Time for a new silent PC? What to keep? What to replace? What to rethink?
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 4:38 pm
Hi everyone,
Hopefully you're all fine. I think it's time for me to buy new parts for my pc. I used to build every pc I owned and they usually lasted for about 10 years. Like now, it's time for an update. But this time I don't have so much time to dig deep into all new things and hope I can get some advice/shortcut from you. Thanks in advance!
# What I have (bought in 2010, links are for illustration/clarification only) #
1) Case: Xigmatek Pantheon Black, manual fan control at the front broken
[https://www.techpowerup.com/review/xigmatek-pantheon/]
2) Case Fan Back: be quiet! Silent Wings 2 14cm (air outflow, esp. for/from CPU cooler)
[https://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/Be-Q ... 27689.html]
3) Case Fans Front: left bottom: be quiet! Silent Wings 2 (BQT T12025-MF-3) to suck air in and right top: be quiet! Pure Wings 2 PWM (air out) to cool HDDs
[https://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/Be-Q ... 27688.html]
[https://www.techpowerup.com/review/be-q ... lose12.jpg]
4) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 Rev. 2.1
[https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-870A-UD3-rev-21]
5) CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE "125W" 4x3.40Ghz
[https://hothardware.com/reviews/amd-lau ... x4-965-cpu]
6) Cooler: Scythe Mugen 2, fan on right side so air is sucked in through the cooler and then out through back fan
[https://www.newegg.com/scythe-scmg-2000 ... ptcha=pass]
7) Video Card: Radeon Sapphire HD6850 1024MB HDMI/DVI (PCIe x16) with SLI power adapter
[https://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-ma ... 568/review]
Wifi Card: Asus PCE-AC88 AC3100 (PCIEx1)
[https://www.asus.com/Networking/PCE-AC88/]
9) RAM: 12GB DDR3
1. 2GB G.Skill PC3-10700H (667Mhz)
2. 2GB G.Skill PC3-10700H (667Mhz)
3. 4GB Crucial Technology PC3-12800H (800Mhz)
4. 4GB Crucial Technology PC3-12800H (800Mhz)
10) PSU: 550W Silentmaxx EcoSilent 80plus (has a fan which is probably the loudest of all but still pretty quite)
11) HDDs
1.&2. OS: 1TB SATA RAID 1 Samsung HD103SJ (Win10 + data on different partitions)
[https://www.newegg.com/samsung-spinpoin ... 6822152185]
3. Data: 3TB Seagate ST3000DM0001 SATA
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ST3000DM001]
4. Win8: 500GB Samsung HD502HJ SATA
[https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-HD502HJ- ... B00DUGHRU2]
5. Ubuntu: 250GB Western Digital WDC WD25007B IDE
I prefer to choose the boot order in BIOS as I had too many issues with boot loaders, that's why I want to keep Linux and Win10 on separate drives. Speed of my current system is alright, use of PC is mostly for office, web, data science and programming (also server/client apps). As of today and not planned: no fancy games, no CAD, no video editing.
# What is my problem #
Since upgrading to Win10 (yes, not a fresh install) at every "cold" startup (just after "Loading OS" and just before the windows bootloader is shown) I get a BSOD saying DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL for jraid.sys. Then a dump is created and a restart performed. Important is the restart because after a restart my system realizes for some reason that it can actually go to the bootloader and then it boots into the windows bootloader (which is also old and I don't need it anymore but now I am afraid of not being able to boot into W10 after removing the boot manger).
More info about my problem which I was not able to fix (I have no memory issue and the driver is the latest, but still old JMicron JMB36X RAID Driver, v1.17.63.1, 2011-05-19)
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/window ... s-or-equal
- http://www.fixoserror.com/fix-jraid-sys ... -step.html
# What is my goal #
Bring my system up to decent standards while reusing everything that doesn't need to be replaced. If possible make it even quieter (->Q: fanless PSU?). The system should run for 5-10 years with minimal maintenance and I rather spend $500 more to get some features that will turn out useful in this timeframe. Overall budget is hard to say as I don't know what I need to buy new but max is $2000 so this should give me some room but also too many choices. That's why I was hoping to get some help from you guys.
# What I want/think/have read #
- Win10 on M.2 as Raid 1
->Q: Does Raid 1 even make sense or would you opt for a weekly image of the os drive? I mean "wasting" a M.2 slot doesn't sound like a good idea but I'm used to having my OS on a Raid1 and even with SSDs this might make sense (https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/do ... 1.2544177/). What I care about is that my system is running and if soemthing goes wrong I have it back running in a few hours. I just don't want to spend time if there is a hardware (or even software/update) problem.
- more than 12 GB RAM (or at least the ability)
- Sound on Board (listen to nothing fancy just some MP3s)
- very good LAN (for wifi I'd like to keep the Asus PCE-AC88 AC3100 if that's possible and from what I read is should with PCIe x1)
- SATA Raid on board (possibly Raid 1 for some data from my old system's drives, no software raid, and the chip should perform pretty good)
- decent graphic card (for now if possible I'd like to keep mine and go for newer/better one once I really need it, it's PCIe x16)
- enough slots and SATA ports on board for my HDDs
->Q: Or would you just get rid of all HDDs?
- lots of USB 3.0, or above and one USB-C
- a good CPU for the next years I guess I'll go with an AMD Ryzen but still there are so many options to choose from.
->Q: Any suggestions for the CPU and then this goes along with which board?
- ATX form rather than Micro-ATX, I guess just because I like to have options and more PCI or whatever slots are better for future upgrades I believe
So, if you made it this far: I'm thankful for your time and if this was too much or not clear please let me know. So, please any advice or suggestion is appreciated.
Thanks,
TurboToJo
Hopefully you're all fine. I think it's time for me to buy new parts for my pc. I used to build every pc I owned and they usually lasted for about 10 years. Like now, it's time for an update. But this time I don't have so much time to dig deep into all new things and hope I can get some advice/shortcut from you. Thanks in advance!
# What I have (bought in 2010, links are for illustration/clarification only) #
1) Case: Xigmatek Pantheon Black, manual fan control at the front broken
[https://www.techpowerup.com/review/xigmatek-pantheon/]
2) Case Fan Back: be quiet! Silent Wings 2 14cm (air outflow, esp. for/from CPU cooler)
[https://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/Be-Q ... 27689.html]
3) Case Fans Front: left bottom: be quiet! Silent Wings 2 (BQT T12025-MF-3) to suck air in and right top: be quiet! Pure Wings 2 PWM (air out) to cool HDDs
[https://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/Be-Q ... 27688.html]
[https://www.techpowerup.com/review/be-q ... lose12.jpg]
4) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 Rev. 2.1
[https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-870A-UD3-rev-21]
5) CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE "125W" 4x3.40Ghz
[https://hothardware.com/reviews/amd-lau ... x4-965-cpu]
6) Cooler: Scythe Mugen 2, fan on right side so air is sucked in through the cooler and then out through back fan
[https://www.newegg.com/scythe-scmg-2000 ... ptcha=pass]
7) Video Card: Radeon Sapphire HD6850 1024MB HDMI/DVI (PCIe x16) with SLI power adapter
[https://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-ma ... 568/review]
Wifi Card: Asus PCE-AC88 AC3100 (PCIEx1)
[https://www.asus.com/Networking/PCE-AC88/]
9) RAM: 12GB DDR3
1. 2GB G.Skill PC3-10700H (667Mhz)
2. 2GB G.Skill PC3-10700H (667Mhz)
3. 4GB Crucial Technology PC3-12800H (800Mhz)
4. 4GB Crucial Technology PC3-12800H (800Mhz)
10) PSU: 550W Silentmaxx EcoSilent 80plus (has a fan which is probably the loudest of all but still pretty quite)
11) HDDs
1.&2. OS: 1TB SATA RAID 1 Samsung HD103SJ (Win10 + data on different partitions)
[https://www.newegg.com/samsung-spinpoin ... 6822152185]
3. Data: 3TB Seagate ST3000DM0001 SATA
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ST3000DM001]
4. Win8: 500GB Samsung HD502HJ SATA
[https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-HD502HJ- ... B00DUGHRU2]
5. Ubuntu: 250GB Western Digital WDC WD25007B IDE
I prefer to choose the boot order in BIOS as I had too many issues with boot loaders, that's why I want to keep Linux and Win10 on separate drives. Speed of my current system is alright, use of PC is mostly for office, web, data science and programming (also server/client apps). As of today and not planned: no fancy games, no CAD, no video editing.
# What is my problem #
Since upgrading to Win10 (yes, not a fresh install) at every "cold" startup (just after "Loading OS" and just before the windows bootloader is shown) I get a BSOD saying DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL for jraid.sys. Then a dump is created and a restart performed. Important is the restart because after a restart my system realizes for some reason that it can actually go to the bootloader and then it boots into the windows bootloader (which is also old and I don't need it anymore but now I am afraid of not being able to boot into W10 after removing the boot manger).
More info about my problem which I was not able to fix (I have no memory issue and the driver is the latest, but still old JMicron JMB36X RAID Driver, v1.17.63.1, 2011-05-19)
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/window ... s-or-equal
- http://www.fixoserror.com/fix-jraid-sys ... -step.html
# What is my goal #
Bring my system up to decent standards while reusing everything that doesn't need to be replaced. If possible make it even quieter (->Q: fanless PSU?). The system should run for 5-10 years with minimal maintenance and I rather spend $500 more to get some features that will turn out useful in this timeframe. Overall budget is hard to say as I don't know what I need to buy new but max is $2000 so this should give me some room but also too many choices. That's why I was hoping to get some help from you guys.
# What I want/think/have read #
- Win10 on M.2 as Raid 1
->Q: Does Raid 1 even make sense or would you opt for a weekly image of the os drive? I mean "wasting" a M.2 slot doesn't sound like a good idea but I'm used to having my OS on a Raid1 and even with SSDs this might make sense (https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/do ... 1.2544177/). What I care about is that my system is running and if soemthing goes wrong I have it back running in a few hours. I just don't want to spend time if there is a hardware (or even software/update) problem.
- more than 12 GB RAM (or at least the ability)
- Sound on Board (listen to nothing fancy just some MP3s)
- very good LAN (for wifi I'd like to keep the Asus PCE-AC88 AC3100 if that's possible and from what I read is should with PCIe x1)
- SATA Raid on board (possibly Raid 1 for some data from my old system's drives, no software raid, and the chip should perform pretty good)
- decent graphic card (for now if possible I'd like to keep mine and go for newer/better one once I really need it, it's PCIe x16)
- enough slots and SATA ports on board for my HDDs
->Q: Or would you just get rid of all HDDs?
- lots of USB 3.0, or above and one USB-C
- a good CPU for the next years I guess I'll go with an AMD Ryzen but still there are so many options to choose from.
->Q: Any suggestions for the CPU and then this goes along with which board?
- ATX form rather than Micro-ATX, I guess just because I like to have options and more PCI or whatever slots are better for future upgrades I believe
So, if you made it this far: I'm thankful for your time and if this was too much or not clear please let me know. So, please any advice or suggestion is appreciated.
Thanks,
TurboToJo