what can be improved on this?

azgarth · Post by **azgarth** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:35 am

new to quiet pc's,
right now i've a noisy desktop and a quiet laptop, and am gonna build my first pc as soon as i've got the parts, but haven't decided which yet.
i'd like it as silent possible, since i keep my pc on 24/7, and the others in the house complain about the noise from my pc, they've got pretty good hearing, and can't sleep with my current desktop on.

from searching various sites, including this one, this is what i've got so far:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 - 232,

Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R - 101,94

Scythe Infinity SCINF-1000 - 37,95

Team Xtreem TXDD2048M800HC4DC-D (2x1GB), PC6400, CAS4 93,20 X2 = 186.50

GigaByte GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB DDR3 - 443,-

Samsung SpinPoint T166, 500GB - 89,90

NEC AD-7173S 18x - 25,35

NEC 3,5" Diskette Drive 1,44MB (Zwart) - 5,50

Antec Nine Hundred - 91,50

Corsair CMPSU-520HXEU - 86.88

M-audio Audiophile 192 - 199.95

scythe "Quiet Drive" HDD Silencer - 39.90

any ideas what i should change or add?
i plan on using my pc for both gaming and music, listening, editing, creating, mastering, the works(got it hooked to a pretty good amp,so speakers aren't a problem, but the noise would be, if i record, i don't want noise from my pc).

i'm pondering most about my decision for a case and PSU, but aren't quite sure on the others either, any help would be appreciated.

thanks in advance

laguz1 · Post by **laguz1** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:36 pm

drop the E6850...and get the E6750...saves you $40-50 bucks and you can overclock it to match the e6850 (or better)

infinity isn't as great as many would assume - the ninja actually will outcool it, so i would either get a ninja or an ultra 120. plus...that infinity is pretty much a 1 kg block sitting on your cpu...that idea sorta scares me, since the ultra 120 and ninja are both around 700 g.

for ram, i would get a pair of crucial ballistix 2 gb cas4, for about $90-99...but thats really just my opinion...

i would just skip that scythe "quiet drive" as its not really that "quiet" and the samsung is already silent enough.

make sure you use arctic silver 5...not a big issue, but best thermal paste out there.

the antec 900 is good cooling wise, but its not especially built for silence...so if you don't mind paying more...the P182 is another great antec case that will be silent and match a HX520, 8800GTX, and ultra 120 nicely.

and note *don't use the antec tri-cools that come with either case, as they aren't that great...i would just get some yate loon D12SL-12s and maybe invest in a fan controller - zalman MFC1-plus

azgarth · Post by **azgarth** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 1:09 am

ok, so the p 182(normal or SE?), drop the quiet drive(will it still be quiet enough for recordings and the like?), get d12sl-12s as fans instead of the regular ones, get a fan controller, and swap the infinity? which one out of those would be preferable?

why get a pair of crucial ballistix? i used to have crucial ballistix on the list, but got recommended these instead, the Crucial Ballistix 1GB x 2 (2GB) PC5300 DDR2, CL3, with a cas of 3, and like with the xtreem's, i plan on getting 4 gigs of it total.

i've also been reccomended to take quad core, seeing as i'll be doing more then just gaming, and just overclock it, but wouldn't that mean higher fan speeds, meaning more noise?

laguz1 · Post by **laguz1** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:32 am

normal P182 is good enough (they have all the same internals except paint job), unless you really want some bling, haha....

but personally, i find that mirror finish to be annoying

the P182 + yate loons would have the greatest impact on sound, the fan controller is really just so that you can control your fans easier (more customizable), and the infinity is mostly out of a small temp difference...

haha, i just like ballistix because they look cool and i've had good experience with them...but honestly, i've only ever had 2 kinds of ram - crucial and some cheap kingston stuff. the xtreem's are probably ok.

quad-core pretty much means more heat (135 watts vs. 65 watts from the other c2d's) and thus, means higher fan rpms...this then depends on the fan. If you stick w/ antec tri-cools for example, the "high" setting on that is unbearable, and even the medium is sorta loud. But with yate loon's, ~1300 rpm is pretty much a slightly louder version of its 600-700 rpm...They have the same sound characteristic...its just that some other fans get really loud motor and rattling noises at high speeds....this does not happen to the yate loon.

azgarth · Post by **azgarth** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 10:50 am

ok, not the SE, i don't care much about looks, no quad, i want silence, and for games it's better to have dual core anyway, gettings the yate loons, they better then nexus, or are they the same(i got some nexus hits when googling)?

sticking with this ram, should be fine, currently looking like this, this good?

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R
Scythe Infinity SCINF-1000 (Socket 478/775/754/939/940/AM2)
Team Xtreem TXDD2048M800HC4DC-D (2x1GB), PC6400, CAS4
GigaByte GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB DDR3
Samsung SpinPoint T166, 500GB
NEC AD-7173S 18x
NEC 3,5" Diskette Drive 1,44MB (Zwart)
Antec Performance One P182 (ATX, Geen PSU, Zwart)
Corsair CMPSU-520HXEU
Audiophile 192
Yate Loon D12SL-12 (X 3, to replace each fan)
Zalman ZM-MFC1 Plus
Arctic Silver 5 (12gr better too much then too little, always nice for later)

oh, and i've been told the NEC dvd drive can give probs with linux, so im probably gonna change that one, gonna run ubuntu studio as a second OS.

laguz1 · Post by **laguz1** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:00 pm

nexus fans ARE yate loons...just with different blade style and slower speeds. nexus took the yate loon motor/frame, and reconfigured their own blade style (less aggressive) and put in an inline transistor to drop the 1350 rpm to 1000. Basically, the nexus is quieter, but has less airflow. But the beauty of it, is that you can basically fan control a yate loon to match the nexus...and you save like $10 from a nexus to a yate loon, since nexus fans are like triple the yate loon prices...

everything looks great....just that cpu heatsink is bugging me, haha. The infinity performs not as well as a ninja: check out this link...
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article658-page4.html

the ninja is slightly smaller, lighter, cheaper, easier to install, and looks cooler (in my opinion)...

but btw, the thermalright ultra 120 is better than both

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article646-page3.html

i would personally get an ultra 120, since it matches nicely with the P182, and the attached fan won't get in the way of the ram slots, as the ninja might.

OH, and i forgot to mention....DON'T put a fan on the top rear exhaust of the P182. It is really sort of pointless if you are going to push-pull config your cpu heatsink (the cpu heatsink fan blows air through the heatsink, as the rear exhaust pulls the hot air out back).

Wibla · Post by **Wibla** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:17 pm

Get a motherboard that can control fans, like an Abit IP35 or an Asus P5W DHD or P5K-somesuch, this will save you from buying a dedicated fan controller. Speedfan is free and if your mobo can control several fans, you've got the best fan controller around, pretty much for free

I'd also get Crucial BallistiX PC8500 ram...

azgarth · Post by **azgarth** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 1:55 pm

ok, so the ultra 120, but i see three on my local site:

Thermalright Ultra-120 Heatsink (Socket 775/754/939/940)
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme (Socket 775/AM2)
Thermalright Ultra 120 (Socket 775/939/940)
which one is it? they all fit on the 775, i figure the extreme, but wouldn't know.

as for the mobo, i wouldn't know what other mobo that would be at least par to my current, and with more fan control, for a decent amount of money, and this zalman thing is under 30, so that's decent.

johnniecache7 · Post by **johnniecache7** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 2:16 pm

The Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme is what you want. I have one with dual scythe fans on it you can buy second set clips. I personally like you choice of the Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R but I get the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R. Same motherboard without DDR3 support not likely your ever going use it. Abit motherboard is overpriced.

Sizzle · Post by **Sizzle** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:07 pm

I would get a board with DDR2. No reason to blow the extra money on DDR3 right now. So if you get DDR2, CAS3 at the minimum.b

Gigabytes fan control is OK. Asus is Qfan good. Abit Fan EQ is better. However, as stated, if Speedfan supports your board, you can do these functions via software. I personally like taking care of this via the BIOS. I have a Abit IN9-MAX and love the Fan EQ.

As one that has had the Infinity, Ninja, and Ultra 120/Extreme they are all good coolers. The Infinity is clumsy to install and like the Ninja can encrouch on the RAM slots. The Ninja is got the best price to performance ratio of the bunch. The 120, which I am using now is good as far as room goes. I dislike the mounting of the Extreme for socket 775, it's sloppy.

Are you going to use the floppy drive that much? I use an external USB one, allowing me to turn off the onboard floppy controller.

azgarth · Post by **azgarth** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:12 pm

ok, i'll be checking the GA-P35-DS3R then, or any other alternatives?

what benefit would turning off the onboard floppy bring? and is that just as easilly bootable, and recocgnized as floppy, not usb drive?

i dont get the fan part, these alternatives to that zalman control?

johnniecache7 · Post by **johnniecache7** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:18 pm

If you go Thermalright Ultra-120 Heatsink over the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme Make sure you get the Thermalright Ultra-120A it has reversion mounting system. I still think the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme is better due to more heatpipes but that just matter of opinion. You cannot go wrong with any either.

johnniecache7 · Post by **johnniecache7** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:24 pm

azgarth wrote:ok, i'll be checking the GA-P35-DS3R then, or any other alternatives?

what benefit would turning off the onboard floppy bring? and is that just as easilly bootable, and recocgnized as floppy, not usb drive?

If you do not need raid the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L is good choice it basicly the GA-P35-DS3R without raid and it cheaper. I would stay with old school floppy drive you always going need floppy do BIOS and Firmware updates. Not like floppy is noisy or takes up any resources.Floppy is the legacy hardware that refuses to die. I see people not install them but end up need one.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:57 am

all 3.5" drives are audible, some would consider loud, and the only thing you can do about it is enclose it in something like a scythe quiet drive. Suspension helps a lot, but enclosure works best if you dont mind spending the cash on the enclosures. I use 2.5" drives, which are significantly quieter, and they still need to be put in a quiet drive to make seek noise inaudible.

ram is ram, just get whatevers rated for 5eggs from newegg, and is cheep, and is rated for whatever your motherboard can support. They all have lifetime warrenty's now a days. So no point in spending extra cash for a name brand.

P182 is a really large case. You could get similar, if not better acoustic performance from your system with a smaller footprint if you went with something like a P150/Solo.

PSU: anything from corsair/seasonic, or antec that is rated for 80+ effeciency certification will be good. that system wont draw any more than around 225w at load, so anything around 350w or better is more than enough for your system.

fan controller: i personally use zalman fanmates. you can hook up 3 or 4 to one fanmate, and have good analog control over your fans. So you wont have to worry about PWM noise from motherboard fan control.

Fans: Nexus or Scythe S-Flex 1200rpm for 120mm, just nexus for 92mm or 80mm. Yateloon 120mm's are the same as a nexus 120mm.

You shouldnt need more than 2x 120mm fans for that system. one for exhaust, and one on the CPU.

Get the Thermalright HR-03plus heatsink for the video card, and orientate the fan on the ninja so that it pulls air off the vga heatsink and through the cpu heatsink. this will keep you from needing an extra fan on your vga heatsink.

You could easily do the entire system with just 3 fans in total, and that includes the fan inside the PSU. Run them all low speed on a fanmate around 6v or so, and this system will be dead silent.

johnniecache7 · Post by **johnniecache7** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:14 am

Beware the Geforce 8800 GTX does not fit in the Antec P150/Solo case with out modding it. Just some advice if you choose to go with that case.

azgarth · Post by **azgarth** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 6:30 am

the 320 GTS will? because i'm thinking of going with that anyway(takes 14 days for a gtx minimum).

will the HR-03plus fit the 320 GTS? or what should i take in stead?

and should i take the asus p5b or the gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L?
or another type?

laguz1 · Post by **laguz1** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:30 pm

you can try that new zalman vf-1000 for the 8800GTS and post a review maybe

but yes, the 8800GTS fits in the solo

azgarth · Post by **azgarth** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:22 am

hmm, i think i'm still gonna go with the 182, if the difference in silence isn't that big between the two, if i wanna get a new card, i want to make sure it fits, and this gts might fit, but once the newer generation will come out, i want those to fit as well.

and the GA-P35-DS3L is still the wisest choice? or should i go for something different?

ram is ram, but what about CAS latency?

azgarth · Post by **azgarth** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:22 am

alright, here's what i ordered, i think i can still change/cancel, so warn me if i did anything wrong.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
asus p5b
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme
2 gigs cas5 takeMS ram
asus EN8800 gts 320M
Samsung SpinPoint T166, 500GB
samsung SHS202N black PATA 20x LS
FLOPPY-DRIVE 1.44MB BLACK OEM
Antec Performance One P182
Corsair CMPSU-520HXEU
nexus of Yate Loon D12SL-12 X 3
Zalman ZM-MFC1 Plus
Thermalright HR-03plus heatsink