CPU Fan or Heatsink that's Nice, Affordable, and Extremely Quiet?

A

AuDioFreaK39

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 10, 2005
Messages
475
I recently got an NVSilencer5 for my video card (works great!), and now the only sounds I hear coming out of my case are my HDD and my CPU fan. It came with a factory installed heatsink on a Dell Mobo (its a Dimension 8400), and I want to get a fan or heatsink (whatever is better) that will cool my CPU way down for overclocking in the future when I get a new mobo, and something that is REALLY quiet. I'm probably also going to use acoustic foam for my case as well..so yah. Thanks in advance.
 
I know that Dells use a lot of proprietary parts...are the motherboard mounts for HSFs standard?
 
AuDioFreaK39 said:
I recently got an NVSilencer5 for my video card (works great!), and now the only sounds I hear coming out of my case are my HDD and my CPU fan. It came with a factory installed heatsink on a Dell Mobo (its a Dimension 8400), and I want to get a fan or heatsink (whatever is better) that will cool my CPU way down for overclocking in the future when I get a new mobo, and something that is REALLY quiet. I'm probably also going to use acoustic foam for my case as well..so yah. Thanks in advance.
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If you want *extremely* quiet (and I *KNOW* what true silence is), the Zalman 7000Alcu (or Cu) can't be beat. You'll need a fan controller on it, to drop it to under 5v for absolute silence (yes, under 5v). I have a 7000Alcu on this machine, which I built SPECIFICALLY to be dead silent, and I can't tell if the machine is on or off by listening for it (and I have extremely good hearing). This machine (not the one in my sig) has an AXP 2500+ Barton running at 3200+. That's probably around... 80w of heat to dissipate. I'm too lazy to check what kind of Intel proc you have in your system, could be a prescott for all I know.

You want to overclock? Tturn up the knob on the fan controller when the computer isn't idle, and it will cool quite well.

This all depends on if one will even fit your machine.
Pop the case on your Dell and check..
 
You could also go with the XP90 with a silent fan, like Zalman's 92mm offering or the Nexxus fan. From what I understand, the XP90 has a much higher degree of compatibility than Zalman- but yes, the Zalman heatsink is probably preferred- it's much easier to achieve the same level of silence.

(And how quiet is shit, exactly? :p)
 
Another vote for the zalman. I used to use one and it was mega silent, only reason i got an xp-90 instead was for phat overclocks that never really eventuated lol.
 
A good compromise between Silence, power and price would be the Freezer series by Arctic cooling. It looks kinda whacky (imagine a fan with no housing at all), but is very quiet because of this.
 
I thought that dell computers have some sort of PSU that will fit in dell mobos and if you used some other mobo, you computer will crap out.

I don't know if that's true or not...
 
the old ones do (i know from experience) but i dunno about the newer ones. probably.
if you want a new mobo to replace dells, you might as well just rebuild the entire system. ;)
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
the old ones do (i know from experience) but i dunno about the newer ones. probably.
if you want a new mobo to replace dells, you might as well just rebuild the entire system. ;)
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Thats not necessary:

3.4GHz P4 w/HT
*Dell Mobo*
1GB DDR2 @ 533MHz
250GB SATA HDD
nVidia GeForce 6800 PCI-e 256MB (non GT/Ultra) OC'd at 457/833 from 350/600
^ NVSilencer5
XP Media Center 2005

Price: $2038
 
i see, so you'll need a mobo that works with ddr2, a psu to replace the evil dell one, and a cooler.
i don't know what kind of mounting mechanism dell uses, but the zalman is nice, however with an appropriate fan, the xp-90 is about equal and the xp-120 wins by a bit.
 
I want something that I can overclock with. After I get a new mobo I want to overclock my P4 3.4GHz 550 to 4.0Ghz. Would it be better, then, to get a water cooling system? I don't know if I want to though because I've already put an NVSilencer5 on my GPU. Or can that go hand-in-hand with a water cooling system? Something under $200 or around $150 is my budget.
 
AuDioFreaK39 said:
I want something that I can overclock with. After I get a new mobo I want to overclock my P4 3.4GHz 550 to 4.0Ghz. Would it be better, then, to get a water cooling system? I don't know if I want to though because I've already put an NVSilencer5 on my GPU. Or can that go hand-in-hand with a water cooling system? Something under $200 or around $150 is my budget.
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if you want 4GHz, you're going to need the best air cooling you can get
however, you can get H2O for $200
and yes, you can keep the NV Silencer
 
AuDioFreaK39 said:
I want something that I can overclock with. After I get a new mobo I want to overclock my P4 3.4GHz 550 to 4.0Ghz. Would it be better, then, to get a water cooling system? I don't know if I want to though because I've already put an NVSilencer5 on my GPU. Or can that go hand-in-hand with a water cooling system? Something under $200 or around $150 is my budget.
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LOL. You are NOT going to hit 4Ghz with any quiet cooling option.
It's going to be loud and obnoxious. Go with water instead.
 
Lol, his sig says raptors and silent system on the same line, just thought that was funny...


I'd just go with water if you want reasonably quiet with that kind of performance.
 
Warriorprophet said:
Lol, his sig says raptors and silent system on the same line, just thought that was funny....
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Maybe you should actually read the thread before you lift off in your rofflecopter.
 
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