my simple work pc

Show off your quiet rig.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
jaydeesan
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 2:31 am
Location: Toronto, Canuckistan

my simple work pc

Post by jaydeesan » Tue May 25, 2010 12:24 pm

So I have finally (sort of) finalized my work pc that should have been operational about 9 months ago. I blame most of that delay on my unfortunate decision to try a Zotac ITX setup; I wasted so much money and time because of that thing... But anywhoo, better late than never.

Due to being broke, I had to swap around some existing hardware (cases, heatsinks, fans, powers supplies) - so if you wonder about some of the choices I made, that's why. I know there's room for improvement, but this is the best I could do right now.

- Asus M4A88TD-M/USB3 mobo
- Athlon 2 X2 245 (stock) - wanted to get a quad but couldn't sell this one and it does everything it needs to do, so I kept it for now
- 4GB G.Skill ECO (12800, 9-9-9-24, @ 1.35V)
- 64GB Kingston SSDNow V-Series G2
- Big Shuriken with Noctua NF-P12 + ULNA (~840 rpm)
- 2x Noctua NF-S12 with ULNA (should be ~600 rpm)
- Samsung SH-S223L/BEBS
- card reader (w/floppy, unused)
- Seasonic S12 430W
- Silverstone TJ-08 (with stick-on tiles on side panels)

- Win 7 Pro (from MSDNAA)

Image


Below, if you look closely, you will see the most important mod that needs to be done to the TJ-08 - cut a hole in the bottom of the 5.25" bays to route cables...

Image

Image

Image

Image

I wanted to use the silicone mounts for the fans, but the Noctua ones are a horrible pain in the back, so I gave up. Plus I had to leave the grill on the back anyways because my hamster likes to climb everywhere, including into my running computers so... :shock:

I have used just 1 piece of tape and 1 zip tie on the back side, the rest of the cables are placed and folded so they will stay in place on their own. :)

Also, did the second most important mod to this case - put a few layers of tape or some such in front of the LEDs, and tape around the LED assembly to prevent light leakage - that way you can actually sleep in the same room :D


To do list:

- one of the S12's is clicking like crazy, need to RMA. I bought it as an extra a couple of years ago and haven't used it till now
- will most likely add a lower-end passively cooled Ati 5xxx card at some point later on
- will also need to replace the PS because it's buzzing. I can't really hear it when I tuck it away under the desk, but still... On the bright side, at least it doesn't squeal with this board.
- change the southbridge heat sink, it gets freaking hot with that joke of a heat sink that's on there now (I don't know what kind of standards do all these reviewers have that claim it stays cool, but it's not even close to cool in my books)

ntavlas
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:35 pm
Location: Greece
Contact:

Post by ntavlas » Tue May 25, 2010 1:13 pm

I like the streamlined interior. Like you, I`m trying to avoid using too many cable ties to keep cables in place. It makes swapping components a lot easier. You mention the use of plastic tiles on the panels, is that vinyl? I don`t think that adding foam on top of that is necessary. I find foam effective against the noise produced by hard disk drives (and other mid/high frequency noises), but seeing that there`s none in your pc you could skip this step.

BillyBuerger
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 857
Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2002 1:49 pm
Location: Somerset, WI - USA
Contact:

Post by BillyBuerger » Tue May 25, 2010 3:44 pm

Have you tried the setup without the front fan? There's nothing for it to spot cool really so it seems unnecessary. Possibly if you add a fanless video card. But with the top down CPU cooler, that should help keep the airflow moving around enough. I've never seen/felt a southbridge chip that got very warm. So it's either that motherboard or maybe you got an off sample. Usually those tiny heatsinks they put on them are more than enough even in the cramped location they are placed.

jaydeesan
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 2:31 am
Location: Toronto, Canuckistan

Post by jaydeesan » Mon Jun 07, 2010 7:26 pm

ntavlas wrote: You mention the use of plastic tiles on the panels, is that vinyl? I don`t think that adding foam on top of that is necessary. I find foam effective against the noise produced by hard disk drives (and other mid/high frequency noises), but seeing that there`s none in your pc you could skip this step.
Yup, the vinyl ones. I'm only using them to stiffen the side panels. (As a side note, I have yet to find some kind of tiles that will stick and stay stuck properly; but at least these are not falling off completely, unlike some others...)

jaydeesan
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 2:31 am
Location: Toronto, Canuckistan

Post by jaydeesan » Mon Jun 07, 2010 7:45 pm

BillyBuerger wrote:Have you tried the setup without the front fan? There's nothing for it to spot cool really so it seems unnecessary. Possibly if you add a fanless video card. But with the top down CPU cooler, that should help keep the airflow moving around enough.
No; I thought about it for a few seconds but then I figured there's no point - it will be running eventually, it doesn't add any noise overall, and summer's coming which means crazy temps in my room (we actually had a little heat wave as I was posting it: 32'C in my room for 4 days straight) so might as well.
I've never seen/felt a southbridge chip that got very warm. So it's either that motherboard or maybe you got an off sample. Usually those tiny heatsinks they put on them are more than enough even in the cramped location they are placed.
I think we will just have to disagree on that because I have yet to find one that I would consider cool enough, and I've been through a lot of boards... of course I distinguish between 'safe/within specs' and 'cool'.

Post Reply