I am in the process of getting a new system.
Although it will still be a few weeks I thought I might start getting some input already..
Since I am not a hardcore-noise-less-enthusiast I plan to go for sort of the most quiet completetly assembled system I can get from my dealer.
This is what I have in mind so far:
* Antec SONATA + AcoustiPack
* Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe nForce4
* AMD Athlon64 3500+ 2200MHz/2.2GHz 512kb Socket939
* Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu incl. Fanmate2
* 4x512Mb Dual DDR-DIMM PC3200/DDR400
* 2 x Samsung SP1614C 160Gb 7200rpm 8Mb S-ATA
* Leadtek WinFast GeForce 6600GT
So to the questions:
- What would be the noisiest component in the system above?
- What could (easily) be done to help that problem?
- I am considering getting a Maxtor 300Gb instead of the two Samsungs. Pro/Cons of the two options? (Not only noise-wise...)
- Any other things I should consider?
I know other cases provide better airflow but this one is compelling for several reasons.
It is the only case where I can get damping mounted and ready, the size seems reasonable and the PSU is good.
Would the airflow/noise reduction of the case be "good enough" or should I disregards the pro's of the Sonata for other properties?
Comments/help with reasonably quiet A64
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Noisest component would your video card. Easily.
I'd suggest either the NV Silencer or getting a different card instead. I don't know whether or not the NV Silencer will fit on a 6600 card (it'll fit a 6800 card, so you could save your money for a little longer and get a better card).
As for hard drives, I usually feel that having two hard drives is better than one, but that's more personal preference than anything else (I feel that my data becomes a little more 'robust' even though technically it's not the best).
Look into getting the 90nm version of the 3500+. Lower heat output and power consumption are the benefits.
I'd suggest either the NV Silencer or getting a different card instead. I don't know whether or not the NV Silencer will fit on a 6600 card (it'll fit a 6800 card, so you could save your money for a little longer and get a better card).
As for hard drives, I usually feel that having two hard drives is better than one, but that's more personal preference than anything else (I feel that my data becomes a little more 'robust' even though technically it's not the best).
Look into getting the 90nm version of the 3500+. Lower heat output and power consumption are the benefits.
Yep, I guessed the video card would be the bottle neck, despite being the quitest "active" 6600.
It's really hard to get a feeling for *how* noisy it would be with the described setup...
As you mentioned 6800 + NV silencer might be an option.
But that adds to a bit more money, for gaming power I'm not sure I need.
Btw, are there 6800s available for PCI Express yet?
I think I'll look into if 6600GT and NV silencer can be used together.
Any chance of running it completely passive, say with a Zalman heatpipe?
I've heard of silencers not fitting inside the case, for instance due to blocking CPU HS/fans etc.
Could that happen with the setup described?
Are there any risks of destrying the card when mounting an aftermarket GPU cooler?
Thanks!
It's really hard to get a feeling for *how* noisy it would be with the described setup...
As you mentioned 6800 + NV silencer might be an option.
But that adds to a bit more money, for gaming power I'm not sure I need.
Btw, are there 6800s available for PCI Express yet?
I think I'll look into if 6600GT and NV silencer can be used together.
Any chance of running it completely passive, say with a Zalman heatpipe?
I've heard of silencers not fitting inside the case, for instance due to blocking CPU HS/fans etc.
Could that happen with the setup described?
Are there any risks of destrying the card when mounting an aftermarket GPU cooler?
Thanks!
Gigabyte do a passively cooled PCIe 6600GT - that's probably your best bet. (An NV silencer might obstruct a large passive chipset cooler, but it won't obstruct a stock cooler).
The big advantage of having two hard drives is that you can put pagefile and data on the second drive.
Data, because if you screw up your OS partition, you can reformat and reinstall without losing your documents or emails.
Pagefile, because most hard disk intensive operations (loading OS, programs and app data / game levels etc. into memory) will be accompanied by Windows hitting the pagefile pretty hard, and keeping the pagefile accesses on a seperate disk will speed up the whole process greatly.
Of course, I chose the "one fast drive" route, but I've still got data on another partition.
The big advantage of having two hard drives is that you can put pagefile and data on the second drive.
Data, because if you screw up your OS partition, you can reformat and reinstall without losing your documents or emails.
Pagefile, because most hard disk intensive operations (loading OS, programs and app data / game levels etc. into memory) will be accompanied by Windows hitting the pagefile pretty hard, and keeping the pagefile accesses on a seperate disk will speed up the whole process greatly.
Of course, I chose the "one fast drive" route, but I've still got data on another partition.