Obsession
Tuesday 1st May, 2007 11:30 Comments: 5
I think I have an obsession with Zalman's Fan Mate 2 controllers. I already have 4 in my case (for just 3 fans), and I've bought another 3, as I plan on using 2 to control another couple of 120mm fans that I've just fitted. And I might use the last one to reduce the speed of the exhaust fan in another computer. Still, it's better than trying to volt mod them and accidentally electrocuting myself or blowing something up.
Yamahito - Tuesday 1st May, 2007 13:58 How much are they, out of interest?
I don't have much of an issue with the main machine (which I'll be replacing with a silent machine soon enough), but my server (many 80mm fans plus a few 120mm) is noisy.
Actually, I don't know if they'll help - the thing runs hot with eight hard drives and being in a cupboard. Maybe what I need is fans in the ventilation spaces of the cupboard itself.
Plus the loudest culprit in the data-cupboard is that damn switch with its tiny fans...
I don't have much of an issue with the main machine (which I'll be replacing with a silent machine soon enough), but my server (many 80mm fans plus a few 120mm) is noisy.
Actually, I don't know if they'll help - the thing runs hot with eight hard drives and being in a cupboard. Maybe what I need is fans in the ventilation spaces of the cupboard itself.
Plus the loudest culprit in the data-cupboard is that damn switch with its tiny fans...
They're currently £3.51 at Overclockers UK, which is where I generally order them from.
I must admit I really dislike things that are advertised as "silent" when they're not. If it uses passive cooling then it's probably silent, but the moment you have a fan you've generally got some kind of noise, and in a perfectly quiet room you'll hear it.
I was a bit concerned about adding 6 disks to my main machine, as that was totally unplanned, but they're surprisingly quiet. The only time people get to hear how quiet my main machine runs is usually at LAN parties, so it gets completely drowned out by all the noisy machines that everyone else seem to somehow cope with.
I must admit I really dislike things that are advertised as "silent" when they're not. If it uses passive cooling then it's probably silent, but the moment you have a fan you've generally got some kind of noise, and in a perfectly quiet room you'll hear it.
I was a bit concerned about adding 6 disks to my main machine, as that was totally unplanned, but they're surprisingly quiet. The only time people get to hear how quiet my main machine runs is usually at LAN parties, so it gets completely drowned out by all the noisy machines that everyone else seem to somehow cope with.
Agreed in principle, but the phrase 'perfectly quiet room' is a bit meaningless.
Hard drives are the next frontier in noise reduction, I guess... even in the quietest machine you're guaranteed to hear the odd chug. I don't mind that so much, I must admit.
I'm going to talk a bit mac now, but I swear I'm not baiting you: Have you heard the mac pro? There is a fan in there, I think, but I've been /impressed/ with the ones I've (not) heard running.
Hard drives are the next frontier in noise reduction, I guess... even in the quietest machine you're guaranteed to hear the odd chug. I don't mind that so much, I must admit.
I'm going to talk a bit mac now, but I swear I'm not baiting you: Have you heard the mac pro? There is a fan in there, I think, but I've been /impressed/ with the ones I've (not) heard running.
You should have heard a couple of the really quiet systems I've made in the past. I had a VIA C3 machine that had a Seagate Barracuda V 80GB hard disk inside a silent drive enclosure, and the only fan in the entire system was the dual fan Enermax power supply, running at the lowest fan setting. It sucked at floating point, but was fine for web browsing, downloading stuff and running as a fileserver. You pretty much had to look at the light or put your hand to the back of the power supply to tell if the machine was on. The machine I keep at work is insanely quiet, although the 200GB drive isn't in a silent drive enclosure (yet), and I've recently replaced the PCI-Express 7600GS with a crap PCI card (the exhaust fan is a bit noisy, so it might get a Zalman Fan Mate at some point, the CPU temps under full load aren't that high, I could happily let it run 10 degrees warmer). And I think you'll be impressed with how quiet my main machine is, considering everything it's got crammed inside it.
I admit that hard drives are generally one of the noisiest components of a system, although I suspect flash based drives will be silent (they're still a bit expensive and small for my liking, but I am a little tempted by the 32GB ones). I can't see them being as reliable as a normal magnetic hard disk, but I shouldn't judge them without having tried one.
I admit that hard drives are generally one of the noisiest components of a system, although I suspect flash based drives will be silent (they're still a bit expensive and small for my liking, but I am a little tempted by the 32GB ones). I can't see them being as reliable as a normal magnetic hard disk, but I shouldn't judge them without having tried one.
