Cooler Master Praetorian

Dos_Junkie · Post by **Dos_Junkie** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 2:51 am

I think I've settled on a case to my liking....I put stress into "I think."

The Praetorian is a stylish, roomy mid-tower built of solid aluminum by my favorite company, Cooler Master. The lack of a front bezel is unfortunate and will force me to revert to stealth drives and careful drive bay planning.

Now on to my nervous, careful ways: Buyer's Pre-Remorse (if such a thing exists).
1) Cooling -There was a post on SPCR that this case got a little hot.
2) Silence - The stock fans, ADDA I believe, were said to be loud. Replace with Panaflos and sound dampening gaskets?
3) PSU - One field I'm especially not experienced in, I chose the THERMALTAKE Silent Purepower 480W "W0020"... bad choice or no?

Here's the system I'm planning:
Cooler Master Praetorian (unless otherwise directed)
Lite-On 52x32x52x16 combodrive
zalman AlCu (it's not the all-cu one, but i move my case around alot ot Lans and need lightweight)
samsung 160GB SP1614C (oh boy! It was hard deciding seagate or samsung)
Geil Ultra Series Dual channel 512 pc3200
asus p4p800-e deluxe
THERMALTAKE Silent Purepower 480W "W0020" (unless otherwise directed)
Intel P4 2.8E Prescott core
High Tech (HIS) ATI Radeon 9800Pro 128mb, w/ VGA Silencer cooling mod
~thinking ceramique, not sure~

ALL comments welcome

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 6:28 am

Don't go for ThermalTake. As I have said many times, ThermalTake products are LOUD (visually, and acoustically). Try a Seasonic Super Silencer. I love mine, and so does everyone else, I think. MAKE SURE IT IS A REVISION A3!!!!!!

Take caution with the SpinPoint. It is sort of hit or miss if you get the one with the FDB motor from the right company that makes it so quiet (NIDEC or JVC, I forgot. http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=11832 explains / discusses in detail)

sthayashi · Post by **sthayashi** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 8:07 am

Get the Northwood core P4. It runs much cooler and gives the same (if not better) performance.

Caution: Lite-on drives are said to be quite loud under normal circumstances. Be prepared to use a Speed reducing tool to keep that drive quiet.

PS - Wait a minute, when did the ATCS-201 become the Praetorian? It looks essentially the same and I can tell you that this case will leak sound better than your average steel case (I used to own the ATCS-201).

BTW, 1) This outta be in the System advice forum, and 2) your PSU choice suggests that you haven't looked at the recommended section of SPCR.

Dos_Junkie · Post by **Dos_Junkie** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 10:55 am

Yes, i definately need help with the case and PSU. trying to keep the combined total of those two under $200 though.

As for the core, I really don't see much difference for on e or the other other than the prescott is .09 micron verses .13 on the NW. A little better performance over a little heat...I can take it.

Lite-On drives have been OK for me so far, and since I rarely even use CDs actively, any combodrive in stasis will be silent. I was going for the samsungs which are considered the best quiet drives, but reviews said they burnt slower.

HDD, HDD, and more HDD! AHHHHHHHHH!! Seagate verses Samsung. Reliability verses possible silence. On newegg, the Seagate is $12 more and only comes with a 1year warranty. The samsung: 3 year. I'm still very confused on which to get.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:08 am

Dos_Junkie wrote:
As for the core, I really don't see much difference for on e or the other other than the Prescott is .09 micron verses .13 on the NW. A little better performance over a little heat...I can take it.

The only problem is that the Prescott actually gives you less performance and a moderate amount more heat than the Northwoods. Do a little research before you throw your money into a Prescott CPU.

Read the Recommended Components Section on the main SPCR site for suggestions on PSUs and cases. (as well as other hardware)

sthayashi · Post by **sthayashi** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:19 am

I used this page and this page as the basis for suggesting a Northwood over Prescott.

Have you looked at the recommended pages yet? They're ranked according to noise by MikeC himself. Get the one that's the cheapest for you with the best noise (that'll be either a Seasonic, Noisetaker or Nexus).

I can't recommend you an alternate case for you since I think you chose that case based on style and class. The Sonata is the closest one I can think of that can match the Praetorian in that area. But once again, the recommended pages have several different cases that are ranked even higher than the Sonata.

EDIT: Ralf beat me to it.

Dos_Junkie · Post by **Dos_Junkie** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 12:30 pm

do you think replacing the stock front fans with panaflos and silcone gaskets will help noise reduction? I mean, the open face grill doesn't bounce back any sound, but if i can get stealth fans and dampen them, it might help....maybe?

The problem with getting a nexus or seasonic (no matter how much I want one....especially nexus), newegg doesn't sell those brands (dammit >_< ). will I have to buy seasonics directly from their site or is there a reseller?

rtsai · Post by **rtsai** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 1:44 pm

Dos_Junkie wrote:The problem with getting a nexus or seasonic (no matter how much I want one....especially nexus), newegg doesn't sell those brands (dammit >_< ). will I have to buy seasonics directly from their site or is there a reseller?

Just google/froogle it. Seasonics are carried at:

microcenter
axiontech
mbsuperstore
siliconacoustics