[rescue] quiet SPARCstation

[Katherine Strojny]

Greg A. Woods wrote:

> I've been thinking of replacing the fan too, either with a variable
> speed one (with a built-in termistor for speed control, eg. like the old
> AT&T 3B1's had), or maybe just a slower one.

I should check those out.  I've been looking at these fans that use a
magnetic field to keep the blade straight on the shaft.  Supposed to run
quiet (33.5 dB) and live longer. It seems like it could be just as powerful
in terms of cooling power (but I'm just speculating from comparing voltage
and current, since those are the only numbers I have for my existing fan.)

(3B1's, I don't go back that far.  Fond memories of 3B2's, though, from a
time in my life when I probably wouldn't have been able to distinguish
between a variable speed fan and one that was failing.  Not that things
have changed much.)

> Your SS5 upgrade board might draw more power and
> require more cooling than the SS1 or SS1+ original,

Yet the system has just the one fan, on the power supply.  I found that
odd, but I've been looking at too many newish PC's lately.

> I haven't noticed any hum or vibration from the chassis though (even
> when I put my hand over the fan opening to block most of its noise), but
> that may be because I have no drives in the box....

My hard drive's been unplugged.  The vibration's coming from something
else--that kinda leaves the fan.

-k