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Cheap and silent AM3 solution?

E

eb50

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 17, 2006
Messages
442
Looking to quiet down a couple of my HTPCs. They are currently using the OEM HSF and feel that this is really whats causing all the ruckus. I have already swapped out the case fans for something quieter and am using the fanless onboard video.

Need to cool 2 machines:
AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 65W in a Sentey SS2-2087 http://www.sentey.com/en_productos_details.php?tipo=Gabinetes&ctg=Slim Series&prod=ss2-2807

AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 in a HEC Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC 7K09

What are my best bets for cooling these two as silently as possible? Not looking to spend more than $30 a cpu to cool. I am going to have to measure to see how "tall" I can handle too in the htpc cases.

Thanks.
 
I think with your budget you could end up with a pretty good heat-sink and maybe one quiet fan. If you can stretch the budget, then better fan/s OR Corsair Hydro series.
My thread.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1628632

I can't express how much the noise reduction alone was worth the price for me(Best Buy deal for $50) then decent drops in temp too.
I get the pump noise once a day for now, only been in a few days. It's not loud when if happens either.
The stock AMD heat-sink sounded like a jet taking off. Also, i noticed ambient room temps are down as well, as it's expected.
 
I've seen some Best Buys with H50's for $39.99, most are starting to get the H60's but if you can find H50's you'll be pleasantly surprised and happy with the performance/silence over stock. This is, of course, assuming that your HTPC cases have a spot somewhere for a 120mm fan.
 
How does water cooling work? Does it require power? Water supply?
 
eb50 said:
How does water cooling work? Does it require power? Water supply?
Click to expand...

The H50 is an all-in-one unit and comes pre-filled. Just mount the radiator in the area for exhaust fan(120mm), mount the water block(includes the pump) on the CPU itself, and then plug the wire into the motherboard fan header. Not much different than installing an aftermarket air cooler.
 
The closed loop systems that Corsair makes are fantastic. The cold plate and the pump are one unit, these connect to the CPU, then there are two tubes that feed to the radiator which fits a 120mm fan spot. This is very similair to the way that water cools your car's engine. The pump cycles the water which goes between the cold plate and the radiator drawing the heat away, then the fan blows air through the radiator dispersing the heat and cooling the liquid. The pump does need power, as does the fan, but since it's a closed loop you'll never have to add fluid
 
I think this might work in the sentey. Ill check out bb tomorrow. This is100% silent other than the occasional pump correct?
 
eb50 said:
I think this might work in the sentey. Ill check out bb tomorrow. This is100% silent other than the occasional pump correct?
Click to expand...

Put the fan on a low speed such as 800-1100rpm(your BIOS should have options for fan speed) and you won't really hear it unless you put your ear right up to it. The pump isn't really that loud either.
 
Is itworth trying to drop the stock hsf to 1100? Or will my cpu melt
 
If you're at stock speeds and voltages, you could drop it to 800rpm and still keep the CPU well under the max thermal limit.
 
What is the best app to monitor temps? I tried speed fan and one read -124???
 
used speedfan to tweak down the cpu fan to about 1100 and temps are steady at around 35

i dont hear the hum from the hsf, but now the psu fan is nice and loud. using the stock psu for this case might have been the wrong idea...

this is in the sentey...
 
eb50 said:
I think this might work in the sentey. Ill check out bb tomorrow. This is100% silent other than the occasional pump correct?
Click to expand...

The pump runs constantly, and many suggest using a 3pin to molex adapter so that it cannot be affected by PWM and runs at full speed all the time. The pump is almost silent, in fact, a low rpm 120mm fan makes more noise than the pump. I do recommend attaching the radiator to an exhaust section of your case so that all the heat is dumped outside the case, that should take some of the thermal load off of the power supply and quiet it down a bit. Everybody has different tastes, but I use an Antec Tri-Cool 120mm fan with mine on medium (1600rpm, 56cfm, 28dba) and barely notice it. My core temps stay low enough if I run the fan on low speed (1200rpm, 39cfm, 25dba) but my motherboards socket temp sensor causes throttling. Just make sure you do a long burn in and check the temps regularly, I use HWMonitor for tracking.
 
Yea, i didn't mean to imply that the pump was loud by no means is it even noticeable. It just the first few days most hear a little noise every so often that still isn't even loud, and they say its just some air in the system.
I have my fans on the CPU spot with Cool n' Quiet mode off. The pump is on the SYS1 pin with 12v always.
 
i swapped out the psu and replaced it with an earthwatt 380 that i had laying around in a dead machine. now the loudest thing is the cpu fan =)

im gonna go to bestbuy and see if i can find a h50. otherwise, with speedfan turning down the fans to 1100, the noise is bearable. temps sit at 36/37
 
The Regor CPUs come with lousy heat sinks. A stock heatpipe version is much better. Patience on ebay can get these for $10-$20 each shipped.
They are rated for 130 watts and are very quiet at 65-95 watts in my experience.
I like using these for a low cost option. The ones with tabs on the four corners of the copper bottom plate are best.
If this is insufficient remove stock fan and replace with quiet 92mm glued on. (this is from AMD website, current favorite is an Arctic Cooling Fan at about $7).
 
wtourist said:
The Regor CPUs come with lousy heat sinks. A stock heatpipe version is much better. Patience on ebay can get these for $10-$20 each shipped.
They are rated for 130 watts and are very quiet at 65-95 watts in my experience.
I like using these for a low cost option. The ones with tabs on the four corners of the copper bottom plate are best.
If this is insufficient remove stock fan and replace with quiet 92mm glued on. (this is from AMD website, current favorite is an Arctic Cooling Fan at about $7).
Click to expand...

Can you link a stock heat pipe from ebay i need to look for? Like one for a am2 phenom?
 
Last edited:
coolermaster gemini 2 can also cool your cpus with no running fans depending on your cases air flow i have one running on a phenom 2 quad core with no fans except my 120mm lian li case fan sucking air off it and out my case.You can find them on ebay in the 20-40 range
 
Jbort1984 said:
coolermaster gemini 2 can also cool your cpus with no running fans depending on your cases air flow i have one running on a phenom 2 quad core with no fans except my 120mm lian li case fan sucking air off it and out my case.You can find them on ebay in the 20-40 range
Click to expand...

Almost forgot about the geminii one of the best low profile coolers.
 
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