Noisy Asus Pundit-R system

I've just bought and assembled an Asus Pundit-R system.

I've installed a 2.8GHz P4 (Prescott), 1 GB of RAM, a 120GB WD Caviar drive
and a Sony DVD-RW (whose tray will not fit through the gap in the front
bezel...).

The system works fine, but the CPU fan is driving me to distraction. The CPU
temp is stable at around 50 degrees, and the fan is stable at 5500RPM. It's
incredibly noisy, similar to the noise a desk fan would make and well above
Asus' website's claim of "27dBA in idle mode".

I've tried everything I can in the Bios - I've enabled/disabled Q-fan, I've
tried increasing the fan temperature thresholds. I've updated the Bios
(though I think the Bios I downloaded is the same as what was there
originally, anyway).

Has anyone got any suggestions for what I might be missing? Or can anyone
recommend a replacement CPU fan (UK sourced)?

 

Sounds like you know what you're doing.
Did the Q-fan make any difference? You said you'd tried it, but didn't
say if it did anything. Should make quite a difference in noise......
and quite a difference in CPU temp as well!
If not - have you plugged it into the right socket??

Isn't the pundit one of those rinky dinky micro AV type cases?
You might have a job getting a big/quiet heatsink in there.
I've used a Thermaltake SLK900 (or something) with a 92mm ultra quiet
fan and its made a huge difference. But would it fit??? Out of the quiet
types, its got a good chance - better than a circular Zalman type I'd
have thought.



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50 celcius is kinda on the warm side for the cpu.

 

It is interesting that the cpusupport web page, doesn't have an
entry for the P4S8L motherboard in that thing. The manual refers
to using a "2.8+" GHz FSB533 processor, but it also refers to
Willemette and Northwood. Now, a Northwood processor, as
found on processorfinder.intel.com under the P4 entries, lists
a power rating of 68 watts (2.8/533/512KB). A Prescott processor,
on the other hand, draws 89 watts. The power supply in the Pundit
is only rated for 200W, and the power converter on the motherboard
is only two phase. I think what I'm saying is, the Prescott is
one hot processor to be using in a small enclosure like that.

Paul

 

It made no difference to the noise or temperatures, sadly :-/
The fan only has a standard power connector to hook into the CPU fan header
on the motherboard. So it's in the right place, alright.

Yup, it's a cute little thing.
http://www.asus.com/products/desktop/pundit-r/overview.htm

There is a sort of duct-thing installed on top of the CPU fan, so Im pretty
optimistic I'd get a reasonable size fan on there. I'm still puzzled at how
such a small PC can make so much noise

 

Most fans that I have heard spining at 5500rpm are well above 27dba. That
must be the noise level with the fan at low speed. I have an Asus K8V MB
with Q-fan and the fan will go from max speed when hot (55c) to off when
below about 40c.
I dont use Q-fan though because I dont like the changing fan speed noise and
I have a Zalman 7000Acu HSF so I can keep it on low. Zalman makes good HSF's
but they are very big.
Seems like maybe your heat sink never gets the CPU cool enough to allow
Q-fan to slow the fan down. Are you using a "stock" HSF? You might get
away with using a fan adaptor to mount a larger fan that will cool at a
slower speed but it might not fit in your case. Seems like a better heat
sink might be needed also, but the best quiet ones are usually large.


Lou

 

I have a Pundit system and it is almost silent. It has been from day one
too, so something is not right with yours.

My system is used as a jukebox through my Hi-Fi and is powered on for most
of the day almost every day, I have never had it make any intrusive noise at
all. Then again just using it to store and play music does not stress the
CPU too much , I have a 2GHz Celeron, 256Mb of PC2700, a Maxtor 120GB
drive ans an old Creative 8speed CD burner in there.

When I start the PC up the CPU fan spins up and is quite loud, but as soon
as the POST beep happens it appears to slow down and I can no longer hear it
unless I put my ear near the case. If your Pundit does not slow down at the
POST beep I would be looking to RMA it for a new one.

I can't remember if I enabled Q-fan or not, and as I'm away from it at the
moment I can't check for you.

Adam S

 

Ah, interesting.

Yes, my fan spins up to full speed on power-on, then it goes quiet again.

And then after the POST it becomes noisy again.

I think I'll give the suppliers a call, I agree with you - something isn't
quite right here.

 

Glad to be of service. At least you know what 'should' be happening.

Adam S

 

A 89 Watt CPU in a small box & 200 Watt PSU doesn't sound like a good
combination. When stressed, the PSU also heats up and making matters
worse.

 

They've suggested Arctic Silver.

I'll try it, but I'm not optimistic.

 

Hi,

I really think it is a combination of small case, fast P4 chip, Hot P4
Prescott chip, lots of heat dissipation, inadequate ventilation / cooling.
IE the case just isn't designed for a higher dissipation chip such as the
Prescott.

If you could swap the CPU out for a P4 2.8C (Northwood) then things may be a
lot better. The pundit was released well before the Prescott, so the extra
heat will not be helping it at all.

50C is quite normal for a Prescott, 40C is quite normal for a Northwood with
a correctly mounted CPU / HSF. Perhaps let your suppliers give a C chip a go
and maybe they'll leave it in for you... It would be worth their effort as
they will otherwise get (if that is the cause) a lot of complaints about
Pundits.

HTH
- Tim

 

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your comments. I agree and I very much suspect you're right.

On a point of principal, I refuse to accept the system 'as is' - Asus
released a new version of the Pundit (the -R), and it says on their web site
that it supports the Prescott chip at 3.2+GHz, and the machine is clearly
marketed as being quiet.

Now, if the thermal solution provided with the kit is not capable of running
a 2.8 Prescott (never mind a 3.2) at a temperature that allows the machine
to run quietly, then they're lying. Pure and simple.

The fact that the supplier's techie described Asus' thermal material (on the
base of their heatsink) as "awful" is hardly inspiring. Despite being
"awful", they were still happy to sell me the kit, with the Prescott chip,
without losing any sleep. They'd be quite happy to sell me some Arctic
Silver to correct *their* mistake, but thankfully I've got some already.

<rant>
And having spent 5 (long and stressful) years in IT retail, I have
absolutely zero tolerance for IT manufacturers, suppliers, and the industry
as a whole. As I no longer have any appetite to mess around with computers,
I ordered this setup because I reasoned that it would be quick to build and
get working - no hassle.

From my point of view, it's really sad to see that in the time since I left
the IT industry, it still flaps around pathetically, completely failing to
accommodate occasional-enthusiasts let alone novices. Researching and
sourcing a system is hard enough work, without the inevitable pitfalls:
manufacturers still don't mention if their products are compatible or
incompatible with something ("yes, I know it's a pair of PC3200 Cas 2
memory, but will it work with a bloody Athlon XYZ?"), suppliers still pass
the buck onto manufacturers (who provide technical support at a rate
surpassed even by carrier pigeons), and end-users are frankly treated like
dirt. The burden of responsibility bizarrely lies with the consumer, rather
than the suppliers and manufacturers!
</rant>

So tomorrow, I will try some Arctic Silver on this heatsink (which, in
principal, I don't want to do - I'd just like to have the damn machine
working for the weekend). If it still roars like a north wind afterwards,
it's going to get tossed in a box and sent back. Back to square one...

I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks for all your comments & suggestions.

 

Hi Tim.

I have the previous Pundit, with a 2.6Ghz P4. I use speedfan (google it) and
the box
sites at around 40 degrees and is almost silent. I also have a Asus T2-P
with a 2.8Ghz
Prescott P4. Speedfan doesn't work with this, so I have to use the awful
Qfan in the bios.
It a) runs a lot hotter b)the fans rev up and down all the time, which is a
right pain as when
the fans kick-in it makes you jump a bit in a quiet office c) is slower,
performance wise, than
my little pundit. The pundit is like greased lightening compared to the
T2-P, which is a shame
as the P2-T has better memory and hard drive than the pundit (not to mention
hyper-threading
processor). I've faffed about with drivers, tweaking Bios etc, but I can't
coax any more speed
out of it.
My conclusion - Prescott processors are a waste of space. Get a regular P4
processor, download
and run speedfan, and you will have a brilliant little box that is dead
quiet.

Good luck.

 

There is a sort of duct-thing installed on top of the CPU fan, so Im
pretty

R U sure the cooler and the CPU make good contact? I had to lap it to
make'em perform under 45° C.

HTH,

 

It is indeed a cute little thing, i have also a lot of noice from
the pundit-r. The temp is stable and also the power voltages (idle and
stressed). But there are some strange things with it.

I get sudden reboots on 2 Pundit-R's i bought. I think it's a software
problem.
A "Driver was the couse" that is what windows xp(pro) says .. *sight

Another 1, if you want to mount a s-ata drive, you have to connect the drive
with a lot of stress on the sata-cable. If you flip the drive over (upside-
down) the problem is solved, but now you can't mount the HDD

Dual-VGA with the ati-9100 card does NOT work. The previous version did !!
Wake-up on lan (WOL) not implemented. The previous version did !!

Well for the noice reduction i would suggest watercooling
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20040630/water_cooler-06.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20040630/water_cooler-08.html

I'm sending my systems back becouse of all this and go for the T2 pro

 

Well this problem kept me up all night... talking and reading about it in the
newsgroups and forums.

I yust tried some idea of a friend of mine .. and it supprised me that it was
not ddr400 memory in the systems (both 800fsb cpu's).

All the resetting problems are gone, with twinmos ddr333 it took not longer
than 1minute for me to let it "sudden-reboot".

With Twinmos ddr400, i tested it again .. with starting around 39 explorers
3 outlooks, 4 custom programs, all office programs, around 2 dosen other
programs that i could find.. and then ran a burnintest program (bitpro).

Well it kept working .. Strangely enough the same ddr333 is in a Asus T2-r
The same processor and HDD, and this does not showup any problems ...
clearly the chipset/bios software is not entirely at it's best.

Ciao,