{"id":90,"date":"2008-02-13T12:03:50","date_gmt":"2008-02-13T20:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.curlybrace.com\/words\/?p=90"},"modified":"2008-04-08T22:57:28","modified_gmt":"2008-04-09T06:57:28","slug":"silencing-the-htpc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curlybrace.com\/words\/2008\/02\/silencing-the-htpc\/","title":{"rendered":"Silencing the HTPC"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Antec Fusion Black HTPC case<\/a> has two of their TriCool fans<\/a>, which provide a three-position switch for speed selection. They flow tremendous amounts of air, but even at their lowest setting they’re audible, and they’re not controllable by the motherboard.<\/p>\n

\nAntec TriCool fan performance<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
RPM<\/td>\nCFM<\/td>\ndB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000<\/td>\n79<\/td>\n30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1600<\/td>\n56<\/td>\n28<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1200<\/td>\n39<\/td>\n25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In order for the motherboard to control a fan, it must have a three-pin connector. This provides voltage and ground, plus a sensor wire to sense the fan speed. Many fans provide only a four-pin Molex connector, which won’t allow for any motherboard control.<\/p>\n

This excellent fan comparison<\/a> led me to order a pair of Scythe S-Flex<\/a> fans. The fan features “Fluid Dynamic Bearings” licensed from Sony, and is available quite cheaply<\/a>. The fans are available in three model designations, -D, -E, and -F, indicating low, medium, and high-speed, respectively.<\/p>\n

\nScythe S-Flex fan performance<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Model<\/td>\nRPM<\/td>\nCFM<\/td>\ndB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SFF21D<\/td>\n800rpm<\/td>\n33.5CFM<\/td>\n8.7dBA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SFF21E<\/td>\n1,200rpm<\/td>\n49.0CFM<\/td>\n20.1dBA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SFF21F<\/td>\n1,600rpm<\/td>\n63.7CFM<\/td>\n28.0dBA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I bought the fastest of the three available with the optimistic hope that my Biostar mother board will do a reasonable job of regulating their actual speed as needed to control temperatures.<\/p>\n

Update<\/h3>\n

I have since learned that the TF7050-M2 apparently cannot control the speed of case fans. The -F model is exactly as loud as you would expect a 30-ish-dB fan, which is far too loud for a home theater PC. So, I stopped by Central Computer<\/a> and overpaid for the -D model (800rpm). It’s still audible three feet away, but I’m sure I’ll never hear it once it’s in the entertainment center cabinet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Antec Fusion Black HTPC case has two of their TriCool fans, which provide a three-position switch for speed selection. They flow tremendous amounts of air, but even at their lowest setting they’re audible, and they’re not controllable by the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[68,64,37,67,66,69,70,65],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-120mm-fan","tag-antec","tag-htpc","tag-s-flex","tag-scythe","tag-silent-pc","tag-silentpc","tag-tricool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curlybrace.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curlybrace.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curlybrace.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curlybrace.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curlybrace.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curlybrace.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curlybrace.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curlybrace.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curlybrace.com\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}