Hi all,
I am going to upgrade my current pc to quiet it down. I've been a reader of this site for a while, hopefully that education has paid off. Any advice or suggestions would be helpfull.

Case: Short term I don't plan on doing any cutting.
A: Chenbro PC61122 (92mm front 120mm back)
- Rear grill looks like it has good airflow.
- Front bezel looks too restrictive.

B: Compucase LX-6A19 from directron (120mm front and back)
- Both Grills seem too restrictive
- How is the airflow through the front bezel?
- Is the Coolcases version with the fans punched...etc worth twice the price?

C: Yeong-Yang YY-5412
- Front Bezel too restrictive?

Fans:
A: Dual Nexus
B: Undervolted Panaflos (120x38 in rear?)

Power Supply:
A: Seasonic Super Tornado
B: Super Silencer
I know the difference between them (I don't want to make Ed repeat it for the 2830580329480935th time), I just dont know if one is better than the other in this setup (without modification).

CPU Cooling: Zalman 7000B-ALCU for my P4 2.4B.
Is it worth going with the XP-90 or XP-120 for a 2.4B?

Video Cooling: Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer for my GeForce4 Ti4200.

Hard Drive: Seagate 7200.7 160 GB

Thanks. Have a Happy New Years!!

WELCOME TO SPCR & HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

You've certainly studied your lessons well, it looks like a nice & quiet setup.

For fans, definitely go with the Nexus. Both 92 & 120mm versions beat down anything else (on performance/noise) easily.

For CPU, I'd suggest the Zalman. Your CPU isn't too hot so the Zalman should handle it pretty easily. Plus, it's a lot cheaper You could go for one of the TRs and try running fanless but i personally think it's not worth the effort. Zalman @ 5V is already pretty quiet and you can go lower with an additional undervolt to make it as good as fanless.

If you'll go playing inside your PSU to make it quiet, I'd personally suggest the Silencer with a 5V hardwired M1A or equivalent. The 120mm exhaust will easily take care of the case insides and the Zalman will do its CPU job. The Tornado would be a better choice if you're going to try fanless and/or you don't want to go messing inside your PSU. Do watch out for a A3 if you're going Tornado.

Do find a way to suspend the hdd. most people insist they can't hear the hdd so conclude that suspension isn't necessary. Very wrong.

Definitely good advice.

Mike_Metro - Look at the new Antec SLK3000B. It's got the unrestrictive fan grills of the 3700BQE plus it's got the correctly oriented/removable HDD drive cage of the 3700AMD/6A19, plus it comes w/o a PSU that'd you'd end up tossing anyway.

Heres what i did on my SLK 3700AMB, the material is Airex. Dense foam wich does not absorb water, not that its relevant in this case... Cut slots in it and secured to the cage with zip-ties The drive sits securely, and with a 120mm fan at 600rpm idle temp is 30c Took me ten minutes to do and seems to work very well

Edit: i forgot to add the pic...

I finally got my initiation to SPCR with the big blue letters. I've been waiting for that

burcakb:
Thanks for the advice. I will read more about suspension. Does this have any adverse impact on the longevity of the drive?

Ralf:
I will definitely look into the SLK3000B. I was hoping for more front i/o options, but I can always deal with that later. How is the build quality of the SLK3000B? Is it similar to the 3700BQE (Good) or the 2650BQE (heard it's not soo good).

nici:
Nice pic. Great idea. Where can you get Airex foam? Is it expensive?

Thanks for all of your input. Have a great New Years.

Airex is basically the stuff that is used in gymnastics for example, it doesnt slip, its soft and its comfortable. I got this piece thru fysiotherapy couple years ago, and as medical equipment its wery expensive(for what it is). You should be able to find something similar in sports-shops i would imagine. Basically anything that is soft yet somewhat sturdy and not too lightweight will do the job There are loads of other methods for suspending, do a searh on the forum. I just hapened to have a piece of this and it was just enough to suspend the HD and put under the Reserator Suspending drives does not affect the longevity of the drive,, as long as you keep the temps down. My non suspended drives ided at 45c in the nexus breeze case, now it idles at 30c with the help of a 600rpm 120mm fan

The 3000B is the exact same case/series as the 3700AMB/BQE so the build quality is identical.

The 26xx series of cases is a completely different line (with similar styled front bezels) that is made to a "lower price point" (that's marketing-speak for "cheaper") than the 3000/3700 series. I can think of no reason to ever choose a SLK26xx case over a SLK3xxx case.

Ralph:
Great. Thanks again for the suggestion and info. I will definitely be considering one.

I think my specs may change a little more the VF700 is looking like an interesting alternative to the Arctic Cooling Silencer. Hopefully I should be able to run it a 5v with a Ti4200.

I am reading up on suspending my hard drives and I wanted to test my current hard drive temperatures. Is it possible to get HD temperature readings via software? I don't think so, but I just want to make sure.

Unless it's in a RAID, DTemp will read your hdd temps. Available from the "Links" section. MBM will also read hdd temps if configured

The LX-6A19 gets my vote. It's only $36 from Directron (w/o PSU) and has more than enough room for expansion (too much I'd say). The right side panel is removable for stealthing power wires (see my pics on the buildup here).
My only complaints with the case is the use of non-standard screw holes for the fanmounts. To ditch the rattling plastic fanmounts you have to drill holes in between the two holes (measure twice/drill once).
The grills aren't "that bad" but you'd see a benefit if you cut them out later.
The drive cage is already prefitted with isolation grommets and the case as a whole is really sturdy.

The Coolcases mods are worth it only if you don't want to take the time or effort to do them yourself. They are good quality mods though and they have a nice selection of quiet fans (if you need them).

For the PSU, I'd go with the Silencer. The 120mm fan in the tornado would allow air to stagnate in the two upper 5.25 drive bays.

I'd go with the XP-90 for cooling, the XP-120 is just plain overkill for a 2.4b P4 unless you plan to overclock.
Your other component choices are good.

burcakb
No raid yet. Maybe later. Hopefully suspending a single drive in front of a 120mm fan should keep it nice and cool. Thanks for the Info on DTemp. I don't think my current drive supports reading temps. I haven't been able to get any readings on it (WD800JB).

Mr_Smartepants
The Stealth power wires is really nice. Did you have any probs with cable lenghts? The price of the LX-6A19 is very nice. I think it's going to come down to looks now. I want to see a BQE or SLK3000B in person. My current Antec SX630II is Beige, but the bezel on the front is a nice matted thick plastic. It looks nice...for Beige . I've seen some cheap looking black plastic on some of the newer cases I've seen, hopefully the Antec is bettter looking.

Did you check that SMART is enabled in your BIOS? Otherwise you won't get DTemp to work.

burcakb
Thanks for the help. That didn't seem to work either. I got an error Temperature check compatibility not found. I also tried speed fan. That didn't seem to work either. I appreciate the help. I checked on the speed fan website (or another I can't remember) for temperature compatibility for drives. It did not list WD800JB-00CRA1, but other WD800JB-XXXXXX drive were supported. Very strange.

Thanks again for the help.