Newbie with Antec 300 case info please

[markyb]

Hi folks.

Im not completely new to pc's but never actually got around to building my own and ive started that conquest today by buying some components.

I have thought about upgrading my pc for a while and im sick of waiting for my current old pc to boot up but the pc is 7 years old and i can forgive it for that

So after going lots of research ive settled on some pc components to get. Which are mostly energy saving and ive also tried to go for quieter items this time.

PSU: corsair 620w HX
Case: Antec 300
CPU: intel dual core E8400 3.0 ghz Wolfdale
motherboard: not decided yet on the chipset to use
Hdd: not decided yet due to whether to try a 2.5 drive or 3.5 WD eco green items
memory: 4 Gb kingston

After being sent here from a car forum *yes weird and wonderful ways to get traffic* the member gave me some great advice and said i should pop down here..

Also reading some of the threads on thre Antec 300.. acoustically its not too good. Seeing this is my first build/rig id like to obviously do things right before doing them, finding that its horrible and having to rip it apart again!

Any advice would be great. Im after a quiet pc *i think anything will be quieter then my current pc which is very audioable in my bedroom when im trying to sleep* but not silent.. maybe on the dampening side? what products, tips to use or articles that can be read to stop the vibration on the components i have at the moment.. with mounting etc. Im also thinking of using 1 or 2? Akasa 120 Apache fan for the front to draw some cool air in due to the reviews and good comments seen here..

I have also just purchased a vantec PSU dampener gasket. Not sure it will do anything but it was only a few pounds anyway so nothing major lost really.

thanks for any feedback

[thejamppa]

Hi!

Its late and I am almost falling asleep. Just click the link Machines of Tortuga ( yes that link on my signature) and check middle computer: Wolflair. Modified and Dampened Three Hundred, E8400, HX 620W, 4Gb ram... Sounds pretty familiar?

Maybe that will help you get ideas. If you need more pictures just ask.

[JamieG]

Gigabyte's P45-based motherboards have a really good reputation - I think the P45-UD3P has gotten great reviews at most hardware review sites.

However, they don't feature integrated graphics. Do you plan on doing any gaming or video editing, or do you just want a general use PC? If it is just for general use and maybe a bit of video watching, you could be fine with integrated graphics. For motherboards with Intel CPUs, integrated graphics is most commonly found on micro ATX motherboards. SPCR has reviewed a few mATX motherboards with G35 or G45 chipsets, so have a look in the Motherboard review section of the main SPCR site.

You should definitely buy an aftermarket CPU heatsink and replace the included Antec TriCool fans that come with the Three Hundred with quieter fans (Nexus and Scythe are good brands here). In addition to thejamppa's rig, I think there are a few other Three Hundred rigs in the General Gallery section of these forums, so have a look there. Unless you have a hot graphics card, you shoudn't need the front fans, just a rear exhaust and top exhaust case fans, plus one for the aftermarket CPU heatsink.

For your hard drives, look at suspending them (do a forum search and you will find some articles on this technique).

Also, have a look at the Recommended section of the main SPCR site - there are plenty of articles there that will give you lists of some recommended quiet components.

Hope this helps!

[markyb]

Hi,

Thanks alot for the information and ideas so far. im going to start digging in the older posts now as you recommended.

I must admit that it is rather freaky that the components im going to use are the same. But i can assure you id never seen your gallery or even your specs!
some bits have been recommeneded but more from places like overclockers.. i got recommended the antec brand, and was lookin at the sonata which looks really nice, but couldnt justify the £120 price tag, and saw the 300 on ebuyer with the good reviews.. couldnt argue!

as for the rest, scan has a "green computing" section which had both the corsair and E8400 in there list (amoung others) but these was around about the price i was willing to stretch too. Was considering going quad but decided to do dual.. the reviews on ebuyer again said that it was a great cpu for overclocking etc if wanted. At the moment i'll see how it runs standard and go from there!

I will be doing photo editing on the pc and some video editing. At the moment my current graphics card will not run any clip/video on you tube or on my own pc that resembles HD quality.. the cpu max's out and it just goes choppy. Altho im not big on gaming, i hope to be able to play some games so maybe a middle of the range card would be good?

Thanks for the info on the chipsets too. Im just totally lost with the variants which is this and that and .. arrghh!

Hard drive wise.. i will look into suspension deffo.. still not sure which to go with tho but i think the 3.5 WD 500gb eco green will be the one.. So far.

Can anyone recommend the aftermarket CPU cooler? Again, completely out of depth with makes,brands and such. Or does this depend on the mother board i get whether it will fit ok?

[RoGuE]

for the e8400, im using an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. its only 25 bucks and i overclock my cpu to ~3.75 ghz. The cooler keeps it nice and cool, and coming from me that says a lot (i dont like my GPU breaking 55 lol).

Also, for a huge step towards silent computing, start looking into HDD suspension. Suspending my hdds was the single most dramatic step I took to make my computer whisper quiet.

[markyb]

thanks rogue,

I have seen that name before, so at least i know its well recommended. Is that just for its quieter operation? or also for its extra cooling capabilities too?

Sounds like im gonna be modifying my case more then i wanted too lol.. Some great diy mods around the forum.. And loads of ideas etc.. Its just finding the right items now! Never seen any of them clips that the elastic is threaded thro before? I have used something similar which are pipe grips for clipping pneumatic pipes etc but they are normally in a U shape.

[thejamppa]

Another good and rather cheap is Xigmatek HDT-S1283 but you need to buy Crossbow, albeit its not expensive. It has faily good PWM fan.

[RoGuE]

thanks rogue,

I have seen that name before, so at least i know its well recommended. Is that just for its quieter operation? or also for its extra cooling capabilities too?

both. It does a great job cooling an overclocked e8400, and with the "silent" mode on my mobo, you can't hear it. The fan on it has a nice soft mounted system that separates it from the heatsink, and in turn, the motherboard. It's got to be the hands down best "bang for your buck" HSF for a cpu like the e8400.

[Matija]

I think it would be better if you used a massive heatsink like the Xigmatek, coupled with a 500 rpm Slip Stream fan.

As for the graphics card, I'd recommend a passive ATI 4670. Just try to find one that underclocks and undervolts properly.

Add a 800 rpm exhaust fan, and you're all set. Of course, after you notice that the HDD is the loudest part, you'll have to suspend it somehow

[JL5]

Hi

Consider choosing another HD than WD's green. It might be the bottleneck in your system. The old WD green (WD6400AACS) use 6watt where other hard drives of similar generation were using 8watt, but had a 20% performance improvement.
Have a Samsung spinpoint f1 drive and a Hitachi deskstar p7k1000.b drive, where the Hitachi has no audible random clicks or loud seek noises, but the Samsung has. I would recommend the Hitachi, but have been out of touch with HDs since April, hopefully some newer better are out now.

When you get a heatsink, get one with backplate mounting instead of push pins, more secure and gets better cooling. Have a Xigmatek HDT-s1283 clone(OCZ Vendetta) and I could not get any backplate mounting for it and only 3 pins are in the holes, though still works.
Would probably go for a Scythe Mugen 2 as it comes with backplate mounting and a quiet fan.

If you need more performance than a 4670, the ATI 4770 is latest offering(performance is between 4830 and 4850 card). Though it uses more power than 4670 both in idle and load and I think I read it undervolts poorly. Do not know about latest offerings from Nvidia.

Use rubber bolts when attaching fans and use either fan controllers(zalman fanmate 2, nanoxia etc.) or software program to control RPMs.

Best of luck with your build!

[thejamppa]

HD 4770 currently is as common (thanks to TMSC's problems in delivering 40nm chips ) as black man's membership in Ku Klux Klan... But HD 4850's are dirt cheap ^^

[markyb]

Hi

Consider choosing another HD than WD's green. It might be the bottleneck in your system. The old WD green (WD6400AACS) use 6watt where other hard drives of similar generation were using 8watt, but had a 20% performance improvement.
Have a Samsung spinpoint f1 drive and a Hitachi deskstar p7k1000.b drive, where the Hitachi has no audible random clicks or loud seek noises, but the Samsung has. I would recommend the Hitachi, but have been out of touch with HDs since April, hopefully some newer better are out now.

Some of the point was to reduce the electrical consumption they used. I know theoretically you cant have best of both worlds. but for me, im using a IDE hard drive at the moment for both main and secondary drives and to be honest im happy in the transfer rates.. For secondary yes, im definatly thinking of going green, primary.. Still not sure.. unless i go caviar blue? Mainly because the power saving only comes in on idle which the primary drive will very very rarely be idle..

im going to look into the passive graphics card products youve all recommended and see.. minefield!

The motherboard im thinking of getting is the P5Q deluxe ip45 which is expensive but im not planning on upgrading for a while so i figured its as best to get the ones i can afford now!. Also it seems to have some great reviews on overclocking and controllability. Its probably way too far beyond me for the moment but in a few months etc who knows at least i have it to do it with!

Also keeping an eye on some of the Antec 300 case mods flying around in the gallery.. Giving me some ideas etc on airflow and such

thanks for all your time so far should start building it up sometime over the weekend/coming weeks and no doubt i'll post some pics up. As i do like my cabling neat and tidy ive ordered some double sided velco straps to hold it in place were needed. in that i also ordered some acousti rubber fan pegs? mounts from ebay just to try

[thejamppa]

thanks for all your time so far should start building it up sometime over the weekend/coming weeks and no doubt i'll post some pics up. As i do like my cabling neat and tidy ive ordered some double sided velco straps to hold it in place were needed. in that i also ordered some acousti rubber fan pegs? mounts from ebay just to try

Just remember to post pictures of your system once its done and operational. I am eager to see what all have you done for it.

p.s. I think we just hooked another innocent person into silent computing ^^

[jhhoffma]

HD 4770 currently is as common (thanks to TMSC's problems in delivering 40nm chips ) as black man's membership in Ku Klux Klan...

OH...MY...GOD...

I near fell out of my seat, I laughed so hard at that one!

[thejamppa]

HD 4770 currently is as common (thanks to TMSC's problems in delivering 40nm chips ) as black man's membership in Ku Klux Klan...

OH...MY...GOD...

I near fell out of my seat, I laughed so hard at that one!

Good to see that my odd sense of humor is understand by others too, laughing to myself would make other peoples draw wrong conclusions ^^

[aimless]

Not sure if you have picked up the corsair PSU that you mentioned yet but Zip, Zoom, Fly has a decent deal on them right now. Much, much, cheaper than NewEggs.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Eblast/zi ... ail=080409

$10 off straight away with the coupon code EBAAA021 and $40 mail in rebate. It comes to $89.99 total, $5 more than Corsairs own 520W hx model.

Deal seems to expire august 11th. I'm also gonna get this same PSU I think.

[markyb]

Not sure if you have picked up the corsair PSU that you mentioned yet but Zip, Zoom, Fly has a decent deal on them right now. Much, much, cheaper than NewEggs.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Eblast/zi ... ail=080409

$10 off straight away with the coupon code EBAAA021 and $40 mail in rebate. It comes to $89.99 total, $5 more than Corsairs own 520W hx model.

Deal seems to expire august 11th. I'm also gonna get this same PSU I think.

Thanks for the heads up. personally its no good for me being a UK based silent seeker but im sure it will benefit any others over the pond for sure.

I guess im just looking in doing the bits before even tho i have no idea what the rig will sound like before. Im starting as i mean to go on. Dont worry im not going to develop a fetish to total silencing it. Tempting tho Altho i think the sound deadening i was planning on getting will wait till i find out where bits are fitted too etc. But it would be rude not too looking at the acousti as apposed to the akasa paxmate.. due to the recommended deadening on the reviews thats been conducted here

[markyb]

HD 4770 currently is as common (thanks to TMSC's problems in delivering 40nm chips ) as black man's membership in Ku Klux Klan... But HD 4850's are dirt cheap ^^

hmm.. dirt cheap isnt that cheap for me lol.. online local shop is around £90..

remember my last Graphics card cost me £26!!!

Bought my second wave of bits.. just need the graphics card *If im going to use one*, ram and some modifications to the case. 140mm fan assembly at the top of the case im not sure about.. think im going to leave it for the time being and see excatly how silent it is?! but i have bought 3 akasa apache 120mm.. one for the front 1 for the exhaust and 1.. hmm well i could put it on the front or side of the case i guess.. if not sell it on

apart from that im going to pick the items up tomorrow. I was thinking of buying a fan controller but not sure if the mobo i have purchased will have the facility to use speedfan. So im going to try that option first.

Way over spend on the budget i set but at least ive gone and bought the bits before realizing im not happy with it etc.. but again i have also bought a 500GB hard drive, arctic freezer pro and case fans on top of my original budget.

[markyb]

140mm fan assembly at the top of the case im not sure about.. think im going to leave it for the time being and see excatly how silent it is?!

Well curiosity got the better of me, and i took the side of my old case and plugged in the fans of the new antec.. granted its all open and i was sat on top of it but it was just to see how quiet they really are.. Low settings seem to be quiet enough *just* but anything above that.. it favours a jet turbine lol.. so im glad ive ordered the Apache so far..

which 140mm fan mounted horizontal is abit quieter then the antec? i had a look on quietpc and there wasnt many 140mm fans.. 120 seems to be the "in" size unless im not looking properly.. Similar in my local/online shop *scan computers* they dont seem to stock the 140mm fans as much as the 120's

[markyb]

back to GPU's i am now looking at the recommended 4850's as this seems to be a middle of the range series .. Is there anything to look out for? are there aftermarket heat sinks to fit to them if you want them silent? best manufacturer? bigger memory or faster bus rates?

thanks

[JamieG]

back to GPU's i am now looking at the recommended 4850's as this seems to be a middle of the range series .. Is there anything to look out for? are there aftermarket heat sinks to fit to them if you want them silent? best manufacturer? bigger memory or faster bus rates?

Gigabyte makes a passive 4850, but if you are up for mounting an aftermarket heatsink, buy any 4850 with a stock PCB and install an Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev 2. If your temps aren't great, add a quiet 120mm fan or the Turbo module.

[markyb]

Thanks Jamie. Would that be the same for all the GPU's, if i wanted to buy an aftermarket passive cooling? Is im also looking into the 9600GT Nvidia *even tho ive never owned a Nvidia before* ive read good reviews recently for being a great gpu for gaming and such. The Asus already has a passive cooler on it, but im guessing buying one with a stock cooler on then buying a aftermarket one is the right way to do it.

this now really is the only thing i need to buy. Ive done some cable management mods to tidy up the case and rerouting cables behind. But because the PSU is at the back, the front panel usb cables dont reach to the connections on the motherboard near the pci slots at the back!!! So i think the mobo layout i have bought isnt the best for this case figures already bought 8pin, 24pin extensions to get around the problems..

[JamieG]

I think a lot of the custom graphics cards with passive coolers installed by manufacturers tend to run a little hot and rely on your case having good airflow.

The Accelero S1 probably outperforms them all. The S1 is quite large (have a look at the pic on the first page of SPCR's review of the Accelero S1!) and is better designed for passive cooling.

With just a small amount of airflow from an undervolted fan ziptied to the Accelero, you would have a very quiet graphics card indeed.

Gigabyte's Silent Cell cooler looks like the best 'stock' passive solution to me - Asus' solutions don't look like they provide enough room for proper airflow.

Btw, if you are still looking for a replacement 140mm fan, try this Yate Loon fan. Undervolt it a bit and and around 8 pounds delivered it should be a pretty good bargain IMO.

(Alternatively, try feeding 7V to the 140mm Antec fan through a molex connector and using the middle setting, as that should be a little quieter.)

Out of interest, what does your full parts list look like now? Did you get an aftermarket heatsink for your CPU as well?

[markyb]

Jamie, thanks again for posting your thoughts very much appreicated.

I might just get a undervolt molex 7v to see as its something i could use on the graphics card fan (if i go down that route) later in the stage. I have also heard some good things about the Yate loon fan, specially for the cost, and its a fan sizes not too popular as i understand.

After googling Ati 4850 vs Nvidia 9600GT even though i did see that article in the building a pc magazine, the 4850's are meant to be nearly leagues ahead of that 9600GT card So im rather confused in that sence as im sure they put it up against one of them cards (along with others)..
Sometimes dont quite understand why GPU's have the fan on the underside.. unless im looking at them totally wrong.. there will be an explaination for it im sure. So please excuse my blindness due to being new to understanding how they work..

Parts list so far is:

CPU and cooler: E8400 with Arctic cooling freezer pro 7 *never realised it was that huge!!!!!*
Mobo: Asus P5Q Deluxe
PSU: Corsair 620 Hx
Hhd's: WD cavair 320gb blue 16mb cache, WD 500gb green 32mb cache
fans: 2 x Akasa Apache 120mm (so far, 2 fitted but i have the 3rd just incase ) and the standard 140mm 3 speed Antec top fan.
Ram: 4gb Kingston hyper-x 1066mhz
Acousti pack ultimate Sound proofing kit (altho not fully fitted due to cables)

Still looking into suspending the hard drives now, or later but main thing at the moment is just routing the cabling and getting them to look right, So like i said im using extension cables due to the mobo connections being so far away and the psu being at the bottom, ive lost abit of the OEM cabling from bottom to top straight away!

Then the GPU, which im hopfully going to get this week either online or from a local shop, then im vitually ready for a switch on!

One other thing i might buy later is either the zalman fanmate 2's or a front panel fan controller. Not sure which just yet. but id like the thoughts of being able to alter without going inside the case to alter the fan speeds.

[thejamppa]

I hope you will have better luck with 140mm tricool than I had. Mine vibrated insanely when positioned vertically... in every speed. Luckily there pretty good choices like Sharkoon 900 rpm 140mm and Yate-Loon 140mm 1000 rpm fans which all are fine with slight undervolting and have a lot better properties when poistioned vertically.

[markyb]

I'll crank it up and see if i can live with the noise. If not then im sure a yate loon or Sharkoon will be on its way to my house soon

thejamppa.. I noticed you made a comment about the 4770 graphics card abit further up the post. Wasnt 100% sure what you was getting at when you posted.. Sorry sometimes im alittle "slow" After looking into the 4850's ive come to realise that these cards consume alot of electricity, Well 20w idle and 40w underload. which is one of the reasons i came to build a better more power efficient pc. I honestly dont think i'll be gaming too much but would like the added just incase. As long as it can deal with HD quality videos, video/photo encoding, im pretty much happy. Searching through. the 4770 sounds like a very good card from power consumption/power output in comparison to the 4850. cost is virtually the same, so for a gamer its a no brainer to get the 4850.. Few things is there isnt a passive cooler for it *not that i can find on the internet* and its getting a pretty outdated card now.

Any reasons why i shouldnt get the 4770??

I just dont like the GPU sat on idle doing nothing consuming watts when i can have a similar card comsuming less.. Id have used the On board *if id have some on the damn mobo i bought!* for the time being.

Any thoughts??

[thejamppa]

if you don't game much, HD 4770 is pretty much over kill with HD 48x0 cards. HD 4770 does suffer from higher idle power consumption than expected.

For HD quality videos any modern IGP should do the trick or budget class nVidia / Ati cards. A good compromise between a card that allows gaming and consumes less power than either current HD 47x0 and 48x0 is the HD 4670 or HD 4650-series card. Sure you can't run modern games maxed out but with my HD 4670 I can run few years old game on high details on 1650x 1080 well.

[markyb]

Well after sitting on it for a few days and going to my local pc world *which is noted for being expensive here* i have took the plunge with the HD 4670 Sapphire 512mb passive cooled version. Mainly for its silent operation. I figured that if it did get a little warm i could attach a small silent fan with a fanmate or similar to draw some heat out of the heatsink?? as i do believe there maybe some room for alittle overclocking if needed Cooler the better obviously to prelong the life of the card.

The power consumption is just breathtaking thats been tested on some of the xbitslabs reviews. Especially in conparision to the 4850's. Yes albeit a faster card, its for gamers. And even though i will at some point have a go at gaming its not primarily for it. So thanks for the recommendations mate i think thats the right balance, and the reviews ive read are also from gamers on a budget so it is capable of doing it if needed too.


Many thanks

[markyb]

Well i must have done something right, Its powered up and OS installed. just updating as much as possible. The Apaches seem to be fairly quiet compared to my other fans at full 12V So i will get something to undervolt them, make them alot more quieter. Fanmates? or front panel controller?

One that seems to be rather disapointing so far from first turn on is the AC freezer pro7. Turbine isnt the word!!! Its louder then my old P4 2.8ghz stock cooler. Not sure if there is a way to quieten that down? Can that have a controller fitted to it? Obviously not too much with a cpu. the Asus software, which i havent had chance to install yet has apps that can control fan speeds,temps and overclocking utilites. So i'll see how i get on while i install SP2/3

One thing is.... Its rapid as.. i dont think ive ever witnessed XP boot up in under 30 secs ever, and that was with a 10 second wait while the express gate counted down!

keep you posted and i'll get some pics up as ive took them as ive gone along. hdd's suspended also which im glad i did.. Not a whisper from them at all when formatting

[markyb]

Well as you said mate (the jamppa) The Antec 140mm fan vibrates the case like nothing ive heard before! So im going to get a Sharkoon 140mm 900rpm fan tomorrow and hope it cures that vibration as that is the item that is making the system so damn noisy now.
Im also going for the fanmate2 to get some better airflow into the case, as the mobo epu engine green technology that is slowing the fans down at the moment is only running them at 200 rpm which are making them near stall.. although the temps are still good so far
i should have got them all last week.. but other things too priority with my mum going into hospital but im getting there Pics to follow tomorrow hopefully