My second mortgage - Dual core SLK 3000B
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
My second mortgage - Dual core SLK 3000B
After weeks of lurking at SPCR, the time had finally come to take the plunge into the spiralling addiction of quiet computing. To put things into perspective, my old rig is a Celeron 400. Here’s a pic for all of those too young to remember.. The suspension was just for practice. The hard drives whine more than my kids…
With SPCR forums taken into consideration, the new system was decided on. (Prior to finding SPCR, I was about to invest in a fast Prescott or Pentium D. I’m thankful for google, SPCR's members opinions and El~Jefe's humour….)
Case Antec 3000B, with acoustipack
Motherboard Asus A8N SLI premium.
CPU AMD 64 Dual core 4400
CPU heatsink Thermalright XP 120, with artic silver 5, Nexus 120.
Memory 2 GB Corsair Value
PSU Antec Phantom 350
Hard Drives WD Raptor 74 – operating system and programs
Samsung SP 200 GB SATA – storage and Raptor image back up
External SP 200 GB SATA – back up
Case Fans Nexus 120 x2, EAR grommets
DVD Pioneer 110D
TFT Samsung 173pPlus, plus old IBM E74 monitor
VGA Gigabyte 6600GT 128 MB NX66T128VP
HDTV card Compro VideoMate DVB – T300
Key / Mouse Logitec LX 700
The initial pics are for those who live for the dream of the build, and want to get a vicarious thrill. There’s something intoxicating about the smell of new hardware. And speaking of intoxicating, the 1974 bottle of Grange is included for the benefit of the Aussie forum members. I was keeping it to celebrate the birth of a child or something similar, but now it’s off to ebay to pay for the dual core… Grange or dual core?? That could be a good thread discussion..
...
Talk on the street is of the drive cage in the 3000B being a bit rattly. No problems. Suspend the cage horizontally. The drive cage is held firmly in place from below with elastic to minimise movement when transporting the case.
...
The next pics show the relationship of the XP 120 and the memory and heat pipe.
More details re: ASUS A8N SLI Premium and XP120 can be found at
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... highlight=
Rig assembled. No problems apart from breaking one SATA power connecter coming from the phantom. It was easily replaced with a spare from the old truepower. Which bright spark came up with the design for these connecters? A bit flimsy if you ask me
...
The ugly side of town.. I still need to shorten the black leads that go to the top front Bezel LEDs. Fans on a 7v connector, LEDs on 12v.
The completed case, with modded front bezel LEDs (with help from Mr Dremel). Bright, blue, and only visible with the door open. Great for finding the DVD eject button after a big night on the Grange..
...
Internet addiction …. Need help…. The final set up, with the dual core multitasking beautifully..
...
Did I succeed? From a budget perspective, well, ahhem, lets see, … not even close. Quiet? – very. Sitting at my desk the only component I can hear is the very soft ‘chatter’ of the raptor seeks, which strangely, is quite pleasant. I guess noise really is in the ear of the beholder. Up close (6 inches) the ‘air whoosh’ idle of the raptor can be heard, otherwise all is quiet. Unfortunately my hearing is quiet acute for high frequencies, and I am getting some very high frequency whine from my DSL modem and surge protector! Needless to say the surge protector has been ‘acoustipacked’ (with leftover foam) and the DSL modem relegated to under my shelves.
Comments and suggestions welcomed. Thanks guys.
With SPCR forums taken into consideration, the new system was decided on. (Prior to finding SPCR, I was about to invest in a fast Prescott or Pentium D. I’m thankful for google, SPCR's members opinions and El~Jefe's humour….)
Case Antec 3000B, with acoustipack
Motherboard Asus A8N SLI premium.
CPU AMD 64 Dual core 4400
CPU heatsink Thermalright XP 120, with artic silver 5, Nexus 120.
Memory 2 GB Corsair Value
PSU Antec Phantom 350
Hard Drives WD Raptor 74 – operating system and programs
Samsung SP 200 GB SATA – storage and Raptor image back up
External SP 200 GB SATA – back up
Case Fans Nexus 120 x2, EAR grommets
DVD Pioneer 110D
TFT Samsung 173pPlus, plus old IBM E74 monitor
VGA Gigabyte 6600GT 128 MB NX66T128VP
HDTV card Compro VideoMate DVB – T300
Key / Mouse Logitec LX 700
The initial pics are for those who live for the dream of the build, and want to get a vicarious thrill. There’s something intoxicating about the smell of new hardware. And speaking of intoxicating, the 1974 bottle of Grange is included for the benefit of the Aussie forum members. I was keeping it to celebrate the birth of a child or something similar, but now it’s off to ebay to pay for the dual core… Grange or dual core?? That could be a good thread discussion..
...
Talk on the street is of the drive cage in the 3000B being a bit rattly. No problems. Suspend the cage horizontally. The drive cage is held firmly in place from below with elastic to minimise movement when transporting the case.
...
The next pics show the relationship of the XP 120 and the memory and heat pipe.
More details re: ASUS A8N SLI Premium and XP120 can be found at
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... highlight=
Rig assembled. No problems apart from breaking one SATA power connecter coming from the phantom. It was easily replaced with a spare from the old truepower. Which bright spark came up with the design for these connecters? A bit flimsy if you ask me
...
The ugly side of town.. I still need to shorten the black leads that go to the top front Bezel LEDs. Fans on a 7v connector, LEDs on 12v.
The completed case, with modded front bezel LEDs (with help from Mr Dremel). Bright, blue, and only visible with the door open. Great for finding the DVD eject button after a big night on the Grange..
...
Internet addiction …. Need help…. The final set up, with the dual core multitasking beautifully..
...
Did I succeed? From a budget perspective, well, ahhem, lets see, … not even close. Quiet? – very. Sitting at my desk the only component I can hear is the very soft ‘chatter’ of the raptor seeks, which strangely, is quite pleasant. I guess noise really is in the ear of the beholder. Up close (6 inches) the ‘air whoosh’ idle of the raptor can be heard, otherwise all is quiet. Unfortunately my hearing is quiet acute for high frequencies, and I am getting some very high frequency whine from my DSL modem and surge protector! Needless to say the surge protector has been ‘acoustipacked’ (with leftover foam) and the DSL modem relegated to under my shelves.
Comments and suggestions welcomed. Thanks guys.
Last edited by ozdoc on Fri Sep 23, 2005 6:40 am, edited 3 times in total.
Me thinks e was jokin´vertigo wrote:Well I think you are mad to take a mortgage to pay for a PC, unless that computer will make you a substantial amount of money.
You should rather have saved money, then bought a PC. Saving isn't impossible, you know.
Anyway, looks plenty nice For some reason i especially like the pictures of all the components in their packages I also noticed the bottle, when being emptied during installation bottles certainly help during installation
Hmm, the loan shark I borrowed from thought it was a good investment....Well I think you are mad to take a mortgage to pay for a PC, unless that computer will make you a substantial amount of money.
?Mad or joking. You both could be right.
(Reminder to self.... Use smilies in the future to give forewarning of humour. )
Very nice setup! Love it.
Just make sure all the passive components have enough airflow around them. I prefer to have all of my components under 40C, I guess that is difficult to achieve with passive components.
The passive 6600GT can get very hot during gaming. So you might want to use a Zalman fan mate to control the front and exhaust fans. Or you can add a seperate Panaflo 80L and control its speed dynamically.
Just make sure all the passive components have enough airflow around them. I prefer to have all of my components under 40C, I guess that is difficult to achieve with passive components.
The passive 6600GT can get very hot during gaming. So you might want to use a Zalman fan mate to control the front and exhaust fans. Or you can add a seperate Panaflo 80L and control its speed dynamically.
Nice temps except the 66C. The small difference in temperature between hard drives and ambient makes me believe that the PC hasn't been on for too long. Try leaving it on for 8 hours and see how much heat will build up in it.
Zalman FB123 should be able to do the job. Or you can just hang a fan there with two steel wires. My Panaflo 80L at 7v is inaudible in my SLK3000B.
Cooling a passive Gigabyte 6600GT has been discussed in other threads. Just do a search and you should find a bunch of info.
Zalman FB123 should be able to do the job. Or you can just hang a fan there with two steel wires. My Panaflo 80L at 7v is inaudible in my SLK3000B.
Cooling a passive Gigabyte 6600GT has been discussed in other threads. Just do a search and you should find a bunch of info.
Actually it has been on now for 36 hrs.. Ambient temp now 24, HD temp up to 30 C. I wonder if the suspended drive cage is guiding thru front air.Nice temps except the 66C. The small difference in temperature between hard drives and ambient makes me believe that the PC hasn't been on for too long. Try leaving it on for 8 hours and see how much heat will build up in it.
Where are you hanging the wires from? Is there any risk of short circuiting something by using steel?Zalman FB123 should be able to do the job. Or you can just hang a fan there with two steel wires. My Panaflo 80L at 7v is inaudible in my SLK3000B.
There are two advantages of using wires.
1) Steel wires are malleable and easy to work with. This allows you to hang a fan at any location and at any angle in a case. Zalman FB123 cannot do that. It cannot reach the chipset on my mobo, so I had to use wires.
2) Wires hardly transfer any fan vibration to the case. Again, FB123 cannot do that because it has to be hard mounted.
1) Steel wires are malleable and easy to work with. This allows you to hang a fan at any location and at any angle in a case. Zalman FB123 cannot do that. It cannot reach the chipset on my mobo, so I had to use wires.
2) Wires hardly transfer any fan vibration to the case. Again, FB123 cannot do that because it has to be hard mounted.
Sell the wine?? Good god man - have you no sense of the appropriate use of a noble grape? You have achieved cool and quiet! Celebrate!xarope wrote:only someone who is familiar with australian wine would understand the significant $$$ of the '74 penfolds grange hermitage...
oh what the heck, sell the wine, silence is golden...
(he says savouring a glass of Aussie Red - from a can!)
http://www.wineinacan.com/cabernet_shiraz_merlot.htm
Nice Wine... I mean rig!
Yeah, I would have gone for the Seasonic if it had been available at the time in Australia. It became available a week after purchasing the Phantom.Excelente rig, that's just what I was going to do, except for a Seasonic PSU instead of the Phantom
The Phantom has been very stable, however I do note a fair bit of heat build up in the upper compartment. I was wondering if the acoustipak on the top surface above the Phantom might be limiting heat conduction / escape. Would anyone know if a passive (non fanned) blow hole would help?
Speedfan can have problems reading some fans. My Panaflos used to read 2x their normal value. I had to max out the PWMOUT* clock values to 48KHz and then they read normal from 5V-10V. At 12 V, they spike to 2x sometimes still.ozdoc wrote:Hyperq. Thanks. I might give that a go (with insulated wire for me!)
Does anyone know how accurate speed fan is? It is telling me that the CPU fan is at 3500 RPM, when it is a Nexus 120, which I understand has a max of 1000 RPM.
Play with fan diviser too. Configure|Advanced should get you going.
Brynte:
We only have two Seasonics currently available in Australia - the S12 430 and S12 500W. From all articles seen, power needs are usually grossly overestimated. Considering I've currently got the 350W Phantom, and this gives great stable power, I'm sure the S12 430 would have been my preference. Mind you, I have no intentions in going SLI dual cards, I just got the Asus premium for the fanless chipset. I guess if you're going to go dual cards, and plugging in a USB fridge or something, then perhaps the higher wattage. The dual core XP 4400 is rated somewhere around 110W, still 5-10 W less than a Pentium 4. Other than that, the power needs of the system are generally not excessive.
Re: the nexus. It either needs the flanges to be dremmed out, or Thermalright does offer optional larger clips, for a few dollars, to accomadate a closed flange fan - this doesn't come with the XP 120 kit.
We only have two Seasonics currently available in Australia - the S12 430 and S12 500W. From all articles seen, power needs are usually grossly overestimated. Considering I've currently got the 350W Phantom, and this gives great stable power, I'm sure the S12 430 would have been my preference. Mind you, I have no intentions in going SLI dual cards, I just got the Asus premium for the fanless chipset. I guess if you're going to go dual cards, and plugging in a USB fridge or something, then perhaps the higher wattage. The dual core XP 4400 is rated somewhere around 110W, still 5-10 W less than a Pentium 4. Other than that, the power needs of the system are generally not excessive.
Re: the nexus. It either needs the flanges to be dremmed out, or Thermalright does offer optional larger clips, for a few dollars, to accomadate a closed flange fan - this doesn't come with the XP 120 kit.
Ok! I´m not sure about SLI, but I´m thinking it´s probably better to be safe than sorry so IF I do "go SLI", I don´t have to worry about the PSU being too weak!? The 430w is probably sufficient, but not sure and the 600w is probably "overkill", so I guess the 500w will be perfect!?? What do you think?
I guess it would depends on your aims.
According to SPCR reviews, S12 430 gets the highest quietness rating for a fanned PSU, while the S12 500W is rated as slightly louder but possibly more efficient. My argument would be how efficient does the thing need to be, and does that really make an impact on your computing experience? I guess most people around here are more focused on the quietness aspect, hence the recommendation for the 430W, assuming it has enough grunt for your needs. I find it difficult to believe that it wouldn't have.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article28-page6.html
Estimates of power usage in different systems.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article265-page1.html
I understand most online power estimation calculators are quite inaccurate. Also consider that most PCs will never stress all of their components at the same time, so the "Max" power draw is usually only theoretical. Basically by sticking to a good quality power supply you should be guarenteed a decent power result. A cheap 500W PSU wouldn't come anywhere near matching my 350W Phantom. (in noise obviously, and reliability.... I hope.... assuming it's not one of the early ones... )
What's going to go in your rig?
According to SPCR reviews, S12 430 gets the highest quietness rating for a fanned PSU, while the S12 500W is rated as slightly louder but possibly more efficient. My argument would be how efficient does the thing need to be, and does that really make an impact on your computing experience? I guess most people around here are more focused on the quietness aspect, hence the recommendation for the 430W, assuming it has enough grunt for your needs. I find it difficult to believe that it wouldn't have.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article28-page6.html
Estimates of power usage in different systems.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article265-page1.html
I understand most online power estimation calculators are quite inaccurate. Also consider that most PCs will never stress all of their components at the same time, so the "Max" power draw is usually only theoretical. Basically by sticking to a good quality power supply you should be guarenteed a decent power result. A cheap 500W PSU wouldn't come anywhere near matching my 350W Phantom. (in noise obviously, and reliability.... I hope.... assuming it's not one of the early ones... )
What's going to go in your rig?
I´m going to use my computer for music recordings, so it´s very important to me, that my new system is as silent as possible, but I also want to use it to play the latest videogames!
I don´t know if I´m going to go SLI, but I want to be prepared for it in case I do!
If I have to make a choice, if my system (possibly SLI) will be quiet and stable (with 500w), or extremely quiet and (possibly) unstable (with 430w), I would choose the first option!
But if I can only be sure that the 430w will be sufficiant for my system (extremely quiet and stable), I will buy the 430w!
Here´s a link to my new system: http://forum.sweclockers.com/showthread ... did=501174
The only 2 components I´m not 100% sure of, are which Seasonic S12 PSU to get and if I should go for XP-120 or Big Typhoon, for CPU-cooling
I don´t know if I´m going to go SLI, but I want to be prepared for it in case I do!
If I have to make a choice, if my system (possibly SLI) will be quiet and stable (with 500w), or extremely quiet and (possibly) unstable (with 430w), I would choose the first option!
But if I can only be sure that the 430w will be sufficiant for my system (extremely quiet and stable), I will buy the 430w!
Here´s a link to my new system: http://forum.sweclockers.com/showthread ... did=501174
The only 2 components I´m not 100% sure of, are which Seasonic S12 PSU to get and if I should go for XP-120 or Big Typhoon, for CPU-cooling
Basically it just came down to personal taste. With all respect for Mike C and Antec designers, the P180 just doesn't do anything for me. I'm sure it's a fine enclosure. And I don't like the glossy black finish of the Sonata. Kids fingerprints, dust etc.. I'm very happy with the 3000B.pardon my ignorance if it has been discussed as I only scanned the thread, but why did you choose the 3000B for such a high budjet machine? Why not for instance, a P180 or Sonata 2? Just curious.
Is this setting, you might have to consider some form of noise reduction for the Raptor, as the seeks can be noticable. Not unpleasant, but not something you would want while recording. It is the loudest part of my system, and the acoustipak does a good job at reducing the idle whoosh.I´m going to use my computer for music recordings, so it´s very important to me, that my new system is as silent as possible, but I also want to use it to play the latest videogames!
I don't know much about the Typhoon. Xp-120 is working fine for me. I assume the height of your RAM is standard. How about the Scythe Ninja?The only 2 components I´m not 100% sure of, are which Seasonic S12 PSU to get and if I should go for XP-120 or Big Typhoon, for CPU-cooling
As stated, the 430W will be adequate, but if it's going to put your mind at peace, go the 500W Dual 7800 cards on a 4400. I'd like to see that.
ozdoc: Yes, I am a little worried about the seek-noise of the Raptor, but attatched under my desk, there is a "case" for my computer!
Almost like an extra case (of wood) with a front door , but open in the back, surrounding the 3000b! It should help to reduce most of the seek-noise (hopefully all of it;)!?
Questions about the acoustipak: Did you cover the holes on the side of the 3000b, or cut holes in the acoustipak?
Do you have the precut acoustipak for 3700 BQE?
I don´t know the height of my RAM, but sure hope it´s "standard"!
It looks like you´ve got the perfect fit in your system (XP-120 and RAM)!
I don´t think Scythe Ninja is available in Sweden yet!
One last (?) thing about the PSU: Why doesn´t the 430w come prepared for SLI, just like the 500w and the 600w (with dual PCI-E-cables)? One can almost think that Seasonic themselves, doubt the power of the 430w, to be sufficiant for an SLI-system (even though we don´t)!??
kloppe: Thanx for your input!
Gxcad: It´s pretty cheap, but its known to be a very good case to build a quiet system in!
You get to choose your own PSU!
A very popular case, which means lots of tips, guides etc...
Almost like an extra case (of wood) with a front door , but open in the back, surrounding the 3000b! It should help to reduce most of the seek-noise (hopefully all of it;)!?
Questions about the acoustipak: Did you cover the holes on the side of the 3000b, or cut holes in the acoustipak?
Do you have the precut acoustipak for 3700 BQE?
I don´t know the height of my RAM, but sure hope it´s "standard"!
It looks like you´ve got the perfect fit in your system (XP-120 and RAM)!
I don´t think Scythe Ninja is available in Sweden yet!
One last (?) thing about the PSU: Why doesn´t the 430w come prepared for SLI, just like the 500w and the 600w (with dual PCI-E-cables)? One can almost think that Seasonic themselves, doubt the power of the 430w, to be sufficiant for an SLI-system (even though we don´t)!??
kloppe: Thanx for your input!
Gxcad: It´s pretty cheap, but its known to be a very good case to build a quiet system in!
You get to choose your own PSU!
A very popular case, which means lots of tips, guides etc...