Okay, so my curiosity is satisfied. I can hook the NeXTstation Turbo color up to my Dell monitor and actually play with it. The 21" NeXT monitor I have is *so* loud[1]. I can only guess it has an internal fan, all to itself. However, even separated from that, the 'station's fan is a noisemaker, and hoo-ey! when the drive spins up, it sounds like an airport in here.
So, I'd like to get in an tidy things up. Is it worth trying to lube the fan to not be so noisy? Any recommendations on a nice quiet drive to put in there?
[1] Incidentally, I'm looking to part with the monitor. Willing to sell or trade for a boxed copy of OS 4.2 + Dev and manuals. Any takers?
Quote from: "urbanape"when the drive spins up, it sounds like an airport in here.
So, I'd like to get in an tidy things up. Is it worth trying to lube the fan to not be so noisy? Any recommendations on a nice quiet drive to put in there?
Hahaha, the description about the noise, and the simily to the airport is right on the money with some of my gear! :)
Unforunately, I don't think lubing the fans will really make'em much much better (with exception that one in the 21" monitor, which most likely used to be quiet, because it wouldn't have been tolerated if it was that loud, but once again replacement is the best method -->). What I'd recommend is going to FrysOutpost or searching online for a fan with the right dimensions, voltage/amp ratings and checking out which is the lowest db one, and getting that one.
As for hard drive, same deal, although right now I can't give you any models/numbers, but there are plenty of newer SCSI disks that are quiet and fast (even if 7200 or 10,000 RPM). If you've got money, you might want to look at a Savvio:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/servers/savvio/savvio_15k/The 10,000 RPM Savvios are cheaper, and you probably cannot find a quieter hard drive. Only issue is that, AFAIK, they come with a SCA connector, which is 16bit SCSI, and you'll need another for converting to 8bit SCSI.
I went through this recently so here are somethings to think about.
Fans: The cooling system on the Slabs is pretty simple, a single fan draws air across the bottom and into the case with pressure pushing it out the back. The Stock Nidec Beta V TA300DC 80mm fan was rated at .21amp and approx 34CFM. [It's hard to find specs on it, the model is M33409-16]. So you want to try to keep the CFM rating as close as possible.
I replaced mine with a Panaflo FBA08A12UBH which has these specs [.17amp 39.6CFM and 32DBA] it is quieter and has better airflow. BUt if you want super quiet try to find a SilenX IXP-54-14 its only 32CFM but at 14DBA and only draws .12amp.
Hard-drives: There some good threads about drives here the biggest thing to check is the power draw. The original drives are pretty low power less then 700ma so try to stay under 1amp peak and a cool running drive as you can. Andreas mentioned burning out a powersupply before so you should be conservative about your choice.
-Mike