Zarathustra[H]
Extremely [H]
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2000
- Messages
- 38,862
So,
The main reason I went with a custom water loop a couple of years ago (build thread here) was because I longed for a no-compromise solution. I wanted the best overclock I could get, with absolute silence. I know this was never going to be fully achievable at load, but I figured during light use I could make it silent.
I only partially succeeded in this goal.
The rig hits great overclocks, and is certainly much quieter under load than it ever was before (due to me going overkill on the radiator capacity) and at idle the fans are completely inaudible due to my custom fan curves in my Aquaero.
Here is an older pic (I've since swapped out all the bends for bitspower and replaced the PSU with a Seasonic PRIME)
There is just one thing that is still bugging me. There is that constant hum from the pump.
People have suggested I probably just need more vibration isolation, so today I tried to address that.
From my build thread, you'll see I went with a XSPC D5 Photon 270.
It has a mounting bracket on the back, that has a soft pad along its length. There are 4 threaded holes that come with short little M4 screws with fine thread. When I initially installed it, I also put a little rubber screw bushing between the head of the screw and the case metal.
I took those out today while working. Looks like they got mashed and torn:
So, here's what I decided to try.
There is a US company named Isolate It! that sells Sorbothane vibration dampeners. They seem to primarily market themselves to the Audiphile industry. I had some of their half inch thick dampeners left over from when I tried to solve a speaker rattling problem a while back Their dampeners are great, and should be WAY overkill for this application, so I grabbed 8 of them from my parts bin for this project.
I went to home Depot and got some 25mm long M4x0.7 machine screws and a bag of #8 washers (so the screws don't pull through the squishy rubber)
Then I drilled holes through the center of the dampeners.
The goal was something like this:
(screw head)(washer)(damper)(case sheet metal)(damper)(pump/res)
Here they are before installation:
(these things are slightly sticky and any dust they come across just attaches itself)
Installation was a pain in the ass due to having to compress the dampers on either side of the case while pressing the screw and the pump/res together blind, and twisting the screw hoping that it will catch. Eventually they all did, but only after holding my China made LED flashlight in my mouth to at least give me some visibility. I hope I don't get poisoned
Here is an installed picture:
(Those screws are surprisingly shiny, and I needed the flash, so that threw off the focus and metering completely, but you get the idea. This is not art photography)
Everything installed exactly like I hoped. I can grab the res and pull it slightly back and forth, and it gently complies indicating it has a soft dampened mount.
Success! (right?)
Well, not so fast. Power the thing on, the hum is still there.
It may be slightly quieter than it was before, tough to tell, but it is definitely not gone.
What else can I try that I haven't tried yet?
I don't hear other people complaining about this. Maybe they just have louder fans and don't notice it? Maybe I got a bad pump that runs a bit loud? Maybe I'm just stupidly picky?
Any thoughts?
The main reason I went with a custom water loop a couple of years ago (build thread here) was because I longed for a no-compromise solution. I wanted the best overclock I could get, with absolute silence. I know this was never going to be fully achievable at load, but I figured during light use I could make it silent.
I only partially succeeded in this goal.
The rig hits great overclocks, and is certainly much quieter under load than it ever was before (due to me going overkill on the radiator capacity) and at idle the fans are completely inaudible due to my custom fan curves in my Aquaero.
Here is an older pic (I've since swapped out all the bends for bitspower and replaced the PSU with a Seasonic PRIME)
There is just one thing that is still bugging me. There is that constant hum from the pump.
People have suggested I probably just need more vibration isolation, so today I tried to address that.
From my build thread, you'll see I went with a XSPC D5 Photon 270.
It has a mounting bracket on the back, that has a soft pad along its length. There are 4 threaded holes that come with short little M4 screws with fine thread. When I initially installed it, I also put a little rubber screw bushing between the head of the screw and the case metal.
I took those out today while working. Looks like they got mashed and torn:
So, here's what I decided to try.
There is a US company named Isolate It! that sells Sorbothane vibration dampeners. They seem to primarily market themselves to the Audiphile industry. I had some of their half inch thick dampeners left over from when I tried to solve a speaker rattling problem a while back Their dampeners are great, and should be WAY overkill for this application, so I grabbed 8 of them from my parts bin for this project.
I went to home Depot and got some 25mm long M4x0.7 machine screws and a bag of #8 washers (so the screws don't pull through the squishy rubber)
Then I drilled holes through the center of the dampeners.
The goal was something like this:
(screw head)(washer)(damper)(case sheet metal)(damper)(pump/res)
Here they are before installation:
(these things are slightly sticky and any dust they come across just attaches itself)
Installation was a pain in the ass due to having to compress the dampers on either side of the case while pressing the screw and the pump/res together blind, and twisting the screw hoping that it will catch. Eventually they all did, but only after holding my China made LED flashlight in my mouth to at least give me some visibility. I hope I don't get poisoned
Here is an installed picture:
(Those screws are surprisingly shiny, and I needed the flash, so that threw off the focus and metering completely, but you get the idea. This is not art photography)
Everything installed exactly like I hoped. I can grab the res and pull it slightly back and forth, and it gently complies indicating it has a soft dampened mount.
Success! (right?)
Well, not so fast. Power the thing on, the hum is still there.
It may be slightly quieter than it was before, tough to tell, but it is definitely not gone.
What else can I try that I haven't tried yet?
I don't hear other people complaining about this. Maybe they just have louder fans and don't notice it? Maybe I got a bad pump that runs a bit loud? Maybe I'm just stupidly picky?
Any thoughts?
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.