Powerful system in small'ish package and quiet/silent
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 4:56 am
Hello all,
I am trying to build a *quiet/silent*, but yet powerful system (i7 2600K) in a relatively compact package (mATX/mini-tower). I am in the US. While I've replaced most components in a computer over the years, this will be my first "from scratch built"
I am not a gamer, so the purpose of the system is to mostly run number crunching programs (most of them under a VM) in additition to doing the usual PC work under Win7 (MS Office/Web stuff) and some development work.
Based on online research I have the following items in mind for a quiet/silent system:
Case: Antec mini P180 (if I can't find this, can anyone suggest a good alternative?)
CPU: i7 2600K
Motherboad: ASUS P8P67-M PRO
RAM: RAM G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
CPU Cooler: CPU Cooler CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (supposed to be quiet)
PSU: SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
(or would the SeaSonic X Series X650 suffice assuming it's just as good?)
Video card: ??? Again, not a gamer, I was thinking perhaps something fanless, however I don't want to end up with a slouch of a video card that'll sit on top of a powerfull system if I should decide to do some visualizations or check out a game. A friend suggested this card:
EVGA 01G-P3-1450-TR GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Is this a quiet card? Are there other alternatives I should consider? (NVIDIA because I'm interested in CUDA). I currently have 2 identical monitors running at 1280 x 1024 .. hope to move to larger monitors and resolution down the line
Recommendation for quiet fast 1TB HDD?
I hope this configuration makes some sense for a quiet/silent type system, if anyone sees a major mistake here, I would appreciate a heads-up.
Thank you very much for your comments/suggestions.
ps: What is the consensus on getting an SSD for installing the OS (Win 7) and some more frequently used program (like MS Office, and the Oracle Virtualbox VM software (not that big), Chrome browser, and my tiny Windows version of Emacs) .. do you think that would fit on 60 GB and noticably speed up booting and starting programs?
I am trying to build a *quiet/silent*, but yet powerful system (i7 2600K) in a relatively compact package (mATX/mini-tower). I am in the US. While I've replaced most components in a computer over the years, this will be my first "from scratch built"
I am not a gamer, so the purpose of the system is to mostly run number crunching programs (most of them under a VM) in additition to doing the usual PC work under Win7 (MS Office/Web stuff) and some development work.
Based on online research I have the following items in mind for a quiet/silent system:
Case: Antec mini P180 (if I can't find this, can anyone suggest a good alternative?)
CPU: i7 2600K
Motherboad: ASUS P8P67-M PRO
RAM: RAM G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
CPU Cooler: CPU Cooler CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (supposed to be quiet)
PSU: SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
(or would the SeaSonic X Series X650 suffice assuming it's just as good?)
Video card: ??? Again, not a gamer, I was thinking perhaps something fanless, however I don't want to end up with a slouch of a video card that'll sit on top of a powerfull system if I should decide to do some visualizations or check out a game. A friend suggested this card:
EVGA 01G-P3-1450-TR GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Is this a quiet card? Are there other alternatives I should consider? (NVIDIA because I'm interested in CUDA). I currently have 2 identical monitors running at 1280 x 1024 .. hope to move to larger monitors and resolution down the line
Recommendation for quiet fast 1TB HDD?
I hope this configuration makes some sense for a quiet/silent type system, if anyone sees a major mistake here, I would appreciate a heads-up.
Thank you very much for your comments/suggestions.
ps: What is the consensus on getting an SSD for installing the OS (Win 7) and some more frequently used program (like MS Office, and the Oracle Virtualbox VM software (not that big), Chrome browser, and my tiny Windows version of Emacs) .. do you think that would fit on 60 GB and noticably speed up booting and starting programs?