Hardware Analysis - P chassis loud?

Re: P chassis loud?

Jass Lau — 2005-03-10T16:20:49-05:00

Got my Shuttle little worried about the improvising on the hardrives and optical drives. The clearence on the optical became a problem of free movement of the tray.
The noise level is acceptable.

Can someone confirm I have these dimensions correct?

Fan 1(Left side) ICE Processor Fan 80mmx25mm 4Pin Runs 1591 RPM.
Fan 4 (Right side) Power Fan 80mmx15mm 4Pin Runs 6617 RPM.
Fan 3 Rear Fan 80mmx25mm 4Pin Runs 484RPM.
Fan 2 & Fan 5 2x60mmx20mm RPM not registered.

Are these correct or have got it completely wrong?

Cheers

Fan1
Fan2
Fan3
Fan4 & 5 2x 60mm.

ICE
Exhaust
Two small HD coolers
Power silent X 350W Right side Fan

Pin Types III, IV

Re: P chassis loud?

Graham Hammond — 2005-03-01T21:30:21-05:00

With the system and CPU at between 40 and 50 degrees C these are my fan speeds:
Fan 1 = 1320 rpm
Fan 2 = 440 rpm
Fan 3 = 1830 rpm

Re: P chassis loud?

Jass Lau — 2005-02-28T20:07:31-05:00

Hey guys you are all worrying me because i've just invested �1,200 on a SB95PV2.
Does anyone actually know what speeds each fan spins at normal temp.?
If the noise is that bad I'm going to have to invest in some Acustifans.!

Shuttle SB95P V2
P4 570J 3.8GHz LGA 775 CPU 800 FSB
Asus Extreme N6600GT TOP GeForce PCX6600 GT 128MB DDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express)
"OCZ Gold EL Dual Channel Kit 2x512MB DDR466 PC3700 CL 2.5-3-3-8 Revision 3(OCZ4661024ELDCGER3-K)
250GB Hitachi Desk star SATA HD 8MB Cache.
OCZ Enhanced VGA & HDD Power Cables

Re: P chassis loud?

Arne Huse — 2005-02-11T14:09:08-05:00

For our organization I bought four SB81P's and noticed that one were louder then the other three. I checked the tip suggesting that one of the fans were wrongly connected to the Fan 4 connector, but it is connected just like the others. The difference is that the Fan 1 speed is reporting around 4000 rpm in BIOS, while for the other 3 it is around 1200 rpm which makes the whole difference. I don't know what's wrong, but the CPU is reported cool at about 37 deg. C (no fever!). Seems to me that something is wrong with the fan or the electronics controlling the fan. Any ideas? Back to the vendor?

Re: P chassis loud?

Graham Hammond — 2005-02-11T00:33:20-05:00

I may be considered to be biased since I have recently built a SB95V2 with a 3.2GHz P4, twin Raptor HDs and an ATI graphics card. But I've found the case to be pleasantly quiet, even for a home PC. I don't get any vibration from the HDs, the smart fan system seems to be stable and hasn't altered pitch even when the CPU is pushed hard.

It is strange that you had such a contradictory experience; it may be possible that certain combinations of hardware end up generating that level of noise where as with other hardware is okay. Could this be a fault with Shuttle's latest or just plain bad luck?

Re: P chassis loud?

Jon Moon — 2005-02-10T06:19:04-05:00

you cannot accept what TH say about ANYTHING to do with intel as they are notoriously biased and are beholding to intel

to put ANY preschot in a SFF is just plain stupid, read ANY site that focuses on the SFF concept and you will find that the preschot/roomheaters are not recommended under any circumstanses for use in SFF.

i really do question Shuttles reason behind the construction of these newer intel models, maybe a little pressure bought to bear ??? as they go against the very idea/concept of the SFF which is size, usability and most importantly...........SILENCE

Re: P chassis loud?

Rich Anderson — 2005-02-10T02:58:06-05:00

Also caught the link off HardOCP. I looked for other reviews with noise compairisons, and here is another of SB81P (which AFAIK uses the same cooling setup as SB95P):

http://www.sfftech.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=563&pid=2143

With a 3.4EE, the SB81P was again quieter than most MiniPC's, even ones running slower processors.

Tom's Hardware tested with a 3.6 prescott as well, and it was much quieter than the XC Cube you reviewed recently with only a 3.2 Northwood.

Either you had some bum units, wrong setup, or your ears have gotten a lot more sensitive since you reviewed the XC Cube

P.S. Did you try it without the 6800gt to see if that was the noise maker?

Re: P chassis loud?

Bob Modo — 2005-02-10T00:05:35-05:00

Hi Sander. Yes, this is the first time I've been here. Caught you guys on a link from HardOCP. I appreciate your response but I'm still a little bewildered by the review, although I do love the quick 'n dirty 1-page format.

I've never experienced the SB95V2 first hand, but I do own a SB81P which shares the same chassis, and my experience with it is completely opposite of yours. I probably wouldn't have replied had the review not mentioned noise in the range of "we were wondering when it would actually take off" and "noise level is just unbearable", since I haven't heard of anything like that from other sites or forum members without it being some other kind of issue with the P-chassis. I don't doubt you that the noise you experienced is very loud, I was just wondering why your fans were revving so high.

Personally, I live in the balmy state of Florida and have a 3.2Ghz Prescott in mine and mine sits on my desk. The only noise problems I have is from the Raptor HD, as it likes to vibrate the desk a little. Granted, I'm using the onboard graphics as well which helps tremendously noise wise. But even during the 24-hr burnin period with dual Prime95s going I didn't have noise anywhere near the take-off or unbearable range, mostly because the fans don't need to rev that high to cool the cpu effectively even under load. Just makes me wonder if your SmartFan settings were messed up due to some kind of BIOS issue or something else. Oh well, without temps and fan speeds and such its hard to know. I guess your mileage may vary with this barebones system.

Re: P chassis loud?

Jason Silverman — 2005-02-09T23:08:43-05:00

Sander,

No need to prove a point here, just allow me. I've been a regular to Hardware Analysis for a while because I got fed up with other sites that bring you 10..15.. 20 page reviews and arrive at the same conclusion. Sander and his team usually hit the sore spot 99% of the time in just a comprehensive 1 or 2 page article, which is what I'd like to read anyway, I don't have time to read 10 or more pages.

And no, I'm not some teen that plays around with his computers all day. I'm employed in the industry myself and diagnose, troubleshoot and document new parts for a large OEM. I find Sander's take on things refreshing and his columns provoking and informative. I come away with just the information I need, and that's what counts right?

Alright, now I'll go pull the feather out of Sander's a** and ask him where that PayPal payment he promised is at (just kidding).

---
Jason Silverman

Re: P chassis loud?

Sander Sassen — 2005-02-09T23:00:11-05:00

Also, since the both of you are first posters I take it this is your first visit here, but rest assured that you'll often see things worded different here then elsewhere. This is something our readers appreciate, we tell it like it is, that's how we do things around here. Hence you also won't see 20-page reviews just to please the adverisers or up our revenue, we'd like to provide you with a service by keeping things real, simple and to the point. Stick around and you might like what you see and learn to appreciate the different perspective.

Re: P chassis loud?

Sander Sassen — 2005-02-09T22:54:35-05:00

Rich,

Since you quoted Tom's have a look at the below noted URL, you'll see the heatsink and the small 70mm fan that it uses. Combine that with a processor such as the 570J or 3.46GHz EE which dissipate over 100-watts of heat and you'll see why this fan has to spin fast to keep things cool, and fast spinning small fans are noisy there really is no way around that. I'm not saying Tom's cooked the books on this one, but I highly doubt their results, as they also list the Zen, with a 3.2 Prescott which we have in the office as well. They rate the P chassis with a 3.6 Prescott as less noisy, well that is a blatant lie, the SB95V2 is a far cry from the Zen in terms of noise production.

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20040804/barebones-34.html

Re: P chassis loud?

Sander Sassen — 2005-02-09T22:19:03-05:00

No no, no wrong fan header, we made sure all was set up properly. And rest assured we don't arrive at these conclusions lightly. Of course we doublechecked with another sample, and that showed similar results. We're just a bit sensitive about noise, and report that back to you, because when you set this SFF up for use at home or in the office, you might be in for a surprise and we just want to give you a bit of warning before you shell out $400 for one. Your mileage might vary, as noise is a subjective measurement, you might feel it is acceptable.

Re: P chassis loud?

Bob Modo — 2005-02-09T21:43:53-05:00

Absolutely not. The P chassis is actually the quietest computer I have ever witnessed. Although they supposedly have steel variant that is out? which is supposed to be the quietest.

Anyways, what no doubt happened with this review is kind of notorious with the P chassis. Sometimes one of the fans comes connected to the wrong fan-header from the factory (Plugged into FAN-4 instead of FAN-1). This causes the fan to run at 100% speed constantly, regardless of the SmartFan/SpeedFan setting or temps. And yes, it is VERY loud at 100%.

It happened to me with my SB81P. Once I connected it to the right header it was quiet as a mouse. Don't let this review scare you off.

P chassis loud?

Rich Anderson — 2005-02-09T21:22:07-05:00

The noise findings seem weird, because Tom's Hardware compared the same chassis to 13 other barebones and found it the quietest of the lot:

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20040804/barebones-32.html

"The cooling system works very effectively, because even under full load, the fans weren't loud. The measuring device just showed 41 dB(A), which is an excellent rating."