Planning new Mobile Athlon 64 quiet system

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Ian Montgomerie
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Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2004 11:31 pm

Planning new Mobile Athlon 64 quiet system

Post by Ian Montgomerie » Tue Jun 08, 2004 11:50 pm

So, I have decided to put together a quiet PC for the first time and found these forums. My existing PC is not only old and falling apart, it is also very loud and hot even in idle. I decided to try and put together a system that is quiet and cool during idle and light use. (I don't care if it's louder when I'm gaming with headphones cranked).

I decided the core of the system should be a 35W Mobile Athlon 64 CPU. They are nearly as powerful as a normal Athlon but for much less peak power/heat. For gaming performance I will include a Radeon X800 XT cooled by an Arctic Silencer. I figure the card's low idle power consumption combined with the silencer will keep it from being a noisy furnace except when I'm actually gaming.

Any criticisms/gotchas with the following?

Case: Lian Li V1000 (stock fans... supposedly they're pretty quiet)
PSU: Seasonic Super Tornado 400W
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 Mobile 2800+ (1.2V/35W)
HSF: Zalman 7000 AlCu
MB: AOpen AK89Max (can be undervolted to use 1.2V CPU)
RAM: 2 x 512 MB Kingmax PC4000 (in case I want to overclock)
HDDs: 2 x Samsung SP1614C 160 gig (RAID mirror)
Video: Radeon X800 XT
Sound: Creative Audigy 2 ZS
DVD-RW: Lite-On SOHW-812S (8X R, 4X RW)

Pjotor
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Location: Uppsala, Sweden

Post by Pjotor » Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:11 am

Welcome to SPCR Ian!

Your list looks good, although I admit I don't know much about the Lian-Li case.

Inge Buller
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Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2004 7:54 am
Location: Lund, Sweden

Post by Inge Buller » Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:57 am

The X800 seems to be the right choice if you need performance. My guess is that it will be fairly quitet even when you are gaming away.

However, you will have to wait for the new VGA Silencer - the current model only supports 9xxx series cards.
Another option is buying a card that comes with the silencer, HIS and Sapphire are going to use it.

I don´t think any of these has an official launch date yet...

greeef
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Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 8:08 am

Post by greeef » Wed Jun 09, 2004 5:49 am

My liteon 16x DVD drive is very noisy, i dont know if that particulalr model is, but perhaps you'd be better of using a company with a reputation for quieter drives?

Rest of the system looks fine.

griff

Ian Montgomerie
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Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2004 11:31 pm

Post by Ian Montgomerie » Wed Jun 09, 2004 9:57 am

I checked this site but couldn't find much info about new, quiet DVD-RWs. I'm wary about going by something so general as "brand" because the actual components going into one brand can change dramatically from year to year. As far as non-quiet concerns go, Lite-On has great price/performance.

Is there any kind of software to just limit how fast the thing runs when reading? My current CD-ROM drive is EXTREMELY loud at maximum speed (32X), but quiet otherwise.

RaNDoMMAI
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Post by RaNDoMMAI » Wed Jun 09, 2004 5:05 pm

I heard that the rev 3 silcener will fit on a 9800XT and doesnt the x800 have the same holes and layout?

also, the NEC2500a is very quiet even burning at max speed. It is my favorite burner for everything

~RaNDoM

acaurora
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Post by acaurora » Wed Jun 09, 2004 7:06 pm

Sapphire's X800XT Ultimate will be released in July/August, according to an email I recieved. I'm waiting for that *smirk*

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