SPCR

Hi All,

Long, long, time reader, first time poster. Thank you all for providing info on Shuttle silent mods, it helped me a lot.

I am now onto an upgrade and would like a sanity check, please:

Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor
Abit AX8 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940)
GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC)
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 200GB 6B200MO SATA 8MB Cache - OEM -- will this be as good as the legendary samsung spinpoint?
Enermax Noisetaker 485W EG495AX-VE(G) SFMA ATX2.0 PSU --- would like the seasonic (but don't know which one and where to source it).
NEC ND3540 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM

I need a quiet gfx card but I'm not sure which one. I need something as fast or faster than my current ATI 9800 pro. Need it to be pci-e. I've read that the ATI x800 is better than the 6600GT - but I'm open to suggestions.

Am I missing anything?

I need to source this from the UK - would appreciate any pointers.

silent_partner wrote:Hi All,
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 200GB 6B200MO SATA 8MB Cache - OEM -- will this be as good as the legendary samsung spinpoint?

frankly, no. but Maxtor is faster, and not bad acoustic wise with AAM set to 192

however - keep an eye on the new samsung P120 series, with 125GB platters, it seems run no slower than the Maxtor DM10.

Enermax Noisetaker 485W EG495AX-VE(G) SFMA ATX2.0 PSU --- would like the seasonic (but don't know which one and where to source it).

get a seasonic they are not in the same league. search forum for shops that carry seasonics. got mine from siliconacoustics.com, not the best price U can find, but they take paypal and ship overseas via USPS.

I've read that the ATI x800 is better than the 6600GT - but I'm open to suggestions.

ATI X800 is 'equivalent' of Nvidia 6800, thus has slight advantage over a 6600GT, but it also runs hotter.

6600GT in turn has slight to moderate advantage over a 9800Pro/XT

Longbow wrote:ATI X800 is 'equivalent' of Nvidia 6800, thus has slight advantage over a 6600GT, but it also runs hotter.

You should also check the legth of the video card, since some cards interfere with after-market mb chipset coolers, when an aftermarket video HSF is used. PCI-E 6600GT and Zalman VF700 seems to work well, especially on Asus A8N-E, leaving plenty of room for passive Zalaman mb chipset cooler.

The Abit AX8 has already passive chipset cooling, it's a KT890 board. I'm going for about the same setup myself..

I think I'm going to go for the 6600GT in the following link:

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/pro ... ctid=18059

I think it has a passive heatsink (pipe/silentpipe jobby) - need to confirm though.

I can't source the seasonic in the UK and the one from the US seems to expensive. Is there an equivalent psu I can buy in the UK that is the next best thing? Or are the Seasonics the bees' knees?

Ackelind -- what setup are you going for? I'm still flexible at this stage.

http://www.koolnquiet.co.uk/index.php?m ... alog&id=52
That is the next best thing. OEM PSU's made by Seasonic. The Enermax in your first post is the third best thing, so it is not bad at all.

The most obvious negative point of the OEM PSU's are their short cables. But the with your case and mobo combo that might even turn into a benefit. The AX8 has both the 24-pin and the 4-pin power connector on the top left of the mobo. Right next to the PSU.

Whilst trying to find out where to get the Seasonic S12-380 psu - I found the following site that will stock them two weeks from now (mid May 2005). Not sure on price though

http://www.xcase.co.uk/acatalog/Seasonic_Psu_s.html

HOWEVER!! - I notice this case already has a seasonic psu:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ ... oling.html

Any thoughts? - Certainly will be a cheaper combo than an ANTEC 3000B and separate PSU.


Tibors... thanks for your reply - which model do you think would suffice my spec from the URL you supplied.

Tibors, I noticed your sig:

3) RS480M2-IL | A64 3000+ | Freezer 64 | SS-301HT | 7200.7 PATA 40GB


Are you satisfied with the freezer 64? or would you recommend I go for the Thermalright 90 if there is a big difference in noise?

The SS-351HT has the same per rail ratings as the S12-380 you were looking at. For some reason the total max powerdraw is 30W lower, but since you never draw that much power from a PSU anyway, I don't see that as a problem.

The Arctic Cooling Silentium T2 is reviewed by SPCR. The PSU is an older model from Seasonic. It is not bad, but the AC fans are spun at too high speed. Read the review for the full details. Bottom line is though, that your own proposal in the first post is most probably more quiet than something build in the AC Silentium T2.

I am completely satisfied with the AC Freezer 64. I use SpeedFan to run the fan on the Freezer at 30% (740RPM). My A64 3000+ is folding now and runs 13°C above "case" temp. Looks like I forgot to set the overclock/undervolt when I rebooted the machine a few hours ago. I set the CPU to 1980MHz/1.25V. Thus in theory it dissipates 12% less power than running stock and the temp dropped 3°C. According to the power meter the total AC power draw at the wall dropped from 63W to 57W. By day all the kids and cars in the neighbourhood make to much noise to hear this fan at this speed at all. In the dead of the night, I have to get to within a foot of the fan to be able to hear it over the idle noise of the hardmounted 7200.7 in system 1 in my sig. Both system 1 and 3 sit on my desk, right resp. left of the monitor. I see no reason to spend more money on a cooler, as I can't hear this one 99.9% of the time.

Thank you for your very imformative reply Tibors.

I am getting more confident with my final spec.

I still need to source the antec 3000b in the UK.

Any thoughts on the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10? I am reading conflicting advice - some say it is as good or better than the samsung, others say it is only marginally louder. I wouldn't mind if there is a large performance advantage and a little sacrifice on sound. I'm interested in getting reader views.

Thanks all - I'll summarise all this into a useful post when we've finished.

silent_partner wrote:Any thoughts on the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10?

my 6B200 was much louder than a samsung 1614N, when both had aam turned off.

when the dm10 was set to aam 192, it's about as loud as the 1614N with aam off, but still louder than a 1614N with aam set to 192

in a word, the dm10 is now the major source of noise in my case, and i'm waiting for a samsung sp2004c.

Thanks Longbow. Is the sp2004c just a larger version of the 1614N, or is it faster/better as well? I couldn't tell from the samsung website.

(I'll have to read up on this aam thing - first time I've come accross this).

Anyone know where I can get the Antec 3000b from in the UK?

I got my Antec 3000 from Kustum PC http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/Kus ... es_44.html
£38 at the moment and the Seasonic OEM from Kool n Quiet http://www.koolnquiet.co.uk/index.php?m ... alog&id=52
£65 at the moment
Both working fine as of now

silent_partner, & Rob999,

Welcome to SPCR !!


Pete

Thank you!

Thank you

Thank You for your Thank You's !!!


Meanwhile...

..back on topic ( ) ...



Pete
(Is this a record for U.K. posts in a row ? ...)

Tibors wrote:http://www.koolnquiet.co.uk/index.php?m ... alog&id=52
That is the next best thing. OEM PSU's made by Seasonic. The Enermax in your first post is the third best thing, so it is not bad at all.

The most obvious negative point of the OEM PSU's are their short cables. But the with your case and mobo combo that might even turn into a benefit. The AX8 has both the 24-pin and the 4-pin power connector on the top left of the mobo. Right next to the PSU.

The AX8 has a 20-pin connector.

Glad someone broke up the UK insanity. Don't you guys have an election to prepare for?

I noticed the topic of the thread has the words "mild overclock" included...if that is indeed the case, I would think about getting some different RAM, unless you plan on overclocking far enough to where dividers could still keep the RAM speed at 200MHz. G Skill, Mushkin and OCZ all make sticks that might help you out a bit more.

On a side note, are the SLK3000B cases disappearing in Europe, too? Many people used to carry them, but seems like they're going out of stock at more and more vendors stateside. ZipZoomFly is about the only reputable dealer to still stock them. I wonder if they're preparing for a slew of new releases....(stupid P180, she is a fickle mistress)

I was preparing for the election, but alas I was defeated this time around. The trouble with political jokes are that they always seem to get elected! I wonder which country will be picked on this time

Anyway, I've read that with Geil value ram an fsb of 230-240 could be achieved. It costs around 60 pounds. I think the tccd memory costs a great deal more - around 110? I'm not sure.

Am I wrong? Can you post some links to more suitable memory that might be cost effective?

Ackelind wrote:
The AX8 has a 20-pin connector.

How can you tell if the AX8 is 20-pin? I tried searching for it on the Abit site and looked at the manual aswell but couldn't tell.

If it is 20pin for sure, then I think I will compromise and buy the following case:

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/pc_case2. ... ta=1&disc=

as it is 50+vat from overclockers.co.uk and features a seasonic psu. I know the Antec 3000b+ss s12 combo will be quieter however it will cost me more than double.

I've counted the pins on hi-res pictures

Seems like i'll have to get a converter if i decide to use the AX8 with a SS-401HT

silent_partner wrote:The trouble with political jokes are that they always seem to get elected!

I'll have to remember that one.

As far as RAM goes, a lot of people are having good success with Winbond UTT chips. If your mobo has vdimm up to 3.2V or so, check out the OCZ Value VX, the Mushkin Blues, or other value RAM. YMMV on all that, but that'll be the case with your Geils to. The unbinned stuff is always a crapshoot.

Ackelind wrote:I've counted the pins on hi-res pictures

I'm way to lazy for that, but I think you all understood what I meant to say above.