hello everyone

after much research, especially at spcr, i've decided on what i think would be a very good base to build mysef a quiet system from. currently i run an athlon xp1800, but i'll get a athlon 64 sometime in the future. in the meantime, i'll get started on a quiet system with these....

zalman reserator : say no more
coolermaster stacker : this case's design should give me heaps of upgrade options, and also allow for good passive cooling with the filtered vents.
antec phantom : i'm going all out here for silence, but i might need the neopower instead for airflow.
a fan controller : crank the 3 system fans in the stacker up when i need it (12cm front, 12cm rear, 8cm top), turn them off or low when i want the silence.

so what does everyone think? would airflow be a problem with the reserator and phantom? whats the mininum fans i should use with that setup to get decent airflow?

thanks in advance

Seems like a pretty good start to me.

You will not need to crank up the fans in there much, if it all.

I would lose the top fan completely...just take it out and leave the hole open.

The intake fan is only needed if your HDD is too warm. I would swap it and the rear exhaust with Globe's. (look in the Recommended Fans article for more information) You could probably skip the fan controller and just run them both at 5v all the time.

There are better choices than the NeoPower PSU, unless you need to be able to disconnect some of the cables.

Most people around here get by with only 1-2 case fans (w/ a normal fanned PSU). And although cases with a lot of vents means a lot of airflow, it also means that they let noise out much more easily.

And WELCOME TO SPCR

With the Resarator temperatures inside the case are much less of a problem as the heat is dissapated outside of the case. You could also get the graphics card block for the resarator to improve this further.

I agree that the Neopower isn't a great choice for a silence enthusiast.

Looks like i will for for the Phantom then. I'd still like the fan controller and the extra fans (i can always just not turn them on) because it gets to over 40C here in summer and a lot of the time i wouldnt be at computer so noise wouldnt be an issue.

the stock fans that come with the stacker are apparently pretty quiet at 12v. but they use the standard 4 pin connector, is it possible to use a gender-changing type cable to connect them to a fan controller that uses 3-pin?

i will get the vgu block for the reserator when i get a video card that warrants better cooling than a lone dinky little heatsink (currently running a geforce 2)

thanks for the warm welcome everyone

Yup, something like this: http://www.svc.com/4to3ad.html

You may even be able to find it locally. (depending on what computer shops you have in the area)

I had a huge problem trying to find 4-pin to 3-pin adapters here in the UK. It's really easy to find 3-pin to 4-pin but not the opposite. I finally found a site that stocked them though, you may also find them quite hard to come buy.

If you're ever looking for that hard to find cable, try:

http://www.cablestogo.com/index.asp?

They are in the US though.

i found a place in australia that has the cables and also has a good product range, even a "quiet pc" category (!) http://www.pccasegear.com/category73_1.htm

im starting to have a few niggling doubts about the suitability of the coolermaster stacker. im likely to end up needing to purchase a 200 gig seagate, which wouldnt be the quietiest option.

so would a case that is more "enclosed" than the very ventilated stacker, and with a door too like the lian-li v1100's minimise hard drive noise after the drives had been suspended or put into a smart drive?

do you guys and gals also think it'd be advisable to have the antec phantom outside of the case to keep it cooler? after a fair bit of reading, this seems a good idea. i figure it could either be placed on the ground, behind the case, or the support rails for the upper power supply position could be extended to allow the phantom to sit outside of the case.

perhaps i should just wait for the zalman NEPS 400?

thanks again

You might also consider water cooling the hard drive. There are some WC HDD cases available that look like they could have a significant impact on noise levels and this would also remove the HDD heat from the case.

would i need to give the reserator a more powerful pump such as the eheim 1000 to handle water cooling a hard drive?

this hd watercooler looks promising for silencing too : http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=301626&cks=PRL