Another "Choosing my new system" topic

[pigscanfly]

Hello everyone.
I'm currently trying to make a list of the right components for my future computer (that is meant to be used for "regular" stuff, but also for gaming). Since I'm posting here (on spcr), I don't need to say I'd like it to be silent . Ideally, it would be completely silent (inaudible) when I'm not doing power intensive stuff, and mostly quiet when under heavy load (games).

After searching the web, I found Mike's web site and considered to buy his Model One, but due to shipping costs and taxes, I decided to (locally) buy the individual parts, do some slight modifications and assemble them myself.
Here is the result of my research and iterations :

• Antec P182 case
  I would have preferred the Antec Solo, but the 8800 GTX does not fit without cutting the case.
  Are TriCool fans really more noisy than other fans like Scythe D, Nexus, Noctua, etc ?
• Asus P5B Plus motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
• Scythe Ninja Plus Rev B
  I have seen somewhere that the ninja has some problems with sockets 775. Is is still true for the Rev B ? The Scythe website says it's possible out of the box (with a provided adapter).
  Is the fan given with the ninja quiet, or do I need to take another better 120mm fan ?
  I plan to only use the fan at the rear and the fan on the ninja blowing to the rear, removing the top/ceiling fan and blocking the hole with some foam.
  On this forum I have seen a post similar to mine, but with a Thermalright Ultra-120. What's best ?
• PSU Corsair VX450
  Will the PSU fan be strong enough to make a little airflow from the front to the back of the lower chamber, cooling the hard drives ? With this PSU, I would remove the TriCool fan of the lower chamber. I also have considered using an Antec Phantom 300 and keeping the lower chamber fan to cool the hard drives and the PSU.
  I don't know if a Phantom 500 would be better since I would have to put a fan to cool the hard drives, blowing into the PSU's fan... And the PSU's fan would be useless and smaller (louder) than a 120mm one.
• Leadtek 8800 GTX
  I didn't knew which card manufacturer to choose (XFX, Albatron, etc.) and since the fan/heatsink seems to be identical for all the the manufacturers, I arbitrarily chose Leadtek.
  Will the GPU fan be the only annoying thing in the case ?
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320Go
  The P182 case has rubber grommets inside the HD cage, and I don't know if they are really that good at blocking vibrations. Would suspensions (like in the Antec P150) be significantly better ?

What do you think of all this ?
Based on your experience, what would I need to add/replace/remove ?

Cheers,
Jim.

[johnniecache7]

- Avoid the Scythe Ninja Plus Rev B it mounting is really that bad. Try the Thermalright Ultra 120A or Ultra 120 extreme with Scythe S-flex 1200 rpm fan.

- Yes, TriCool fans are really more noisy replace them with Scythe S-flex 1200 rpm, Nexus or Yate Loons.

- Asus P5B Plus motherboard, Nothing wrong with it other then it on P965 chipset and it older. Take look at the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R based on the P35 chipset might be more future proof.

PSU Corsair VX450, I would go for Corsair HX Series CMPSU-520HX or Corsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX. I like bit overkill with my power supplies I personally have the Seasonic S-12 Energy Plus 650 watt. Makes me feel safer. btw Antec Phantom 500 is not really choice it silent but hot as hell and when the rear fan kicks in it not silent anymore.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320Go, If you can afford it get the 500GB Western Digtial WD5000AAKS Caviar. Great value and silent .Seagate tends be hot and noisy seek.

I am fine with your choice of Antec P182 case ,Geforce 8800 GTX, Intel CPU all are great.

[djkest]

Scythe Ninja Rev. B is fine if you have a backplate on your motherboard, and you can also buy them for about $5 from a few different places, and you save over $30 over the Thermalright Extreme 120.

The 120mm fan that it comes with operates at 800rpm and is very, very quiet.

Based on what I've read here, you'd be better off from a noise perspective with a Western Digital or Samsung hard drive.

[Bobendren]

[*]Asus P5B Plus motherboard

As already suggested, rather go for a P35 based board. My suggestions...

Gigabyte DS3 or DS3R
Asus P5K or P5K-E
Abit IP35-E or IP35 (just bought myself one of these. still waiting for ram and gfx card to arrive though)

[*]Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320Go

The P182 case has rubber grommets inside the HD cage, and I don't know if they are really that good at blocking vibrations. Would suspensions (like in the Antec P150) be significantly better ?

I've installed a number of 7200.10 seagate drives over the past year or so. All have been noisy. Th 80GB are quieter, but the one I tested had a high pitched whine - this is common with these drives. Another 320GB I installed into an external drive was very noisy when just at idle. All of them exhibited loud seeks.

The Western Digital 500GB (AAKS) are definitely quieter, although I didn't do a direct comparasion. I've just bought the 320GB version, but haven't installed it yet, as I'm still waiting for components as mentioned above.

The silicone grommets used in the P182 are very squishy, so they do a good job. Nothing beats suspension though. The samsung drives vibrate less than the WD's (or so i've been told, i don't have any experience with these drives) so they might be a better choice if you want to stick with the grommets.

[SilentShoe]

Samsung Spinpoint T are the quiestest 3.5" hard drive currently available i believe.
I personally have a Spinpoint P. Cant hear it unless its seeking a lot (under heavy load)

get some yate loon instead of scythe or nexus if your on a budget.
they'll mount fine for the case, but if u plan on attaching it to the ninja or other cpu hsf that uses fan clips, try and order open corner ones.

[pigscanfly]

Thanks everyone.
I think I'll go for a Asus P5K, a WD 500Go AAKS, and change the ninja for a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme.

I didn't write it in my first post, but I planned to take PC6400 RAM. Now that the motherboard supports PC8500, is it worth paying twice the price to go from 800MHz to 1066MHz ?
I've read somewhere that one could measure the difference but that one couldn't notice it.

I also have quite an annoying problem : I don't have a lot of choice for the fans. The choice I have is basically limited to : Noctua S12-1200 (I've heard good things about them, but also that the air pressure may be lower than other 120mm fans, and are thus not suited for a CPU heatsink), Nexus D12SL-12, Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D, Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F, Noiseblocker BlackSilentFan XL1.
Which one should I mount on the U120 ?
And for the case ?

Cheers,
Jim.

[johnniecache7]

I would personally get the DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz something from Corsair,Kingston,OCZ,Crucial etc.... but it really not worth it if your paying twice as much. Nexus D12SL-12, would be the best for you CPU cooler but again make sure it is new Nexus with open corners or it will not mount. Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D 800rpm, is also good but some the early samples has some ticking reported by SPCR but alot users say the ticking is not present anymore.Case wise either is good choice.

[protellect]

I didn't write it in my first post, but I planned to take PC6400 RAM. Now that the motherboard supports PC8500, is it worth paying twice the price to go from 800MHz to 1066MHz ? I've read somewhere that one could measure the difference but that one couldn't notice it.

It shouldn't be twice the price. I know that my crucial ballistix DDR2-800 kit [2x1GB, which was like 50-60$ AR] in the EPP (Enhanced Performance Profiles) settings, it will do DDR2-1066 @ 5-5-5-15/2.2V. The crucial DDR2-1066 kit is like 5$ more, with the same timings, so I'm going to roll the dice and say they are the exact same memory.

I also have quite an annoying problem : I don't have a lot of choice for the fans. The choice I have is basically limited to : Noctua S12-1200 (I've heard good things about them, but also that the air pressure may be lower than other 120mm fans, and are thus not suited for a CPU heatsink), Nexus D12SL-12, Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D, Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F, Noiseblocker BlackSilentFan XL1. Which one should I mount on the U120 ? And for the case ?

I don't think you can go wrong with any of those.