i was talking about modding a mac, not upgrading it. by modding i mean modifying the case, with a window, extra fans, etc. upgrading a mac is a pain in the ass... but with newer intel macs it shouldn't be that hard to get a CPU upgrade anymore. of course an equivalent windows machine will always be cheaper than a mac (and is compatible with waaaaay more software), so i kinda fail to see the point of buying one; but if you have one you can make it look nice.
Build your own computer
- Thread starter Will E Worm
- Start date
I built my newest computer. It was alot of fun. I don't really know that much about computers but I've always been good at building things. Its the Software that screws me up.
Quad-core 2.4Ghz pentium
4 gigs of corsair ram
500 gig seagate
ASUS with a 680i northbridge
GeForce 8800GTS G92 videocard, 512mb
Sound card isn't built into the mortherboard but came with it as a install
Coolmaster case 7x 120mm fans
It gets really loud if all the fans run at full speed but 70% its that much louder than average computers and I get cpu temps of 32C playing crysis and mobo temps of like 36C. The case is also really easy to work with and around .
Quad-core 2.4Ghz pentium
4 gigs of corsair ram
500 gig seagate
ASUS with a 680i northbridge
GeForce 8800GTS G92 videocard, 512mb
Sound card isn't built into the mortherboard but came with it as a install
Coolmaster case 7x 120mm fans
It gets really loud if all the fans run at full speed but 70% its that much louder than average computers and I get cpu temps of 32C playing crysis and mobo temps of like 36C. The case is also really easy to work with and around .
you can either try controlling your fans manually by getting something like this:
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or get different fans. they usually have two ratings, one CFM (airflow) and one DBA (noise). you want high CFM but low DBA. pretty much any 120mm fan moves way more air than the 80mm fans that are used in most other computers, so you'll be fine even if you get really slow ones (around 45CFM or so). i use silenX fans in my machine and i cannot hear them unless i put my ear 2 inches away from them.
CPU and motherboard fans also get noisy with increasing temps, there are many good, quiet CPU fans out there like the ones made by zalman. as for the motherboard fan i simply have another 80mm blowing over it rather than replacing it with something better because the graphics card is in the way. with the extra airflow it never gets hot enough to spin up to full speed.
you can also check in your system's BIOS (press DEL or F1 at startup) to see what th ethreshold is for the fans to spin up. many boards let you adjust this value up or down, so if you find that your fans are spinning up too early just set the value 5 degrees higher and see if that quietens things down.
Premium Link Upgrade
or get different fans. they usually have two ratings, one CFM (airflow) and one DBA (noise). you want high CFM but low DBA. pretty much any 120mm fan moves way more air than the 80mm fans that are used in most other computers, so you'll be fine even if you get really slow ones (around 45CFM or so). i use silenX fans in my machine and i cannot hear them unless i put my ear 2 inches away from them.
CPU and motherboard fans also get noisy with increasing temps, there are many good, quiet CPU fans out there like the ones made by zalman. as for the motherboard fan i simply have another 80mm blowing over it rather than replacing it with something better because the graphics card is in the way. with the extra airflow it never gets hot enough to spin up to full speed.
you can also check in your system's BIOS (press DEL or F1 at startup) to see what th ethreshold is for the fans to spin up. many boards let you adjust this value up or down, so if you find that your fans are spinning up too early just set the value 5 degrees higher and see if that quietens things down.
