My New Core 2 Duo System (Pictures incl.)

MrSpok · Post by **MrSpok** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:48 pm

Having read many hardware reviews & looking for the right silent components, my workstation is finally running. I reckon that SPCR is the best forum when it comes to building Silent PCâ€™s.
Over the last year I decided to build my own Silent Core2Duo System.
I'd like to thank all the people that helped me out with all my queries. Many thanks to Mike Chin - Site Admin - and Chris Thomson (cmthomson). His article on how to put together the silent components "Superquiet Superclocked DIY Core 2 Duo System" was very helpful.

Here is the complete configuration:
â€¢ Antec P180 Case (black)
â€¢ Seasonic S12-550 80+ PSU
â€¢ Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 CPU
â€¢ Asus P5W DH Deluxe Motherboard
â€¢ 2 GB Kit DDR2 800 Corsair Dominator RAM
â€¢ eVGA PCI-X 8800 GTS 320 MB
â€¢ Creative X-Fi Platinum Sound Card
â€¢ Scythe Ninja-Plus Rev.B Heatpipe Cooler
â€¢ Artic Silver 5 Paste
â€¢ 2 X Samsung SpinPoint 2504C 250GB SATA II 8MB
â€¢ 1 X WD Raptor 150 GB 10.000 Rpm SATA II 16MB
â€¢ Plextor PX-760A DVD-RW
â€¢ Pioneer DVR-110D DVD-RW
â€¢ 3 X Nexus 120mm D12SL-12 Orange Case Fans
â€¢ EIZO 19â€

Sylph-DS · Post by **Sylph-DS** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:08 pm

Looks great, what voltage do you have the fans running at?

Also, the 'samsung brothers' picture is awesome from an artistic point of view, nice DOF with the Ninja in the back, really well done

derekchinese · Post by **derekchinese** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:26 pm

What is your e6600 clocked to?

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:40 pm

how much did your x-fi cost? also, is that 3.5" front panel for the x-fi available seperately/for other cards?

derekchinese · Post by **derekchinese** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:07 pm

I got that X-Fi. In Canada, it cost 145.99 and had like 50 USD~60 CDN rebate. The 5.25" front panel is availabe seperately for other cards through the creative website or if you buy the Fatal1ty or Platinum. The platinum are pretty pretty hard to find now however. I like to use the front panel because it has a pretty decent quality headphone jack. I never used any of the other features though.

Derek

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 6:22 pm

i do lots of audio editing, and i tend to move around a lot, i'll have to look into something like that, as it gets to be a pain having to plug everything into the back, where it can be in a corner, and under a desk, where its very easy to hit your head [did that earlier today].

i'll have to look into that, i might get a special soundcard though [$100 or so] thats meant to be in a studio, if i get it, then i guess after that i'll look into that expansion.

its getting tight, and my P4 tower might be on its way out. not sure how this is going to go.

derekchinese · Post by **derekchinese** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 6:27 pm

For audio editing, the X-Fi may not be the best choice. X-Fi is best suited for gaming because of the EAX 5.0 Feature. For Audio and music, Auzentech's Meridian sound card is the best. It does not have a front 5.25" bay however.

MrSpok · Post by **MrSpok** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:41 am

Sylph-DS wrote:Looks great, what voltage do you have the fans running at?

Also, the 'samsung brothers' picture is awesome from an artistic point of view, nice DOF with the Ninja in the back, really well done

I prefer to keep things closer to "stock". I'm running E6600 at stock speed and the 3 Nexus too..
I'm little confused with Asus Q-Fan and SpeedFan 4.32

Anyway, the System is very quiet. Just hearing the "rattle" of a Raptor

I forgot to mention the temperatures. So,
System: 45C, CPU: 31C, HD: 30C and GPU: 28C.

Thanks for the compliments

MrSpok · Post by **MrSpok** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:42 am

derekchinese wrote:What is your e6600 clocked to?

At stock speed..

MrSpok · Post by **MrSpok** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:47 am

bonestonne wrote:how much did your x-fi cost? also, is that 3.5" front panel for the x-fi available seperately/for other cards?

Here in Greece the prices range between 140-150 Euro. I paid 146 Euro.

Sylph-DS · Post by **Sylph-DS** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:08 am

MrSpok wrote: I prefer to keep things closer to "stock". I'm running E6600 at stock speed and the 3 Nexus too..

I suppose there's little to gain in running the fans at lower speed, without first somehow quieting the Raptor. Ideal would be an enclosure that is in turn suspended, but, if you think it's alright this way..

matva · Post by **matva** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:38 am

nice system, welldone. where did u get the dampening material from and do you think it makes a difference?

JimX · Post by **JimX** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:23 am

Good job!

MrSpok · Post by **MrSpok** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:11 pm

matva wrote:nice system, welldone. where did u get the dampening material from and do you think it makes a difference?

This material absorbs the noise in certain frequencies from the Orange fans.
I found it in the package where the Samsung HD's was stored.

I could have bought the AcoustiPack Deluxe but it wasn't available in Greece
and also found it rather expensive.
Thank you all for your positive comments

fredz · Post by **fredz** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:11 am

MrSpok, what speed are you running the case fans at? If you're running them at 1200rpm, you must hear them, no?
Also, are you using the ninja without a fan attached?
How did you attach those pads to the top of the case?

MrSpok · Post by **MrSpok** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:36 am

fredz wrote:MrSpok, what speed are you running the case fans at? If you're running them at 1200rpm, you must hear them, no?
Also, are you using the ninja without a fan attached?
How did you attach those pads to the top of the case?

I adjusted their speeds, with SpeedFan 4.32. Front Nexus runs at 1000 RPM (90% on SpeedFan), Top Fan runs at 922 RPM (80%) and Rear 1000 RPM (like Front, 90%).
For the most people standards -incl.myself- Nexus runs very quiet even 1000 RPM.. Î‘s mentioned above, i'm not overcklocking.
Yes I'm using the Ninja without a fan attached. CPU temperature are between 29-31 degrees Celsius. According to ASUS, the MB temperature is fine up to 60C. Mine is 41-46C.
I stamped this material with instant LOGO glue

Seems fine..

fredz · Post by **fredz** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:56 am

MrSpok wrote: I adjusted their speeds, with SpeedFan 4.32. Front Nexus runs at 1000 RPM (90% on SpeedFan), Top Fan runs at 922 RPM (80%) and Rear 1000 RPM (like Front, 90%).

Oh so you added a front fan in the case? Where exactly? Do you have pics of that?

MrSpok · Post by **MrSpok** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:21 pm

Sorry for the late reply..Here some pictures of the front Nexus:

Hope i helped you

DirtyLude · Post by **DirtyLude** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:17 am

Take the covers off the NB and SB heatsinks.

MrSpok · Post by **MrSpok** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:07 am

DirtyLude wrote:Take the covers off the NB and SB heatsinks.

Î—ave thoughts of replacement the NB & SB..but first, with what? (It feets Zalman and ThermalRight on my ASUS MB?)

Second, must put the MB out? again

JimX · Post by **JimX** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:44 am

You don't need to replace the heatsinks. Just take the flat cover off, like DirtyLude wrote.

Second, must put the MB out? again?

Yes.

danthevan · Post by **danthevan** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:03 am

sorry if i sound like a stupid-head, but I'm new to the whole 'silent pc' thing, and, erm, well, actually, new to assembling PCs in general!

So I am writing mainly for my own edification, and would appreciate anyone's insight!

Here goes: I was surprised to see you (MrSpok) have no fan on your CPU heatsink, as from what I've seen it seems most systems have some kind of fan, as passively cooled CPUs get very hot even with a great heatsink. However, your temp figure seems to suggest otherwise.

I was just wondering about people's differing experiences with passively cooling a Core 2 Duo in this way. Would you guys recommend using a fan, or is passive cooling (with the right heatsink) a viable option? Because it seems our man MrSpok has done it!

=oD

Oh and please feel free to correct me should I inadvertently spouted some rubbish.

~Danny

DirtyLude · Post by **DirtyLude** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:13 am

The covers are just held on with tape, you can pry it off easily.

I have a Zalman on the SB and HR-05 on the NB, but I'm water cooled, so I have room over the NB for it.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:28 am

I was surprised to see you (MrSpok) have no fan on your CPU heatsink, as from what I've seen it seems most systems have some kind of fan, as passively cooled CPUs get very hot even with a great heatsink. However, your temp figure seems to suggest otherwise.

I was just wondering about people's differing experiences with passively cooling a Core 2 Duo in this way. Would you guys recommend using a fan, or is passive cooling (with the right heatsink) a viable option? Because it seems our man MrSpok has done it!

It's not "truly" passive, as it relies on airflow from the case fans. But yes, it is easy to cool a non-overclocked C2D this way, with a good heatsink (eg Ninja).

MrSpok · Post by **MrSpok** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:16 pm

jaganath wrote:But yes, it is easy to cool a non-overclocked C2D this way, with a good heatsink (eg Ninja).

Î¥es indeed!. Keep in mind that i'm not interested in overclocking. I'd like to stay within the rated speeds of all my components. The system does not feel any slower at 2.4GHz. My original plan was to run the system without a CPU fan.

MrSpok · Post by **MrSpok** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:12 am

DirtyLude wrote:The covers are just held on with tape, you can pry it off easily.

After a "minor surgery" i removed both the north and south bridge covers.

Temperature Update: MB---> 45C on SpeedFan.
(Nexus Front:964 RPM - Top:932 RPM - Rear:964 RPM)