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My 'silent' Cad Workstation Build

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 6:58 am
by hudson
I work for a smaller company and one of my hats is PC builds and maintenance. I'm posting this to hopefully save someones time.

The heaviest uses of our PCs are Autocad and Solidworks. We have many computers in single rooms, so keeping them reasonably quiet

and maintenance free is one of my main goals. I shouldn't have to tell you that fixing a work computer on the weekend is not my

favourite thing to do! :)

I'll detail my most successful configuration to date for high power and low noise.

The parts that really matter:

Case - LIAN LI PC-A05FNB Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
MB - ASUS P8Z77-M R
CPU - INTEL XEON E3 1230V2 3.3G HT R
CPU Cooler - Thermalright Macho 120
GPU - AMD 100-505649 FP (Firepro) V4900 1G R
GPU Cooler - PROLIMATEC PRO-MK-26-BK
Fanless PSU 400+ Watts

I also use lower profile ram, or you can't rotate the CPU cooler properly to clear the GPU cooler mounting bracket, SSD of your

choice is a must, and obviously quality 120mm PWM fans.

Build Notes: that I had to modify the Prolimatec mounting bracket by taking a grinder with a cut disk and cut 2 of the spars shorter

on the mounting X. This is because the AMD Firepro has the GPU processor a lot closer to the slot than standard gaming GPUs have.

Otherwise I reused part of the mount from the factory AMD cooler to act as a spacer on the back of the card because there were some

ICs of some description on the back side of the card. The only modification there was to drill the holes a little larger to clear

the shoulder of the Prolimatec mounting bolts.

Thermal Performance:

See Screen Shots

SpeedFan showing my computer as I'm writing this. The ambient air is 26 deg C.
SpeedFan and Prime95 after 10 mins of Torture Test - 8 Threads - Max Core temp noted was 74 deg C, Max Fan RPM 1103 (2 120mm fans)
Speedfan and Furmark after 10 mins - This is the first time I've run this on this computer.. I noted that the 2 120mm fans tied to the GPU temp only turned on for ~30 seconds. Obviously the way they're setup now they aren't achieving much

Other shots of the build in general

I hope this information proves to be helpful for someone.

Re: My 'silent' Cad Workstation Build

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 6:59 am
by hudson
Can't attach more than one file.

GPU Clearance to Slot (tight!)

Re: My 'silent' Cad Workstation Build

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:01 am
by hudson
At Idle

Re: My 'silent' Cad Workstation Build

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:02 am
by hudson
Prime95

Re: My 'silent' Cad Workstation Build

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:04 am
by hudson
Furmark

Re: My 'silent' Cad Workstation Build

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 8:08 am
by frenchie
Nice.
Maybe a mod could move this to the gallery ?