Nicely done. I modded an older NSK3300 to add the cable passthrough in the side of the PSU compartment where the 3480 already has one (that you didn't use since you went "behind the mobo"). I used a similar technique of using the bi-metal hole saw, but I wanted an oval, so I cut two circles near eac...

What is the reccomended Socket 939 cooler for this machine if I have it underclocked or at least not overclocked in any way? Is this PS just too loud or can I have a reasonably quiet machine with it? How about the case? Should I have a case fan or can I clock it down enough to run without? What is ...

Pay extra attention to routing your cables in the 3480 case. Extend cables if you need to. I need to on my 3400, but I think the 3480 comes with longer cables to begin with. If you're very careful with running cables out of the way, the Ninja works very well in this case, because it is very large an...

So, which could be the best solution for cooling my Asus M2NPV-VM motherboard with Athlon X2 BE-2400 CPU inside an Antec NSK3480 case? a) NSK3480 rear stock fan + Ninja Mini fanless + front 92mm fan(s) b) NSK3480 rear stock fan + Ninja Plus Rev.B + Ninja Plus Rev.B stock fan c) NSK3480 rear stock f...

I think your plan is sound, with a 120mm pulling air in from the front, with the exhaust area of two 60mm fans in back -without fans- and a large CPU cooler. I agree that a side-flow cooler like a Ninja would be best for keeping the airflow through the case as simple and direct "front to back" as po...

I'm not having good feelings about that Thermaltake heatsink without the fan. The fins are very closely packed, and I think they really need the fan forcing air over them to efficiently radiate heat away from the chip. Sure, the chips are low power, but 45 watts is still 45 watts. You wouldn't want ...

I had difficulty recently trying to find a good quiet Socket A HSF for an Athlon XP build that went flaky because the original HSF got clogged with dust and gunk and the bearing wore out. I ultimately bought the SilenX iXtrema 120 cooler, which looks a lot like a Zalman 8700LED, but the SilenX comes...

I still think you can fit a Ninja in there. The only cables you'd put through the passthrough in the "base" of the top compartment should be your motherboard power supply connectors. Everything else I'd put through the passthrough in the "side" of the top compartment. That means PSU power to hard dr...

Several of us have been able to use a Ninja in the 3400 case, but as noted, this also depends on your motherboard, whether you'll bump into caps or components. But to answer your question about how do you find out what fits, the best way I can think of is to ask here, or search the archives. In a 34...

When I say that undervolting is like overclocking, I am indicating that it can cause instability and you need to run the same stability programs as if you were overclocking. Underclocking is the opposite of overclocking. I was assuming they could tell the difference between voltage and clock. That'...

I also would say to consider a Thermalright XP-120 for HTPC builds, as well as the Zalman CNPS8700LED for low-profile builds. I use both with good results. And a brief note, undervolting isn't quite like the opposite of overclocking. Saying that it is, implies that undervolting makes your CPU run at...

The retail heatsink will cool the CPU without problems, but it will be noisy because it uses a smaller, faster-spinning fan. To reduce the noise, you need to either do away with the fan or slow the fan a lot more, with the tradeoff being that you'll need a heatsink with a larger surface area. I thin...

Unfortunately, the most up-to-date low-profile video card I was able to come up with on a build last year was the MSI 8400GS. It has a somewhat noisy little fan on its little heatsink. It did not come with a low-profile bracket, I had to order that separately from Newegg. (The bracket is by XFX, if ...

My first reaction was to recommend you try the CNPS8700, which I see you already mentioned, but are worried about fan noise. I use one in an Antec Minuet case for an HTPC that sits on a table next to my HDTV and it does a fine job, however it is a little audible, but not terribly so. I wish you had ...

Consider the AMD BE2300 and BE2350 processors. Low power but still full dual cores.

I can't help but wonder if you just have two noisy specific drives. Do you need a full 750GB of drive space? If you can get by with a third of the space, try a 250GB 2.5" drive. Alternatively, there are plenty of 750GB sata drives available cheap these days, try replacing both drives with one new dr...

I have the MSI 8600GT with stock passive cooler. As suggested above, just go with a stock passively cooled vid card. Instant ZERO noise from your GPU.

I don't know if a Ninja will fit your case (what is your case?) -but from reading your post, my immediate reaction was "I'm not familiar with your Arctic-Cooling CPU cooler, but if I've learned anything since catching the quiet computing bug, it's that the technology in CPU coolers should enable you...

I'm interested in what OS and software you are going to be running on it. Also, will the OS be installed on your RAID5? He already said the OS is on a separate drive, that's what the seventh drive is for. I agree that a Solo case ought to do the job and still have reasonable airflow around the driv...

I think you'll find that the Thermalright SI-97 is no longer actually available from any vendor. I went with an SilenX iXtrema 120 recently for socket A because it was the largest heatsink/fan combo I could find that came with mounting hardware for socket A. The SilenX 60mm fan you listed in your to...

I recently needed a cooler for a socket A Athlon XP, and as an owner of a Thermalright SI-97A, that's what I wanted, but I couldn't find them anywhere any more. I ultimately went with a SilenX iXtrema with an integrated 120mm fan. I got it from acousticpc.com. It came with mounting brackets for almo...

I think you'll like the Antec case. Things can get a bit cramped, but if you flip the PSU and pay good attention to cable management inside the box, it can run very quiet. I managed to squeeze a Scythe Ninja with a Scythe 120mm fan into it (in addition to the 120mm case fan). The Tricool 120mm isn't...

I'd definitely NOT use a front intake fan. The rear exhaust fan should do all the pulling you need, and keep things quiet. A front mounted 92mm isn't likely to increase your airflow, and any fan in the front is typically more audible. Unless you're getting some really toasty temps, I'd absolutely ru...

I recently worked on quieting one of my computers. Specs: Asus P48X-MX motherboard (VIA chipset), Intel 3.4GHz Northwood CPU, Antec NSK3300 case. My modifications: (1) Swapped a Ninja for stock Intel CPU cooler. Installed Scythe 120mm fan on the Ninja. (2) Swapped a 120mm Yate-Loon for the 120mm Ant...

I don't think I'd put a 19" CRT on top of my NSK2400. This might be a good time to upgrade to a widescreen LCD?

The stock HSF on the Athlon 64 X2 chips, in my opinion, is moderately noisy, and there's so many better, relatively inexpensive, *actually quiet* coolers, that I wouldn't use the stock HSF unless its noise level honestly does not bother you. In every system where I've used a stock AMD HSF, I've achi...

Yes, that's one reason why I've chosen to just live with the noise from my 6800XT AGP card, -that and the fact that addressing all the other noise sources brought the noise from just the video card down to a level I can live with. One small confession I have is that I used SilenX fans for my silenci...

If you're even considering the option of changing out the stock heatsink+fan for an aftermarket solution like the Thermalright HR-03, I recommend that you first remove the stock heatsink and measure the mounting-holes on your 6800 AGP card before buying an aftermarket cooler. I have an XFX 6800XT AG...

Many Antec cases come with covers with a vertical slot down the length of the cover. Maybe you can beg some from Antec?

Thermalright XP-120 fits, provided it doesn't collide with anything on your motherboard. Worked fine on my AMD system. I used the MSI passive heatsinked 8600GT without any case modifications. I think the Thermalright SI-128 will not fit.