Socket 479 og AM2 for quiet operation?

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Muppeter
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Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:14 pm

Socket 479 og AM2 for quiet operation?

Post by Muppeter » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:43 am

Long time reader, first time poster :lol:

My question, is simple(but I can't figure it out). I have had a quiet HTPC dream for a couple of years now, but my dream part 1 ended last week when i fried my socket A system because I switched the fan speeds to far down :oops: Now I got to buy a new system:

This is what I got; Fortron Zen fanless PSU, Silverstone LC03, Samsung Spinpoint HDD, Esi Juli@ sound card and a Raddeon X300.

As you guys probably know the LC03 case has terrible flow, with just one 80mm intake fan in front, and two 60mm exhaust fans in the back. I had initially decided to go for a socket 479 system based on the Asus MicroITX motherboard and an Intel Core Duo T2500 CPU, and some standard DDR II RAM. This should lead to low power usage, but since quiet is my dream I am unsure if even this system will be quiet with this case airflow. Especially am I worried about the CPU cooler, since this is small and hard to change, since it is an Asus special and not a standard CPU cooler. And at last the system is a little more expensive than what I really should spend(student).

Instead of going for the socket 479 system I am now wondering going for an AM2 system with an AMD X2 3800+ CPU with a hopefully fanless CPU cooler (Thermalright should just fit). I will in addition cut two big holes on each side of the case and fit one large fan(largest that fits, probably 92mm) on each side.

What do you guys think, what would be the most quiet system? I assume that passive cooling of the CPU should work, wouldn't it? Performance-wise I guess that the systems are pretty close, except that Intel is 32-bit, does that really matter?

What do you guys suggest?

And last, thanks for the best forum I've been into on the entire internet :D

jaganath
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Post by jaganath » Thu Feb 15, 2007 7:05 am

I had initially decided to go for a socket 479 system based on the Asus MicroITX motherboard and an Intel Core Duo T2500 CPU
Do you mean mini-ITX or micro-ATX? I don't think Asus make any mini-ITX mobos. Maybe you mean the Asus N4L-VM DH?
What do you guys think, what would be the most quiet system?
You will have to undervolt the X2 3800 quite a lot to get it low enough power consumption to go passive. But the AM2 route is cheaper. How much performance do you need? It is easy to get the X2 3800 passive at 800MHz/0.8V.

Muppeter
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Post by Muppeter » Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:35 am

Yes, I mean the Asus N4L-VM DH. Sorry about that one. I don't thing I need a lot of power, primary use is to be a media player; music, dvd, movies. I don't have a flat panel yet, so I don't thing HDTV is important the first year, but if I buy the power, throwing in a couple of games would be nice, you know, so I don't think I really want to undervolt the system a lot.

At the same time I should maybe specify that it is at idle I want the system to be quiet, at system load it is not that important, since the system is going to be used then...
You will have to undervolt the X2 3800 quite a lot to get it low enough power consumption to go passive.

What I was wondering if I go for the x2 3800 is to cut a huge hole in the top of the case and put in a 250mm Bzerk fan for ventilation of the entire system, or do you think that would be to load?

jaganath
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Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:55 am
Location: UK

Post by jaganath » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:38 am

What I was wondering if I go for the x2 3800 is to cut a huge hole in the top of the case and put in a 250mm Bzerk fan for ventilation of the entire system, or do you think that would be to load?
No, I don't think it would be too loud; even at slow speeds it should offer excellent CFM (airflow).

mrzed
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Post by mrzed » Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:44 pm

The AMD CPU's have lower idle power draw, are cheaper etc. For lots of encoding or heavy gaming C2D are more efficient. I'm very happy with my X2 3800. I think it would be a better choice given your stated intentions.

EFoppen
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Post by EFoppen » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:30 pm

mrzed wrote:The AMD CPU's have lower idle power draw, are cheaper etc. For lots of encoding or heavy gaming C2D are more efficient. I'm very happy with my X2 3800. I think it would be a better choice given your stated intentions.
I just replaced my A7N8X-e deluxe with XP 2400+ for an AMD X2 3800+ and a relatively cheap socket 939 Full-ATX motherboard. I used the cheap Arctic Alpine CPU cooler and undervolted it. I also went from 9250 to 7300GT (both passively cooled).

The system is now using less power than the previous CPU/mobo/GPU was (80watt vs 120watt in idle mode) so I bet I could make it even more silent than it already is by slowing down the stock fans even further (intake and 1xexhaust at 7V). Problem is can already hardly hear the system.

I have to admit I use a huge case (OrigenAE X11) which is probably easy to cool.

I am perfectly fine with this system and as you state, it is indeed more affordable than the Intel route.

Muppeter
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Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:14 pm

Thanks for the help

Post by Muppeter » Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:36 am

Allrigth guys thanks for the help. I went for the 479 setup, just to be sure that the system runs quiet and cool enough. It looks very good so far. I modified the case fan that came with the Asus mobo with a 60-80mm adapter and a 80mm Nexus fan. Runs smooth.

And also Intel Speedstep works perfectly, running at 1GHz most of the time

Thanks all

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