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Domain: koolance.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to koolance.com.

Comments · 67

  1. My quiet case project : it's an answer ... sort of by Prozzaks · · Score: 1 · on Building Quieter Computers

    Well, it seem these days, most of the power user just care to get something like 200fps in Quake III. Why ? Beat's me ! I'm not on a quest to get the ultimate frame rate, I just want my box to be quiet as possibly can be.

    To help you understand my take on the subject, here is the background :
    My PC has the following components :

    • A OEM case
    • A 235W OEM power supply
    • ASUS P3B-F
    • Intel Pentium II rated 400Mhz @ 400Mhz
    • A cheap OEM SECC2 Heat-Sink made of aluminum
    • A 128MB CAS2 no-name DIMM
    • Two 32MB CAS3 Samsung DIMM slowing down my memory timing, but preventing the appearance of the all mighty evil SwaP
    • A ATI All-In-Wonder Rage128 16MB
    • A Creative SoundBlaster Live! Value
    • A Realtek 8139 Ethernet NIC
    • My beloved USR 56Kbps ISA Real Modem. Sorry but to me a component that uses CPU power to do it's processing instead of taking the load off is not worthy of being in my computer. Not to mention the M$ Win part...
    • A Creative 48x CD-ROM drive. It's the loudest damned thing in my computer when it's spinning
    • A Quantum Fireball AS PLUS 40GB (7200RPM) in a removable tray
    • A Quantum Fireball CX1 10GB (5400RPM) mounted inside the case
    • Of course the stupid old 1.44 MB floppy drive only used for booting Tomsbrt in case of emergency

    Soon to be :

    • A Adaptec 2940UW
    • A Diamond Monster 3D II for Glide games

    It turn out that the Quantum Fireball AS makes less noise than the Quantum Fireball CX1. I still have to figure it out ...

    I use my PC for :

    • Running Linux and learning as much as time allows me (Jez I had so much time when I was a student... Think of all the time I wasted in High-School running the evil W monster)
    • Doing some gaming i.e. : Diablo II, Unreal, UT, Undying (Although that thing is going to cost me a new box)
    • Spending numerous nights filling my brain @ Slashdot, Tomshardware, Anandtech, Arstechnica, StorageReview, Developper.Intel.com, and most importantly, hounding the web for all the case manufacturers and their take at a quiet box.

    As I'm writing this post, that is probably going to be the base documentation for my Silent Case Project, you're guessing that my sleepless night of browsing have not yielded the desired result.

    I've check out many options such as water cooling, moving the PC to the closet, returning to the forest where a PC is pretty far from your everyday quest for survival. None of them suits me.

    The objective of my project is to build a case that meets the following criteria :

    • A silent as possible
    • Accessible
    • Provides sufficient ventilation to maintain all the components running within thermal specs
    • Be light enough to be easily transportable (Let's not forget the Lan parties ;-)

    To attain those goals I have to :

    • Read all I can about noise, sound, aerodynamics, PC specs
    • Find suitable materials : A case is not just a protection against unwanted fingers and dust ; it must provide EMI shielding, proper grounding, resist to impacts, and fit into my conception of the king of object you want in your bedroom (If you were thinking about plywood and a box of rusted leftover nails, forget it)
    • Find the tools or the companies or individuals with the means to work the materials I choose to build the casing

    For the sound isolation I was thinking about some kind of foam. Mineral lint would be affective but that takes too much space and it's not the kind of thing I want beside my bed. Form the casing itself, metal is almost inevitable if you want EMI shielding and grounding. And as for you who wonder why I have not mentioned water cooling yet, the greatest source of noise is not my CPU cooler and your just moving the problem out of the case (Nice ; you have water heating up but unless your reservoir is like a bathtub or something you will have to transfer the heat for the water to the air).

    That about as far as I am. If you have any idea that might help me, please fell free to send me some bits forming ASCII characters at Prozzaks@operamail.com

    To finish up, here is a list of thing that might help people wanting to achieve similar goals :

  2. Simple by Nicodemus · · Score: 2 · on Building Quieter Computers

    I haven't heard it myself, but every review has said that it is very quiet. It's a sub $200 liquid cooled case, completely self enclosed. It will quiet down your computer and cool it down a lot as well. The company is Koolance and I first saw a review of it at HardOCP. Nicodemus

  3. better solution... by Polo · · Score: 2 · on Building Quieter Computers

    Just move the computer. I have my computer on the other side of a wall, with long monitor and keyboard cables. Cut a hole in the drywall if you want. It works very well and the room is completely silent. Take care though - if you put your system in a closet or the like, it will most likely heat up the air in the closet and start causing the computer to fail.

    Another solution is a quieter case. This case is *much* quieter: http://www.koolance.com. Your components run significantly cooler too.

  4. Go fanless by koreth · · Score: 1 · on Building Quieter Computers
    Koolance makes a prebuilt water-cooled case that's supposed to be virtually silent. Even the power supply is water-cooled. Not suitable for super-hot AMD chips or overclocking, though they're apparently working on a more performance-oriented version for release later this year.

    HardOCP.com's review has more details (the link on Koolance's home page doesn't point to the beginning of the review).

  5. Koolance by MrResistor · · Score: 1 · on Building Quieter Computers
    Koolance makes a prebuilt, sealed watercooled case. The base system has water cooled CPU and power supply and costs about $200 (including shipping). The fans for the radiator are temperature controlled, so it's really quiet.

  6. Enermax makes a quite power supply by jmichaelg · · Score: 1 · on Building Quieter Computers
    I had exactly the same problem and solved it using a two pronged approach. First I replaced the power supply with an Enermax power supply. It controls its fans (it has two) using a thermo couple and only runs them as fast as it needs.

    The second change I made was to get rid of the fan on the cpu and replaced it with a water cooler. I attached the radiator to the power supply's intake so I wouldn't have to add yet another fan. Fortunately, the temperature delta from the warm air intake isn't too high for the ps.

    Net result is the computer went from being the pariah that was only turned on when absolutely needed to being the first choice machine. (I have 3 machines in a small room.)

    If I were to do it over I'd probably just go with a Koolance case. They appear to have put the pieces together properly with the exception of putting the radiator at the bottom of the case.

  7. Re:Other cooling methods.. by Cloud+9 · · Score: 1 · on Building Quieter Computers
    Given that many of those cooling systems sprung massive leaks and destroyed machines, I don't think that would be a good idea.

    Koolance, the company in question, has recalled all systems, and will pay the costs to replace destroyed parts.

  8. Re:Other cooling methods.. by Cloud+9 · · Score: 1 · on Building Quieter Computers
    Given that many of those cooling systems sprung massive leaks and destroyed machines, I don't think that would be a good idea.

    Koolance, the company in question, has recalled all systems, and will pay the costs to replace destroyed parts.

  9. As featured on /. before by Kronos. · · Score: 1 · on Building Quieter Computers

    You could always look in to these liquid cooled cases from koolance, not only are they good at cooling hardware down they also run quieter because the fans that cool the liquid don't run at full power all of the time and when they do they are quieter. A 2 for 1 deal.

  10. Water Cooling by George! by Deltan · · Score: 1 · on Building Quieter Computers

    Koolance Water Cooled Cases. Quiet as a mouse, very affordable, and work remarkably well. They're your ticket out of noisy-fan-hell.

  11. Koolance URL and reviews.. by Blaise · · Score: 1 · on Building Quieter Computers

    it's been posted on slashdot at least once, but I've actually seen these cases, and they are the quietest yet. check out koolance's website for the links to the different reviews (including one from HARDOCP)

  12. Re:Not now by BlueJay465 · · Score: 2 · on Commercial Water Cooling, And Quiet

    Yes they do offer a module for the graphics board. Look at their website again.

  13. Re:PSU Limitations by drix · · Score: 2 · on Commercial Water Cooling, And Quiet

    Answered my own question.

    --

  14. PSU Limitations by drix · · Score: 2 · on Commercial Water Cooling, And Quiet

    On the Koolance website they say that the water-cooled power supply only works for systems under 1ghz and with non-DDR RAM, even though it's rated at 300W. For people who want to go higher, they reccomend an air-cooled PSU at... 300W. So it's not like the cooler itself is sucking too much power. Can anyone shed some light on this? I posit that no one who cares enough to buy these cases are going to be running under 1Ghz, either before or after overclocking. On one of the distributor's web sites they say only that you shouldn't use DDR with it, meaning I guess that 1Ghz is okay. I really want to buy one of these cases for the noise reduction, and of course the PSU is one of the biggest sources of noise. OTOH I must have the latest and greatest, which means a P4 in the 1.5Ghz range. Anyone aware of what thes technical limitations stemming from a using liquid cooled PSU (even of identical voltage) are, how they relate to RAM and processor speed, and any ways to flout them? Thanks!

    --

  15. Re:Leery by ct · · Score: 2 · on Commercial Water Cooling, And Quiet
    It almost sounds like your 'crystal' based is in fact a Thermoelectric (TEC or Peltier) cooler.

    Without getting into details here, you can read an intro about them here:

    http://thetechzone.com/articles/peltier_intro/inde x.html

    and how to make one here:

    http://www.thetechzone.com/articles/how_to/peltier _cooler/

    Once thing that I'd be cautious is running their dual CPU liquid cooler. According to the picture on the right of this page :

    http://www.koolance.com/Clickable%20Case/largeview /CPUjacket.html

    the heated "exhaust" coolant from the first CPU is directly looped into the intake of the second CPU, rather than having separate coolant loops for each. I'd be interested in knowing exactly what the difference in CPU temp was between the first and second CPU's when running full tilt.

    (And yes, I do realize that the primary CPU in a dual system generally runs under a greater load & therfore would require greater degree of cooling,)

    -ct

  16. water cooling will prevent problems... by Polo · · Score: 2 · on Is Your P4 Working At Half Speed?

    Koolance is a company with a "mainstream" water-cooled case.

    And it's quiet because water cooling is not only used for the CPU, but also hard disk, power supply and graphics card.

    Of course, I've seen 4 way powerpc systems that have no cooling required...

  17. Liquid-cooled Case for under $200 by BlueJay465 · · Score: 1 · on Cool Case
    I really hate to advertise on Slashdot, but there is a case I have seen that is a helluva lot quieter.

    There is a company, Koolance, out of Federal Way, WA that just came out with a Mid-tower ATX case that is liquid cooled. I saw one of their demo units at InfoTech. They had a jacket strapped on the CPU and tubes going into the power supply, but later in March, they are going to release Video Card straps and Hard Drive coolers. When this thing is turned on, all you can hear are the hard-disk drives and Disc drives spinning. The ambient noise level is that of a single CPU fan. Price tag is $170, and you must have it installed at the store (for stability reasons).

    Maybe enough demand for something practical like this will stimulate some innovation to enable home users to perform such an upgrade safely?