CPU and motherboard advice for a SOLO case?

[Laszlo]

Great, informative site--it's helped me learn a lot already. But now l can't abide the noise of my current PC.

So I'd like to build a PC that's very quiet at 1m. Already bought a Seasonic X Series 650w power supply ($100), 2x4GB dual-channel DDR3 G.Skill valueram ($27) and a 2TB WD Green HDD ($60). I'll be getting a 120GB SSD on Black Friday and likely another 2TB HDD down the line when prices return to normal.

I've narrowed down likely cases to either the Antec SOLO II, or the original SOLO. Cost is a consideration, so I'm not happy with the SOLO II's $130 price, but the top PSU vent should allow convection to cool the power supply w/o using its fan and isolate its heat load from the main case, which would be nice. The SOLO II's 2 HDD suspension mounts are enough for my needs, and the dedicated SSD mount is a plus, but I would like to save $40, so do your best to convince me otherwise.

My main question is what motherboard and CPU should I go with to not sabotage the noise profile of the SPCR-recommended components I've already decided on. Nor do I want to pack it with tons of excess power so that it requires much extra or expensive cooling. I don't need high-end 3D gaming graphics, but my other usage is pretty heavy. Often ~50 tabs open in Chrome with a dozen extensions, Flash-based music player, half a dozen open programs, always-on bittorrent client and a distributed computing client that utilizes otherwise idle processing power.

Never really had a new PC, so not sure what recent hardware is capable of... I'd like to primarily run Ubuntu Linux 64-bit (so any fan control should not be Windows-specific software). I'll need to occasionally run some simple Windows programs using VirtualBox. I'd also like to be able to watch 1080p video smoothly. Would good integrated graphics suffice for these scenarios or is a GPU a necessity? If a GPU is required now, I'd rather get one that supports two large monitors as that might be a future upgrade. Again, no real 3D gaming happening--if it runs Civilization 4 (released 2005) I'd be happy, but it's not required. USB 3.0, integrated wifi and a couple extra RAM slots are also preferred, but not required if it adds much to the cost.

Any tips would be appreciated--thanks!

[Arbutus]

CAN$ 250 - GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 and Intel i3-2100 3.1GHz
CAN$ 180 - M4A88T-M/USB3 and Athlon II X3 455 3.3GHz

[Laszlo]

CAN$ 250 - GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 and Intel i3-2100 3.1GHz
CAN$ 180 - M4A88T-M/USB3 and Athlon II X3 455 3.3GHz

Thanks for your suggestions. Was impressed by all I read about the i3 2100 in particular--good speed and performance-per-watt. Got the Intel/Gigabyte pair as a combo deal on Newegg for $210 USD. Decided to splurge on the Solo II with my savings. Realize now that my PSU wattage is huge overkill for this build, but it's supposed to still be 87% efficient at 1/5 draw (and doesn't constrain future upgrades).

How much extra cooling will the case need besides the included 120mm TrueQuiet in back? Will I need a front intake fan, or would I be safe with just that and the heatsink fan?

I think I'll want a filter for the PSU grill--dusty environment. Any other small things I'm missing or silencing upgrades?

[CA_Steve]

Your thermal load is pretty low with just the i3-2100 and no gpu card. Compare it to Lawrence's build with the 125W TDP CPU. You won't need a front fan.

[kuzzia]

How much extra cooling will the case need besides the included 120mm TrueQuiet in back? Will I need a front intake fan, or would I be safe with just that and the heatsink fan?

Probably not since the only source of heat is the i3 2100 which doesn't dissipate much heat (32 mm, very efficient architecture). Do you use an aftermarked heatsink to cool it? Stock heatsinks aren't optimal for quiet computing.

[Arbutus]

How much extra cooling will the case need besides the included 120mm TrueQuiet in back?

1 upgraded fan will be enough.

Will I need a front intake fan, or would I be safe with just that and the heatsink fan?

You'll want an upgraded CPU cooler.

I think I'll want a filter for the PSU grill--dusty environment.

The PS fan will probably never turn on.

Any other small things I'm missing or silencing upgrades?

The WD green drives vibrate so little that you will not need anything more than the drive trays with rubber blocks.

[Arbutus]

I'd like to build a PC that's very quiet at 1m.

To me very quiet at 1m means that the computer would make an almost imperceptible non-annoying sound when you got to a 1 meter distance. This very quiet at 1m situation would mean that the computer was around 1 dBa louder than the ambient noise level in the room. The ambient noise level in my den varies throughout the day. I have built my PC so that at idle it is silent during the day and when things quiet down in the late evening I can here a very gentle, faint 'whoosh'.

So, Laszlo, perhaps you should assemble the system and see where your noise levels are at and then decide where to go from there.

Have fun...

[Laszlo]

Your thermal load is pretty low with just the i3-2100 and no gpu card. Compare it to Lawrence's build with the 125W TDP CPU. You won't need a front fan.

Thanks for pointing that out.

How much extra cooling will the case need besides the included 120mm TrueQuiet in back?

1 upgraded fan will be enough.

Will I need a front intake fan, or would I be safe with just that and the heatsink fan?

You'll want an upgraded CPU cooler.

I think I'll want a filter for the PSU grill--dusty environment.

The PS fan will probably never turn on.

Any other small things I'm missing or silencing upgrades?

The WD green drives vibrate so little that you will not need anything more than the drive trays with rubber blocks.

1. So the TrueQuiet is good but not great? The Solo II case has a fan switch on the back, would an upgraded fan be able to take advantage of that, or is a fan controller necessary?

2. I'll want a heatsink that fits 1156 CPUs, right? I don't mind a big tower, but it seems top-down gives better cooling for components nearby to the CPU... Any specific recommendations?

3. Looks like the front fan filters are removable/washable. May move one to the top vent to catch falling dust even if the fan never runs.

4. Plan on using the two suspension and one SSD HDD mounts included. Picked up an Intel 320 SSD on Black Friday--good price for it, but with a $120 mail-in-rebate.

Thanks for all the guidance!

[CA_Steve]

Again, take a look at the SPCR review for the Solo II. Temps/dB are fine with the included case fan and a tower style cooler.

You want a Socket 1155 cooler. 1156 was the previous socket.
The Cooler Master Hyper 212+ is reasonably priced but needs a replacement fan.

The Noctua NH-U12P is pricier but comes with 2 great fans. Not that you'd need push-pull for your thermal load.

Or, you could get the Scythe Mugen 3 - priced between the other two and comes with a decent fan.

[Laszlo]

Again, take a look at the SPCR review for the Solo II. Temps/dB are fine with the included case fan and a tower style cooler.

Not too familiar with what acceptable ranges for those would be. Just know all my previous computers were very, very loud.

You want a Socket 1155 cooler. 1156 was the previous socket.

Noticed the discrepancy, but didn't see any 1155-compatible heat sinks listed in the reference article. Good thing I asked.

The Noctua NH-U12P is pricier but comes with 2 great fans. Not that you'd need push-pull for your thermal load.

I'll go with the Noctua. The second fan could be put to use on my family's computer. And push is better than pull with a single fan, right?

[Arbutus]

To me very quiet at 1m means that the computer would make an almost imperceptible non-annoying sound when you got to a 1 meter distance. This very quiet at 1m situation would mean that the computer was around 1 dBa louder than the ambient noise level in the room. The ambient noise level in my den varies throughout the day. I have built my PC so that at idle it is silent during the day and when things quiet down in the late evening I can here a very gentle, faint 'whoosh'.

I use only one fan in the upper chamber of my P180 case. My system has no direct noise paths to my ears because the top fan position is blocked and the air inlet area on the front is double baffled. Air enters through the filter on the front and exits through the rear fan position. A 3" long ducted fan assembly is constructed from a Scythe 120mm PWM fan sandwiched between two 120mm fans with the guts cut out and is mounted on the rear chassis fan location. This ducted fan assembly aligns well enough for adequate air to be drawn through the Scythe NINJA CPU cooler. The fan is connected to the CPU PWM fan connector and Temperature controlled variable fan speed is enabled. The fan runs at around 650 rpm at idle and 1500 rpm when re-coding a video.

Have fun...

------ My Main System ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Antec P180 spcr_edition, Athlon II X4 640, Scythe NINJA, ASUS M2A-VM HDMI, OCZ Solid 3 120 GByte SSD, 500 GB FXD, WinXP

[CA_Steve]

-->And push is better than pull with a single fan, right?<--

yep

[Arbutus]

... push is better than pull with a single fan, right?

A: Yes and No.
In my experience push cools about 5 degrees F (2 'C) better and pull is about 2dB quieter.

[Laszlo]

CAN$ 250 - GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 and Intel i3-2100 3.1GHz
CAN$ 180 - M4A88T-M/USB3 and Athlon II X3 455 3.3GHz

So everything's put together now. Almost.

Was a bit disappointed to find that this board has no internal 20-pin hook-up for the Solo II's frontside USB 3.0 ports. Not that I have any usb 3.0 devices currently, but I would like for all my ports to be live, especially on the front. Is there some card I could get later on to plug it into? Or else an adapter to use an internal USB 2.0 connection?

But my main problem is there seems to be a quirk with the GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 when dealing with the amount of RAM I have (I went for 16 GB G.Skill Ripjaws X Series). My first attempt to power things on resulted in a restart cycle every few seconds, nothing on screen. Got to the BIOS only after pulling out two sticks, and apparently I have to change some setting there before installing the full complement of RAM...

From the Newegg reviewers who encountered this issue, it seems the problem is related to the Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.) setting (but they don't go into details). Changing that to Profile1 did not fix the issue--do I also have to handpick some values for the profile before anything changes? I don't understand what the issue could be, as the first two sticks are picked up properly as 1.524v, 1600Mhz, and 9-9-9-24. And the RAM specifically says "Designed for Z68 & P67 motherboards" and the motherboard says in its specs "Support for DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 memory modules".

Besides for the RAM issue, everything else went well. Very, very quiet. I doubt I'd hear it at all with the case closed and set up in its final position. Left the Noctua at 1300 RPM as it's quiet enough. Had to flip it around after install though. Clear as their directions were, I could find no marking that indicated the actual direction it would blow when turned on. The case fan switch for the TrueQuiet doesn't seem to do much though. On the "H" setting BIOS reported RPMs from 460 to 610. On "L" it showed 440-560, with more frequent swings and occasional readings of ~9000.

[Arbutus]

... main problem is there seems to be a quirk with the GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 when dealing with the amount of RAM I have ... do I also have to handpick some values ... ?

A lot of people are having trouble using 16 GB of RAM, especially if it is not on the QVL (Qualified Vendor List). This is the memory test I recommend:

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Microsoft calls it "Windows Memory Diagnostic" which a stupid name as is boots up directly from a floppy or CD using only the mainboard's BIOS. It has a very plain menu system. [Hint: press the T to run extended tests.]

For the best reliability now and for the many years you own this computer you should:
=> never overclock
=> never overvolt
=> never undervolt
=> only buy QVL memory or Kingston ValueRAM and test it for at least 24 hours

[CA_Steve]

You'll need to fault isolate the problem to see if it's:
- a problem driving 4 sticks with the default profile
- a bad memory stick in the bunch
- a bad memory socket.

Best case - you just need to slow down the timings to handle having 4 sticks in place (you are driving twice the capacitive load as 2 sticks).

There's a rather large decision tree that I don't have time to type out. You'll need to run the diagnostic Arbutus linked. Start with just the 2 working slots filled and see if it passes. then replace with the other two sticks. then try both sets in the other 2 slots and make sure various combinations work just using 2 slots. If all of those pass, then your memory is ok, your sockets are ok, and it's just a timing issue driving the 4 sticks (this problem has existed in some form since the invention of the PC).

[Laszlo]

You'll need to run the diagnostic Arbutus linked. Start with just the 2 working slots filled and see if it passes. then replace with the other two sticks. then try both sets in the other 2 slots and make sure various combinations work just using 2 slots. If all of those pass, then your memory is ok, your sockets are ok, and it's just a timing issue driving the 4 sticks (this problem has existed in some form since the invention of the PC).

So looks like my situation is not best case.

Ran extended test with 2 sticks in slots closest to CPU--no errors. Moved the fan to opposite side of the heatsink, then tried those 2 tested sticks in the sockets farthest from the CPU--no dice. Nor did putting just one tested stick in either of those slots result in a boot or ability to run the memory test CD.

Now running the memory test with the 2 other sticks in the slots closest to CPU. Passed the quick test, now doing extended. But I guess I found the problem and those two memory sockets are bad...nothing to do but an RMA and try again with new board?

[CA_Steve]

One last test...try slowing the memory speed down (if at 1600 - try 1333) and repeating the memtest with the farther slots. Then start the rma.

[Laszlo]

One last test...try slowing the memory speed down (if at 1600 - try 1333) and repeating the memtest with the farther slots. Then start the rma.

Doing the RMA. Wasted enough time doing Gigabyte's quality assurance. Just want to get things up and running with a board I can trust. For the record, I did test all 4 sticks one at a time in each socket. Every test with the first channel passed, every attempted test of the second channel failed to boot the test CD or reach BIOS.

Thanks everyone for the testing tips!