Critique my silent PC plan

The forum for non-component-related silent pc discussions.

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Arlequin
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Critique my silent PC plan

Post by Arlequin » Tue Jul 29, 2003 11:47 am

Trying to make a silent PC and wanted some suggestions/guidance on my component choices.

case: Evercase ECE4252 ("silent" case)
PSU: TBA silent power supply
mobo: Abit NF7 2.0
proc: AMD Barton 2500
HSF: Thermalright SLK900u
mem: 512 pc2700 (crucial)
HDD: seagate cuda 120GB
video: ati radeon 9600pro (fanless)
sound: m-audio revolution
cd: plextor 40/12/40

How will this work out?

A big question I have is the chipset fan on the Abit. Chipset fans are notorious for being noisy. In fact I pulled the chipset fan off of my Abit KG7 and it's been running stable for about a year now. Would I be able to do the same on the NF7?

The case is given the best noise rating on this site's reccomended components list, do you guys agree? A good choice?

Lastly, I'm looking for the quiestest PSU I can get without doing a great deal of modding. Any suggestions beyond what's already on the reccomended list?

Any other comments on the system are welcome.
Last edited by Arlequin on Tue Jul 29, 2003 12:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

POLIST8
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Post by POLIST8 » Tue Jul 29, 2003 11:51 am

Just get the Zalman Northbridge Passive Heatsink replacement (Fairly easy to install), This would be my next selection for a PSU: http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.p ... =0&thold=0 , and are you going to get 2x256MB DDR Chips to run in Dual-Channel Mode?

miker
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Re: Critique my silent PC plan

Post by miker » Tue Jul 29, 2003 12:01 pm

Arlequin wrote: A big question I have is the chipset fan on the Abit. Chipset fans are notorious for being noisy. In fact I pulled the chipset fan off of my Abit KG7 and it's been running stable for about a year now. Would I be able to do the same on the NF7?
Nope, the NForce2 NB will burn up fast. It's way hotter than previous NB's
Arlequin wrote:The case is give the best noise rating on this site's reccomended components list, do you guys agree? A good choice?
Yep, but I like prettier cases. That's just me.
Arlequin wrote:Lastly, I'm looking for the quiestest PSU I can get without doing a great deal of modding. Any suggestions beyond what's already on the reccomended list?
I wouldn't stray too far from the Recommended list here. Nexus or the newer Super Silencer Seasonics is all I would consider right now.

Arlequin
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Post by Arlequin » Tue Jul 29, 2003 12:07 pm

Nope, the NForce2 NB will burn up fast. It's way hotter than previous NB's
If that's the case, will a passive heatsink replacement be enough? Or should I go with a different motherboard?

miker
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Post by miker » Tue Jul 29, 2003 12:20 pm

Yes, the Asus a7n8x has the same NB as the NF7-S, and it uses a big honking NB sink, similar to the Zalman NB32J.

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Post by POLIST8 » Tue Jul 29, 2003 12:26 pm

The ASUS is the route I would personally go - along with 2x256MB DDR Modules or better yet 2x512MB.

lenny
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Re: Critique my silent PC plan

Post by lenny » Tue Jul 29, 2003 12:36 pm

Arlequin wrote:Lastly, I'm looking for the quiestest PSU I can get without doing a great deal of modding. Any suggestions beyond what's already on the reccomended list?

Any other comments on the system are welcome.
I'd like to add to all the excellent comments above. In addition to the Seasonic PSU (expensive!) you may want to consider the $27 + shipping Fortron 300W with single 120mm fan from NewEgg. Your components do not look very power hungry to me (Radeon 9600, Barton XP2500).

POLIST8
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Post by POLIST8 » Tue Jul 29, 2003 12:40 pm

That is super cheap...

I like the 120mm too...

But I'm swayed more to efficiency myself...

But...I'm...cheap...must...fight...

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Post by Justin_R » Tue Jul 29, 2003 8:55 pm

Arelequin-

I get the sense that you are trying to make a "bang-for-the-buck" system, as opposed to "killer gaming rig" or "cheap web/email/office system". I've tried to keep my suggestions oriented towards that mindset. Also, while there are good and bad silencing choices to be made early on when designing a system, the real work is at the end, once all the components are in place and you try to find a comfortable balance between heat and noise by adjusting fan voltages, placement and the like.

What kind of intake/exhaust fans are you going to run with the Evercase? If your computer spends all its time in a climate-controlled room and you get the right PSU, you might be able to get away without any intake/exhaust fans.

The Abit NF7 has received lots of positive reviews, and seems to have a substantial and active user base. This is good. You should replace the stock Northbridge HSF with a passive Zalman NB heatsink. Unless you're looking for a killer overclock, this shouldn't give you any problems.

The Barton 2500 is a good choice.

What fan do you plan on using with the SLK900? Your choice here will affect your PSU choice. Also, your choice here will be affected by what you plan on using your system for, and what kind of typical CPU usage you expect.

I love Crucial RAM, but you can get Kingston HyperX 2700 for cheaper than Crucial prices. The Kingston is favorably reviewed everywhere, has very tight timings programmed in the SPD, and has heat spreaders. You should, of course, run two sticks rather than one to get the 5% performance boost from dual-channel memory, but just buying one now is perfectly okay and provides an obvious upgrade path for the future. (I put two 512MB sticks of PC2700 HyperX into a friend's Epox 8RDA+.)

Which 120GB Barracuda V are you getting? I'd strongly recommend getting one with an 8MB cache. I'd also recommend getting the PATA (regular) version rather than the Serial ATA version; it's cheaper and just as fast.

The 9600Pro is a fine video card, although it tends to be outrun by the 9500Pro (at least before overclocking). You probably won't be able to overclock a passive 9600 too far, but this can always be remedied with a Zalman HP-80A, should you decide to go that route.

I trust you've done your research on the m-audio revolution sound card; the conventional wisdom is that it's great for home theater functions, but not so hot for gaming. Unless you really think you can't live without true 24/192 audio and have a speaker/home theater setup that will allow you to see the difference, save some money and pick up something else.

As for the PSU, I'd recommend the 120mm Fortron, because it's cheap, fairly quiet, and will provide exhaust for your case. Unless you've got a specific idea for something else, I'd stick a 80mm Panaflo L1A on the SLK900. If nothing else, this will get you up and running, and then you can further tweak the temperature/noise balance by undervolting, adding exhaust fans, changing the CPU fan, or whatever else is necessary. (If you wind up bumping the 80mm Panaflo from the CPU, you can always run it at 5V somewhere else in the case, for more airflow and practically no increase in observable noise.)

Arlequin
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Post by Arlequin » Tue Jul 29, 2003 11:00 pm

I trust you've done your research on the m-audio revolution sound card; the conventional wisdom is that it's great for home theater functions, but not so hot for gaming. Unless you really think you can't live without true 24/192 audio and have a speaker/home theater setup that will allow you to see the difference, save some money and pick up something else
I'm using this mostly for music and I've read such great reviews on the audio quality even for standard 16-bit music that I can't pass it up.

Thanks for the reccomendation on the Forton. I'll read up on it.

Still debating on my motherboard options now. Any other comments on it?

Rory B.
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Post by Rory B. » Wed Jul 30, 2003 6:46 am

The only reason the Fortron isn't on the "Recommended List" is because the Fortron has not yet been reviewed. (or at least that's as far as I can tell...)

I'm getting one for my case so I can run my case without any case fans in the back. I'm still putting 2 L1As in the front at 5 volts, just to make sure the lower section of my case has airflow.

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Post by POLIST8 » Wed Jul 30, 2003 6:50 am

I have a Terratec DMX 6/Fire 24 Bit audio card for my band. I love it, and it is helping me create a much better sounding album than our first (recorded hastily on a SB Live! Value - ha!!!!).

Also, check out the Speeze FalconRock CPU cooler. $14 on Newegg.com . It isn't on the rec. list because it also hasn't been reviewed. It has a copper core and fits a nice 80mm fan (perfect for Panaflo!!!).

soundOFsilence
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Post by soundOFsilence » Wed Jul 30, 2003 7:36 am

Although I have not heard the 6fire, everyone raves about it. There is a review on the web that says it is better than the Revo.

http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2003 ... dex.x?pg=1

There is also a "light" version of the 6fire, 6/Fire LT, I believe you can get that for around $100. If you do not intend to do recording, that might suffice, and it has the same D/A-A/D converters I believe. It does not have the external box for midi etc. connectors.

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Post by POLIST8 » Wed Jul 30, 2003 7:50 am

The LT is tight too.

Seriously...for $100 you would NOT be disappointed.

happykingcow
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Post by happykingcow » Wed Jul 30, 2003 9:34 am

If you want the best power supply get one from PC power and cooling, they will allow you to cutomize their stuff for extra money, but they are well worth it. other psu companies efficient starts to drop at 30C while their starts to drop at 40 C.

Arlequin
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Post by Arlequin » Sun Aug 03, 2003 8:48 pm

Reading the reviews on the SilenX, it seems like it will be difficult to maintain temperatures that will keep it at its most quiet. How louder will it get?

How much louder would an Antec Sonata be with its standard PSU? I heard its quiet.. but is it quieter than, say, the SilenX at high temperatures?

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Post by Matt-man » Fri Aug 08, 2003 9:19 am

The Sonata PS is not really that quiet. I'm using one in an Antec SLK3700 and it's the loudest thing in the system. It's way louder than the SilenX in my wife's PC or the Fortron in my web server. If I were you I'd stick with the Fortron - if I had known about it when I got the SilenX, I would have saved some cash and bought the Fortron instead.

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Post by Oysterman » Fri Aug 08, 2003 11:07 am

I can only say that the Nexus I have now is a lot quieter than the Sonata PSU at all times. When the Nexus is idling, it can hardly be heard at all. When it's pushed hard (as hard as my system's capable of), it's a comfortable subdued "woosh" type of sound - quite different from the unpleasant noise signature the Sonata PSU had under ANY load above 0!

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