HTPC - Media Center 2005

martinturner · 6 Jul 2007 at 10:11

Hi,

I have a media center with two internal hard drives, bog standard built in graphics card and stock power supply which came with the case (Antec NSK2400 Case). I have not enabled the two inner case fans, but the machine is a little on the noisy side. I am using just a standard retail CPU (Sempron) heatsink and fan combo.

What should I change to get it as silent as possible. Ideally I would like to have it totally noise free. Is it possible to get a power supply of similar which works like a laptop power supply?? Are there any totally silent cpu heatsink solutions. Any other suggestions. Would like to leave it on all the time, but I think as its aged (about 8 months old) it has increasingly got noisier.

Thanks for any help

Growlingfish · 6 Jul 2007 at 11:41

By built-in graphics card you mean onboard right? So no fan there to silence?

The PSU I presume is a standard size so you could replace it with something newer and quieter. My Corsair is virtually silent, or you can look at fanless PSUs (search for FL-550ATX for an example).

Plenty of CPU heat-sinks are designed to work without a fan - check the Scythe Ninjas, etc. It will probably even say on the OCUK product pages for them that they can work without a fan. You will need to experiment with your temperatures, but I doubt you'll be stressing your CPU much so fanless should be fine.

The noisy part of your system will undoubtedly end up being the HDs which will tick like crazy sometimes. Until you build a silent system you don't realise quite how noisy HDs can be

squiffy · 6 Jul 2007 at 11:46

A Ninja won't fit in that case. If you've disconnected the case fans it should be darn quiet. How is hot air being expelled though? Why not just use a single case fan on low?

I think if you want total silence (and I mean can't even hear it) going to have to spend a fair amount. My HTPC is very quiet, and I can't see how make it quieter, means extra cost + higher case temps (4x12cm at 700/800rpm, 8cm at 7v, 2.5" and 3.5" HD)

martinturner · 6 Jul 2007 at 12:01

Can someone recommend me a CPU cooler can I use which will be noticably better than the Retail one which came with the Sempron processor.

Thanks for your comments. Appreciated!

Growlingfish · 6 Jul 2007 at 12:13

One of the Zalman top-down ones? I'm sure other people who have need for them could better advise about a low-profile cooler (is this case really that low?). You should probably look at buying/making some resistance wires for the fans if you can't reduce the speeds otherwise.