My first silent pc project, soft and hardware features
Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2004 9:39 pm
So, we needed a new computer.
We don't play games, but play with googlin', photography, and film a lot.
I thought we would get an XP64 for performance and cool & quiet,
but came across the hoopla over the mobile XP at fatwallet hotdeals and....
after finding out about 8rdavcore,
my thrifty self made my new computer acquisition complicated, yet fun,
and exchanged saving a few dollars for spending 50+ hours in research.
So here's my journey so far...
What I have got, hardware first:
Mobile 2400+ 35 watt at Newegg for $89 courtesy of fatwallet post
Seasonic Powerfactor corrected 300watt for about $45
NF7-S at Newegg for $85, anandtech post
Thermalright SLK-947u for $20 at SVC, fatwallet post. Due to the NF7-S, I had to cut a piece of the steel back-plate with my dremel to clear a motherboard screw hole and mount. There is an optional backing plate at SVC or Neo Back-Plate at Cooler Guys
for ~$5 that fixes this problem. I believe DFI and ABit have this problem.
Zalman passive northbridge heatsink at SVC for $6
80mm fan at SCV with RPM sense for $1.65. This is to hold me over until I find some medium speed Panasonic hydrowaves with RPM sense.
(2) x 512MB Buffalo pc3200 ddr with ch-5 chips at Newegg for $99/each, via info at PC Perspective/AmdMB. These may be some of the last WinBond chips available.
Seagate 160GB Baracuda 7200.7 for ~$80 after rebate via fatwallet deal months ago
FIC Radeon 9200 64MB passive cooler for $25 shipped after rebate at MicroCenter via Anandtech Hotdeal post. This has a DVI-I so when I get a DVI-VGA dongle I will be able to drive two VGA monitors with it. Few of the cheap Radeon cards come with a dongle these days, however most have the DVI-I port so it passes VGA thru unlike some with only DVI-D like an 8500 I have.
NEC DVD dual layer Burner from Newegg for $87.
Old HP Pavilion case with floppy. Big case with thick plastic sides so it should be fairly quite. Came with a 80mm ducted fan for the Pentium 166 that was in it. I am modifying and sealing the duck to pull air in from the back through two 80mmx25mm fans and shove it into the SLK-947u. I hope to upgrade the fans to two hydroflow medium speed panasonics.
Yet to get, DVD player and a new wireless mouse
On to Software:
WindowsXP Pro I had laying around
Office XP I had laying around
Nero 6 oem for ~$6 shipped
Works 2004 oem for $20, for quick and simple stuff I like it better than Office
Encarta DVD 2004 for free after rebate, will run it through Virtual Daemon so it is loaded on the hard drive for instant access.
Corel Draw 9 for $36 with free shipping at Direct Deals. Still the best for the money, paint and draw program.
8rdavcore for possible fan control, definite FSB control. Home page, big forum posting at NFORCESHQ, big post here at silentpcreview, huge posting at aoaforums, a small usage guide, here at silentpcreview
fanspeed supposedly better than speedfan is available here, and may offer some fan control 8rdavcore does not, I have yet to find out. forum post here at silentpcreview
RunExeSvc available here, a scripting program with a GUI to run any program like 8rdavcore or fanspeed as a service so it boots with the computer and not the OS
So, I hope to have this finished by mid week so I can get to trying out a Cool & Quiet Athlon XP. I hope that I am able to go from a 25 watt XP to a 3400+ XP all automatically with noiseless operation through quiet operation at full tilt.
We don't play games, but play with googlin', photography, and film a lot.
I thought we would get an XP64 for performance and cool & quiet,
but came across the hoopla over the mobile XP at fatwallet hotdeals and....
after finding out about 8rdavcore,
my thrifty self made my new computer acquisition complicated, yet fun,
and exchanged saving a few dollars for spending 50+ hours in research.
So here's my journey so far...
What I have got, hardware first:
Mobile 2400+ 35 watt at Newegg for $89 courtesy of fatwallet post
Seasonic Powerfactor corrected 300watt for about $45
NF7-S at Newegg for $85, anandtech post
Thermalright SLK-947u for $20 at SVC, fatwallet post. Due to the NF7-S, I had to cut a piece of the steel back-plate with my dremel to clear a motherboard screw hole and mount. There is an optional backing plate at SVC or Neo Back-Plate at Cooler Guys
for ~$5 that fixes this problem. I believe DFI and ABit have this problem.
Zalman passive northbridge heatsink at SVC for $6
80mm fan at SCV with RPM sense for $1.65. This is to hold me over until I find some medium speed Panasonic hydrowaves with RPM sense.
(2) x 512MB Buffalo pc3200 ddr with ch-5 chips at Newegg for $99/each, via info at PC Perspective/AmdMB. These may be some of the last WinBond chips available.
Seagate 160GB Baracuda 7200.7 for ~$80 after rebate via fatwallet deal months ago
FIC Radeon 9200 64MB passive cooler for $25 shipped after rebate at MicroCenter via Anandtech Hotdeal post. This has a DVI-I so when I get a DVI-VGA dongle I will be able to drive two VGA monitors with it. Few of the cheap Radeon cards come with a dongle these days, however most have the DVI-I port so it passes VGA thru unlike some with only DVI-D like an 8500 I have.
NEC DVD dual layer Burner from Newegg for $87.
Old HP Pavilion case with floppy. Big case with thick plastic sides so it should be fairly quite. Came with a 80mm ducted fan for the Pentium 166 that was in it. I am modifying and sealing the duck to pull air in from the back through two 80mmx25mm fans and shove it into the SLK-947u. I hope to upgrade the fans to two hydroflow medium speed panasonics.
Yet to get, DVD player and a new wireless mouse
On to Software:
WindowsXP Pro I had laying around
Office XP I had laying around
Nero 6 oem for ~$6 shipped
Works 2004 oem for $20, for quick and simple stuff I like it better than Office
Encarta DVD 2004 for free after rebate, will run it through Virtual Daemon so it is loaded on the hard drive for instant access.
Corel Draw 9 for $36 with free shipping at Direct Deals. Still the best for the money, paint and draw program.
8rdavcore for possible fan control, definite FSB control. Home page, big forum posting at NFORCESHQ, big post here at silentpcreview, huge posting at aoaforums, a small usage guide, here at silentpcreview
fanspeed supposedly better than speedfan is available here, and may offer some fan control 8rdavcore does not, I have yet to find out. forum post here at silentpcreview
RunExeSvc available here, a scripting program with a GUI to run any program like 8rdavcore or fanspeed as a service so it boots with the computer and not the OS
So, I hope to have this finished by mid week so I can get to trying out a Cool & Quiet Athlon XP. I hope that I am able to go from a 25 watt XP to a 3400+ XP all automatically with noiseless operation through quiet operation at full tilt.