I had previously been studying in USA (I'm from sweden) and when there I bought an Antec SLK3000-B case that today I'm not using anymore. It went home with me in the suitcase on the plane and survived.
I recently came home from another trip to the states with an Antec 300 that I had to hammer out before reinstalling components. It's whacked and will go to the metal graveyard soon after I make my new Antec Solo system.
Anyways, it always feels good to show off what you've accomplished, even if it's not that special, so here goes.
Specs:
Case: Antec SLK3000-B
PSU: Nexus 4090 v2.0 400w
MB: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L
CPU: Intel Dual Core E5200 2.5GHz (OC'd to 3.4 GHz)
CPU cooler: Arctic cooling SuperSilent Freezer 7 PRO
Memory: 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC6400 Corsair XMS2
GPU: LeadTek GeForce 8400GS 512MB Heatsink (fanless)
HD: 320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA II
HD damp: Nexus DiskTwin
Case fan: Nexus 120mm on a Zalman fanmate set @ lowest
Dampening: be quiet! anti-noise kit full tower
And some LG dvd-burner
With everything installed the computer weighs 15.2 kilos.
Some short notes on the components and their "quietness":
The PSU is what I like the least, since it has a clicking noise when it's mounted with the fan down, the only way you can mount it in this case. I can RMA it at will, but my mom needs the computer pronto and she can't actually hear the clicking anyway. Neither can I, unless I get down behind the computer and listen for it.
Buying the PSU was my most unprepared decision, I can tell that now. Would rather had spent money on a similar corsair PSU. 400w is definately overkill but I wanted something silent and it's hard to find anything LESS than 400w nowadays it seems.
The CPU cooler is great value for the money. It was very easy to install with an already applied thermal grease pad. It's not quiet when it's ramping up, but when the computer is idle it's quiet enough by my standards.
The harddrive was a bit of a gamble, not sure what I expected, but in this computer I can't hear it at all, not even the seek noise. If the computer is open though, I can hear a VERY high pitched whine coming from it. As in high pitch, not that high in volume, but audible if you listen for it.
The Nexus DiskTwin that I mounted the harddrive on... not sure what to say about it. It actually seems to dampen vibrations fairly well in the case, and the HD temps are between 34 and 36, idle/load.
The dampening kit was kind of good for this case, cause it completely gets rid of the clicking noise from the PSU. Overall it doesn't feel like it's lowering the noise, just altering the sound of it to a deeper softer more mellow sound, very anonymous. Plus it helped me block off air sections.
Also if anyone else has used this kit, can you tell me when you would use the thicker foam material? I only used the normal thickness pads. No idea where to use the foam.
Case preparations
Those of you who know what an SLK3000-B looks like on the inside might notice that mine has neither floppy or HD cage.
The story behind that is that I initially had a very silly idea top place my HD cage on top of some acoustically dampening material.
Doing so would bring the HD cage up a few centimeters, having the floppy cage in the way. Solution? Bring out the tongs and start bending ripping and pulling... I did that almost two years ago. To answer Matija below, I do have some horrible memories of sore arms, rivets, bent metal, sharp edges and general frustration.
Did not end in a silent solution, and the case was just abandoned, later used as a live performance synth (no need to be quiet).
So, when I started this build and realized I wanted dampening material on the floor of the case, the HD cage "mount" was in the way.
Again, bring the tongs out and start pulling. Again, with the frustration and rivets. Is there a method to removing rivets? I have zero experience (well, other than the floppy cage) with those things.
If you look under the case, it is a bit wobble where the HD cage mount once were. In front of the case, you can still see some weird angles on the metal due to the floppy cage removal.
The build:
The main idea was to have one air intake (front), and out air outlet (psu). That's it.
In the end, I'm not sure if it was a great idea, but we'll look at the temps soon.
I applied the be quiet! pads so they blocked off the side intakes (the wind tunnel was removed of course). And also blocking off the main back exhaust.
I mounted the CPU fan so it blows the air up towards the PSU to keep the airflow in line.
I put the zalman fan mate controller up in the front bezel so you can alter it just by opening the front door.
This part was done when I was very tired and shows how I am really a beginner at this; I first tried to glue (!) on the controller, plastic onto plastic.
Did it work? Of course not.
I took a bit of paper and jammed in between, worked a lot better
.Also note the DVD drive being a bit back. This is because I don't have any mounting rails for this case, and had to use one from an Antec Sonata. Didn't fit perfectly, but it's stuck on there!
Lastly, the least pretty bit are the cables stuck over and under the harddrive:
Nevertheless, the harddrive seems to be enjoying that spot mounted on the DiskTwin. I can't identify any noise from it, and it keeps good temps.
End results:
Temperatures:
I used coretemp and speedfan to read temperatures, so I'm not sure exactly what my temps are considering the differing temps, but these are the results. Temp2 I guess is the ambient temperature? It is the one speedfan calls temp2, nonetheless.
CPU/GPU stressing was done by blasting the CPU with orthos, and the GPU with rthdribl.
Load (nexus on lowest rpm)
[Speedfan]
GPU: 85-86
Temp2: 46-47
Core0: 66
Core1: 63
Harddrive: 36
[Core temp]
Core0: 61
Core1: 58
Idle, returning from load (nexus on lowest rpm)
[Speedfan]
GPU: 61
Temp2: 23-24
Core0: 43
Core1: 42
Harddrive: 34
[Core temp]
Core0: 38
Core1: 37
Just to check, also tried load with nexus fan on highest rpm
Load (nexus on highest rpm)
[Speedfan]
GPU: 77
Temp2: 46
Core0: 64-65
Core1: 63
Harddrive: 35
[Core temp]
Core0: 58
Core1: 58
Now, my mom wont exactly be gaming and turning up the nexus fan, in fact she wont touch it at all.
Subjective perceived noise:
I'm testing this computer on the middle of the floor, listening in front and back of the computer. There's a barely audible hum, and sound of airflow. It's not dead quiet, but I noticed that if I came into the room and were to determine if the computer was on or not, I had to focus and listen very intently.
When stressing the CPU the CPU fan starts ramping up, and it gets easy to notice. Luckily this is first when the temps start rising, so in everyday use (other than intense gaming), it remains in low rpms.
If I crank the nexus fan to the top, it gets almost as audible as the CPU fan on load. Could still be useful if you're gaming with headphones on a hot summer day. Of course you'll probably be much of a gamer with a 8400GS GPU, but theoretically
.I'm currently living on the countryside where it's dead quiet (other than the yawning cats) so I have to say it's a good result noise-wise.
I could easily sleep in the same room as this computer when it's idling, and I'm very picky about noise when going to sleep.
My mom will place the computer under a desk and I'm 100% sure she will not hear it.
Mission accomplished.
I would like to end this showoff with a question:
When you alter the rpm of case fans, how do you do it? I've only used Zalman fanmates, and I have no idea how to voltmod a fan or anything such. Where would be a good place to read up on that?
