Advice/comments on A64 system?

freka586 · Post by **freka586** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 2:39 am

I'm about to build a new system and would love some comments!
The catch is that I must order from one shop, which forces me to in some cases get parts that are not the best on the market.

Which part of the system would be noisiest?
What could be done in order to further improve the system?
Does the Acoustipack make sence in this setup?
Any possible temperature/other issues?
Any parts that might not fit case/mobo/fans etc?

* Antec Sonata with pre-cut Acoustipack
* Asus A8N-SLI/Deluxe with passive Zalman NB cooler
* A64 3500+ 90 nm with Zalman 7000B-Cu
* 2 x Samsung 160 GB HDD
* NEC 3520 DVD-RW
* Geforce 6600 GT with Zalman VF700-CU

Thanks for any comments!

GrahamGarside · Post by **GrahamGarside** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 3:48 am

The sonata case and psu fans will be loudest, especially the psu fan as it just doesn't get enough air due to the sonatas poor air flow.
If you could get the Antec SLK3000B or Antec SLK3700BQE instead this would be preferable.

GrahamGarside · Post by **GrahamGarside** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 3:49 am

Also a better psu would help, like one of the seasonics in the recomended list

freka586 · Post by **freka586** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 4:29 am

The PSU is one of those parts I mentioned where the shop does not sell any of HQ PSUs.
These are the ones available:

QTechnology PA-QT-02350 Papst Series 18-23.5dBA 350W ATX
Aspire ATX-AS500W Plexi 2xUV-FAN Aluminium Black 500W ATX Enhance ENS-0246B PSU 460W ATX
Antec True Power 330W ATX
Levicom 450 XPL-B 2Fans Blackline 450W ATX
QTechnology PA-QT-02350-2F 2Fans Papst Series 18-29dBA 350W ATX
Aspire AS-550W/UV PSU + 12cm Fan kit
Antec True Power 380W ATX
Antec True Power 430W ATX
Sinotech 430ADP Power Supply 430W ATX
Antec Trueblue 480PEC 480W ATX
Antec True Power 480W ATX
OCZ Modstream 450W EU ATX
Antec NeoPower 480W ATX 12v 2.0 PSU

Would any of these in combination with a 3700 BQE be significantly quiter than the Sonata with damping?
If so, which one?

Price-wise the Sonata can't be beat as the Sonata WITH PSU is as much as the 3700 BQE case alone...

Slaugh · Post by **Slaugh** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 4:54 am

The Sonata comes with a special version of the TruePower 380 (380s) with a single fan design. The retail versions comes with 2 fans so they are noisier. If you can get Antec PSUs, maybe you can look for a Phantom which is fanless... This is the one I have. I don't know much about the other brands but there are some good reviews on SPCR:

freka586 · Post by **freka586** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 7:36 am

It's very difficult for me to imagine *how* noisy the default Sonata setup would be.

Actually the Phantom is available in that shop.
But a BQE + Phantom would be 3 times the cost of a Sonata, or more than 2 times the cost of a Sonata + Acoustipack kit.
The difference in price makes me wonder how much noise we are talking about from the Sonata kit?
I plan to have the unit about 1.5m/5ft away (under a desk).

The QTech PA-QT-02350 Papst Series might be another candidate.
Has anyone here had any experience with these?
Perhaps even compared it to a Antec True380S (Sonata)?

As a possible third option the Nexus NX-3000 has come to mind.
How much can a 300W supply *really* drive?
The current setup would be 2 HDDs, 2 optical drives, A64 3800+, 6600GT.
If I in a future case would like to get a beefier graphics card (say 6800 Ultra/X850) could it still drive that?

Thanks for the input this far!

Tzupy · Post by **Tzupy** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 11:05 am

Hi,
I'd recommend getting the Antec SLK3000B and Antec NeoPower 480, if you plan to run in SLI configuration some time later.

GrahamGarside · Post by **GrahamGarside** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 1:54 pm

the sonata psu fan will probabally run at around 1500-1800rpm by default, which is quite loud
I've modified mine to a sleeve bearing fan with insulated rubber mounts but it still speeds up, it just doesn't get good airflow.
With this in mind a passive psu is out of the question in the sonata, and really any psu is going to have to turn the fan speed up without some serious modding to improve the cases air intake

For an A64 system with that drive array and an NV4x card you need at least 350W, with 400+ being preferable. I'm just about managing on the sonatas 380W psu with my a64 3400+, 1gb, 2 hdd's, 2 optical and a 6800 and I have less headroom for tweaking than I did with my radeon 9800, I have to run my ram on cas3 (it is cas3 ram but used to be fine on cas2) and the cpu overclocks about 50mhz less

Basically if you want this system to be quiet avoid the mistaker a lot of us have made and don't go with the sonata. The actual case airflow for me is quite good (drives 40°C, MB 35°C, cpu 55°C, gpu 60°C) but the psu just doesn't seem to get any of it.

You also can't go wrong with the recomended list on this site for psu's, the antec neopower range are good psu's, but not quiet

The trouble with building a quiet pc is it only takes one component to ruin it. Sure my system next to say my parents is like a whisper, but a couple of hours sat with it and my ears adjust and that psu fan, even at 1300rpm bugs me, at 1500 which is what it runs at during full load, I may as well have not bothered trying to make my system quiet because like I said, your ears adjust

v3n · Post by **v3n** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 6:41 am

Ive got a Sonata and a BQE and ther PSU's are both loud when they ramp up

Korwen · Post by **Korwen** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 6:58 am

Be sure you buy a motherboard with a passive northbridge cooler. The 3000BQE should be pretty cheap if you buy just the case with no PS, and that combined with a PS shouldn't be much more cost than a Sonata. Also, I'd wait on the acousitpack. It will help, for sure, but it's pricey, and that money could easily go towards a quieter PSU and some Nexus case fans which would, IMHO, benefit your system more.

freka586 · Post by **freka586** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 7:02 am

My latest decision is to go for the BQE.
Since a semi-quite PSU is also included I can give that a try before deciding on if that must be replaced.

I plan to swap the NB fan for a Zalman passive one.
Hope it fits, since I've heard it can be a tight one sometimes...

On a side-note, does anyone know if the A64 939-platform is as picky about memory compatibility as the 754 platform was?
It would be a shame to get 2 Gigs and find out they don't work properly...

Tzupy · Post by **Tzupy** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 8:40 am

I am going to get the same mobo as you - having it shipped the next days from the UK, in my country it's impossible to get - and have already bought the Zalman NB47J and a Thermalright XP-90. I have a Fortron 350 PN(PF) PSU so I will need a 20-to-24 pin adapter for the mobo. And so will you, if you buy a 20-pin PSU. Well, it's possible to plug the 20-pin into the 24-pin, but the safer the better. Memory compatibility may have improved slightly from nForce3 to nForce4, but it's a mobo manufacturer issue more than of the memory controller in the CPU. I have two 512 MB Kingmax DDR 500 sticks and hope to be able to use them. Maybe you should check Anandtech or ArsTechnica forums for fellow users of the A8N-SLI Deluxe.

Tzupy · Post by **Tzupy** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 8:41 am

I am going to get the same mobo as you - having it shipped the next days from the UK, in my country it's impossible to get - and have already bought the Zalman NB47J and a Thermalright XP-90. I have a Fortron 350 PN(PF) PSU so I will need a 20-to-24 pin adapter for the mobo. And so will you, if you buy a 20-pin PSU. Well, it's possible to plug the 20-pin into the 24-pin, but the safer the better. Memory compatibility may have improved slightly from nForce3 to nForce4, but it's a mobo manufacturer issue more than of the memory controller in the CPU. I have two 512 MB Kingmax DDR 500 sticks and hope to be able to use them. Maybe you should check Anandtech or ArsTechnica forums for fellow users of the A8N-SLI Deluxe.

GrahamGarside · Post by **GrahamGarside** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:37 am

as long as you get good quality brand name ram then you should be ok, check the compatability list at the mobo manufactureres site to be safe. I use corsair value select(2X512mb) on my 754 msi k8t neo system and for some reason newer bios's slow down to ddr333 where as the older one I use is fine at ddr400 cas2
From the look of the board the zalman will fit as long as you don't use a long agp card, like an nvidia for instance and don't have a long cooler (like the arctic cooler range)

ronrem · Post by **ronrem** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 5:42 pm

cut a fanhole in the floor for a low rpm 80mm fan. I don't get why every item must come from one store,but maybe you can get away with a $5 fan from elsewhere. The extra airflow would make the psu you have sufficient and a 1000 rpm fan add very little sound if floor mounted-of course you'd need to cut a hole. Artic Cooling's TC fans are sweet and cheap at newegg

freka586 · Post by **freka586** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 1:56 am

To shed some light on the whole from-one-shop deal I can give a brief explanation.
In Sweden many companies offer "home-pc" deals.
This allows you to buy a PC for private use and get nice tax reductions.
Basically, everything I buy at that one time from that one shop I will pay roughly half of the actual cost.

In the long run the deal is not quite as beneficial since it affects the sum of money put away for retirement, sick leave etc. every month.
But for the moment, it is a pretty sweat deal