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Lownoise / Noiseless Asrock ION 330
#31
Finally, I didn't buy a zalman, I first tried to power the CPU fan with 5V (from the DVD/HDD power connector, no free 5V connector on the ASROCK ION 330, I've only seen the clear CMOS strap connector). With 5V, no noise, but temperatures were too high. Then I put a 68Ohms resistors in serie from the 12V fan connector and the temperatures are good now. Here are my results with 1080p playback

CPU FAN 12V/ BIOS ultra silent: GPU<75°C, CPU<55°C (initial)
CPU FAN 5V / BIOS ultra silent: GPU>85°C, CPU>80°C increasing -> stop
CPU FAN 5V / BIOS silent : GPU<85°C, CPU<75°C
CPU FAN 9V / BIOS silent : GPU<70°C, CPU<51°C
CPU FAN 9V / BIOS ultra silent: didn't try

With 9V and silent settings the CPU fan noise is gone and overall noise level is very acceptable Smile
Ciao
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#32
I replaced the case fan with this one, and it's quieter now.

Image
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#33
the 50mm fan isn't really an issue. can easily be replaced with the Fractal Design one available everywhere. the 30mm is the noisy one..
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#34
Could anyone test whether changing the fan control settings from maximum speed to ultrasilent makes any difference?

On my 330HT it doesn't seem to make any difference. I always hear a loud, high pitched noise from the CPU fan. (FW 1.00). I suspect a hardware fault but I'd like to make sure before I RMA my box Sad
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#35
Do you mean BIOS 1.0? In my case I have BIOS 1.6 and when I change the fan setting it makes a big difference. With the max setting the case fan is very noisy. I think you should try to upgrade the BIOS.
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#36
Ah.. but I have the 330HT version. There is no newer FW than 1.0 I'm afraid.
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#37
I have also the 330HT and the fan is really loud after a while. Changing from auto to ultrasilent doesn't make a difference. Maybe this will be improved by a BIOS-Update. At least I hope so ....
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#38
I ordered a Zalman fanmate, this should do the trick for now... I'l let you know if it was 4 euros well spent Smile.
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#39
sounds good Big Grin . Please let me also know who you get the wires of the fanmate out of the case.
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#40
Well, the Fanmate 2 makes a hell of a difference. Even when it's turned up to maximum speed. The case fan and the CPU fan make about the same level of noise now. Not (yet) great but acceptable.

I placed the fanmate inside the case. The Fanmate 2 version has quite long wires and it can be placed on the right hand side of the case (just).
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#41
Thanks for your review. What about the temps ?
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#42
I'm at about 55 degrees C for CPU and 70 degrees for the GPU chipset.

Looks stable, but Ican't monitor when running XBMC.
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#43
Got my 330HT a few days ago. The box is great, but as said XX times it is far from silent. Especially the high pitched noise is very noticeable.

Here is what i have done to minimize the level of noise:

I removed the "hood" and CD/Hard-drive (very easy). Source of the noise is 80% the little fan. Rest is the large chassis fan at the back, and a small portion of harddrive sound.

The high pitched sound is in my case produced by the fan making the heat sink "sing". I noticed if i put my fingers on the heat sink to stabilize it. The noise was totally changed and the high pitched noise was gone.

The small fan is kept in place with 4 screws into the heat sink. I removed 3 of the screws (the fourth is tricky to remove without taking out the motherboard). With only one screw keeping it in place i squeezed a rubber washer between the heatsink and the fan to make space between the fan and sink. See picture for details. Image

I also squeezed a few rubber washer into the heatsinks to stabilize it and make the "singing" disappear (see above picture).

At the large fan i removed the 4 screws and fitted rubber washers between the fan and the chassis.

I put the cd/hd back and put the hood back on. The box was now alot more quiet. You could still hear a "woshing" sound, the high pitched is gone.

A few days later i found and old Fan Mate II. I put the small fan on the Fan Mate and placed the regulator on the outside. This finally made the box "silent". I can still hear it if i walk up to the box and listen, but it's far from how it was "out-of-the-box".


I have no temp readings since i cant get the sensors working on my ubuntu install. The system is very stable and i haven't noticed any problems after doing this.

This quick mod is warranty-friendly as everything can be reversed.

Hope this can help someone else with a noisy 330HT.
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#44
Very interesting,
To monitor cpu temp I have had to patch the coretemp driver that doesn't manage ATOM cpu. I followed the tuto given at post 28 of this link:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1199797&page=3
After that I have installed the sensors-applet that displays GPU and CPU temp in the GNOME panel.
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#45
In the review on PCtreiber.net i've read that the Bios-Settings for the fan just have an effect on the 50 mm fan on the backside of the case. So the only possibilty to regulate the small CPU-Fan is a fan-control like the fan mate.
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Lownoise / Noiseless Asrock ION 3300