Can you run a PIII 500 without a fan???

[Jonestown]

Question as above. This is in an old dell and the PIII 500 is the old katmai core if thats important. Its got a pretty big heatsink on it, but I don't know if thats enough. The cpu is already kind of fanless. Those dells have that shroud that directs airflow from the case fan over the heatsink.

Just asking as this pc is kind of a HTPC in the living room, and silent is absolutely important. The only thing this PC does is play MP3's and DVD. There would be no additional cooling (I yanked out the old 92mm case fan, getting really noisy) except for the fan in the power supply.

I previously replaced the stock 92mm case fan with a 80mm panaflo L1A, and that helped, but I can still hear that fan. I want to be able to be in the living room with the pc on, and not know that it's on.

Thanks for any opinions/suggestions.

Jonestown

 

[OulOat]

No, you probably can't run the CPU without the fan. If you can still hear the panaflo, get a papst then.

 

[tapir]

I had one and the thing got darn hot even with the 40mm fan it came with.
I would say get a big (92 or 120mm) silent panaflo or papst and find an alternative method to attaching it to the hsf. That should work just as well or maybe better than the original arrangement.

 

[NokiaDude]

I'm running my P166 with a tiny heatsink and a 92mm double ball bearing fan.

 

[kidjan]

Originally posted by: Jonestown
Question as above. This is in an old dell and the PIII 500 is the old katmai core if thats important. Its got a pretty big heatsink on it, but I don't know if thats enough. The cpu is already kind of fanless. Those dells have that shroud that directs airflow from the case fan over the heatsink.

Just asking as this pc is kind of a HTPC in the living room, and silent is absolutely important. The only thing this PC does is play MP3's and DVD. There would be no additional cooling (I yanked out the old 92mm case fan, getting really noisy) except for the fan in the power supply.

I previously replaced the stock 92mm case fan with a 80mm panaflo L1A, and that helped, but I can still hear that fan. I want to be able to be in the living room with the pc on, and not know that it's on.

Thanks for any opinions/suggestions.

Jonestown

I think you could run that processor with just a HS:

SPCR.com

...you'll see that a PIII-500 Katami has a power dissipation of ~27 watts -- very small. Any sort of airflow and a decent HS, and you're completely fine. For reference, I have a PII-400 "Deschutes" that I currently run with no fan in a very low airflow case (sometimes it's been running at 100% load for days on end) that has a power dissipation of around 25 watts. Less than 30 watts is fairly low, and that processor should be fine in the setup with the shroud and a passive HS. I would reccomend undervolting the fan to 7 volts (or even 5) and seeing if that makes the noise level acceptable (typically, those panaflow fans are for all practical purposes "inaudible" when run at 7 or 5 volts instead of 12).


Another thing you might do is look in the bios and see if the core voltage is adjustable on the CPU (I doubt it, but it's worth a look). That, and you might consider underclocking the processor. Both of those things will greatly reduce the amount of heat dissipation, but I doubt the motherboard on that Dell supports those features.
Check out that site I linked - great info on stuff like this.

Cheers, mate.

 

[vegetation]

Just volt down the fan to 7v. If it's a panaflow L1A, you'll barely be able to hear the thing at that level (big difference from 12v). Should provide enough airflow for borderline applications, temps may be a bit high though, not that it really matters. I have just recently attached an L1A @ 7V as a blowhole/ps vent fan on my shuttle ss50 and am completely satisfied with the noise level. At 12v it was still a bit noisy, but rest assured when you get that thing at 7V your ears will be moving to other issues (like hard drive noise).

 

[Jonestown]

Thanks for the replies. Can anyone link to a site for the 7 volt mod? I've heard of it, but never seen/read how to do it.

Thanks for the help.

Jonestown.

 

[ChefJoe]

7 volt mod is done by switching the ground wire of the fan to the 5 v wire. This can be done with a 4 pin adapter or a 4 pin type fan by bending in the little retaining pins of the metal connector with a safety pin. I think overclockers.com had a fair guide on how to do this.

 

[OulOat]

7 volt mod is in the middle of the page. I don't know why you would 7V a panaflo, those are really quiet already and by 7V it you are just reducing the airflow some more. Get a papst, better airflow and quieter than a panaflo at 7V.

 

[Jonestown]

Thanks for the link. I did the 7 volt mod, and it did make a pretty big difference. The PC is basically inaudible from 5-6 away. I appreciate the help. Now if only I could get my normal pc this quiet.

Jonestown

 

[dxkj]

No, you dont need a Fan... I ran a PIII 450 Katami for 3 years without a fan, worked great.

 

[touchmyichi]

You said its "already kind of fanless". If that means its running quiet already, why mess with it?

 

[AU Tiger]

I've got a PIII 500 running in system right now without a fan and haven't had any problems. All it has is the intake fan from the power supply above it.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: AU Tiger
I've got a PIII 500 running in system right now without a fan and haven't had any problems. All it has is the intake fan from the power supply above it.

Yep, same here on a server that runs 24/7 on a BE6-II. Been running it like this for almost 2 years. I'm even slightly OC'ing it w/ no fan

Chiz