New quiet HTPC/Gaming/Workstation

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osieke
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:51 pm
Location: Belgium

New quiet HTPC/Gaming/Workstation

Post by osieke » Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:10 pm

Hi all,

I've been following the forums for some time now and decided it's time for my first post, so here goes. :-)

I'm looking out for a new -and most importantly- quiet pc (no overclocking) which should be suited for HTPC (HD content), gaming and work. I've been trying to select the right components, but there are still some decisions to be made.

Parts I'm quite sure about:
- Case: Antec Solo (already bought)
- CPU: Intel E8400
- Graphics: Sapphire HD3850 Ultimate (passive HD3850 which should give me some quiet gaming power)
- Hard disk: Samsung SpinPoint T166 500 gb

Still to be decided:
- Cooler: don't know if stock fan is quiet enough or if I need beasts like Thermalright or Ninja (unless they could help to passively cool this system?)
- Case fans: thinking about 1 Nexus Real Silent 120mm (rear exhaust) and 1 Nexus Real Silent 92mm (front intake)...don't know if this is too much/too little?
- PSU: leaning towards Corsair HX520, but there seem to be some problems with "whine". Maybe Seasonic is an option?
- Motherboard: originally leaning towards Abit IP35 Pro, but there seem to be a lot of compatibility issues with this board. Other options to consider: Gigabyte (E)P35-DS3P, (E)P35-DS4 or perhaps the Intel P35DP. The board should at least provide firewire support, decent onboard sound through optical S/PDIF (receiver doesn't support HDMI).
- Memory: Corsair TWIN2X 6400C4 DDR2, 2048MB CL4...don't know if this is the right way to go...so much stuff available that it's hard to choose.

I would appreciate any suggestions you may have!

Cheers,
Joris

shathal
Posts: 1083
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2004 11:36 am
Location: Reading, UK

Post by shathal » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:51 am

Have a meander to "my" thread:
viewtopic.php?t=46053

I'm looking for a White elephant of my own as well, and you might find some great suggestions in there :).

Also - according to:
viewtopic.php?t=45845

It seems that the Ninja *CAN* cool (semi-passively) an E8400, so that's good news :).

osieke
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:51 pm
Location: Belgium

Post by osieke » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:23 pm

Hi all,

Not too much response to my thread, so I've been searching along...

Just wanted to ask another question regarding airflow...

I will use an Antec Solo and plan on running the following:
- Corsair HX520
- Intel E8400
- 1 x Samsung Spinpoint 500GB
- 1 x DVD-RW Combo Drive

- Radeon HD 3850 or 3870 either passively cooled with stock solution or with an Accelero S1

What case fans do you guys think I'll need? Will a single 120mm exhaust fan do (maybe also a 120mm fan on the Accelero) or should I also use a 90mm intake fan.

Also, should I opt for 5v on the fans or just leave as is?

Thanks,
Joris

nitram_tpr
Posts: 96
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2008 5:40 am
Location: Sarf of Engerlund

Post by nitram_tpr » Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:17 am

What sort of gaming are you looking to be doing?
There is a quiet 8800GT (notice I didn't mention silent ;) ). The MSI zilent, this has a Zalman cooler and quite fan on, so there is another option for you. HERE is a link to the CPU3D review of the zilent, the fan runs at a max 24dba, so that will only run that fast under the most taxing of times, so normal use it should be nice and quiet :D

The new Seasonic S12 and M12 II's are supposed to be very quiet, SPCR have a review on the front page of the modular version.

You could also consider the Western Digital Green Power drives, they are quiet, trouble is they only come in 750gb and 1tb options.

I am assuming that the Antec Solo is deep enough to take either the 120 or the ninja these are about the best coolers on the market, hook one of those up to the 8400 and you may be able to run passively. Well, if you cannot do it with the 120 or the ninja it ain't gonna happen with another air cooled HSF.
The Ninja comes in a limited edition all Copper version, this should run even cooler than the aluminium version. HERE is a link the the copper ninja, the fan runs at 40CFM and a silent 10dba. If that can't keep a 8400 nice and quiet I don't know what will!

As for the motherboard, what about one of the Asus P5K range, I like the look of the WIFI one myself. Good sound onboard, WIFI, firewire (2 off them) and e-sata.

Hope that helps.

osieke
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:51 pm
Location: Belgium

Post by osieke » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:36 am

Thanks for your helpful reply nitram_tpr!

For gaming, I would like to be able to comfortably play games like Call Of Duty 4 on high resolution.

I will take a look at the other components you mentioned. For instance, I noticed the MII series review on the homepage. Just need to check when it's available in Europe.

Cheers,
Joris

osieke
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:51 pm
Location: Belgium

Post by osieke » Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:39 pm

In the mean time, I managed to get my hands on an E8400, so that's 2 components in the bag (case and CPU).

The Asus P5K-E WiFi does indeed look very good, but while reading up on this board, I've stumbled across a number of forums where people are reporting issues with it (board gets hot, memory compatibility issues, ...). Don't know if I should take these into account or not. Anyway, I'm starting to lean towards the Gigabyte EP35-DS3P as it seems to be compatible with the E8400 out-of-the-box.

I'm also finding it difficult to decide what to do with fans...

Initially, I was planning on going for a Nexus 92mm intake and a Nexus 120mm exhaust. Reading through the forums, I noticed a lot of people rave about the Scythe Slipstream fans. I also noticed that intake fans don't necessarily add much to system besides extra noise.

Would the following config suffice?
- Slipstream 800 RPM exhaust
- Slipstream 800 RPM CPU (Scythe Ninja)
( - Slipstream 500 RPM on Accelero S1 )

Or should I be looking at a more powerful exhaust fan? Maybe there's no fan needed on the Ninja in combination with an E8400?

Cheers,
Joris

Conroy
Posts: 127
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: NY

Post by Conroy » Sun Feb 24, 2008 3:47 pm

As you can see in my sig, I have a similar system.

I let the bios control my CPU fan (s-flex), and it generally runs at around 500-600rpm, so your 800rpm CPU should be fine. I just didn't see any disadvantage to getting the faster fan and letting it run slower.

I use a 1200rpm slipstream exhaust@7v, but i don't know what RPM that equates to. I'd guess that a 800rpm would be fine there as well.

When I tried switching off my CPU fan entirely, my CPU temp kept rising unless I set the exhaust fan back to 12v, and that was actually noisier than using 2 fans. I guess the larger thermalright or the ninja would work better without a CPU fan than my Ultima 90.

I have no fan on my accelero, but I closed off the top front vent and put a bios-controlled 92mm in the bottom. It didn't seem to need it (temps were still lower than stock 3870 without the fan), but I feel more comfortable with the extra airflow.

osieke
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:51 pm
Location: Belgium

Post by osieke » Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:43 pm

Thanks for your suggestions Conroy!

In the mean time I've ordered some more parts:

- PSU Corsair HX520W
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P
- 3 x Scythe Slipstream 120mm 1200 rpm
- Thermalright Ultima-90 (mainly because of installation issues with Ninja and Thermalright Extreme)
- Nexus Real Silent 92mm
- Corsair: TWIN2X2048-6400C4

I plan on running the slipstreams at a lower voltage, maybe with the help of zalman fan mate 2.

Now I'm on the look out for a quiet hdd, dvd burner and Radeon HD 3870...there seem to be so many manufacturers of those cards so it's hard to decide which one to buy.

I would like to start of with a decent card that's already pretty silent off the shelf and not too expensive. If I do find it too loud, I can still add an Accelero.

Any suggestions?

Mrc112
Posts: 59
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:38 am
Location: Belgium

Post by Mrc112 » Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:51 am

osieke wrote:Thanks for your suggestions Conroy!

In the mean time I've ordered some more parts:

- PSU Corsair HX520W
- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P
- 3 x Scythe Slipstream 120mm 1200 rpm
- Thermalright Ultima-90 (mainly because of installation issues with Ninja and Thermalright Extreme)
- Nexus Real Silent 92mm
- Corsair: TWIN2X2048-6400C4

I plan on running the slipstreams at a lower voltage, maybe with the help of zalman fan mate 2.

Now I'm on the look out for a quiet hdd, dvd burner and Radeon HD 3870...there seem to be so many manufacturers of those cards so it's hard to decide which one to buy.

I would like to start of with a decent card that's already pretty silent off the shelf and not too expensive. If I do find it too loud, I can still add an Accelero.

Any suggestions?
for the 3870: the difference between the manufacturers is mainly the rest of the package ;-)
I've heard the sapphire 3870 and it doesn't make to much noise imo.

for the hdd: look at the site of alternate (the belgian one ;-)): the samsung spinpoint F1 is a fast & quiet drive (& fairly cheaply priced)

Conroy
Posts: 127
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: NY

Post by Conroy » Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:00 am

Yeah, most of these 3870s are actually the same thing. There are a few with custom coolers that you might want to look at; I keep hearing rumors of passive 3870s coming out as well.

What are you planning to do with the third slipstream?

You should need at most one fanmate, since the board will give you control of one of the slipstreams and the 92mm fan either through bios or speedfan.
I've used fanmates before, but decided to try just a simple adapter like this http://www.jab-tech.com/Nexus-Fan-Speed ... -3860.html this time. It works, but I guess there's not much point if the fanmate is the same price.

I like my P7K500, but I have never compared it to the favorites here, the WD GP and samsungs.

xkon
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:32 am
Location: oregon

Post by xkon » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:27 am

no overclocking? price an issue?

crazy price drops on video cards. 9600gt and 3870's can be had for a very similar price, just that they aren't passive. ;p i've got an ecs 8800gt right now. comes stock with an arctic cooling accelero s1 on it. it's running passive, but have very high temps if i game on it right now as i have no fans on at the moment. got it to 87C before i stopped ati tool. i just remember my first 8800gt stuck at 90C whenever i game because of firmware issues (fan locks up at 23% i think). when i use the bottom fan on my sg03 to pull air out, it gets temps in 60's while gaming. i've not tried the turbo kit that comes with it, but i'm assuming they are very quite and just help with moving more hot air out. ecs has a 9600gt /w an s2 on it i believe. more passive cooling goodness. zotac 8800gt amp! comes with sound, and so does PALiT NE/960TSX0252 GeForce 9600GT; if you're interested in that kind of thing.

as for mobos... newer intel chipsets are very nice. can't go wrong with a p35 from biostar, gigabyte, abit, or asus. plenty of others, but if you decide to overclock i think those are your best options. the abit ip35-e is $60 after mir on newegg... i'm going with the biostar TP35D2-A7 soon, but that's only because i've seen people get higher overclocks with it (550+). i like my gigabyte ga-g33m-ds2r though. has a 4x pcie lane that can do cheesy crossfire. once i get rid of my 8800gt i'll probably do crossfire 3870's...

as for heatsinks... you've got a nice 45nm cpu that should run cool anyhow, but i'd recommend the new direct touch heatpipe XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler. it was $29 the other day, but prices have gone up to $37 everywhere now. i've got a coolermaster geminII. it's huge but works fine passive in my sg03 (psu fan pulling air out). 30idle 60+load passive no case fans. 29idle 50+load /w case fans. (temps /w coretemp)

if you've got the cash get some nice noctua fans. moves good amount of air for the noise they make. very very nice. i've got some 120x20mm yates, but they seem pretty loud to me. well actually /w no fans on, i can hear my hdd (7200.10) and m12. seems loud to me.

psu... lets see... i own a seasonic m12 700. very silent. much better than the epsilon (same as ocz gamexstream), and mushkin i used to have. pretty much same as corsair hx series. no problems with mine. i have no fans on at the moment, only the psu pulling air through my hsf, and system is fine. it's been able to handle anything i threw at it. i saw a OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS ATX12V / EPS12V 500W Power Supply for $60 but that's just a quieter version of the high 12v ripple epsilon based gamexstreams.

people seem to love corsair. i dont have a problem with them, but have never felt the urge to buy a set. crucial makes awesome ram. their ballistix lineup is usually priced real well i've seen them at $30 for 2x1gb kits. most of them have d9gmh so they oc real well (might have changed recently). great warranty too, but problem is that they seem to die regularly. right now i'm runnin 2x2gb of 667 crucial value ram d9ftb ($20 a stick after mir). only oc's to about 888 at 2.2v, but should scale with voltage. if you don't plan to oc then any run of the mill 6400 ram should do fine. cheap now a days. if you're interested in IC's then check out http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/ can't go wrong with patriot, corsair, adata, ocz, and g.skill. those are best for price i think...

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osieke
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:51 pm
Location: Belgium

Post by osieke » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:27 am

Mrc112 wrote:for the 3870: the difference between the manufacturers is mainly the rest of the package ;-)
I've heard the sapphire 3870 and it doesn't make to much noise imo.

for the hdd: look at the site of alternate (the belgian one ;-)): the samsung spinpoint F1 is a fast & quiet drive (& fairly cheaply priced)
Thanks Mrc112...nice to see another Belgian on the forums. :-)

Alternate seems to have a nice catalogue, so I'll definitely check them out. I've noticed they have a Sapphire HD3870 Single-Slot...don't know if this is a good option. I would definitely change to an Accelero on that card.

As for the HDD...I'm still pondering what to do with it. I plan on getting a NAS, so I don't really need huge amounts of disk space.

osieke
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:51 pm
Location: Belgium

Post by osieke » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:30 am

Conroy wrote:Yeah, most of these 3870s are actually the same thing. There are a few with custom coolers that you might want to look at; I keep hearing rumors of passive 3870s coming out as well.

What are you planning to do with the third slipstream?

You should need at most one fanmate, since the board will give you control of one of the slipstreams and the 92mm fan either through bios or speedfan.
I've used fanmates before, but decided to try just a simple adapter like this http://www.jab-tech.com/Nexus-Fan-Speed ... -3860.html this time. It works, but I guess there's not much point if the fanmate is the same price.

I like my P7K500, but I have never compared it to the favorites here, the WD GP and samsungs.
The Powercolor HD3870 SCS3 (passive) can be had for a nice price over here, but I've read some bad experiences with that card.

I actually bought a 3rd slipstream just in case...I was planning on 1 exhaust and 1 on the vga, maybe 1 on the heatsink, I think I'll just play with that to check what gives me the best results.

The place where I get most of my stuff since recently seems to have the fanmate as the most affordable way to control the fans.

Mrc112
Posts: 59
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:38 am
Location: Belgium

Post by Mrc112 » Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:18 am

osieke wrote:
Mrc112 wrote:for the 3870: the difference between the manufacturers is mainly the rest of the package ;-)
I've heard the sapphire 3870 and it doesn't make to much noise imo.

for the hdd: look at the site of alternate (the belgian one ;-)): the samsung spinpoint F1 is a fast & quiet drive (& fairly cheaply priced)
Thanks Mrc112...nice to see another Belgian on the forums. :-)

Alternate seems to have a nice catalogue, so I'll definitely check them out. I've noticed they have a Sapphire HD3870 Single-Slot...don't know if this is a good option. I would definitely change to an Accelero on that card.

As for the HDD...I'm still pondering what to do with it. I plan on getting a NAS, so I don't really need huge amounts of disk space.
Let me mention yet another (very good) belgian store: tones (www.tones.be)
Their price range is about the same as alternate (some things cheaper, some more expensive), but their (pre & post sales) service is just unbeatable !
you can find me there on their forum as rouchken.

osieke
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:51 pm
Location: Belgium

Post by osieke » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:05 am

Mrc112 wrote:Let me mention yet another (very good) belgian store: tones (www.tones.be)
Their price range is about the same as alternate (some things cheaper, some more expensive), but their (pre & post sales) service is just unbeatable !
you can find me there on their forum as rouchken.
Thanks again! I know tones very well...when I don't shop online, I usually get my stuff from there...in fact my E8400 cpu comes from tones. :-)

Sometimes I do find their catalogue a little limited, though.

osieke
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:51 pm
Location: Belgium

Post by osieke » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:43 am

Hi all,

Currently on the look out for the graphics cards and I've been noticing some interesting stuff (price drops mainly).

Considering the following options:

nVidia:
- Standard 8800GT 512Mb (e.g. EVGA) with stock cooler to be replaced by Accelero
- Gainward 8800GT Golden Sample (looks like an awesome card with more quiet cooling than stock, but don't know how to judge it and Gainward seems to have a bad reputation concerning customer service)
- MSI NX8800GT Zilent...read some bad experiences with the card, but don't really know if it's the card or driver issues

Lower end: 9600GT

General concerns about nVidia: NOISE, HD playback performance

ATI:
- Sapphire HD3870 512mb: sapphire have switched to single-slot cooling...it appears to be noisier so I would change to Accelero on this
- MSI RX3870 OC 512mb: dual-slot cooling, affordable price (would probably change to Accelero too)

Lower end: HD3850 512mb (low-noise, low temperature, low power consumption?)...what about gaming performance?

The sapphire is the cheapest option (about 150€ at regular supplier). I would like ATI for the HD playback acceleration, but am slightly worried about gaming performance. Nvidia seems to offer better gaming performance, but I'm concerned about the noise, temperature and these cards are about 50€ more expensive.

A penny for your thoughts. ;-)

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