Liqourice

Hey.

Built a HTPC for a friend of mine and I found out that the fan on the cooler that came with the CPU was extremely noisy. (AMD A8-3870 on an Asrock A75M-ITX)

The case is really tight, he wanted it as small as possible and the end result is a case where theres only about 1 cm between the BluRay burner and the CPU fan, which is more than likely one of the reasons why it needs to spin as fast as it does.

I'm gonna mount two 60mm fans to the case as well to improve airflow, if I can find really silent ones.

So, I need a decent cooler that is lower to leave more space for air to flow and a lot more silent. Any good suggestions? Need I say it can't be to expensive as well?

Judas

i always find it odd how people want to build a HTPC machine with a little power behind it but.. then cram it into the tightest case... THEN complain about noise because one cannot install any 120mm or larger fans let alone near passive heatsinks due to lack of decent ventilation options in tight spaces.

I can't really suggest anything because all the ones i know that would drop the volume.... would result in it being far to large likely... how much height do you have?

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mkk

The Scythe Kozuti should fit and be much better than the stock cooler, but still likely on the noisy side during load in that setup. Kozuti: CPU Kühler, Lüfter, Lüftersteuerung, PC Netzteile von Scythe

If it's mainly used as a HTPC than one can easily lower the speed of the CPU and stil get excellent performance. The CPU Power tab in the Performance section of the AMD control panel has a slider which sets the maximum clock. That way one can re-up the clocks easily if a game is to be played once in a while.

A cheap alternative could be finding the heatpipe version of the AMD stock cooler, which ships with their more expensive CPU's. If there's a store nearby that does service or custom builds they might have a spare left. It's at least a better cooler than the original. Personally while I really like the Llano CPU's I think that the stock cooler ought to have been the heatpipe version, as what's supplied right now with the 100W TDP models is arguably underpowered. It only works because the fan can go over 4000 RPM...

Liqourice

I know.. I was aiming for a less powerful APU but none were in stock, and the fact that they are all priced more or less the same made me go for this one to make it a bit more future proof. I might downclock and lower the voltage on it to make it run a bit cooler as well since it will mostly be used just for movies and websurfing, he's not much of a gamer anyway. There's also plenty of space for chassis fans so I'm positive I can make it run fairly silent with a better cooler.

That fan on the stock cooler is horrible though, even at lower speeds it sounds like a small jetplane.

I saw the Kozuti and I'm considering that one.

mkk

Scythe Mini Kaze 60mm fans should be a good alternative if you haven't got those fans already. I recently used the Fractal Design 60mm fans in an ITX case (Chieftec BT-02B) and it's okay at 5V, but the Mini Kaze is likely a little bit better with a lower standard RPM.

Tipstaff

Which case did you use? Along with giving fan suggestions I might be able to suggest alternate means of cooling if I was able to see exactly what space constraints and venting is available.

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Liqourice

This is the case: BT-02B (Uni Series / Mini ITX Tower / miniITX)

There's place for 1 80mm and 2 60mm and I might even be able to squeeze a smaller fan on the bottom as well.

Veridian3

Was also going to suggest Scythe if you can find a model of theirs that fits... more than once i've had their coolers sort a htpc noise/size issue for me

kris23

scythe makes a good cooler... i find that many of their larger models can run passively provided that there is some circulation in the case...

or if the heatsink has enough ventilation for natural convection to occur but those have to be big heatsinks... with slower CPUs...

a dead silent performance PC... is rarely ever small...

a dead silent SFF PC is rarely ever fast...

something that is both... is usually rather expensive

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Tipstaff

I'm inclined to look at a non direct cooling solution. Maybe figure out a way to run some kind of duct from the front fan blowing air over the heatsink, and then maybe having another duct running from the heatsink to one of the 60mm back fans. That's the cheapest solution I can think of.

As for completely replacing the heatsink with a low profile one:

Scythe Big Shuriken (older - discontinued, but you might still find it)(heatsink @ 46mm + fan @ 12mm for a total of 58mm)
Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Low Profile (heatsink @ 46mm + fan @ 12mm for a total of 58mm) - This is an update to the above. It has 6 heatpipes and more fins making this more efficient.
Prolimatech PRO-SAM17 (heatsink @ 45mm, then pair it with a Scythe low profile 12mm fan for a total of 57mm)
GELID Solutions Slim Silence (28mm total as the fan is sunken into the cooler)
Akasa Low Profile AK-CC1101EP02 (heatsink @ 29mm + fan @ 10mm for a total of 39mm)

and if you're desperate, the Cooler Master DK9-7E52A-0L-GP (heatsink @ 22mm + fan @ 15mm for a total of 37mm) but I wouldn't recommend it (fan is shit).

I was trying to find the heatsink that runs on heatpipes from the socket, and out to a set of fins that sit above the PCI sockets either vertically or horizontally. Similar to the dual fin cooler that Prolimatech makes, the Genesis, but with just one set of fins. Bought one a long time ago, and if I find it again I'll post it up.

Edit: I didn't mention the SCYTHE Kozuti (@40mm total height the main feature of this cooler is that the fan is under the fins, not on top, that means it pulls air over the fins, and can directly cool the socket too) as the fan can be annoying, but it's an option too.

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Liqourice

I went for the Kozuti, 1 80mm and 2 60mm silent fans as well as downclocked the CPU a bit. Now it's very quiet and CPU temp goes between 40 and 50C depending on load.

So, I'm satisfied and my friend is satisfied..

Neshi

good to see you got it all worked out to satisfaction!

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