[ELW]

I am trying to configure a very quiet and powerful PC.

In my configuration below, I have one 120mm case fan.

In addition, do I need to attach a fan to the Ninja CPU cooler for this particular system?

If I can get by with just the case fan, the system will be a little quieter. Having said that, I don't want to risk heat damage if it's not enough.

Case: Antec Solo mini tower
Case fan: 1 x Nexus 120mm Real Silent D12SL-12
Motherboard: Asus P5E3 Deluxe X38 chipset
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHz 1333MHz FSB

Processor heatsink: Scythe Ninja Plus Rev B SCNJ-1100P
Heatsink bolt kit: Thermalright LGA775 Bolt-Thru-Kit

Video card: 2 x XFX GeForce 7600GS 2x DVI fanless PCIe x16 PV-T73P-UDJ3
Memory: Corsair 2GB (2x1GB) DDR3 1333MHz TWIN3X2048-1333C9DHX
Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar 250GB SATA 3Gb/s WD2500AAKS
Optical drive: Samsung DVD±RW DL 20x SATA SH-S203N
Power supply: Corsair HX520W
Monitors: 3 x Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP-HC 24-inch 1920x1200

Antec case pic:
Product Image Back View

Antec case specs:
www.antec.com -Solo Specsheet

Asus mobo spec:
ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

Asus mobo pic:
http://usa.asus.com/prog_content/mid...spx?model=1875

I would appreciate any insight you may have.

[Shinigami]

Hello again,

let's continue helping you

It is almost a double post, but the topic is different so I will reply separately.

If you want almost fanless, then this is not going to be a piece of cake. One side fan should be fine even you don't attach the Ninja PLUS, but you have to do something about that 2 fanless VGA cards, they'll definitely heat up the PC case. So another fan to blow the air out (maybe in front) would be a recommendation. Furthermore your HDDs will heat up pretty much with not enough airflow. Fanless systems need special designs and a 3GHZ Core 2 Duo is also not a joke. You can pretty much say, that you should forget about fanless cooling when the thermal dissipation power is over 100W. It is possible, but you have to think about more and it's a bit more complicated. Fanless is also considered as "there is no fan inside the case" and Physical laws need to be used properly, etc. etc.

So in your case, just add some quiet fans and it should be fine.

Offtopic: Do you get the Matrox card to use 3 Displays or how do you plan to use 3 of that Dell 24" Displays?

[ELW]

OK, thanks very much for your feedback.

Taking everything into consideration, I think I will add a fan to the Ninja CPU cooler and see what temperature readings that produces for the CPU, motherboard, and inside the case.

As a starting point, I will have 1 x 120mm fan on the rear of the case, near the CPU cooler, and 1 x 120mm fan attached to the CPU cooler itself. I will let the motherboard control the CPU fan. No front fan at this time.

This particular case was designed by Antec to be run with just one fan, but if my temperature testing shows that I need to add a 92mm front fan I can do that.

Having only 1 hard drive, 1 optical drive, and no floppy or any other drives should help to keep temperatures low vs a multi-hard drive system.

The XFX 7600GS cards are 2xDVI each. I have 2 cards in the configuration, so it can support a total of 4 (2x2) monitors. I have used these cards for a while and they are an excellent fanless card.

As a side comment, I have used Matrox and ATI cards in the past, but I find the nVidia chip and software drivers to be far more reliable.

Thanks again!!

[Shinigami]

Hi!

Fanless cooling is nice, but having some backup fans at very slow rpm is more safe and should fine fine as well. So try that if you have some time to experiment.

Your plan sounds like it will work because you don' have too many heat producing devices. I think it will be fine as you planned it. If you have some free time, you can present your case and fanless project in our fanles corner! We and other users will sure appreciate that!

Cheers,
Andy