Silent Computer - What Components do you suggest?

Chrissicom · Post by **Chrissicom** » Wed May 30, 2007 5:00 am

First off, this is the system I want to cool:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (@Stock)
Abit Quad GT with PWM (all @Stock)
Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 2 GB CL5 (undervolted to 1.8V)
PowerColor Radeon X1950 Pro (@Stock)
--no other extension cards--
Western Digital WD5000AAKS (two of them)
Silentmaxx 500W Water Cooled PSU (currently I use a Be Quiet 430W which is too loud)

Other components in the system are two Sony SATA DVD Burners and a drive bay for additional hard disks which has a fan but is not used frequently so the noise it generates doesn't matter.

I planned to cool the PSU, CPU, GPU and GPU-Ram with a Zalman Reserator II. The only two fans in the system will be Noctua NF-S12-800 (definitely the most silent fan I know of) in front and back of the case to pull out Motherboard heat. I will use a Stacker, or high quality Lian Li or Silverstone case for the system.

The maximum load on my system is probably when I encode/decode DVDs and play while doing that. I get a few hours 100% CPU and high load on the graphics card when doing that and system power consumption is around 200-220 Watt with very high loads. Normal system power consumption is around 150 Watts.

Currently there's an Accelero 2 on the Power Color Radeon X1950 Pro which makes ugly noises, the Scythe Infinity with the Scythe Fan is running too loud even at 7V and the Be Quiet (although exchanged twice) has a very ugly "clicking" fan.

So is the Reserator II enough to cool the components I have? Preferably I would also like to watercool the two Western Digital drives with the system. If the Reserator II is not enough which components do you suggest to cool my CPU, GPU, GPU Ram, PSU and eventually HDDs.

Thanks for your suggestions in advance

Khrono Devil · Post by **Khrono Devil** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 3:16 am

Hi Chrissicom

Have you bought any of those components yet? I wouldn't recommend the Reserator II because the pump in it is VERY weak and it just wouldn't have enough power to cool your CPU, GPU + Ram, PSU and HDDs.

First off I wouldn't even bother trying to cool your hard drives, they just add alot of restriction and heat to your water loop for no real benefits. As long as you have a reasonable amount of airflow over your drives they will be perfectly fine. If you do however plan on using your hard drives for long periods of time ( like for hours on end everyday ) I suggest getting a more ruggard commercial drives, which I believe WD also make.( I didn't research the drive you listed so I don't know what type of operation it was designed for )

As for water cooling the Zalman Reserator cost $320ish (newegg) so im guessing this is all you are willing to spend. For $250 you can get Petra's Tech CoolKit GPU Basic - Rev.2 (http://www.petrastechshop.com/pecogpuba.html), it dosen't come with watercooling for the GPU ram but does come with ramsinks and to be honest if your not planing on overclocking the card then it really is a waste of money water cooling the ram. This kit would easily outpreform the reserator but with the added noise of 2 fans, but using the right fans in the correct setup you can make a almost silent PC with this gear.

For case I would Highly recommend either a Lian Li ( easy to mod for watercooling ) or the Silverstone TJ07 ( needs very little modding + looks great). Stackers have huge waste of space inside and alow the noise to escape out the large side grill.

As for a water cooled PSU, save some money and get the Corsair 620HX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139002) or even the 520HX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139001) When you encode/decode your HDDs and DVD drives are going to produce much more noise than anything else in your system these Corsair PSUs are half the price and with the loads that you will be putting on them will be uber quiet.

Those Noctua fan sucks, sure they are very quiet but they push to little air, I tried them in my HTPC and they just didn't cut it. I would suggest using Scythe Minebea NMB Silent IC Series Case Fan (http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/0 ... etail.html)

Ok so if you dont want to hear my rant this is what I suggest:
-Silverstone TJ07 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811163067)
-Petra'sTech CoolKit GPU Basic - Rev.2 (http://www.petrastechshop.com/pecogpuba.html)
-Corsair 620HX PSU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139002)
-Scythe Minebea Fans (http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/0 ... etail.html)
- Don't bother cooling the HDDs or GPU Ram

YugenM · Post by **YugenM** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:03 pm

The guy lives in Germany, maybe European links would be more appropriate

Don't know how loud the fans are on this external kit (Their radiators are designed to work well with low-speed fans, though), but they're my favorite Euro watercooling manufacturer:

http://www.aquatuning.de/product_info.p ... -Dual.html

manufacturer site:
http://www.watercool.de/