I'm planning a new non-gaming work station (to replace a PC I built 6 years ago) and decided to make it quiet this time.

I've more or less decided on the components (see list below) and would welcome any comments or recommendations. (The Newegg order will go in a few days after I've finalized everything).

What I would like to understand is why there are no current articles or reviews (and recommendations) on internal optical drives here at SPCR. I spent several hours searching the internet for fact based recommendations without success. There are various anecdotes and opinions, but I didn't find actual measurements or sound clips like the ones that are provided here for other components.

Is the situation that there are essentially no differences in the current CD / DVD / Blue ray drives (assuming a slow-down utility)? If that is not the case, wouldn't it be helpful to the community if some review articles could be done to provide some guidance? The only more or less agreed upon advice I've seen is "Lite-On drives are loud".

The planned system is basically an overclocked (~4GHZ) I7-920.

Motherboard / CPU: Asrock Extreme 3 with Xeon W3520
Memory: 6GB DDR3 (3x2) 1600+ (high performance) - ? OCZ, Crucial? Other?
Case / Power: CM 690 II Advanced, Antec New TP-650 (750? 550?)
Heat sink / Fans: Noctua NH-D14, Nexus 120 (as recommended)
Video Card: Fanless GeForce 8400 (Gigabyte) No games or graphics
SSD / HD: Intel X25-M (or maybe 2 -V in raid 0), Samsung EcoGreen 1 TB
Optical: Asus? (I noticed they were used in some SPCR certified Silent PCs but that was a couple of years ago).

Thanks.

For CPU temps at 4Ghz, I'm not 100% sure that one or two Nexus fans (even at 12V) will be able to cope. A 44C rise (over 20-21C) ambient with dual Nexus fans at 12V with a 3.6 GHz / 1.4V CPU might translate to temperatures a bit higher at 4Ghz. You might want a bit more headroom for the fans - something like 2 x Scythe Gentle Typhoons might be more suited.

I'm also not so sure about that case and PSU combo. There will be a lot of holes for noise to leak out of and I'm not sure how quiet that PSU is.

If you want to go all out I'd suggest something like the Seasonic X650 PSU. Other than your OC'd CPU, the rest of your system is pretty low power, so that should be enough watts. Otherwise, look at the Recommended PSU list on the main part of the site.

Case wise, you need something that promotes good airflow towards the CPU. You could get a case that has a top fan and turn it around to blow fresh intake air at your CPU cooler. The Silverstone FT-01 is designed to work that way. An Antec P183 with the top exhaust fan reversed might also work.

The Silverstone FT-02 works on a different principle but may also suit your needs.

All three cases have been reviewed by SPCR, so check the reviews out via the main page. Just make sure to suspend your HDD somewhere and you should have a pretty quiet system.

Jamie, Thanks for your insights.

After some more research and thought, I decided to order the Antec P183 / CP-850 combination. At Newegg it was $200 for both including shipping. I thought that was an excellent deal, considering the good reviews here at SPCR.

The PSU is obviously overkill but should be quiet. The case is over 30 pounds and since I always mount my cases on casters and transport them from time to time, I would have preferred something lighter. Hopefully I'll be happy with the choice.

Overclocking is always a trade off and often has a lot to do with luck of the chips. If I can't hit 4 without excessive noise, so be it. I'll start with the stock layout and start experimenting with case mods to improve the air flow, new fans, etc. There are lots of good forums and ideas here!

I ordered the Asus DVD drive, but still hope that sound level testing for optical drives will be published here some day.

Thanks again.