New i5-2500S build

[gevorg]

A few years back I build a pretty quiet build thanks to SPCR, so now that Intel is about to release Sandy Bridge CPUs, I decided to finally upgrade. Below are the parts I'm considering to put together in the next few weeks or so. Will appreciate your thoughts, ideas, criticism, etc.

Goal: at least 3 years of near-silent usage, no or just minor upgrades

Antec Solo case (the legend!)
Seasonic X-400 PSU

Intel i5-2500S (65W TDP, no overclocking)
Scythe SCMG-2100 MUGEN-2 Rev.B CPU Cooler
Some 2GBx2 DDR3 1333 RAM
Intel DH67BL H67 Motherboard

Radeon HD5750 GIGABYTE GV-R575SL-1GI ("stock" fanless to retain 3 year warranty)

Intel 80GB G2 SSD (salvaging this from my current build)
2x Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB (suspended)

1x Noctua NF-S12B FLX Rear Case Fan (120mm, 900RPM, ~11dB)
1x Noctua NF-B9 Front Case Fan (92mm, 1000RPM, ~8dB)

Concerns/Questions:

1) At full CPU and GPU load, do you think the CPU fan will ever need to run at full speed (12v)? The rated 24dB noise is a bit much, hoping that it will never go above ~15dB (10V).

2) Should I use Scythe Slot Rafter + slow speed fan to cool GPU, or something similar? Or Solo's front fan will be enough?

3) Since the total power usage should never exceed 200W (i.e. 50% of X-400 power rating), should I worry about X-400 overheating in this configuration, particularly with the Solo?

4) Any suggested tweaks/tips with this build?

Thank you!

[CA_Steve]

Your power use should be in the range of 60-70W AC idle and no more than 150W AC load. So, pretty low power. I don't think the cpu fan will crank up. I don't think you will need any extra cooling other than possibly attaching a low rpm fan to the 5750 if it gets too warm for you. I do have a couple of questions and comments:

- What's the 5750 for? Gaming or some other apps that need more video acceleration than what the 2500 can provide?
- If you are using a video card, why not go with the P67 instead?
- If you go with the P67, consider getting the unlocked 2500K instead of the 2500S and add more flexibility at a similar price. Intel charges a premium to sort their cpu's by TDP...reality is that you can undervolt it yourself. Get the 2500K, set the core voltage and clock to the 2500S specs. plus, you have the option of more speed later.
- X400 will work fine. You might consider the X560. Similar acoustics for your power load.

[akorzan]

I found the Samsung Spinpoint F3 very loud. I do not know about the F4, but the F3 was above 40 dB. Tomshardware had some dB figures on their outdated harddrive charts and the F3 was well above 40.

I am also going to build a new silent multi monitor machine with the new sandy bridge chips. I was planing on getting two 2.5 inch drives for quietness and RAID 1 them for data protection. I found the hard drives to be the most noisy parts of every quiet computer I build even if they are suspended in the air on rubber. Does anyone have any recommendations for quiet harddrives?

[sub]

1) The cpu is very easy to keep cool, but for silence i'll go for an cheap aftermarket cooler i think you can keep it fanless with a scythe muggen2




2) IF you're not gaming, consider the 2500K with the intel 3000 graphic, it has the same perf as a ati 5540 GPU

3) with 70w idlle and 140w at load you don't have to worry

4) I'll go for 2 WD Caviar Green instead of Spinpoint F4 a lot quieter and for the fans cheaper and quieter models like holy nexus one