Silent Rebuild Project

PirateNinjaPirateNinja Icrontian
edited October 2003 in Hardware
Hey guys, long time no see all.

Well I'm finding myself slowly coming back into computers. I'll give you a quick look on my current specs:

AMD AthlonXP 1800+ (Palmino, AGOIA)
512mb Samsung pc2100 ddr
Antec 420or430w (forgot honestly) true power
Thermeltake Volcano 7+
Asus GF3 Ti200
Asus A7V266-e /AA
Western Digital SE 200gb 8mb cache 7200rpm (boot)
Quantum Fireball AS 40gb 2mb cache 7200rpm
Pioneer 16x DVD
Samsung 40x12x40 CDRW
Generic Floppy
(all 4 drives on Promise Ultra 100 TX2)
WinXP Pro
Antec Mid Tower (POS)!)



I haven't worked on my computer in ages. Because of that I've run it down into a piece of crap. Its unstable, loud, ugly, eh.) It needs help. I've just been so damn busy, I have not had a chance.

So heres my plan. I'm going to rebuild it, with silence, temperature, and style in mind. By the way, I do not Overclock! :-O
Heres what I want to do:

New Case (4x aluminum fans 80mm, Ill use the PS i have allready, PS rails, no side fan, blowhole possibly ok if it looks zexy liek a coolermaster, NO case window, NO LEDs)

New Heatsink / Fan (as silent as possible with temps under 45c load...volcano 7+ is loud and hot)

AS 5 (currently using as3)


Thats it for now, AL is trying to convince me a rheobus is the way to go for performance and silence on my case. If I were to get a rheobus I wouldnt want any brand name or LEDs on it.

So anyway, I like Cooler Master, alot. Im willing to shell out .. hermm 240$ for this project, which is more than enough. Any suggestions on the case, or heatsink/fan? Oh yah Im also going to repartition all my drives, and reformat reinstall windows. But I can handle that ;)

Comments

  • PirateNinjaPirateNinja Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    ps, im all about this case:

    http://www.coolermasterusa.com/Product.aspx?ID=25
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited October 2003
    Gravite2090 had this to say

    Heres what I want to do:

    New Case (4x aluminum fans 80mm, Ill use the PS i have allready, PS rails, no side fan, blowhole possibly ok if it looks zexy liek a coolermaster, NO case window, NO LEDs)

    New Heatsink / Fan (as silent as possible with temps under 45c load...volcano 7+ is loud and hot)

    AS 5 (currently using as3)


    Thats it for now, AL is trying to convince me a rheobus is the way to go for performance and silence on my case. If I were to get a rheobus I wouldnt want any brand name or LEDs on it.

    So anyway, I like Cooler Master, alot. Im willing to shell out .. hermm 240$ for this project, which is more than enough. Any suggestions on the case, or heatsink/fan? Oh yah Im also going to repartition all my drives, and reformat reinstall windows. But I can handle that ;)
    Something you forgot to mention. Gravite lives in Southern California so ambient temperatures are going to be shet.

    My suggestions:

    Case: Lian-Li pc61. It's cheaper than a comparable coolermaster. It's very convenient, thumbscrews all around, removable panels, tray, and bays.

    Heatsink: If the slk900 is compatible with your mobo go for it. If not then snag yourself an slk800.

    HSF: If you get an slk900 then i recommend
    a vantec ThermoflowTF9225
    If you get an slk800 then i recommend buying a Panasonic Panaflo 2950 rpm 80mm fan
    However be sure to pick up one of these when going with the latter hsf.

    AS5 should do a good job. If you have trouble finding it, then as3 will suffice.

    Now, if you get a rheobus. I recommend you buy a panaflo hsf. But for the case fans purchase 4 80mm vantec tornados. Route them all to the rheobus and control them through with the twist of a knob. Even at low low rpm these fans will push plenty of air and keep case temperatures around 22-27.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    Uh, al... the thermoflow has the thermistor in the fan frame. That's kind of a bad thing, considering that the fan should blow air into the heatsink... it'll never speed up. Or at least not as much as it should.

    Also, I may be wrong (I haven't looked at the inside of that case in detail) but I don't think the tornados will fit... they may fit in the back, but I'm almost positive they won't fit in the front.

    PERSONALLY, I'd go with the Antec SX835 @ newegg, along with 5 Thermaltake SmartFan2 case fans. Why? The SX835 has better cooling than any of the other Antec Performance series (Chieftec/Chenming) cases except the discontinued SX1240 full tower, it has better cooling than that coolermaster does, and the Thermaltake SmartFan2s are the best 80mm fans on the market, bar none. They're pretty quiet at low speeds, but they can flow up to 75cfm each if they need to, and they come with a flat thermistor that you can put just about anywhere. Since they are capable of 75cfm (altho they only reach full speed >55*C, or if you use the manual fan speed control to run them at full speed), it gives you an extra margin of safety, while still being pretty quiet most of the time.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited October 2003
    Even if the Thermoflow ran at it's lowest rpm, it would still be sufficient for a hsf to make sure the temps do not raise above 45c, since he is not overclocking.

    About the pc61, I spoke before thinking. As geeky1 said there is not sufficient space in between the front of the case and the hd bay.

    Also, smartfans are a good suggestion if you would prefer to bypass a rheobus.
  • PirateNinjaPirateNinja Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    I really don;'t like the look of Antecs case, so they lose a lot of value with me. I also do not need an extreme cooling solution. I am not OCing. I just need something that can keep my cpu nice and cool, but quietly.

    Yes I live in the desert, it can be extremely hot here.
  • BDRBDR
    edited October 2003
    I choose most of my pc hardware with silence in mind.

    I buy Seagate hard drives, and look for case and hs fans with low decibel ratings. I use several CoolerMaster hsf's, and have switched out fans on other brands of sinks that come with loud fans.

    I'm not sure the CoolerMaster hsf's would make your heat requirement on a Pali though. I had an 1800 Pali and it ran hottest of all my cpu's.
  • madmatmadmat
    edited October 2003
    Try the new Swifty with the angled pins and a nice medium flow 92mm fan (50 cfm Sunon springs to mind) as for a case I have a Kingwin kt-424-wm-bk and it's a sexy beast with dual speed controllable fans in the front and a single 80mm fan in the rear (it's actually a higher cfm model than the front fans so in tandem with the PSU it does about come out the same front to rear) and it is very quiet.
    It can be found on newegg for about $100.00 with the window and about $10.00 cheaper without one if you want to roll your own.
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    recently built my friend a computer i used the
    ZALMAN CNPS7000A-CU ULTRA QUIET CPU COOLER
    it's a very nice cooler, and compared it to my slk800 with tt smart fan, it's so much quieter. i would recommend this cooler and here is a link for it

    ZALMAN CNPS7000A-CU ULTRA QUIET CPU COOLER
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Comments on silent (or, not so loud) running:

    If you are not going to be overclocking, you won't need a blow hole. Blow hole = increased noise. If you select a case with good airflow - avoid itty bitty 80mm intake and exhaust ports, you won't need buzzy blaster fans. Look for cases with 120mm intake and exhaust ports. Yes, they ARE out there. I recommend Panaflo 'L' series fans for all applications. I'm running Panaflo fans exclusively in my cases except for the CPU heatsinks. Again, I stress 'L' series fans.

    Go with an SLK 900/947 or the new SP-4 for your CPU heatsink. You will be able to mount a fairly quiet fan on that because of the great thermal efficiency of the all copper SLK designs.

    The Zallman CPU heatsink was also an excellent suggestion.

    Hard drives - haven't tried Seagates as mentioned in a post above. I do know this, as I've got both - the Maxtor Ultra series of hard drives with "Fluid Dynamic Bearings" are significantly quieter than their Western Digital competitors. I say this as a diehard WD fan.
  • BDRBDR
    edited October 2003
    A few references on the Seagates-

    http://www.siliconacoustics.com/quietharddrives.html

    http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/60GigQuietHardDrive.html

    http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/scan/st=db/co=yes/rf=*/fi=products/sf=category/op=eq/se=Quiet%20Hard%20Drives.html

    and a good place to look-

    http://www.endpcnoise.com/

    and here- http://www.siliconacoustics.com
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    If you want to have a quiet system you will need a premium heat sink because they are more efficient and don't need a high rpm fan that makes lots of noise. If you want to save money I would suggest one of the SLK-900's that are on sale with a low to mid rpm fan.
    If you are looking for a real inexpensive premium heat sink and don't mind well care for used equipment there is an SLK-800 and an Alpha PAL8045 here.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    All drives now from the major manufacturers have gone past the point of being loud now that none of them are. You can go with WD, Seagate or Maxtor and they are all quiet now anyway.

    I wouldn't look into acoustic management as they make the drives slower at the cost of speed.

    NS
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Correct, in that none of the 7200 RPM drives are as loud as they used to be. But there still are differences. Speaking of which, ha ha, one of my Maxtor Ultras died today! Dangit!
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    Gravite, what cases DO you like besides that coolermaster one, or what characteristics are you looking for? The reason I ask is that look, 1 80mm exhaust fan and 2 80mm intake fans just isn't going to cut it, whether you're overclocking or not. If you want to run a dead silent system that's reasonably modern (P4 or Athlon) you need either a full tower, or a mid-tower with at least 2 80mm intake and 2 more exhaust and preferably a blowhole in the top of the case. I speak from personal experience on the subject. I set up an effectively dead silent fan-cooled print server with a 1.3GHz Celeron. The Athlon will be somewhat more difficult, but not impossible.

    Without knowing what you want in terms of the looks of your case, all I can suggest is the following:
    <UL>
    <LI>Antec SLK-3700AMB, SLK-3700BQE, or Sonata mid-tower, or one of the Enermax CS-101 series (which are all the same, except for the front panel and color)
    <LI>1 120mm Antec SmartFan if you get one of the Antec cases (another 120mm is included with the cases, and it's very quiet) or 7 Thermaltake SmartFan 2 80mm fans if you get the Enermax case.
    <LI>Zalman CNPS7000A-ALCU or 7000A-CU CPU HSF
    </ul>
    I realize that you're not overclocking, but running your computer with fans that are not high-speed or thermally controlled is a really bad idea anyhow. Since you want quiet, thermal control would be best. I mean, think about this for a minute. Under normal operating conditions, the fan will be basically inaudible, but if something goes awry (e.g. your cpu fan fails) or if your A/C fails or something, you'll have fans that can speed up to cope with it. What would you rather have- a cooked CPU due to a dead CPU fan, or a computer that gets noisy all of a sudden and an undamaged CPU? You replace the CPU fan, and everything goes back to normal. Most of the time, thermally controlled fans won't be an issue, but the fact that they (and the Tt SmartFan2 in particular) have a good deal of cooling power in reserve means that they're a better choice than normal silent fans.

    I really don't think running a computer with silent fans is a good idea. I really, really don't... even if you're not overclocking. If it were my system, I'd be far more comfortable with thermally controlled fans.
  • PirateNinjaPirateNinja Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Well thanks so much for the advice. I pretty much talked it over with Al and he actually convinced me to get Lian Li and a rhebus. Yes it won't be absolutely silent, but Ill make sure its pretty quiet. Heres everything that I got:

    Lian Li PC-60
    5x Thermeltake Smart Fan2
    SLK-800 U
    CM Aerogate I
    AS 5

    That is going to be an improvement of what I currently have by 10 fold. Now I just need to spray paint my drives or something so they match the case.

    Thanks so much for the advice everyone. Ill post pictures and let you all know how it goes with temperatures and noise.
  • croc_croc_ New
    edited October 2003
    hi grav u monkey.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited October 2003
    omg rgn bruvah's reunite :D
  • PirateNinjaPirateNinja Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    oh man did this turn out nicley. i am in love. I reuinited with my 8kha+ like a couple seperated by war the wrote eachother every day for a year.

    so happy. oh man, so happy.

    thanks everyone for advice, msision accomplished. computer is very quiet, havent seen it go over 43C on load. *tear comes to my eye*
  • BDRBDR
    edited October 2003
    So, tell us what hardware you went with.

    Are they listed in your sig?
  • PirateNinjaPirateNinja Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    My sig isnt updated yet.

    I got:

    Slk-800-u w/ TT Smart Fan 2
    Lian Li PC-60
    CM Aerogate 1
    3x TT Smart Fan 2 used for case fans

    and I swapped my asus mobo for my old 8kha+ thats been shelved for more than a year.

    Right now I did a tiny OC, upped my FSB from 133 to 140 and ran prime95 all night. Woke up this morning, still running at 46c. That was with all my fans running with the lowest amount of voltage.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    BTW: Welcome to short-media, Gravite.. I haven't seen your name in quite a while... Good to see you back :)
  • PirateNinjaPirateNinja Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Thanks prime :). Im very happy to be back around.

    By the way, I guess my AS5 has been burnt in or something. At the same room temps, my computer is now at 41c load.

    Absolutely amazing. Perhaps tommorow Ill update the sig.

    :)
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Did you spraypaint your drives yet? If not, I recommend using Krylon Fusion paint when you do.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited October 2003
    Gravy's ocing again :D
  • PirateNinjaPirateNinja Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    ill oc if i ever decide to get better memory.
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