Which HD / PSU / Fan setup in a P180 / Ninja / 3000+ / X800?

Justin_R · Post by **Justin_R** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 6:11 pm

I'm building a new computer for my sister. I've got most of the pieces nailed down, but there are still a few that I haven't decided on yet. I started with the idea that I would put everything in an Antec P180 case. Here's the components without moving parts that are going in it:

Heatsink: Scythe Ninja SCNJ-1000 (perfect for the P180 - $45)
CPU: Athlon 64 Venice 3000+ (OEM for $119 shipped, potential upgrade to dual core)
RAM: Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 CAS2 LL Kit (for $200!)
GPU: Gigabyte GV-RX80256D (a passively cooled X800 for $172.50!)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9 OR Gigabyte GA-K8NU SLI (about $130, see below)

If anyone can tell me whether or not the Gigabyte SLI motherboard comes with a cable for the Firewire ports, I'd really appreciate it. Newegg shows the non-SLIversion coming with two cables (which look like USB cables), and the SLI version coming with three (2 of which look like USB cables and one that looks different). Since the SLI version is only about $10 more, I'd probably buy that just to get the cable. I couldn't find any reviews or anything that actually named all the contents of the box.

Now the hard part is finding a low noise configuration of case fans, hard drives, and PSU that will complement these components. I would very much like to use the stock Antec case fans (for budget reasons). There will only be one or possibly two hard drives in the system (at least for now). Working from that, I have a few questions. First, regarding the PSU: Is it better to use the stock 120x38 fan in the lower chamber and a fanless PSU, or simply a quiet fanned PSU without the 120x38 fan? Next, for the hard drives: I'm inclined to go with the 300GB Maxtor DM10 for the hard drive. Even though they aren't considered top performers for noise, it doesn't seem like any other drive offers as compelling a price / performance / noise package. (Note that the RoHS compliant version-- for all I can tell exactly the same noise and performance wise as the non-compliant one -- can be had for significantly cheaper.) What benefits would some other drive bring in terms of the total noise signature of the PC? Finally, case fans: I'd like to be able to run as few fans at as low a speed as is practical, considering that I'd like to keep the fans quieter than the hard drives. I figure that running both of the top fans at their lowest setting would do this, and probably allow me to overclock the CPU as well. Does this seem reasonable?

So, in terms of advice, what I'd most appreciate is a suggestion for the combination of hard drive, PSU, and case fan setup that would acheive a respectably low noise signature without sacrificing the performance potential of the components I've chosen above.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 7:34 pm

you are spending a lot of money that will make budget fans rediculous in this setup.

if you need to save money get a antec slk3000 series, it cools insanely well and is 100 dollars cheaper.... and also will take about an hour to hour and half to setup at most vs all day with p180.

if p180 is well within budget you should be shooting for papst or nexus fans for a quiet rig right? no? eh? Psu, well thats an issue. truthfully, the cheapest way is to get a zalman 300 psu or 400 and mod it with a panaflo. other than that, i duno what to expect out of an inexpensiv psu. the smartpower from antec is a good idea being that its going to be isolated. i guess? im not sure of its fan orientation in relation to the p180 psu box.

what graphics card will you use? I suggest somthing like an 8500 dv

works really well and is faster than a 9000. also agp board for even cheaper with a Via chipset for cold passive northbridge.

is your sister going to be doning the punisher/anime t-shirt and heading off to lan parties? whats with the supremely fast gfx card? it adds a lot of heat to the system, it uses up more power than the cpu does by far.... ???? just wondering ya know?

also, check out PATA version of new 200 gig samsung drives, they are Nidec's and are nice and quiet and quite cheap (or sata for lik 15 dollars more)

Justin_R · Post by **Justin_R** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 2:32 pm

It's not that replacement fans are outside the overall system budget, it's just that I don't want to spend an extra $30+ for fans (and deal with the PITA of rigging up some way of undervolting them) if I don't have to. Besides, I suspect that the hard drive or PSU will be the noisiest system component rather than the case fans. Your recommendations are dead on for a budget system (and when I build a budget system, I'll probably use that advice), but this is just a system that has a budget ($1000), not a budget system. I'm trying to make something has a strong upgrade path (like a dual core CPU). The last system I built for her was a SFF P3-1GHz that was noisy as hell and had no upgrade path (and that was also budgeted at $1000), so this system should be the opposite. I know that I'm choosing fairly high-end stuff, but given the overall benefits of the Ninja / P180 combo and the upgradability, I think it's worth it. As for the X800, while not a diehard, she has been known to LAN-party with her boyfriend's crowd, and why shouldn't she show them up when the X800 is only about $110 more than the lowest end PCI-E card? I may go with the Samsung SATA P120 over the Maxtor DM10 though. (I'll probably order one of each because I'm going to build myself a RAID 5 array soon, and I'd like to know each of them first hand before putting that together.)

ronrem · Post by **ronrem** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:14 pm

Coolmax CR PSU 140mm fan-3 speed,slow is about 1000rpm but its big,helps vent the case,CR 450 is $% dollars-450W. Coolermaster SAF S12-e1 is a 120mm runs at 720 rpm without any mods-$10-half the cost of a Nexus

The SP2004c Samsung Spinright is SATA2-yet Samsung claims it is quieter than their SATA 150 drives. The 200 gb drives are only in SATA2 so far-sorry Via,you need NF4

A real nice 80mm fan is the Artic Cooling TC,it's $5,a temp control fan-min speed 1000 rpm,same fans are used on their CPU heatsinks and in their Silentium case

With the big fan in the PSU and a slow 120,you get good airflow. another plan,use the 80 mm Artic as the main case exhaust,low load it runs slow-high load it speeds up-have that slow 120 so you could turn it off/on depending on whether you'd be gaming

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:47 pm

rem,

you're recommending a psu w/140mm fan for use in a p180. probably not the best choice. Not on the recommended list either.

I have a coolermaster SAF S12-E1 and although not bad if you want a low speed fan with virtually no air flow - why not get a $5 yate loon?

Do you actually own any of these products? - FG