need avice on a complete Athlon 64 system

Got a shopping cart of parts that you want opinions on? Get advice from members on your planned or existing system (or upgrade).

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
remlev
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:36 am
Location: france

need avice on a complete Athlon 64 system

Post by remlev » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:39 pm

Hi all!
I need advice for buildding a silent pc.
It will be an audio workstation (recording and mixing).
I need silence for recording with microphones.

Here is my idea:

case: textorm 974mb or older textorm case (69U6 or 6A19, less nice but maybe better)
http://www.achetezfacile.com/rayon-boit ... xtorm.html
It has 2 120mm fans and is affordable
other ideas?

fanbus: sunbeam rheobus3 (can operate 4 fans, can stop them, and is only 15 euros)
http://www.ldlc.fr/critiques/PB00017804_1.html

motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nforce4 SLI) with Zalman ZM-NB47J chipset heatsink
I Know I don't need such a card, but customers are very happy with it,
it's undervoltable and cool n' quiet (even if some people have trouble with
cooln'quiet on this board - I need help on this)
http://www.achetezfacile.com/asus-a8n-s ... -97509.htm

Is zalman heatsink enough?

graphic card: something pci-x, silent and not too bad (I now own an old
radeon ve 32mo and my pentium3 is at full load when some action appears onscreen!)
what about Gigabyte Radeon X300 pcie - 128Mo ?
http://www.achetezfacile.com/gigabyte-r ... 99289.html

processor: athlon 64 s939 90nm. But witch one is the coolest? (do I wait for 1Mo cache ones?)

CPU cooling: scythe NCU2005

hdd silencer (optional): scyhte sbx1000 silent box
http://www.scythe.co.jp/en/cooler/silentbox.htmor another hdd box (need help)
hier a test in germain:
http://www.dirkvader.de/frame.php?site= ... dd-roundup

HDD: samasung spinpoint 160Go that I already own

Ram: 1Go I think, but witch one? I believe the asus has DDR2 support.
Intersresting? and what brand? do I need ram heatsink?

ANTEC phantom 350W active PSU (the european version is an active one)

RME pci audiocard that I own

My question is: will it work?
My idea is to slow down the fans when recording and speed them when I don't need absolut silence any more.

THANKS
rémi
france (you understoood with the links!!)



ps:
I have thought earlier buying a pentium M system, but new pcix aopen card doesn't seem to be s478 compatible and PM cpu are too pricey. For info, a scythe member told me that NCU2005 was aopen pentium M motherboard (old one) compatible, at least when the board is horizontal. I apreciated such a kind of online support (it seems they bought the aopen card just for my request!!!)
[/u]

PeanutR
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:14 am
Location: Denmark

SLI and ATI

Post by PeanutR » Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:24 am

I don't know if there is some way to mod ati's gfx cards til run sli, but if there isn't the sli option is wasted. So I'd either save some money and go with a non-sli board or get something from nvidia instead.

BenW
Posts: 290
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2005 3:51 am
Location: UK

Post by BenW » Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:33 am

ATI dont do SLI cards

Save some money by suspending the hard drive instead of the hdd silencer

PeanutR
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:14 am
Location: Denmark

Post by PeanutR » Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:49 am

Also if you do decide to go with an sli system I'd recommend a more powerful PSU as I would imagine two gfx cards would get pretty powerhungry.

DGK
Posts: 70
Joined: Sun May 18, 2003 3:59 pm

Post by DGK » Wed Apr 27, 2005 6:22 am

Some of the NF4 chipsets have clearance problems with aftermarket coolers. On alot of the NF4 boards the chipset is placed very close to or under the graphics card I am not sure what kind clearance the Asus board has but it is something to be aware of.

remlev
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:36 am
Location: france

Post by remlev » Wed Apr 27, 2005 6:48 am

thanks all!


I don't need sli actually, but this card seems to be well appreciated
and undervoltable/cool'n quiet
In fact, I thought I could put any pci express card on it.
(i don't need two cards - this pc is for audio)

otherwise I just bought the antec phantom (european version with active pfc)
there is no buzz sound at all on mine!!
I'm very happy.

I can hear my hdd now. BenW,I'm gona look at suspending my hdd (I think I'll find in the forums)

I think I'm gona save a LOT of money and keep my system as it is, with littles improvements. It's not powerfull, but enough for recording (mixing is another story... I'll see)

I'm runing totally fanless, case closed, for 20 minutes now (little cpu charge).
My 1ghz p3 (that I undervolt à 1.5V instead of 1.7 (below doesn't work well)
is running à 39°, system at 31°, according to via hardware monito v2.04

The phantom begins to be warm and I can smell the "informatic store" specific odour now. So I let you and put my fans back.

I'm back. what do you think about this odour?
instruction manual say that the phantom stop itself at 110°
I war far of that. I think the phantom case were at 45° or so.
Now, with fans and case opened, it is not much cooler. I believe phantom is
extreamly long to cool when you shut down the pc.

My case has currently one only fan in the front at floor level (don't know how to say) wich is bringing air in the inside of the case.
My second fan is the fan of the cpu heatsink (zalmann - flower style).

I ve got several solutions:
1. slowing them
2. stop the front fan and put the zalman fan (wich is actually cooling via chipset too) at the back (and slow it).
If I do that, Do I put it to bring air to case or to be extracting case air to room? (the fan would be below psu and in front of cpu and via chipset).
Will I have enough airflow (my old psu had a fan which was extracting air to room)?

last solution: solution 2 with another fan. My case only accept 80mm ones. Is it hard to cut the metal to put a 120mm fan?

sorry for such a lonoong post

thanks
rémi



ps: DGK, you're right. here is a picture of the asus card:
http://www.clubic.com/photo/00110220.jpg
my old p3 card has the chipset placed between cpu and ram.

remlev
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:36 am
Location: france

Post by remlev » Wed Apr 27, 2005 6:48 am

...
Last edited by remlev on Thu Apr 28, 2005 11:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

remlev
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:36 am
Location: france

Post by remlev » Thu Apr 28, 2005 11:32 am

hi!

I've just finished with suspending my hdd. I did something in aphono's way.

I used 4 bungee cords attached to the top of the case, hdd being suspended in the 5"1/4 enclosure.
The attach system is different, but it's hard to explain because of my poor english :)
What I can say is: I used 4 bungee cords because they don't "go" under the HDD. So, 2 was not enough.
In addition, I put antivibrating plastic (the vendor told me it would be difficult with silicone, so I bought this) at any point of the chain:
bungee cord-top of case
bungee cord-"screw"
"screw"-HDD

And it's been working damn good!!! I can hear the difference.
For example, taking the drive in hand doesn't make any difference (maybe just a little quieter with less bass)

I'm very happy with. Special thank to BenW (and forums too).

I assume top of the case isn't the best place, but I'm gonna think at the cooling whith this issue as starting point.
For now temp seems to be OK (with DTemp).
The samsung website is writing : Operating 5 ~ 55°C
does it means: the drive has to be below 55°C or: the inside of the case has to be below 55°C???

http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDis ... 14N_sp.htm
I'm currently totally fanless for 30 minutes now (case open, 5"1/4 part open): case 30°, cpu 38°
and HDD 31°.


I also discovered that my samsung didn't have AAM enabled! I'm gonna fix this, and I hope that I'll be happy enough to forget HDD silencers.

can you answer my question:
If I put only one (suspended....?? :)) 120 fan in the top back blowing air inside the case, it will cool bottom of antec phantom and the cpu heatsink,and even via chipset and hdd that are in top too. Can ity work?

do you think my pci audiocard and my old radeon ve will overheat? (wich are at the bottom of the system)

thanks for reading this. I'm just happy with it and wanted to tell.
Let's play music now!

Post Reply