SPCR

Hey folks!

I sold my old rig about a year ago, and since then I've just been using my little MacBook. Getting sick of it now, mainly because of the small screen and measly graphics. So instead I'm about to build myself a silent budget beast.

I'll be dual-booting Windows and MacOS X, which means I'm somewhat limited regarding choices of MB and GPU. No big deal, tho. I think I've found some nice products anyway.

Here's my list:

Case: Antec P182 or Solo
PSU: Corsair 520W HX
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P SC3
RAM: 2x Corsair XMS2 Extreme 1024MB PC6400
CPU: Intel C2D E6420
Heatsink Thermalright Ultra-120 with Scythe S-FLEX 8.7dB (yeah right) @ 800RPM
GPU: Passive 7950GT or 7900GS
HDD: Samsung T166 500GB

From what I've read here, the Solo seems to be the preferred choice as long as you're not going to go SLI or put a lot of HDD's in there. Seems to deliver slightly lower temperatures and better airflow providing it isn't cramped in there.

My main concern with this is that I'll be suspending the HDD (and most likely one or two more in the future) inside SilentDrive enclosures - where would I find the room for that in a Solo?

Also, is the Corsair PSU really comfortable down there in the P182? I've seen one or two peeps saying it's perfectly fine, but is it really? Wouldn't it be better with a PSU pulling air horisontally? Not that it's needed since I probably won't have my suspended HDD there anyway, right?

The 520W Corsair may be over the top, but I want the quietest PSU around. Would a passive one be an option in the P182? I'm thinking It'd get too hot in the Solo from the passive GPU.

Tell my what you think - I'm grateful for any input!

Ok, first off....I'd just get the Antec Solo, since your setup (and "silent budget beast") wouldn't need a P182, which is about $50 more...unless you like the extra 120mm fans..

As for the silent hard drive enclosure...is it a bay drive? or give us a link to what it is...since there are several types

Personally, i don't think one of those is necessary...You would also be losing some cooling ability

The PSU is great, the Corsair HX520 would definitely fit a Solo, and a P182, if you do decide to get one...

As for the GPU, a passive choice is only good if you have GOOD case airflow... If you choose the Solo, i would not get that Passive 7950GT...it would most likely overheat

An accelero X1 or zalman vf-900 are both great choices otherwise, but just make sure your rear case fan has some good airflow --> the noctua SSO 120mm fans are a great choice

The passive 7950GT i think you're talking about...would it be a XFX extreme one? Since the way the fins are laid out on that, you need airflow blowing down on it (so the air would pass through the fins)...That would mean you need a side case fan

I'd just stick with the Solo, and pay like $40-50 more for a better third-party GPU cooler as mentioned above...

laguz1 wrote:As for the silent hard drive enclosure...is it a bay drive? or give us a link to what it is...since there are several types

Yes, it's a bay drive similar to the Scythe QuietDrive...I've got two of them lying around and I like the way they muffle high pitched whine. Don't really mind the heat since I've been using them with hotter drives than the T166 with perfectly acceptable temps before.

laguz1 wrote: As for the GPU, a passive choice is only good if you have GOOD case airflow... If you choose the Solo, i would not get that Passive 7950GT...it would most likely overheat

Really? From what I've gathered the airflow in the Solo is really good. Why would it overheat, and would it be less prone to do so in a P182?

laguz1 wrote:An accelero X1 or zalman vf-900 are both great choices otherwise, but just make sure your rear case fan has some good airflow --> the noctua SSO 120mm fans are a great choice

The passive 7950GT i think you're talking about...would it be a XFX extreme one? Since the way the fins are laid out on that, you need airflow blowing down on it (so the air would pass through the fins)...That would mean you need a side case fan

Thanks for the heads up on the GPU coolers, I'll make sure to check them out..The 7950GT actually happens to be either the XFX or the MSI one. Hadn't given that fin layout any thought.. Wouldn't it be possible to somehow just strap a quiet 120mm fan on there?

oh wait...yeah, the antec solo has optional front 92mm fan brackets...

i didn't notice that earlier...well, i guess that means the Solo looks pretty good then

A P182 has probably similiar GPU area cooling, maybe worse if you use two 92mm on the Solo...

If you don't have a strict budget on the fans, you could get 2 nexus 92mm fans for the front - that would provide great airflow over your motherboard, including the GPU

Hmm, i'm guessing you could somehow put a 120mm fan over the GPU, but i don't think you can actually "strap" one on the card itself...I can't see any place to tie a fan on...maybe you're more creative than i am though

What you could try though, since you have the Thermalright Ultra 120, is mount that on your CPU with the fan pointing up to the PSU, so that the fan is between the GPU heatsink and your Ultra-120. It might be able to draw some air near the GPU heatsink (and heat off it), then go pass through your CPU HSF, then to the PSU, and out the back...

If you don't plan on heavy overclocking, your PSU shouldn't get too much heat from the CPU

I dunno about this, but can your ultra 120 fit vertically? so that the scythe is pushing air out the rear? Since i know the noctua NH-U12, which is similar in design to your ultra, can't fit in my case, since it bumps the PSU above it...

Oh, and the scythe fan is DEFINITELY not 8.7 dB...if you do get a good sample, it should be fairly consistent and overall quiet tone, but some i think can get pretty rusty and whiney...silentpcreview did some reviews on the s-flex and you just need to get lucky w/ your fan...

Also, if you do think about that setup with the fan pointing up, some fans might not work so hot in that horizontal position...

Fruktsallad wrote:

laguz1 wrote:As for the silent hard drive enclosure...is it a bay drive? or give us a link to what it is...since there are several types

Yes, it's a bay drive similar to the Scythe QuietDrive...I've got two of them lying around and I like the way they muffle high pitched whine. Don't really mind the heat since I've been using them with hotter drives than the T166 with perfectly acceptable temps before.

the T166 does not need high pitched whine muffling.

place it on the silicone grommets in the solo and I dare you to notice it when it's idling (even with case open). And if you only go for 3 drives you can suspend them in the bottom as well.

there are 2 free bays at the top, plus the dvdrw of course, and if you lose the floppy you could fit something there, but it'd be very cramped.

laguz1 wrote:What you could try though, since you have the Thermalright Ultra 120, is mount that on your CPU with the fan pointing up to the PSU, so that the fan is between the GPU heatsink and your Ultra-120. It might be able to draw some air near the GPU heatsink (and heat off it), then go pass through your CPU HSF, then to the PSU, and out the back...

Hmm, yeah that might be a solution...unless it doesnt get too hot. I was thinking along the lines of making a ghetto duct from the gpu heatsink to the rear exhaust fan. You think that'd work?

laguz1 wrote: If you don't plan on heavy overclocking, your PSU shouldn't get too much heat from the CPU.

That's just it, i'm planning on oc'ing as much as possible. Hmm.

laguz1 wrote: I dunno about this, but can your ultra 120 fit vertically? so that the scythe is pushing air out the rear? Since i know the noctua NH-U12, which is similar in design to your ultra, can't fit in my case, since it bumps the PSU above it...

I'm not quite sure what you mean by fit vertically...do you mean the whole heatsink or just the fan on it? Either way, I have no clue, hehe.



As for the fans, i'll probably be going with the nexuses per your recommendation.

And i might just take you up on that bet of yours, ACook. The T166's seem great but i got really disappointed when i bought my p120 a few years back. IMHO it was nowhere near the whisper quiet that everyone said it was (mine even had the nidec motor and all). But that suspension might do the trick. You think it'd be possible to use those elastic bands to suspend the SilentDrive(s) vertically in the bottom bay?

I'm not quite sure what you mean by fit vertically...do you mean the whole heatsink or just the fan on it? Either way, I have no clue, hehe.

vertically as in the fan attached to your heatsink is facing the rear exhaust fan (the fans are parallel)...This would make the longer side of you heatsink going vertically - its the standard push-pull setup

Oh, well if you plan on heavy overclocking that CPU, i'd just get either a zalman vf-900 or arctic accelero x1 for that 7950, since looking back at what i said about that previous setup, the fan would draw air from the 7950 heatsink, but the proximity of the two, i actually don't think the 7950 would be cooled very well...

You can just set the GPU fan to like 7V so that its quiet and cools decently enough (you don't plan on OC'ing the GPU too do you..?)

Hmm, yeah that might be a solution...unless it doesnt get too hot. I was thinking along the lines of making a ghetto duct from the gpu heatsink to the rear exhaust fan. You think that'd work?

Hmm, it sounds very original (yet complicated), but i don't think it'd work that well...since the air pulled your rear exhaust is going right to left, but the fins on the 7950 are laid out pointing up/down, meaning you need air going down on it...so your duct air flow path would need to make a 90 degree turn...

don't get discouraged by my ramblings though...it probably could work with some ingenuity and luck

machine is finally closed so can't check for exact measurements.

The drive carts are a bit wider than the sonata ones, because you need a bit more width for suspended drives, but they're not as wide as a cdrom. But if you want to suspend something that is wider than a hd, my guess from memory would be that you can't go much wider than 1 cm overall, and that'd be pushing it.

laguz1 wrote:vertically as in the fan attached to your heatsink is facing the rear exhaust fan (the fans are parallel)...This would make the longer side of you heatsink going vertically - its the standard push-pull setup

Oh, well if you plan on heavy overclocking that CPU, i'd just get either a zalman vf-900 or arctic accelero x1 for that 7950, since looking back at what i said about that previous setup, the fan would draw air from the 7950 heatsink, but the proximity of the two, i actually don't think the 7950 would be cooled very well...

You can just set the GPU fan to like 7V so that its quiet and cools decently enough (you don't plan on OC'ing the GPU too do you..?)

Hehe, well, I actually did before getting all of your input. Now I'm figuring it might not be the best of ideas to OC the GPU as well.

I'll most likely buy the Solo and the passive 7950, starting off without either vf-900 or aa x1 to see how well it works. If it turns out I could start baking bread in there, I'll just retrofit one of those active coolers.

Thanks so much for you help, guys! Really appreciated!

And i might just take you up on that bet of yours, ACook. Wink The T166's seem great but i got really disappointed when i bought my p120 a few years back. IMHO it was nowhere near the whisper quiet

All I can say is that I have 3 HD's mounted in my Solo using the sillicon grommets. I was going to suspend, but decided to try the grommets first to see how well it worked. It works so well I never re-considered suspension.

Here are the drives stacked in this order, top to bottom, with an empty bay between the Raptor and the Samsung, Seagate on the bottom.
74 Gig Raptor (35*C) SATA
320 Gig Samsung (coolest at 28*C) SATA
300 Gig Seagate 7200.7 (hottest of the 3 around 37*C) PATA

I can occasionally hear faint metallic seeks of the Raptor. And it actually sounds good... in a quiet kind of way.

I have dual 92mm Nexus intake fans, 1 Noctua 120mm fan with ULNA on the HS and the Antec tri-cool on low. The Antec is the noisest part of the system.