newbie wants some advice!

thecatzmeow · Post by **thecatzmeow** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 12:47 pm

This is my first time building a computer of any kind, much less a quiet one, so please don't beat me if I ask any dumb questions!

To describe my uses: I do some music recording/editing as a hobby, but my current computer is a noisy beast, and the whirring and whining are quite audible on my super-sensitive microphone, even at 5 feet away. I also do CAD and rendering (for work), and I like to occasionally play a game or two when I have spare time (ha!)

In a perfect world, I'd have two machines - one for music and one for everything else - however I don't exactly have money coming out of my ears, so this one machine needs to be a somewhat powerful multitasker while making as little noise as possible.

That being said, here are some of the components I'm considering. Is it possible to make this a quiet system? Does anyone have any advice for me? I'm not interested in any sort of complex DIY mods especially since this is my first build. I'd like to stick to the store-bought components if at all possible. No drilling! (Cutting foam is okay!)

corsair vx450w PSU
scythe ninja
wd caviar gp OR caviar se16 500gb HDD
asus pw5 dh deluxe motherboard
intel core2duo e6850
nvidia 8800 w/arctic cooling accelero
auzentech x-fi prelude sound card

Deiz · Post by **Deiz** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:03 pm

I'm inclined to suggest a Q6600 as opposed to the E6850, as you'll see major speed boosts in all multi-threaded applications, while performing similarly in single-threaded ones.

With an 8800-series GPU, I believe the minimum recommended PSU wattage is around 400W in a mid-to-high-end system, so I'd go with the Corsair HX520W for a little bit more headroom.

If you don't have a case in mind yet, I suggest a P182 because affords you many options.

Blue_Sky · Post by **Blue_Sky** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:22 pm

Welcome to SPCR!

Why the old components, though?
I see a lot of people still going for 975x, and there are newer, more capable things out. Same with the E6850. You're better off with an E8x00, which will be cheaper, faster and more easily cooled (... all generalizations).

If you are looking for an ASUS board, I have a P5K which is a pretty average, vanilla board. If you want an Intel chipset without onboard graphics, go for P35 or X38.

If you want to keep the computer quiet enough to do serious, close proximity audio recording, you are going to want to have a number of slow moving fans. Keeping the whole computer cool enough to only run a couple of fans is going to be hard with an 8800 ?? card.

Undervolted fans (I use Scythe 500 RPM fans) on the Accelero, Ninja and as the case fan will be very quiet, but may not be enough to keep your computer cool during gaming. You may want to use a fan controller to ramp up the graphics card and exhaust fans while you game.
Conversely, you could use one to turn everything down while you record.

thecatzmeow · Post by **thecatzmeow** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:55 pm

Haha, I don't know! I started my list several months ago so I could narrow it down and figure out how many extra hours to work to pay for the thing, and I guess I didn't realize the components were old! Whoops.

So let's make that an E8400.

I was planning on a bunch of 120mm fans. Perhaps this is a dumb question - is a fan controller a piece of software or is it found in the BIOS? Or is it part of the fan?

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:42 pm

thecatzmeow wrote:Perhaps this is a dumb question - is a fan controller a piece of software or is it found in the BIOS? Or is it part of the fan?

Yes!

You see: you often get fan control of some sort in the BIOS, you can also install software to do, and some fans come with hardware to do it. There is also standalone hardware to do fan control.

seraphyn · Post by **seraphyn** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:11 pm

thecatzmeow wrote:I was planning on a bunch of 120mm fans. Perhaps this is a dumb question - is a fan controller a piece of software or is it found in the BIOS? Or is it part of the fan?

A fan controller can be both hardware aswell as software. There are integrated BIOS fancontrols (look up: Asus Q-fan) as well programs (Speedfan for one) and then there are the hardware ones which is the typical knob turning pieces mounted in the case front (most often).

Blue_Sky · Post by **Blue_Sky** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:10 pm

Sorry, I guess I wasn't very clear.
I was thinking a hardware fan controller, as I find them less hassle than software methods. I tried a bunch of different ways of regulating fan speed a while back, but I settled on 500 RPM fans because I got them cheep and it was the path of least resistance for me.
What I was trying to say is that my setup is very quiet, but then my computer draws less than 100W out of the wall during normal (ie. non-gaming) use. I'm using a Thermalright Ultra -120 Extreme, which keeps my CPU steady at 33/33 C. I'm worried that if you use a couple of low RPM fans, your temps are going to be much higher because of the 8800 ? (presumably a GT?).

The problem at the heart of this is that having a computer quiet enough for your "super-sensitive" microphone and cooling an 8800 series card during gaming at the same time is going to be hard. This is why I immediately thought of varying the speed of the fans.
I think it really depends on how sensitive you microphone really is and what kind of temperatures you are willing to accept.

thecatzmeow · Post by **thecatzmeow** » Thu May 15, 2008 9:40 am

hmm, I kind of forgot about this forum until I got my tax refund and stimulus check! Woohoo! Money to build this computer! I'm comfortable with spending $2000. I think I'm somewhere in the neighborhood with these components, but I just want some final feedback. Granted, I'll be getting a new monitor and some software too, so let's say $1500 for the computer.

Also, please let me know if this stuff doesn't work together! I checked when I made my original list but I've swapped some things since then and I wouldn't be surprised if I missed something. Haha

Case: Antec p182
Power: Seasonic s12 energy+550
Processor: Core2 Duo e8400
MoBo: Asus P5K3 Deluxe
Heat Sink: Scythe Ninja or Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (still undecided)
HDD: West Dig Caviar GP 500GB
GPU: Nvidia 8800
GPU Cooling: Thermalright HP-03 Plus
Sound Card: Auzentech X-fi Prelude
Memory: Corsair 4GB (2gb x 2)

Definitely want an optical drive of some sort. Debating Blu-ray. Any suggestions?! Do you think this machine is capable of being silent from a distance of 6 ft? (That's how far my keyboard setup will be from the computer.)

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Thu May 15, 2008 10:22 am

thecatzmeow wrote:Granted, I'll be getting a new monitor and some software too, so let's say $1500 for the computer.

If you have so much to spend, you are better off spending most of it on the monitor, imo.

Case: Antec p182
Power: Seasonic s12 energy+550
Processor: Core2 Duo e8400
MoBo: Asus P5K3 Deluxe
Heat Sink: Scythe Ninja or Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (still undecided)
HDD: West Dig Caviar GP 500GB
GPU: Nvidia 8800
GPU Cooling: Thermalright HP-03 Plus
Sound Card: Auzentech X-fi Prelude
Memory: Corsair 4GB (2gb x 2)

Seasonic is too expensive and not the quitest around. Enermax Modu82+ 425W would serve you better.

Trust me, you don't want that motherboard. It uses DDR3. Get a motherboard that uses DDR2 and use the money saved on memory to buy a better monitor. Pretty much any value price motheboard will do, but if you want good features Abit IP35-Pro is one of the best.

Get Ninja, it's not as efficient as TRUE, but it's more then adequate. It's cheap compared to TRUE and has comes with the best fan on market.

Plekto · Post by **Plekto** » Fri May 16, 2008 3:25 pm

thecatzmeow wrote: Case: Antec p182
Power: Seasonic s12 energy+550
Processor: Core2 Duo e8400
MoBo: Asus P5K3 Deluxe
Heat Sink: Scythe Ninja or Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (still undecided)
HDD: West Dig Caviar GP 500GB
GPU: Nvidia 8800
GPU Cooling: Thermalright HP-03 Plus
Sound Card: Auzentech X-fi Prelude
Memory: Corsair 4GB (2gb x 2)

Case: Fine.
Power: Overkill. I'd actually get a 350W 80-85% efficient PS.
CPU: Fine. Good price point vs speed.
HS: Ninja. Get the Thermalright mounting kit.
MB: The Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P is a nice board. Any of their ultra-durable line are good, IMO.
HDD: Fine. Consider a smaller drive in addition as a boot volume, though. Smaller is better for this.
GPU: Accelero S1. Passive is sweet.
Video: Fine. I like ATI better(but less heat, IMO), but this is a good card.
Audio - bit overkill, but whatever...

Memory - I'd go with 4x1GB actually as they tend to run a bit tighter and cost a tiny bit less. I like Mushkin as they are realistic with their ratings. Corsair and OCZ are also good.

You should have a solid chunk of money left.

sjoukew · Post by **sjoukew** » Sat May 17, 2008 3:57 am

Asus P5K3 -> DDR3
Asus p5k -> DDR2

So if you want asus, go for the p5k series.
DDR2 is a lot cheaper, and performance is almost the same.

I always use asus bords, and they do never disappoint me.

Rewdoalb · Post by **Rewdoalb** » Sat May 17, 2008 9:21 am

do you really want to boot on a 5400 RPM drive?

the GreenPower drives, I've heard, are great for storage. But I wouldn't recommend them as your main drive quite so much.