My new NSK2400 parts are on the way!

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 5:41 pm

I finally bit the bullet and ordered some parts to build a home theater-ish PC. Here's the list:

Antec NSK2400
Abit NF-M2 nView
AMD Athlon 64 3800+
2GB DDR2 667
Zalman CNPS 9500 AM2

I'm going to reuse my Barracuda IV hard drives and optical drives from my old machine. Hopefully everything goes together as planned! All of the parts arrive on Tuesday, so I'll update with pics as soon as I get it all together.

edit: Updated with pics

Meato · Post by **Meato** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:17 pm

that zalman gonna fit in a 2400?!?

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:24 pm

Meato wrote:that zalman gonna fit in a 2400?!?

Supposedly it barely fits, after some modification. I'll be sure to take some pictures that illustrate if/how it works out.

Mr_Spork · Post by **Mr_Spork** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 6:52 am

I hope everything fits ok!

How many case fans will you be using in this setup?

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 4:35 pm

Mr_Spork wrote:I hope everything fits ok!

How many case fans will you be using in this setup?

I'm not quite sure yet how many case fans I'll need in this setup, but I'll obviously try to keep it to a minimum to keep the noise down. I don't think the system should produce a whole lot of heat, since I don't even have a dedicated video card, so I might be able to get away with just the PSU fan and one 120mm exhaust fan on the side.

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:36 pm

Waiting 4 pics!!!

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:12 am

Some random thoughts from assembly:

- Antec put together a high quality case in the NSK2400. All of the 'little touches' were there, like rolled edges to prevent cuts, cables that were actually long enough, everything fit together well, etc.

- The CNPS 9500 AM2 is huge!!! It completely dwarfs the stock HSF that came with the 3800+. I'm not sure if this was an intentional design decision or not, but I wish they had keyed the clip so that the heatsink can't freely spin around in the CPU socket. Granted, the thermal compound keeps it mostly in place, but I guess I'm just a little obsessive about right angles.

- For the first time building a PC, everything worked on the first try after assembly! I always tend to do something small, like plug in the HDD LED lead backwards. Also, I'm running Vista RTM and it actually worked booting into my old installation with my new hardware. I was very impressed with how well Windows handled the complete hardware overhaul. I'm still in the process of reinstalling Windows right now, though, cause that's just how I am.

- Back to the CNPS 9500, it does stick out about 5mm above the case. As can be seen in my pics, I had to bend many of the top fins down as was suggested in other posts to get the top to fit on the case. Everything went very smoothly with this modification, as I just used a flat head screwdriver to start a gap in the top and then just worked the fins outward with my hands.

- I didn't even give the two 120mm fans that came with the case a chance. Many people noted that they were too loud, even on the quietest setting. The plugs are not conducive at all to modding to 5V, so I used an extra 120mm fan from my old Sonata that I had laying around. I modded it to use 5V and just blocked the other 120mm spot. At first, I had the fan as an exhaust, being the only other fan in the system except for the PSU fan. Just letting the computer sit in the BIOS, the temperature levelled out to 74c. I think that's a bit warm for anyone's comfort zone, so I tried flipping the fan around to make it an intake. This dropped the CPU temperature to 60c. Considering how quiet the system is, I can live with that kind of temperature. Upon reboot after sitting in Windows overnight, the BIOS read a CPU temperature of 51c.

- Acoustic observations: I don't do much with the system, so the most relevant noise level is that at idle. The hard drives don't make any perceptible sound at 1m, although maybe I just live in too loud of an apartment building to hear them. The fans can barely be heard above the sound of the water pipes going to other apartments. The computer sits in my TV stand that has front doors, so when I close the doors, nothing can be heard over the other ambient noises.

- The RAM I selected was based on other feedback I read about excellent overclockability. I tried just setting the memory to 800MHz with default settings, but the computer just wouldn't post afterwards. I ended up increasing the voltage to 2.0V and now everything seems to be working fine at the higher speed. And after looking through the incredibly extensive memory timing settings, I am completely lost. Does anyone know what they should ideally be set to or perhaps have a guide that explains all of them?

- Final thought, you may notice that I don't have an IDE cable going to either of my optical drives! I couldn't find any good way to route the cable using a standard 18" IDE cable. I'm thinking: a) get SATA optical drive(s) b) get SATA converters for my drives c) get a longer (36"?) IDE cable. Did anybody else come up with a good way to route an IDE cable to the optical drives in this case?

Sorry for the poor quality in the pictures, but my cellphone camera is only so good. Hopefully my experiences have been helpful to anyone else looking at this case.

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:20 am

Thanks for the pics. At first I was like"what is that thing in the middle!".

I would not do the converter ads many have had problems. The price u pay for the converter u may want to add a bit more as the SATA opticals should be more ready available within the month or so, that is what was said.

Thanks

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:02 am

One more pic to show how the NSK2400 fits into my TV stand:

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:19 am

OMG, what an awesome setup! The NSK2400 fits in perfectly, looks more like a high-end audio unit than a PC. I am going to be building an almost identical AM2 rig, if it was me I would prefer a lower idle temp than 51C, have you tried undervolting in software (RMClock/Crystal)?

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:36 am

51 idle is SUPER high!

May i suggest something?

The problem is the heat is getting recycled because it's an enclosed area. What you can do is put an 80mm on the back of the case. Heat goes out. Now normally stands like the one you have have plywood in the back. Correct? Maybe you can make a tunnel so that the heat goes out the back of the case and out throught the back of the plywood.

Just an idea.

Very nice btw

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:48 am

jaganath wrote:OMG, what an awesome setup! The NSK2400 fits in perfectly, looks more like a high-end audio unit than a PC. I am going to be building an almost identical AM2 rig, if it was me I would prefer a lower idle temp than 51C, have you tried undervolting in software (RMClock/Crystal)?

Thanks for the compliment. I agree that the NSK-2400 fits very well into my setup. I'm not completely sure that 51c is the idle temperature. I haven't installed any software yet to read the temperature from within Windows. Regardless, I'll probably look into it more over Thanksgiving break. Unfortunately, I did have to go into work this morning...

MC FLMJIG wrote:51 idle is SUPER high!

May i suggest something?

The problem is the heat is getting recycled because it's an enclosed area. What you can do is put an 80mm on the back of the case. Heat goes out. Now normally stands like the one you have have plywood in the back. Correct? Maybe you can make a tunnel so that the heat goes out the back of the case and out throught the back of the plywood.

Just an idea.

Very nice btw

I actually used to have that very problem because of the backing that came with the TV stand, so I just removed it

But like I stated above, I'll probably be looking into how I can lower the idle temperature over the weekend via undervolting, another fan, etc. I should probably also look into what the load temperatures for this system are.

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:55 am

You have virtually nothing in there. Maybe bad heatsink placement?

you also need to get the hot air out. Like ya said another fan. Don't have many choices as the back fits an 80mm.

Maybe you can have the back come in and the side out?

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:02 am

MC FLMJIG wrote:You have virtually nothing in there. Maybe bad heatsink placement?

you also need to get the hot air out. Like ya said another fan. Don't have many choices as the back fits an 80mm.

Maybe you can have the back come in and the side out?

What do you mean by bad heatsink placement? There are only so many ways that it can reasonably be oriented.

I'm wondering how much an exhaust fan would actually help. The CPU is getting fresh air directly from the 120mm intake, and the warm air should eventually find its way out either the back or by the hard drives. I think the most likely thing that would help would be to put a fan directly on the CNPS 9500 (and forego semi-passive cooling) and switch the 120mm intake to be an exhaust.

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:08 am

You can misplace a heatsink. Perhaps not sugged in perfectly.

I also didn't notice you had it passive.

can't you place the Zalman so that it faces the 120mm fan and the hot air is exhausted? You can always use the fanmante and keep it low.

The outtake would help alot. The hot air would leave right away instead of "hang around". A slow moving one would help alot.

You could also keep the sides intakes and then use the PCI area and "mod" a fan to exhaust there as well.

I'm looking at a similar setup as you and looking at this post is giving me a ton of ideas.

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:11 am

MC FLMJIG wrote:can't you place the Zalman so that it faces the 120mm fan and the hot air is exhausted?

Do you mean just rotating the heatsink ~45 degrees to face the 120mm fan? If so, I'd probably rather avoid that since the base of the heatsink isn't much larger than the IHS of the CPU. Rotating it would probably leave part of the IHS exposed.

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:17 am

I haven't bought a Zalman in a long time. Since the 7700 series for the Qpack. I've been partial to Thermalright.

I'm thinking an XP or SI series and have the air pushed upward and maybe creating a 120 hole duct to "roof" and concealing the top with 120mm mesh.

Hmmm.... I was looking at the pic and I think you can put a Yate by the PCI area. Maybe you can vmod it to 7v and that would help a lot with heat exhaust.
OR
Use the pci area as intake, or the 80mm slot ( I think the PCI with a vmodded yate is better) and have the sides as exhaust.

btw does this case come with any fans?

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:18 am

MC FLMJIG wrote:I haven't bought a Zalman in a long time. Since the 7700 series for the Qpack. I've been partial to Thermalright.

I'm thinking an XP or SI series and have the air pushed upward and maybe creating a 120 hole duct to "roof" and concealing the top with 120mm mesh.

Hmmm.... I was looking at the pic and I think you can put a Yate by the PCI area. Maybe you can vmod it to 7v and that would help a lot with heat exhaust.
OR
Use the pci area as intake, or the 80mm slot ( I think the PCI with a vmodded yate is better) and have the sides as exhaust.

btw does this case come with any fans?

The case comes with two 120mm Antec Tri-Cool fans.

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:20 am

ciz28 wrote:
MC FLMJIG wrote:I haven't bought a Zalman in a long time. Since the 7700 series for the Qpack. I've been partial to Thermalright.

I'm thinking an XP or SI series and have the air pushed upward and maybe creating a 120 hole duct to "roof" and concealing the top with 120mm mesh.

Hmmm.... I was looking at the pic and I think you can put a Yate by the PCI area. Maybe you can vmod it to 7v and that would help a lot with heat exhaust.
OR
Use the pci area as intake, or the 80mm slot ( I think the PCI with a vmodded yate is better) and have the sides as exhaust.

btw does this case come with any fans?
The case comes with two 120mm Antec Tri-Cool fans.

Thanks. Hope my ideas help... something...

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:23 am

MC FLMJIG wrote:Thanks. Hope my ideas help... something...

They are good ideas that I will have to consider after I find out more about my current cooling situation. Hopefully I'll figure things out when I spend some time on it... I just finished installing Vista on it this morning before work!

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:27 pm

Looking at your pics and the ones throughtout SPCR I think that H20 is more than possible on this case.

Small mod but very likely. 1/2" tubing is probably too much but I think 7/16 (pushin it), or 3/8 might work very well.

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:21 pm

MC FLMJIG wrote:Looking at your pics and the ones throughtout SPCR I think that H20 is more than possible on this case.

Small mod but very likely. 1/2" tubing is probably too much but I think 7/16 (pushin it), or 3/8 might work very well.

Why would 1/2" tubing be out of the question? I would assume that the radiator and pump would just go in place of the 5 1/4" cage, and then the tubes would feed right into the motherboard chamber via the opening already there. On the other hand, I'm not quite sure why you'd want to water cool, since most HTPCs don't need to be terribly powerful anyways. I suppose if nothing else, it would be quite a fun engineering/organizational challenge to take on

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:23 pm

On second thought, maybe something like this would fit in the HDD chamber, while you just suspend your HDD in the extra 5 1/4" bay. The possiblities are definitely intriguing.

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 2:16 pm

heh heh

I like sff... though this one is a bit bigger, widder, than the norm. For now I'm thinking somehting like what you have but would leave myself open to upgrading to a nice video card. A gamer pc I dont think is out of the question.

I just sold my 7900GTO because I dont have plans on playing for a bit. I also think a 7900GTO would work well in this case with the proper "mod" of back exhaust on it.

I think to h20 = Rad by the cpu area on the "roof" (inside) would work very well. Exhaust out the top... the only thing is if the waterblock qould hit the rad...

I'm done... i'm buyingthis case...thanks!!!

(ur pics helped a lot)

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:39 pm

I added another 120mm fan from a Sonata (same as before) as another intake. Now both fans are at 5V blowing directly onto the CNPS 9500 to help cool it down. The temp in the BIOS dropped to 55c from 60c, and I am reading the following temps from Windows Vista at idle:

CPU: 46c
Mainboard: 39c
Power: 35c

I am assuming that mainboard refers to the northbridge and power refers to the voltage regulators. Would this be correct? If it is relevant, I am using PC Wizard 2006.

edit: I also have the hard drive temps from PC Wizard. For some reason they only read when the program is first loaded, then disappear when you refresh... odd.

40GB Barracuda IV: 36c
160GB Barracuda IV: 40c

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 3:02 am

All those temps are fine/normal, except the CPU; have you got CoolnQuiet enabled?

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 5:13 am

jaganath wrote:All those temps are fine/normal, except the CPU; have you got CoolnQuiet enabled?

It's possible he's reading the temperature of a thermistor beneath the socket, in which the "CPU" temperature would also be normal.

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 7:19 am

46 idle is WAY TOO HIGH.

Imagine when it is running full load. That thing will probbaly reach 60. In my opinion that is too high.

Another suggestion... Perhaps form a duct with the 2 as exhaust... Form a duct out of cardboard just as a testfrom the fans directly to the cpu that way all of the air "has" to pass through the Zalman and perhaps the cpu temps will drop more.

I still think you may have seated the heatsink wrong. You may want to take it off. Re-install and place you themal paste on again making sure the bottom of the heatsink and the top of the cpu are cleaned with 70 and > alcohol.

nici · Post by **nici** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:34 am

You don't need no steenking alcohol!

46c idle might not be super cool, but who gives a flying fart? If its stable it's good, might reduce lifespan from twenty to fifteen years, boohoo.

Mounting is easy to cheack. If the heatsink gets really warm, it might really be 46c. If its cool, you aplied the paste wrong, probabyl too much, or the sensor is just bumfooked. Feel the mobo socket with your finger, gives you something to compare with the heatsink.

ciz28 · Post by **ciz28** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 3:29 pm

jaganath wrote:All those temps are fine/normal, except the CPU; have you got CoolnQuiet enabled?

Actually, no, I can't figure out how to get Cool n Quet to work under Windows Vista. I have it enabled in the BIOS and the power plan set to 'Power saver', but the CPU speed never throttles back, as checked from CPU-Z. Any suggestions?

Felger Carbon wrote:It's possible he's reading the temperature of a thermistor beneath the socket, in which the "CPU" temperature would also be normal.

I wasn't aware that motherboards even came with thermistors in the CPU socket since the socket A days? I would be pretty sure that this reading is coming from the on-chip thermistor.

MC FLMJIG wrote:46 idle is WAY TOO HIGH.

Imagine when it is running full load. That thing will probbaly reach 60. In my opinion that is too high.

Another suggestion... Perhaps form a duct with the 2 as exhaust... Form a duct out of cardboard just as a testfrom the fans directly to the cpu that way all of the air "has" to pass through the Zalman and perhaps the cpu temps will drop more.

I still think you may have seated the heatsink wrong. You may want to take it off. Re-install and place you themal paste on again making sure the bottom of the heatsink and the top of the cpu are cleaned with 70 and > alcohol.

To be honest, you seem far more worried about my CPU temps than I do

While I'd still like to get my temps down into the 30's, it doesn't bother me a whole lot if I can't. I agree that the CPU might reach 60c under load, but even that is fine with me. And regarding the heatsink installation, I'm pretty confident that everything is in place correctly. I've done just a few builds in the past.

nici wrote:You don't need no steenking alcohol! 46c idle might not be super cool, but who gives a flying fart? If its stable it's good, might reduce lifespan from twenty to fifteen years, boohoo.

Mounting is easy to cheack. If the heatsink gets really warm, it might really be 46c. If its cool, you aplied the paste wrong, probabyl too much, or the sensor is just bumfooked. Feel the mobo socket with your finger, gives you something to compare with the heatsink.

Agreed, everything is perfectly stable, so I'm pretty happy for the most part. And the heatsink does get very warm, at least when I checked it after a 60c reading! I'm pretty sure the contact between the CPU and the heatsink is fine. Hopefully someone can help me figure out my Cool n Quiet issue so that I can drop the idle temps a bit, though.