Energy Saving - Sleep Mode - Turn off cooling fans?

[excalibur5]

Here's the problem: My system is working great, recording videos, replay, etc. but I have my HTPC in the same room I use as a guest room, and the video card fan is kind of noisy when the computer is running. I would love to enable a "sleep mode" of some sort that Sage will automatically wake the computer when it needs to do something to make the computer quieter. The system was nearly silent before I added the video card, a GT 220 made by Galaxy.

Here is my current setup:
Dell Vostro 200, Intel Dual Core 1.8Ghz, 160gb HDD (System), 1TB HDD (Videos), Galaxy GEFORCE GT 220 video card, SageTV7

I would frankly just go back to the onboard graphics (totally quiet - no fan, and worked pretty good), but it doesn't support full HD resolution, or have a HDMI output..

It would be nice to allow the computer to just sleep when not in use overnight, and automatically wake when it needs to do something.

[Menehune]

Putting the server to sleep will turn off the cooling fans.

Unfortunately, the one review I found for the GT220 measured the video card fan noise at 66db. 70db is a normal conversation, vacuum cleaner or a hair dryer.
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/296...d/index11.html

You may be able to find a modified vid card driver which may allow you to adjust the cooling fan speed. I think the high-end ($700) video cards have temp sensors and software drivers which allow cooling fan speed changes.
I don't put my server to sleep so I have no experience with Sage's sleep modes. It is covered in the manual and there are several threads on the board covering sleep modes.

[tchapin]

Do you have the server attached to a display / TV in the guest bedroom?

Any easy change to make would be to get a HD Theater to use w/ the display and switch to using the integrated graphics card again. Sell the video card to offset at least part of the cost of the extender.

[MitchSchaft]

Open it up and unplug the video card fan?

[Bizarroterl]

If you hadn't already bought a card I would have recommended the Zotac fanless GT220.

http://www.zotacusa.com/zone-geforce...20204-20l.html

[Fuzzy]

Just set windows to sleep the system after like 5 or 15 minutes or so of inactivity. This should shutdown all the fans. Sage will prevent standby when in use, or when recording, and will wake when needing to record something.