The case has ventilation for a top-down PSU fan to draw air from the outside, but I might test both configurations, in which case I will certainly reverse the CPU fan.

Parts ordered: Case: Lian Li PC-Q07A PSU: Seasonic G-360 Motherboard: Intel DH77DF CPU & GPU: Intel Celeron G550T CPU cooler: Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev. B RAM: Kingston 8 GB 1066 MHz SSD: Samsung 830 Series 128 GB Monitor: Dell U2212HM Keyboard: Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad Mouse: Logitech M50...

I ended up playing more games than I anticipated, and Intel's graphics drivers are just terrible. 3D frame rates are decent enough, but OpenGL support does not live up to Intel's claims, and the anisotropic filtering is laughable. So I bought a Sapphire HD7750 Ultimate, favourably reviewed by SPCR ....

I'm sceptical about the HDD slowing down rendering, this will almost certainly be limited by the CPU. Using Handbrake, my i7-2700K is not bottlenecked by the single 5400RPM HDD that stores both source and output files. I should stress that I have no experience with high-bitrate or lossless video cod...

Of course the Q07 will run hotter, it doesn't have any fans. I can't see much of a problem with a 35W CPU, especially with no HDD or DVD drive. RHN, I don't know how relevant this is to you, but in my own system, I hear only a faint mains hum, and only if I hold my ear against the PSU casing. I hear...

RHN, I'll give this a good listen with my ear against the PSU casing once I build it. If you're interested, I can also stop the fans in my own system (Intel DH67GD, i7-2700K, HD 7750, X-400) and listen to that. I'd link to the gallery thread, but it's outdated... :oops: Mats, I seriously considered ...

I generally wouldn't use a fanless cooler in a fanless case. The obvious exception would be heatsink cases like those from HDPLEX. I'm not sure what I'd gain with a bigger cooler than the Big Shuriken 2, it'll be cooling a 35W TDP CPU so it shouldn't struggle at all. Interesting that you should ment...

Mummy is my mother, and she is nobody's grandmother. There is no old case because her current machine is a terrible laptop (with an awful 11-year-old mouse attached). I agree that shiny new hardware is anything but green, of course, but mummy seems to have accepted as much. Her fridge is older than ...

Thanks for your input! :) Revised specs, changes in red : Case: Lian Li PC-Q11A PSU: PicoPSU (pending approval) Motherboard: Asus P8H77-I CPU & GPU: Intel Celeron G550T RAM: 8 GB 1066 MHz SSD: Samsung 830 Series 128 GB HDD: none CPU cooler: Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev. B DVD drive: none Monitor: Dell ...

m0002a, whose mummy are we talking about here? :P The HDD not being needed is a very good point, lhopitalified. The only non-program files on her laptop are text documents. IIRC that Samsung 830 is about the size of her current HDD. CA_Steve, does any sane person like tech support...? :mrgreen: Real...

Mummy's had it with her ancient, Vista-ridden, glacially-slow-booting, swap-file-thrashing (etc!) Packard Bell laptop. At her 65th birthday I convinced her that I should build her something nice. Mummy likes organic food; she dislikes resource waste and pollution. She surfs the web, listens to inter...

They also seem to be selling their own model in a version that requires more end user assembly work for €10.

It is indeed impossible to fit a standard fan with this PSU. Even the slim fan is a squeeze - it took some force to bend the wires sharply enough. Mind you, it's not strictly needed for my configuration...

I'm glad this was useful for you.

MikeC wrote:around 90 dB ambient

Bloody sodding hell! Remind me never to go near a trade show...

It's listed at 23 € in the review. That's not much cheaper, and I can't find any Danish retailers. If you're gonna buy it overseas, you might as well get the real deal. The Sharkoon Vibe Fixer looks like a rebranded NoiseMagic NoVibes, and the NoiseMagic shop lists the NoVibes at 18 €. Shipping to D...

Lsv: The speakers are meant to be placed against a wall, and the bass reflex port is tuned to that end, but no matter how I try to fit my desk against a wall it gets in the way of something else. I might try to fashion a pair of stands, though. As you say, they should be at the same height and the ...

I don't think it's actually necessary to provide any airflow to the PSU in this modest system, and surely negative pressure would be better for the PSU as it would then be an intake. I use positive pressure mainly to force all incoming air through the dust filters. The bottom vent is filtered and al...

Edit: new GPU Edit 2: new motherboard Done! :mrgreen: The Fractal Design and Noctua fans have been replaced with Scythe Slip Streams, and I've invested in some desktop audio. I now have three intake fans, all filtered, and one exhaust. The resulting positive pressure is enough for a small fraction o...

I've put my assumption regarding HDD heat to the test. From a cold boot it will reach 36 °C after two hours. Running Check Disk, the only means I have of loading the HDD, it'll reach 43 °C in another hour. Adding full CPU load to the mix for the next hour pushes it slowly to 45 °C, and it will fall ...

In my experience, Slip Streams are simply excellent fans. Eeexcellent! :mrgreen: On my Solo, I've found that removing the punched honeycomb grill greatly improved acoustics with the exhaust Slip Stream. You might want to consider that in your case. I might consider that if any noise remains once I'...

Isn't it too hot for the HDD in there? I don't have any HDD testing programs, but busy or not it produces very little heat, 5.3 W when reading or writing and 3.3 W at idle according to Western Digital. It topped out at 34 °C while running Prime95+FurMark, but I had only recently powered up the syst...

How do the stock fans perform acoustically? They're not too bad. Like Lawrence Lee's review unit , my front fan ticks, but it's quiet enough to be drowned out by the current airflow noise, and it's also quieter than the HDD seek noise. Do you feel that there's enough space behind the motherboard tr...

Edit: new gallery . More than 6 months late, I've finally gone through with my plan and built myself a computer. This is the first time I've ever assembled a system, and it went surprisingly well. :D Ars Technica's guide was very helpful, but failed to mention that steel cases will easily carve deep...

HDD mount: TBD :?: Update: I've found a Danish retailer of the Sharkoon "NoVibes lookalike" Vibe Fixer. itdirect.dk I've also decided to stick to the rest of my list. I'm not buying for another month or two so I'll double check when the time nears, but major changes are unlikely. Thanks for your th...

I was referring to the discrete video card deactivating the H67 onboard graphics and Quicksync. Oh, well I'm not too concerned about that. I think you'll be quite pleased with the latest Panasonic HD camcorders! I think so, too. :mrgreen: Edit: Just calculated the total system cost. Including shipp...

CA_Steve wrote:8 fans - you made me

Go ahead, mock my overindulgence!

Spot on, Abula. For some inexplicable reason, only the unlocked 'K' version has the full-blown '3000' GPU. Keep in mind that the '2000' GPU is cut in half - 6 execution units instead of 12. The fact that I would even consider any kind of 3D games, however old, makes it quite justifiable.

same design and same rpm, the 140mm will be noisier than 120mm Of course. If indeed 500 RPM is still too much, I can try the 9V adapters included with the NH-C14 on the Slip Stream 140s, but then the case fans would probably also bother me, at which point I might get a 6-channel fan controller like...

Oooh, opinions! :D The Z68 boards I've found have been significantly more expensive than equivalents with H67. Maybe they're too new here... Edit: what's wrong with the x16 PCIe slot on the DH67GD? I would prefer PWM fans on the CPU heatsink, but since the case fans will be at the same 500 RPM as th...

Greetings. I've been visiting this site since 2004 and have finally decided to make use of the wealth of knowledge accumulated here. Hopefully someone can help me with a few details... Weary of my nearly 4-year-old Toshiba laptop, I'm planning to build my own desktop. This will be the first time I a...