My nsk3480 gaming build
Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:38 am
Hi all,
I have eventually plucked up the courage to post my fairly quiet system.
This has been a work in progress and to a greater extent still is...
I started off with the idea that I wanted a small(ish) pc which I could take with me when I travel to let me do gaming, video editing and internet/email.
This led me (with a lot of lurking around this forum - thanks guys) to the following specifications. It has taken about 2 years and the kids' pc's have been upgraded as I've progressed too.
Specification
Case:- Antec nsk 3480 (now very ruffly modded )
PSU:- Antec TruePower Trio 550
MB:- GigaByte G33m-DS2R
CPU:- Intel core 2 duo 8400 (now running nicely at 4.05GHz and 1.247v)
RAM:- 4Gb Corsair Dominator PC2-8500 C5 (at 1080MHz)
GPU:- XFX GTX 260 Black Edition (GPU 680/Mem 1000/Shaders 1466)
HD:- 500Gb Seagate ST3500320AS
Optical:- Samsung SH203B DVD-RW
Cooling:- Xigmatek HDT-S1283 with Crossbow ACK-I7361 backplate
1 x 120mm Noctua NF-S12-1200 on S1283 on MB header
1 x 120mm Xilence Redwing on MB header - exhaust
2 x 120mm Xilence Redwing @7v - inlet
Now you may be wondering how 2x 120mm fans can be the inlet in a 3480? Well this is how I did it...
http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af59 ... e_0071.jpg
http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af59 ... e_0081.jpg
I only seem to have a small amount of time for each step in this process so please excuse the woeful cablegami!
I decided that the hottish components which were going to be housed deserved a decent amount of air and after auditioning a few fans the aural quality of the redwings at less than 1100rpm was nice and smooth and not really noticeable over background noise. i'd really like to run them at about 9 or 10v as the noise increase is minimal and the increase in airflow would be useful.
To try and get more air flowing I decided to take my big wire cutters to the front of the case (so embarrassing in the company of so many professional mods.. ). Here is the result...
http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af59 ... me_005.jpg
I didn't even cut myself more than a couple of times
I thought about cutting out the grille from the exhaust but with adding the GTX260 the system has got a bit more sound volume and I feel this would not affect the acoustics/airflow significantly.
The Xigmatek is a great cooler - even with the noctua at less than 1000rpm the 8400 never gets above 62 degrees load. The backplate has helped in a huge way over the original intel clips.
The TriPower is actually nice and quiet, runs the system well and the fan never climbs above idle speed.
The biggest noisemaker - but only when gaming, which I can cope with as I have headphones on - is the GTX260. This case is a bit too small for a passive solution and I only have just under 11" to fit graphics cooling in.
I did have an 8800GT with an Accelero S1 rev 2 but I wanted a bit more oomph! so went for the GTx260 which I bought cheaper than the 8800GT was - Go Figure!
Next steps -
cut-outs for cabling a la krick,
tidy up and improve the front ruffness
cut-out exhaust honeycomb
tidy the cables for heaven's sake!
Thanks to all who have inspired me with this including krick, c. zoui, zenphic, swed, c_g_f and all the 3480 faithful.
Thanks for this wonderful, inspiring and informative site guys - keep it up!!!
I have eventually plucked up the courage to post my fairly quiet system.
This has been a work in progress and to a greater extent still is...
I started off with the idea that I wanted a small(ish) pc which I could take with me when I travel to let me do gaming, video editing and internet/email.
This led me (with a lot of lurking around this forum - thanks guys) to the following specifications. It has taken about 2 years and the kids' pc's have been upgraded as I've progressed too.
Specification
Case:- Antec nsk 3480 (now very ruffly modded )
PSU:- Antec TruePower Trio 550
MB:- GigaByte G33m-DS2R
CPU:- Intel core 2 duo 8400 (now running nicely at 4.05GHz and 1.247v)
RAM:- 4Gb Corsair Dominator PC2-8500 C5 (at 1080MHz)
GPU:- XFX GTX 260 Black Edition (GPU 680/Mem 1000/Shaders 1466)
HD:- 500Gb Seagate ST3500320AS
Optical:- Samsung SH203B DVD-RW
Cooling:- Xigmatek HDT-S1283 with Crossbow ACK-I7361 backplate
1 x 120mm Noctua NF-S12-1200 on S1283 on MB header
1 x 120mm Xilence Redwing on MB header - exhaust
2 x 120mm Xilence Redwing @7v - inlet
Now you may be wondering how 2x 120mm fans can be the inlet in a 3480? Well this is how I did it...
http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af59 ... e_0071.jpg
http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af59 ... e_0081.jpg
I only seem to have a small amount of time for each step in this process so please excuse the woeful cablegami!
I decided that the hottish components which were going to be housed deserved a decent amount of air and after auditioning a few fans the aural quality of the redwings at less than 1100rpm was nice and smooth and not really noticeable over background noise. i'd really like to run them at about 9 or 10v as the noise increase is minimal and the increase in airflow would be useful.
To try and get more air flowing I decided to take my big wire cutters to the front of the case (so embarrassing in the company of so many professional mods.. ). Here is the result...
http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af59 ... me_005.jpg
I didn't even cut myself more than a couple of times
I thought about cutting out the grille from the exhaust but with adding the GTX260 the system has got a bit more sound volume and I feel this would not affect the acoustics/airflow significantly.
The Xigmatek is a great cooler - even with the noctua at less than 1000rpm the 8400 never gets above 62 degrees load. The backplate has helped in a huge way over the original intel clips.
The TriPower is actually nice and quiet, runs the system well and the fan never climbs above idle speed.
The biggest noisemaker - but only when gaming, which I can cope with as I have headphones on - is the GTX260. This case is a bit too small for a passive solution and I only have just under 11" to fit graphics cooling in.
I did have an 8800GT with an Accelero S1 rev 2 but I wanted a bit more oomph! so went for the GTx260 which I bought cheaper than the 8800GT was - Go Figure!
Next steps -
cut-outs for cabling a la krick,
tidy up and improve the front ruffness
cut-out exhaust honeycomb
tidy the cables for heaven's sake!
Thanks to all who have inspired me with this including krick, c. zoui, zenphic, swed, c_g_f and all the 3480 faithful.
Thanks for this wonderful, inspiring and informative site guys - keep it up!!!