Quiet PSU and CPU Coolers

M

Matt Matravers

Hi everyone

I'm a student looking to get hold of some budget mods for my computer to
make the thing run a bit quieter!! I was wondering if anyone had any
recommendations for cheap but quiet PSU's and CPU coolers (fan and
heatsink), and whether I can get hold of them in the UK! I don't really
want to spend more than £20 on either.

My hardware is as follows:

Gigabyte GA-7VA motherboard
AMD Barton 2500+ 333MHz
512Mb unbranded memory
128mb Geforce FX5200 graphics

I don't think the rest is too important. One important thing is that I've
checked the space around the CPU and my case is pretty cramped so my PSU
sits directly above the CPU. There is about 60mm x 80mm space at the base
of the heatsink and 60mm height space overall.

Can anyone help me out? Is getting a new case with PSU a cheap(ish) option?

Thanks

Matt Matravers
 
B

Boudewijn

Hello,
I don't think that £20.00 on either will get you very far, at least not if
you want quiet components.
And if that's what you want, you will need to spend more.
Regards, Boudewijn
 
M

Matt Matravers

K

kony

I've seen items like the Arctic Cooling Copper Silent 2TC
(www.arctic-cooling.com/en/products/copper_silent2r2_tc/) or Akasa AK824cu
(www.akasa.co.uk/akasa/coolers/ak824cu/ak_824cu.htm) that don't cost too
much. Also PSU wise I've seen a PSU that gives around 350W (WinPower 400w
Dual Fan). I'm just concerned about size (mentioned below).

How about around the £30 mark? I obviously want something that is pretty
cheap but if I need to spend more then I'll have to!

Cheers

Matt

If you want noise reduction on such a tight budget, just replace the
fan(s). There is nothing particularly good about the Arctic Cooling (blah
blah blah), it just has a quiet fan on it. Buy yourself a similarly quiet
fan for less $. Thick (25+mm) low RPM is the way to go, try to stay under
2500RPM. You might also try using a fan adapter (itself adapted) to
provide a lower voltage to the fan.

If your current power supply is working properly, just a bit too loud,
replace the fan in it too. The last thing you want to do is buy a generic
cheap power supply with low-RPM fan, it's quite likely to cause problems
or (at best) die prematurely.

If you want a really good system that's quiet without any significant
drawbacks, and don't want to do any modifications yourself, instead want
pre-made solutions, expect to spend more $$... if it were all that cheap
to have a decent quiet pc it wouldn't have been loud in the first place.
 
C

Cuzman

" One important thing is that I've checked the space around the CPU and my
case is pretty cramped so my PSU sits directly above the CPU. There is
about 60mm x 80mm space at the base of the heatsink and 60mm height space
overall. Can anyone help me out? Is getting a new case with PSU a
cheap(ish) option? "


I have a Tsunami Sagittarius ST-53 case ( http://tinyurl.com/2yuje ) which
is pretty cramped around the CPU cooler. I recently changed from a
Thermaltake Volcano 11+ Xaser Edition ( http://tinyurl.com/2yaxf ) to an
Arctic Copper Silent 2L ( http://tinyurl.com/34v4o ). It has a blue light
over the CPU which goes well with my window case, and it just manages to fit
behind the PSU, although I had to remove that to install it. You can check
out Arctic Cooling's Socket A range at http://www.arctic-cooling.com/en/ ,
and, if you don't have a windowed case then this one should do perfectly for
you: http://tinyurl.com/2csm2

Now my system has 2 front case fans, twin hard-drive fans, CPU fan, GPU fan,
PCI exhaust fan, and the PSU fan. That makes a total of 8 fans, and all of
these together are quieter than the Thermaltake alone that I just removed.

The only PSU for under £40 at www.koolnquiet.co.uk was this 300W one for
£17.50: http://tinyurl.com/2he3u , which got much praise in the noted
review.

You can get a million 300W+ PSUs for less than £20, but most do not come
anywhere near their rated wattage, so, if you want to hunt around, go for
one that is independently reviewed and won't fail before it's even lightly
stacked. Many stability problems are caused by PSUs that don't work to
their claimed wattage level, so going that extra bit is always good security
for the future.
 
B

boneheadlio

Matt said:
Hi everyone

I'm a student looking to get hold of some budget mods for my computer to
make the thing run a bit quieter!! I was wondering if anyone had any
recommendations for cheap but quiet PSU's and CPU coolers (fan and
heatsink), and whether I can get hold of them in the UK! I don't really
want to spend more than £20 on either.

My hardware is as follows:

Gigabyte GA-7VA motherboard
AMD Barton 2500+ 333MHz
512Mb unbranded memory
128mb Geforce FX5200 graphics

I don't think the rest is too important. One important thing is that I've
checked the space around the CPU and my case is pretty cramped so my PSU
sits directly above the CPU. There is about 60mm x 80mm space at the base
of the heatsink and 60mm height space overall.

Can anyone help me out? Is getting a new case with PSU a cheap(ish) option?

Thanks

Matt Matravers

bite the bullet and get a good powersupply! not sure what £20 is in USD,
but i'd get a decent antec for 65-100 usd.
 
D

David Ciemny

Kony....can I just replace the fan on my stock p4 hs/fan instead of the
whole unit?

DC
 
K

kony

Kony....can I just replace the fan on my stock p4 hs/fan instead of the
whole unit?

Not unless they're changed it... should be an integrated fan on a plastic
shroud piece. They went out of their way to make it proprietary. You
might be able to cut out a hole where the fan is, strap on a different fan
somehow, but it'd be a small, sub-optimal sized fan and better to just buy
a new heatsink.
 
D

David Ciemny

I took a look inside and you are correct. Now I just need to decide on which
unit to purchase. Can't believe how loud my fan is. Just put together an amd
machine and their stock fan seemed kind of quiet imo.

Thanks..

DC
 
S

Stephen

Matt Matravers said:
I've seen items like the Arctic Cooling Copper Silent 2TC
(www.arctic-cooling.com/en/products/copper_silent2r2_tc/) or Akasa AK824cu
(www.akasa.co.uk/akasa/coolers/ak824cu/ak_824cu.htm) that don't cost too
much. Also PSU wise I've seen a PSU that gives around 350W (WinPower 400w
Dual Fan). I'm just concerned about size (mentioned below).

How about around the £30 mark? I obviously want something that is pretty
cheap but if I need to spend more then I'll have to!
Have you also considered replacing the fan on the heatsink with another one
of a larger size, say 80mm, with an adaptor and speed reducing resistor?
This would be a cheap way to cut the noise whilst retaining the required
airflow to the heatsink. The components for this are readily available at
somewhere such as Maplins in the UK.

However I think you'll have to reconsider your budget if you require a good
but quiet power supply unit. I tried several of the cheaper so called quiet
ones and they weren't any quieter that the one they replaced. I eventually
splashed out and obtained an Enermax PSU which I've found to be quiet. Even
when it's boosted the speed of the fans due to heating up it still run at a
reasonable sound level.

Another trick is to fit case fans with thermal sensors attached to the fan
with a length of wire (remember to place the sensors where it's likely to be
the hottest). This way it'll be very quiet when the fans aren't needed to
take the heat away from inside the case. In the unusually very hot record
breaking British summer last year the system had the fans working at maximum
speed but now they will vary between minimum and about 75%. It's quietness
with an insurance just in case it's required.


Stephen
 

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