Home workstation advice welcome

Plissken · Post by **Plissken** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:53 pm

Hi, I'm about build a new PC and want to make it as quiet as reasonably possible, given my needs and budget. I've been lurking for a while and feel I know the basics. Would love to get some specific advice toward this build.
It will be mostly used at home for video editing (home movies), solid modeling (Solidworks), and general family PC use. Some gaming, nothing too extreme.
I plan on overclocking the CPU to reasonably safe limits (20-40%).
Here are the proposed components:

PSU: Corsair HX520W
Case: Antec P180B
MB: Asus P5B-E
CPU: E6300
CPU cooler: Scythe SCNJ-1100P (and Arctic Silver 5)
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000)
Vid: Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH GeForce 7600GT 256MB Silent Pipe II
HDD: (QTY = 2 to 4) Seagate 7200.10 320GB
A DVD+R drive and a DVD-ROM drive

I've already bought the PSU, yes it's a little overkill for now, but I couldn't pass up the $90 Best Buy deal.
I've already bought the Antec P180B, love it, can't wait to fill it up.
Also, I purchased (2) YL D12SL-12 fans. I plan on attaching one to the upper HDD bay for VGA/NB cooling.
The other was in case I want to replace the Ninja fan, or one of the Tri-Cools, or keep it as a spare.

I'm coming from a system that I consider extremely noisy: (3) 10kRPM SCSI Cheetahs, noisy fans, bad case. A gas turbine under my desk!

My main questions are:

Compatibility of the P5B-E and the Ninja. I have a dremel, and I'm not afraid to use it!

But can I eliminate any doubt
of capacitor clearance by buying the $10 adapter bracket I've seen mentioned in a few posts?

Cooling of the P5B-E. Will the above-mentioned fan blowing over the board be enough, especially after overclocking?

I know the RAM is overkill. I don't mind spending an extra $50 or $100 on good quality RAM that won't get in my way. FWIW it's only $10 more than 800MHz Ballistix on Newegg right now.

I want fast HDDs, I'm a very impatient person when it comes to HDDs. I'm only migrating from SCSI because SATA has finally caught up. Am I going to easily hear these Seagates above everything else, especially in a RAID0 array? I was planning on: 2 drive RAID0 array, for everything, or 1 drive OS and 2 drive RAID0 array for data (which I assume would be a lot quieter during normal family use), or that 3 drive config plus 1 more archive drive for a total of 4.

Regarding the video card, it has cooling fins that extend out the adjacent PCI slot. Since this seems to be a negative pressure system, I assume I'll draw dirty air into the case through that slot (and the other vented slots). Any suggestions regarding fan replacement/removal or case mods welcome. I already plan on plugging up the holes around the PSU but I was planning on leaving all of the TriCools installed (on low) since I'm guessing this system will be a LOT quieter than my old one. Hopefully I won't get "the bug" and start wedging cardboard into my case like some of you guys... not that there's anything wrong with that!

StanF · Post by **StanF** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:58 am

I recommend you keep your OS on a separate harddrive, not in a RAID array. I typically use an 80GB Seagate for the OS/Programs. Typically less than 20GB is used. It makes it very easy to image the boot drive before major system changes, updates, etc.

speedlever · Post by **speedlever** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:10 am

I'm working a very similar build:
P5B-E
e6600
Scythe 1100p
7600GT silent pipe II
Antec Solo case
Corsair HX520w PSU

and also have concerns about the Scythe Ninja and the 7600GT having clearance issues on the P5B-e board.

Still trying to glean that info from the collective here.

Regarding HDs, based on what I've read, I think the 7200.10s will be noisy and warm, but that may be the trade-off to get performance and longeviety.

Another possibility may be the Samsung T series HDs. I am undecided, as yet.

As a possible HD option, consider using 2.5" laptop drives instead of 3.5" HDs. That will certainly help keep the noise down, and performance may be a non-event, depending on your application.

Edit: Stan, I like your suggestion for OS/programs on the smallish C drive. I've tried multiple partitions on larger drives before... found too many programs that didn't give me the option where to install... and found my 10 Gb OS partition getting pretty cramped all too quickly.

Hmm. I will have a spare PATA drive or two, but not SATA. I'll hafta think about that.