SPCR

Hello everybody!!!
I've been reading for the past two years now...found enormous help in the forum...THANKS!!!

This is my third build from scratch:

Antec Solo with 1 rear, soft mounted Nexus case fans spinnning around 740 rpm - using the Noctua ULNA adaptor (brutal removal of the rear grill )
PSU: Seasonic 430W with 800 rpm soft mounted Noctua fan
Intel E8400 with Ninja Rev B - no fan - secured with the Scythe UNIVERSAL RETENTION KIT "SCURK1"
MB: MSI P45 Platinum
RAM: 8 GB DDR2 A-Data Vitesta (Vista x64 bit)
HDD1: Silicon Power 32 GB SSD
Storage HHD: Samsung F1, 1 TB enclosed in the Scythe Quiet Drive suspended with the original case rubber bands
VC: old 7600 GS with Accelero S1Rev2 - no fan -
Creative XFi extreme audio (added some left over heatsinks from the accelero)

Some very pour images:












It runs so silent that I can hear my damn monitor buzzing....and so cool:



Open to any suggestion / question !

Very nice, can you post a pic of the HDD mounting? I'm really jealous.

ghia wrote:Creative XFi extreme audio (added some left over heatsinks from the accelero)

Heatsinks on a sound card? LOL. Whats next- active GPU style cooling
Interested in your PSU arrangement there- I've also got a Seasonic PSU, active CPU cooling, passive GPU cooling setup in a Solo, yet I find my PSU ramps up alot... I guess with only 1 other case fan in your setup, that PSU must ramp up pretty high?

speedkar9 wrote:

ghia wrote:Creative XFi extreme audio (added some left over heatsinks from the accelero)

Heatsinks on a sound card? LOL. Whats next- active GPU style cooling

With Creative? Probably. What I'd like to know is why he added them to the crippled Extreme Audio, sorry, Audigy 2 SE, no sorry, Audigy SE, oh sorry, Live 24-bit. Why people insist on buying the same, crap card they've been making for the last 10 years is beyond me.

Nice setup ghia. But why the overkill motherboard?

The pictures are a bit on the wide side btw. Could you please resize them to max 800pix width or use thumbnails?

Monkeh16 wrote:With Creative? Probably. What I'd like to know is why he added them to the crippled Extreme Audio, sorry, Audigy 2 SE, no sorry, Audigy SE, oh sorry, Live 24-bit. Why people insist on buying the same, crap card they've been making for the last 10 years is beyond me.

Word. But with onboard audio being pretty decent today I hope the Creative era is at end.

The answers:
- the PSU fan never ramps up: the power consumption does not reach the 150 W limit (see the review)

- I've got the xFi sound card for 5 years and I agree that it's not the best buy ever but is definitely better than any on board sound; can't tell if the heatsinks are really needed but why not? Now that the upgrade is done I plan on dealing with the sound problem: new sound card (ASUS Xonar D2) and speakers (Logitech Z2300)...thoughts about that???

- I wouldn't say the motherboard is overkill; I payd 150 USD for it; I love the cooling and layout....intend on everclocking a bit

Vicotnik wrote:

Monkeh16 wrote:With Creative? Probably. What I'd like to know is why he added them to the crippled Extreme Audio, sorry, Audigy 2 SE, no sorry, Audigy SE, oh sorry, Live 24-bit. Why people insist on buying the same, crap card they've been making for the last 10 years is beyond me.

Word. But with onboard audio being pretty decent today I hope the Creative era is at end.

You must be joking, right? Onboard audio is still nowhere near as good as even the crappest of the crap Creative hardware.

ghia wrote:new sound card (ASUS Xonar D2) and speakers (Logitech Z2300)...thoughts about that???

Xonar highly recommended. I have a D1 myself and love it. There are some minor software bugs (EAX support isn't perfect, then again, the X-Fi series can't do it right either, and if a game crashes while using EAX the card's buffer doesn't get cleared and you get looping audio.), but overall it's an excellent card. As for the Logitech speakers.. I wouldn't.

Couple more pictures:

Minor upgrade:
- added a mesh intake (infact the scythe kama bay - fan not plugged in)
- moved the storage HDD at the base of the case
- better cable management

Hi I know it's been a while since you updated your thread but I got really curious, can you close both side-panels? If so, Solo has incredible cable management capabilities.