F system or 27C and 26C right now as i'm writing.But i'm only pulling 40% of memory and 15% of my system right now.

Bye,
ndb

 

[ceh4702]

There are some companies that make water or liquid coolers. Basically I think they work like a radiator. The heat still has to go somewhere. If you do not have an exhaust fan it stays in your case. You could put a grill and a hole in the top of your case so Heat can rise and be released that way.

Keep in mind that hard drives and especially CDROMS get hot also. This heat must go somewhere; so, if you do not get rid of it, it will just build up. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[DBSSP]

The water cooling systems work with a fan inducted radiator. Check out

http://www.frozencpu.com.

That will give you some pretty decent ideas. The quietest solution around is peltier coolers, but depending on the size, you may need an extra PSU to run it, but at least you can run more super quiet fans! Jay

&quot;Jeezus-sqeezits Bob!&quot;

 

[paparazi]

Pyramus, you didn't say just what spec of PC you have? and what climate you live in?
Bigger fans seem to be the trend if you want the same air moved but with less noise.
The main culprit is the CPU heatsink fan, these have had to become very powerful to get rid of the heat created by todays top end CPU's, the usual 60mm fans spin at anything from 5-7000rpm, they not only produce a lot of noise, but that noise can be of a very unpleasant high pictch.
Acasa do a cheap plastic 60-80mm adapter that costs just a few dollars that will allow you to fit a much quieter 80mm fan that moves about the same amount of air but with less than 30db's noise.
There are also a number of power supplies available that have thermal circuitry controlling the cooling fan, basically altering the fans speed/noise depending on temperature.
Mounting bigger 90mm fans (quieter and move more air) front lower and rear top and cutting out the chassis grilles completely, then fitting the much less restrictive wire grille type, this greatly reduces the turbulance noise caused by fitting a fan so close to the chassis and unrestricts air movement for maximum air flow.
So in short: bigger fans shift as much air, if not more, but with a less and more pleasant noise tone. Martin Just trying to help, sometimes falling short, I am only human after all.

 

[Schroeder]

Goldfinger,
Us Ohioans got it bad. At my last count, I'm running a total of ten fans. Sometimes, after gaming, I've seen my CPU well over 120F.
I bought a stand-alone peltier chip - for use with existing heatsinks. It scared me... I hooked it up to a power supply and although one side did get cold, the other side actually burned my finger. I'm thinking, how is my heatsink ever going to dump all this extra heat? I guess my reasoning is probably flawed (otherwise why would they sell 'em?) but, overall the peltier chip seemed to generate a net increase in heat.

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

we sure do got it bad, i may only play a game for about 1/2 hour and my temp is up near yours, its just about impossible to keep it down, but im in the process of adding fans, so well se what happens

 

[DBSSP]

No kidding! I have a friend that we have the air conditioner ducted to his case. The temps in this state have been killer the past week! Jay

&quot;Jeezus-sqeezits Bob!&quot;

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

whoa, thats awesome, is it safe though, the ac doesnt put aout anything harmfull that we cant see does it, cuz that is an awesome idea

 

[DBSSP]

Hey it works great man, those little window air conditioners are perfect because you can adjust temp and keep it on constant. Plus no draw on the PSU, it's totally self efficient! Central air works alright, but it's based on the ambient temp of the house so the case can still get warm in between the air cycles. I worked on my own PC last night. I cut out the back for a 3 inch hole and all I need to do is size the hole for the ductwork and get some duct tape. It doesn't look pretty but I have one of those cabinets so you can't see anything anyway. Us Ohioans gotta stick together my man! We'll get this heat licked in no time. Jay

&quot;Jeezus-sqeezits Bob!&quot;

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

awesome, im gonna think about doing something like that, hmmmmmmm thanks dude

 

[DBSSP]

If you do this, don't forget to use some sort of filter between the duct and the case to keep dust down, but the blower does do an excellent job of keeping the system clean. Cheap furnace filters are excellent and cheap for this. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions! Jay

&quot;Jeezus-sqeezits Bob!&quot;

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

cool, thanks

 

[DBSSP]

jwizard@cham-cor.com Jay

&quot;Jeezus-sqeezits Bob!&quot;