New Computer Help

[pcgamer]

Hi,
I'm new to the SPCR forums but i've been reading some of the reviews here for a while.
Let me just get to the point.
I'm building a new computer and I would like to get your advice on which parts to use to make my computer as quiet as possible.

Here is what I currently bought / have: (everthing is stock)
1- P4 3.0 Ghz
2- OCZ 1GB PC3200 Dual Channel
3- Radeon 9500 Pro
4- Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu
5- SilenX 550W 14dbA PSU
6- 2 x Maxtor 160GB
7- 2 x WD 160GB
8- 1x WD 250GB
9 -DVD-RW and CD-RW Drives

I don't have to use all of the HDs. But I would like to have 2 or 3 HDs in the system (I use alot of space)

What I need (that I can think of):
1- Fan controller
2- Case ( i don't want to use a dremmel to make holes and stuff)
3- Fan (I have silenx 80mm fans but I would guess 120mm would be better)
4- Motherboard



So if you guys or girls could give me some ideas that would be awesome.
I want this computer to be as quiet as possible without a lot of hassle
( I would not mind some)
TIA.

[AndrewC]

I would get an Arctic VGA Silencer for the 9500 Pro. I don't know anything about Intel motherboads, but can suggest the Antec 3700BQE for a quiet case without much modding.

For hard drives, the Maxtors set to Minimum Acoustic output using AAM should be quiet enough for a while, but I would not use the Westdigs if you plan on a quiet system.

[sthayashi]

WELCOME TO SPCR

Straight up, I'm going to tell you that your hard drives will be the loudest components in your system. Everything else should be quiet enough (w/ the possible exception of the video card fan, which I'm not qualified to say).

Here's my thoughts:
1) Fancontroller - Pick you favorite manual one. I don't trust any automatic ones, and the cheap Fancontrollers are just as effective for you as the expensive ones. The only thing you really have to worry is whether it will fit behind the door of your case (assuming you get a door).

2) Case - Go here for SPCR's case recommendations: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article75-page1.html. With no regard to asthetics, I would choose in order:
-Evercase ECE4252
-Coolcases D8000
-Acousticase C6607 (tied) (may require modding for ideal airflow)
-Antec SLK3700BQE (tied) (no modding necessary).
-Antec SLK3700AMB (may require modding, potentially better than BQE)

3) There are some reviews in the fans forum for 120mm fans. No general consensus has emerged fully yet. Nexus appears to be decent, as well as Pabst and Evercool both undervolted).

4) Ideally, choose one from the Undervoltable Motherboard list. Undervolting is a free and easy way of reducing heat output and power consumption from your processor without impacting its speed. By doing both, you can ultimately reduce your fan speeds even further. The flip side is that you may need to purchase a passive Northbridge heatsink in order to achieve ideal silence.

[trodas]

Instead of the VGA silencer, that use fan, I would prefer to use the Zalman ZM80A-HP ( http://test.zalman.co.kr/english/product/zm80a-hp.htm ) with cool the Radeon 9500 Pro w/o fan easily - especially if you remove all the back PCI slot covers

For the rest, I don't like the idea of too many HDDs... Better sell them all and buy one really big But I suppose its too late for this...

[bomba]

Western Digital hard drives are not suitable for a quiet PC (both idle whine & seeks), unless (possibly) they are the very recent fluid bearing models.

If your Maxtor's are the current Diamond Max+9 fluid bearing drives, they should be suitably quiet both in idle and seeks once set to amset quiet. If they are older non-FDB Maxtor's, I imagine you will not be happy with 'em once you quiet the rest of your system. Seach the Maxtor site for the "amset" utility and use it to set accoustic management to quiet.

Folks here like the Antec 3700's for good reason. The 3700AMB has (5) internal 3.5" slots vs (4) for the 3700BQE and when suitably modded will be marginally quieter & cooler than the BQE. If you go this route, you'll have to get out the tin snips & drill, however. Check out Ralf Hutter's thread in the gallery for details & pics.

As to the mobo, I think you'll be happy with any of the ABIT, ASUS or Intel 865PE or 875 motherboards, depending on your desired features. Avoid Intel if you have any intention of overclocking. For ABIT, you'll want to replace the northbridge HSF with a passive heatsink like the Zalman.

Regarding the Zalman 7000, it comes with a fanmate, which I elected not to use. Instead on my system (see sig), I installed speedfan to keep fan speed to 30% unless CPU temps hit 50C, where it kicks up to 70%. The CPU fan almost never speeds up and is essentially inaudibel over the case fans at 30%. Good Luck!

[pcgamer]

How can I know if my MAxtor or WD HDs have fluid bearings or not?

[bomba]

I believe all Diamond Max+9's are FDB, perhaps some older Maxtor's as well. WD, only recently started using fluid bearings, chances are even if you recently purchased a WD drive that it is ball bearing. Ball bearing drives have idle whine which tends to increase in volume as the drive ages. You may wish to search the Maxtor & WDC websites for specs for your drive model numbers.

Best test is to listen to each drive, both in idle and seeks, then consider replacing the noisy ones. As for purchasing new hard drives, most SPCRers seem to prefer the Samsung Spinpoint, others like the Seagate 7200.7 and about all avoid IBM, Maxtor & Western Digital.

Note that IMO, the Maxtor DM+9 is quieter overall than the 7200.7. Unless you don't mind clearly audible seek noise (and occaisional "head moving" noises in idle), avoid the 7200.7.

[trodas]

Using 120G Maxtor 7,2k RPM 8MB cache (6Y120P0) and is VERY quiet and VERY fast. Actually it kicked ass of both Seagate and Samsung drives and I believe that are even quietier that these, but I could be wrong on this one... However the test that show even on my poor config with very badly installed drive and far from recent drives, not to mention being tested against EMPTY drives (the drive IS fragmented for the first test, defragmented later) performing exceptionaly and beating even their 160G bigger Samsung/Seagate foes, there:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... 9&start=60

...i will go for it, AAM of course are there and works, but I disbaled it - the drive is still so quiet and I sometimes like the very soft clicks that I can hear the drive is so so bussy right now

[pcgamer]

Sorry,
I've been away for a couple days studying 4 my finals.
So which motherboard would u guys recommend that is very overclocking friendly and ideal for a quiet system.

[shathal]

Sure you want to OC?

OC'ing == more heat == "death to silence".

The Intel D875PBZ is a pretty popular board, but can "only" be OC'ed by 4% - however, mostly SPCR-ppl are running CPU's at stock-speed or even under-clocked (less heat == less noise).

3 GHz P4 is already a fair whack of heat - you sure you want to stress that even more? If you want to OC, you might consider replacing the Zalman 7000 ACu with a Thermalright SP-94 mayhap (bringing out the "big guns".

Hope this starts a little thought .

[MonsterMac]

Sorry,
I've been away for a couple days studying 4 my finals.
So which motherboard would u guys recommend that is very overclocking friendly and ideal for a quiet system.

overclocking and pc silencing don't really go hand in hand; not to say that it isnt possible because i know people who've overclocked passively cooled CPU's; but it will be hard and probably pretty expensive to do (need quality silent components) but if you have the money go for it.

[alglove]

How can I know if my MAxtor or WD HDs have fluid bearings or not?

Check out the part numbers written on the labels, and then look up the specs on the Maxtor and Western Digital websites.

[pcgamer]

I chose p4p800 deluxe as my motherboard.
Does the Evercase come with the blue grommets or do I have to buy them seperately? (still looking at cases)

[pcgamer]

How do you know what voltage the fans are running at?
Should I buy a fan controler that displays temps or not?

[NeilBlanchard]

Hello:

Does the Evercase come with the blue grommets or do I have to buy them seperately? (still looking at cases)

Not unless you get it from ARM Systems -- the blue grommets are from EAR. I think the optional ones from Evercase (which I have no idea how to get...) are harder and may not work as well. Also, if you mount a hard drive in the "standard" holes in an Evercase, there are steel "fingers" that are better than a typical HD cage. The "fingers" act like little leaf springs and tend to quiet the seeks a little.

[pcgamer]

if you mount a hard drive in the "standard" holes in an Evercase, there are steel "fingers" that are better than a typical HD cage. The "fingers" act like little leaf springs and tend to quiet the seeks a little.

Does these fingers come with the case?
I see that u have an evercase, did u do much modding on it?

[pcgamer]

I decided that I would not mind some modding and I am going to mount the HDs using Aphonos' 2-Drive Suspension. So which case should I buy?
And which fan should I buy and where?
TIA. [/list]

[Skylined]

About the fan controller, I like to do them myself, either a baybus or a rheobus.

This one is the one I did and the one I'm using right now.
http://www.gideontech.com/guides/var_speed/

Before I used to have a 7V/off/12V baybus with bicolour LEDs.

[pcgamer]

I'll probab;y buy a fan controller from newegg.

[pcgamer]

BUMP