SSS Rig: Mark I

[E M F]

As I informed my wife, this is only the first "iteration" of this machine. I will be perpetually tweaking it trying to get it more quiet, though it will never quite reach silence thanks to the monstrosity of a video card I have.

First, the parts:


Antec P180; SeaSonic S12-430; Asus A8N-SLI Premium; AMD Athlon 64X2 4400+; Patriot PDC1G3200+BLK (1GB) RAM; BFG GeForce 7800GTX OC; (2) WD740GD Raptor HDs; Asus DVD-ROM and DVD+/-RW DL drives.

Next, installed.

Kings of Cablegami, feel free to provide suggestions!

My biggest problem with the installation:

This trio (Antec P180, SeaSonic S12-430, Asus A8N-SLI) is *not* a good match. The 4-pin ATX 12V power line is a guitar string. I cannot use the three PCI slots at the bottom for any card that extends much beyond the end of the slot, because that power line is stretched across the space. MikeC, I know you're against extension cables, but I have to use one here or void the warranty on the S12... and I'm not willing to do that to a part less than two weeks old! ;D

Now, on to other notes. (AntecRep, if you're watching, there are a couple requests here for the P180 version 2!)

1) The P180 has two small holes in the lower chamber's fan-wall, in the bottom corners. You can see one of these in the far right photo above. With a pair of pliers, I bent the wall just enough for me to feed the SATA power cable through the hole so I didn't have to go up into the board chamber then back down. (My photo of the actual implementation came out unseeable-blurry; I will get a better one for Mark II.)

2) The included fans in the P180 have regular Molex connectors; I ended up daisy chaining them and zip-tying them to the space where the VGA duct was for now. I have two complaints with these fans: one, that the little white speed switch has no method of attachment, so free-floats in the air by default; and two, that they have no RPM-reporting functionality whatsoever, so I have to rely on perceived evidence that they're actually running.

3) The sliding panel for chamber separation has a nice little hole for the power cables coming up and out, but no such hole on the hard drive space. Grr. I'll be cutting one so that I can seal that space a little better.

4) I will be installing some sort of fan grill to keep the fan in the power supply chamber from chewing up my hard drive cables.

5) Asus, in their <sarcasm>wondrous wisdom</sarcasm> decided to put the front-panel audio connector on the back of the board, behind the EZ-Plug. Ditto the analog audio connection for the CD drive. That's a really, really cramped section of the board, and that's where they plopped five or six different connectors. There's a spot near the front of the board marked "FPANEL" with ten little solder dots, but no connector... I'm guessing this is where it was planned to go (or indeed, exists on the non-Premium version of the board), but its new location is poor at best.

6) BFGTech's manual for the installation of the 7800GTXOC is irrelevant. Really. It doesn't mention PCI-Express at all, nor the PCI-Express power connector. Went online, and the manual there is identical (read, useless). I spent half an hour on hold before I gave up and connected the PCI-Express Y-cable between two separate cords from the power supply.

All right, enough of my complaints. Now, on to my future plans...

1) Replace the Antec fans with ones that attach to the motherboard instead of to drive connectors, mounting them with anti-vibration techniques. This is both for cable neatness and monitoring. I think the Nexus ones will do nicely. Anyone had any luck spray-painting the orange fans without throwing them off balance?

2) (MAYBE) Replace the stock AMD heatsink with a Scythe Ninja and an acrylic air dam. I've seen this concept done here by nomoon, but I'll use cut acrylic instead of cardboard. ;D The reason I say maybe--- the cooler that came with the Athlon is pretty quiet at idle; I haven't had the chance to ramp it up under load to see what happens.

3) Seal up the holes around the backside of the case near the power supply, forcing the air from the central fan through the power supply instead of around it. Not sure if the added resistance is going to cause a problem.

4) I will eventually open up the SeaSonic and replace the 4-pin ATX12V cable with one about six inches longer.

For a case with six fans, a behemoth of a video card, and two high-speed hard drives in it... this is already remarkably quieter than my old P4, which had only four fans total.

Please, please, please... give me ideas. I am open to constructive criticism!

[dynamiks]

Okay first of all I am loving your system... all the components you have are excellent, good choice in hardware.

Now lets see... Let me start of by saying, the tray where you put the cables through for the power supply, it slides on both sides. So you can push cables through the hole on the hard drive side. You have to remove the thumbscrew, and slide the tray over, to make the opening appear.

I notice you have no active cooling on your 2 raptors, that is not a good idea. If I were you I would get a 120mm fan blowing on those bad boys right away. The raptors get really hot if they do not have any active cooling because they spin so fast. And with 2 of them right on top of each other that would only make it worse.

Now here's a few suggestions on help with your wiring. First of all, that 120x38mm fan on the bottom is not really necessary unless you have alot of HDD's installed down there. If you can try to remove it, as it will allow you to have easier and nicer looking cable management. Once you remove that fan you can now run your cables up through the hole closer to the hard drives, and they wont be blocking your PC slots. The cables will come up to the edge of the motherboard, which is much easier to hide cables, and will provide better airflow. The way you have all those cables bunched up in front of the video card is not good, its not going to provide good airflow around the card.

For reference, take a look at how I have mine setup in this thread... I have plenty of pics.
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=23358

I also realize that the Seasonic has a short ATX and +12v cable, well if you are having problems with the cables reaching just get this extension cable kit from Performance PC's. It will allow you to run the +12v cable behind the motherboard. And you can hide your large ATX cable, more out of the way now, instead of blocking everything.

Here's the link for the extension kit
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=931183

Now as for silencing. You can definately get your case to be very very silent, practically inaudible, cause I have done it! You just need to have a fan controller DEFINATELY. And getting a new Zalman VF700-Cu for that 7800GTX would also do wonders for cooling and lowering noise. I know some people were concerned if it actually fits, well check this link for OFFICIAL confirmation...
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=931183

Next, try to replace your fans with Nexus or Yate Loon D12SL-12's. And if I were you, I'd change the stoack AMD heatsink if you are going to be doing any kind of overclocking, because you can get much better temperatures with something like a Zalman or a Thermalright heatsink, not to mention lowering noise due to a larger low speed fan. The smaller the fan, the faster it has to spin to push the same amount of air as a large fan at lower speeds.

Anyway I hope I helped, and good luck, and have fun with your new toy!

[lenny]

How's the on board audio with the A8N SLI Premium? Won't you get even more gaming performance with an audio card?

I think you should leave the PSU holes at the back of the case open if you have the PSU chamber fan running. No harm experimenting, I guess. If you're going to open up the S12, you may want to consider sealing up those holes and removing the S12 fan, and rely on airflow through the S12 generated by the PSU chamber fan for cooling.

[frankgehry]

I've read that you can get good results with dye instead of paint to change the color of plastic parts. I can't remember which modding web site had an article about this but I'm sure you could find it with google. - FG

[E M F]

... good choice in hardware.

Thank you; careful shopping and selection to suit my needs. One of the mandates was that the hardware be usable by both Windows XP and by SuSE Linux 9.3, as this will be a dual-boot when I'm done with it.

... and slide the tray over, to make the opening appear.

I noticed that--- it's how I got the data cables for the drives into place... but my problem was that unlike the power-cable slot which has a pre-shaped hole to sort of close around the cable bundle, the drive bay area is a flat edge... which means you have to leave a slot all the way across the hole open that is the thickness of the data cable. I'll be nibbling a little hole in this edge so that I can seal it better.

I notice you have no active cooling on your 2 raptors ...

Hmmm... wouldn't the air flow from the 120x38mm fan in the bottom pull air across the Raptors, thus keeping them cool? (I was banking that it would, but I'll watch the temps to be sure.)

The way you have all those cables bunched up in front of the video card is not good, its not going to provide good airflow around the card.

One of my main reasons for asking. They cables sort of "float" over the top of the card, but they're not pretty where they are.

I also realize that the Seasonic has a short ATX and +12v cable, well if you are having problems with the cables reaching just get this extension cable kit from Performance PC's.

I just bought a 4-pin extension to use for that one cable. I'll run with that for now, but I'll look into the extra extension for Mark II.

... new Zalman VF700-Cu for that 7800GTX would also do wonders for cooling and lowering noise. I know some people were concerned if it actually fits...

Again, probably a Mark II mod; I'm less concerned with it fitting than I am with it being able to dissipate the heat off the overclocked 7800. I see that the person has done so, but I'll wait for someone who actually did a before-and-after test before I go mucking with a >$600 video card. ;D

... You just need to have a fan controller DEFINATELY. ... Next, try to replace your fans with Nexus or Yate Loon D12SL-12's.

Fans are already ordered and en route. I'm shopping around for a 3 1/2" wide four-fan controller, but I might do it the hard way. There's a reason the top two 5 1/4" slots are empty, but I'm not ready to reveal that part of my master plan yet. ;D

And if I were you, I'd change the stoack AMD heatsink if you are going to be doing any kind of overclocking, ...

No overclocking planned whatsoever. However, as per my original post, I'm thinking I'll change out the AMD heatsink for a Scythe Ninja. It's fairly quiet while idling, but I just cranked it up, and it does get whiny, though fairly quiet inside this case.

Won't you get even more gaming performance with an audio card?

Yes, and thus why I need the PCI slots, and thus the 4-pin ATX12V extension. I have a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 for this box as well that I'll be transferring from my current gaming rig, as well as an M-Audio Delta 66 that's en route for audio recording.

... sealing up those holes and removing the S12 fan, and rely on airflow through the S12 generated by the PSU chamber fan for cooling.

Agreed. In fact, as I mentioned in another thread, when I open up the S12, I'm planning on cutting away most of its cage and replacing it with high-tensile strength steel mesh. The fan will go away, and I'll be relying on the chamber's fan for airflow.

...dye instead of paint...

Hmmm... good possibility, if I can figure out a way to do it without weakening the fan blades.

Anyway I hope I helped, and good luck, and have fun with your new toy!

Thanks for the feedback!