SPCR

Fanbus: Zalman ZM-MFC1
Case: Raidmax Virgo 811 Titanium 811TP
Heatsink: Thermalright SLK-900A
Fan: Panaflo L1A 92mm
Motherboard: ABIT NF7 v2.0
Processor: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (OEM)
RAM: (x2) Corsair Value Select 512MB DDR PC3200
Video: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128
Sound: Philips Acoustic Edge PSC706

To start with I'm going to try running it with the stock fans and power supply as Raidmax claims that this case is built for silence. If I'm not suitably impressed then I'll look into replacing them, however since I don't know the width of the fans they're using I'm not in a good position to go there quite yet anyway.

So aside from that, does anyone see any glaring errors here? Will I actually get use out of the Zalman or will it have to be cranked all the time?

That's a tough call. I would say that it may depend more on how good your airflow is and what your environment is like.

Also, though I don't have any direct experience with the 92mm L1A, at a certain point, it will not be the loudest component in your system. You didn't specify what hard drives you'll be using, nor did you mention what power supply you'll have, Between those two and the fan on your video card, the L1A may not be the source of any possible noise problem.

BTW, I think some people prefer the SP-97 Heatsink, which may be more effective. Since I don't really have experience with either, I'll shut up now.

Step one will be getting rid of that silly louver on the back of it...just pitch that right the trash can.

After that you'll have to do some listening to figure out what's working well or not. I might actually hold off on the Zalman until you see how/if the case's built-in fan control works.

The PSU will most likely be the noisiest bit, followed by the VGA, and probably the case fans. (hard to tell without knowing what they are)

I'd look into an Arctic-cooling Silencer for the VGA.

What HDD you using? And how are you mounting it?

i think the 3200+ is a bit of a waste of money. With that motherboard a molbile cpu is an obvious option, will easily reach 3200 speeds or could be clocked down hard for silence.

griff

Hard Drive: Western Digital WD2000JB
Power Supply: Either the one that comes with the case ("Raidmax KY-520ATX" which claims 420W) or my 460W Enermax EG465P-VE(FC)
Ambient Temp: 71 to 74 degrees fahrenheit (central air)

I plan on just mounting the drive with regular hardware. Rubber grommets don't seem to get much praise around here. I take my case to LAN parties all the time and can't trust (or be bothered to coddle) an elastic suspension (not that I have the skills to implement one). Most of the other hard drive solutions strike me as too hot, overpriced or both.

Thank you very much for pointing out the SP-97, sthayashi. It's a little heavier and a few bucks more, but the reviews say it performs better so I'm going for it! At Rusty075's suggestion I considered the Arctic-cooling Silencer, but it looks like something I would probably manage to screw up the installation of. No, I'm not handy.

I did the overclocking thing several years ago (Celeron 533 -> 824 on a BH6). Thanks for the suggestion greeef, but that's not something I want to get into with this project.

Anyone have any other recommendations before I drop $570 on this?

Yeah, that 92mm L1A will most likely NOT be the loudest source of noise in your case. The WD hard drive and the power supply will be (dunno about the Raidmax, but the Enermax will be loud in comparison).

WD hard drives are notoriously loud from many people I have heard and some say very unreliable - others swear by them being great, who knows?