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[benn600]

I built two identical HTPCs with this CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103066

I stupidly went for the cheapest heatsink FAN I could find.  The fans are very loud and constantly adjust speed to go from loud to unbearably loud.  If I unplug the CPU fan, the computer still boots and is nearly silent.  The case has two fans to pull air through the case and they are very quiet.  Would I be running dangerously if I unplugged the fans permanently?  Should I watch the temp and see if it rises too high?  Could I add a resistor inline that would slow it way down to a crawl?

It's my fault for getting a cheap fan.  I'd rather not buy a better fan because then I have to store or discard these.  If the CPU were to overheat, wouldn't it just shut off before anything bad happened?  (safety feature)?

[Listener]

You didn't say what heatsink fan you bought.

You certainly should leave the heatsink in place.  Whether this is adequate depends on the design of the heatsink as well as the airflow over it.

You should not count on the CPU shutting down before damage is done.

I've followed your posts for a long time.  You have clearly spent a lot of money on equipment in the past.  Refusing to spend $ 20-25 X 2 on replacement heatsink/fans seems to be a risky and puzzling choice for you.  You made a bad choice; suck it up and fix it.

Look for a fan whose speed can be controlled by the motherboard.

Bill

[benn600]

The one I got is speed controlled by the motherboard.  It just goes from way-too-loud to unbelievably way too loud.

I'm sick of accumulating stuff that just sits because I feel bad about putting things in the landfill ... so it ends up sitting and I keep it.  If I could avoid buying something that I will literally never have a use for the old one, then all the better.  Funny how when I built these I ordered one first that ended up being too big for the case and it physically wouldn't fit.  I was so mad because I was planning to get these up and running the day the fans arrived.  (didn't realize the cpu didn't have heatsink/fan... duh, oem!)  So I had to return those two and bought these good for nothing fans.  I suppose they are powerful but way too loud.

[Listener]

> I'm sick of accumulating stuff that just sits because I feel bad about putting things in the landfill

I symphathize with that view. 

I try to get purchase decisions right the first time and hate it when i have to replace a bad choice.  However, sometimes it is necessary.  I struggled to solve an intermittent crash problem for almost 2 years before replacing the motherboard.  It felt sooo good to be rid of the crash problem.

A suggestion for the heatsink/fan:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article640-page1.html

The Alpine 64 AM2 version has a 3 pin power connector but it seems to be a reasonable performer. $ 13 at newegg.com.

Bill

[Mr ChriZ]

Arctic Cooling stuff is really good.

[benn600]

I try to get purchase decisions right the first time and hate it when i have to replace a bad choice.  However, sometimes it is necessary.  I struggled to solve an intermittent crash problem for almost 2 years before replacing the motherboard.  It felt sooo good to be rid of the crash problem.

I swapped my server & computer motherboards in an attempt to fix a seemingly slow RAID array data rate.  In doing so, the previously server motherboard would no longer allow me to install Windows XP because on the final screen where you start pushing buttons to run the install, it would shut the computer off.  But it would give me about 3 seconds so I'd quickly try to finish the entire install in 3 seconds.

I ended up sending it in as it was under warranty.  Very strange.  I knew it would take a while with them and I ended up buying a replacement and then selling the replaced under warranty on eBay.

Believe me I have story after story where I spent 6 months, a year, trying to solve some stupid little problem because when I can, I like to use what I have...just before summer I finally took 5 very old computers and two huge bags of cards, cables, etc., to Goodwill, who takes the stuff and sends it to another company who deals with it and sells what they can.  Those were great trips.  But that's peanuts compared to what we actually have sitting in our storage rooms.

[benn600]

I opened a CPU temp utility and watched the temp with and without the fan.  Without the fan, over about 10 minutes of watching video (20% cpu + ), it creeps up to about 60 degrees C, which is definitely approaching a danger line and I'm sure it would continue to rise.

With the fan, it stays under 50 for the most part.  So I'll be looking for a suitable, very quiet fan.  Without the CPU fan it's very quite!  (and it still has two medium sized fans in the case)....and one in the PSU.

[newsposter]

go with a cooler CPU.  HTPCs rarely need the fastest/latest CPU.

[Bonex]

If this can help you, I have an Athlon BE-2400, one of those processors with 45W of TDP cooled with a Noctua NH-U12F using the small adaptor they provide to make the fan run slower. The fan is incredibly silent. I have one of them on the heatsink and one one back of the case. To understand that the PC is on I have to concentrate and search its noise even in complete silence.
Sure it isn't very cheap, but totally worth it.
Last week I tried to unplug the cpu fan and used super PI to stress the cpu. With only the case fan running at minimum speed it never went over 42-43°C

[benn600]

I've gotta move because we have our theater components in and my cousin's company is starting construction tomorrow.  I want the fan replaced in the in-use one in the great room and especially the one that's going in the theater.  As much as we're putting into audio, I sure better not hear a drop of noise from the fan.  I'll consider your suggestion, thanks!

I'll have to post a nice post about our theater when it's all finished.  It's funny.  My cousin's company quotes us less than HALF of what two other bids were.  They can get started a month or two before anyone else, too, and has people lined up to move in and finish the project.  Also great family connections with the carpet store.  lol  And his company worked on a house with complete audio equipment throughout for the owner of a local high end audio place.  We didn't go with that place--we went 30 minutes away for Paradigm and Anthem.

[benn600]

Can someone please suggest one that will be extremely quiet or silent?  I was looking on Newegg (Socket AM2) and was not impressed.  The most expensive one was only $30 and the reviews said that one guy broke a blade off and it spun so far (unbalanced) that it cracked the motherboard.

Yea, I want to hear cracking motherboards under the movie explosions.

Wouldn't I be better off just adding a resistor inline to slow the fan down?  What resistor should I add?  Do they sell readymade ones that can be plugged in between the CPU fan and the motherboard?

[Peter_T]

I don't have a fan suggestion, but I thought I'd offer how I solved my PC noise problems... I moved the PC.  Right now there's a HDMI cable and a USB Cable coming out of a little plate behind my AV system.  The cables run to my basement (only about 6' through the floor and around the corner) where my noisy fans and hard discs can do whatever they please. 

On the USB I have a hub that has my IR receiver, my wireless mouse/keyboard and an external sound card.  I know, I know, I can get sound through my HDMI cable, but I still need an analogue signal to feed audio to my other zones (since my receiver can't split a digital signal).  This ticked me off initially, but in practice it's been just fine. 

I gave up on the silent PC. 

[benn600]

Hmmmm.  That is a very intriguing idea.  In our theater there will be a closet with special sound deadening material.  I'm putting the server in there.  It is several times louder than any desktop computer (19 hard drives, 7 powerful fans).  The only problem is that the HDMI cables we're getting are so expensive.  Getting one high end piece of equipment trickles down.  I'll measure and see if it would work.  I've thought of this technique in several other spots.  It's definitely worth considering.

Thanks!

[Peter_T]

Cables can definitely get expensive... I've sunk some serious cash into speaker cable and interconnects in the past, but I just go middle-road with HDMI.  A few extra dollars to get a good cable build, but I don't consider much past that sicne it's all digital.  The FutureShop and Best Buy guys, all jacked up on redbull, feed me something about colour depth and bandwidth, but I just ignore them and keep walking past the Monster cables.  haha

[Peter_T]

PS - if you haven't finished your system for the theater yet, the money you save by going ugly/loud + in the closet could offset a longer HDMI cable?  It definitely eliminates the "holy grail" quest for a silent PC.

[benn600]

It's a requirement that we silence this based on the grade of speakers & equipment we're buying.  It's truly insane.  I'm not going to let a stupid CPU fan ruin the crystal clarity of any of this.  And we're sound deadening the room.

Thanks for the tip.  It's a MUST!!

[imugli]

Sorry to dredge this one up but did you think of water cooling?

Perhap overkill but silently quiet...

[benn600]

Yet another project I need to tackle but just let it go on and on.  These HTPCs are annoyingly loud to me and I need to figure something out.  I was thinking about adding a resistor inline...nice suggestion, I'll think about it.