What do people think about this system:
Processor
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Socket 939, Winchester, 2.2 GHz);
Motherboard
SOLTEK SL-K8TPro-939 AGP
Case
Antec SLK3000B
Power Supply
Super Tornado 400 or Super Tornado 350
CPU Cooler
Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu
Hard drive
Samsung 160GB SP1614C SATA
Video Card
Sapphire Radeon 9600XT Ultimate (128MB) AGP
RAM
Mushkin 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200
I don't think I will need any extra case fan with this setup.
My Athlon 64 3500 System
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
I have the same CPU, motherboard, and case. However, I used the Super Silencer and XP-120 + YateLoon fans.
Not too relevant, but I have a pair of SP1614C, a Chaintech SH5200-128-DVI (NVidia FX5200-based card), and 2 x 512MB Crucial PC3200 RAM.
I found the TriCool fan to be noisy even at the "low" setting (wasn't sure if it was the hard-mount vibrations or the fan itself, because I had more of the 120mm Yate Loon fans).
The stock black grommets that came with the SLK3000B HDD cage didn't work that well for me; I replaced them with softer EAR grommets. But I eventually intend to suspend the entire cage anyway.
I find that the Super Silencer exhausts air that is warmer than the case exhaust air. I've kind of ducted it to the front of the case (cheapo piece of cardboard, but the 5.25" bays are all still closed, but there are small air cracks here and there which should be fine), but the fan hasn't ramped up so I'm not worried.
The only bad thing (which may or may not be a real problem) is that with my drives plugged into the VIA SATA controllers, I'm unable to read the SMART hard drive temperature information from Linux. Someone else said they were able to use DTemp (Windows) to read this information on a different motherboard with the same chipset, so I'm willing to chalk this one up to Linux.
Also, the CPU temperature reported by the BIOS and that reported to hardware-monitoring software appears to be different (the BIOS seems to report an external thermistor temperature, and the hardware-monitoring software seems to pick up an internal diode temperature, about 10 degrees hotter).
I don't feel too strongly either way about Super Silencer vs. Super Tornado.
I installed a front-intake 120mm Yate Loon fan to cool the hard drives, because when I touch them, they are warmer than the XP-120 near the CPU. They were probably fine without them. No noise difference to me; all my fans (case exhaust, XP-120, front intake) are 120mm Yate Loons running at 5V.
Not too relevant, but I have a pair of SP1614C, a Chaintech SH5200-128-DVI (NVidia FX5200-based card), and 2 x 512MB Crucial PC3200 RAM.
I found the TriCool fan to be noisy even at the "low" setting (wasn't sure if it was the hard-mount vibrations or the fan itself, because I had more of the 120mm Yate Loon fans).
The stock black grommets that came with the SLK3000B HDD cage didn't work that well for me; I replaced them with softer EAR grommets. But I eventually intend to suspend the entire cage anyway.
I find that the Super Silencer exhausts air that is warmer than the case exhaust air. I've kind of ducted it to the front of the case (cheapo piece of cardboard, but the 5.25" bays are all still closed, but there are small air cracks here and there which should be fine), but the fan hasn't ramped up so I'm not worried.
The only bad thing (which may or may not be a real problem) is that with my drives plugged into the VIA SATA controllers, I'm unable to read the SMART hard drive temperature information from Linux. Someone else said they were able to use DTemp (Windows) to read this information on a different motherboard with the same chipset, so I'm willing to chalk this one up to Linux.
Also, the CPU temperature reported by the BIOS and that reported to hardware-monitoring software appears to be different (the BIOS seems to report an external thermistor temperature, and the hardware-monitoring software seems to pick up an internal diode temperature, about 10 degrees hotter).
I don't feel too strongly either way about Super Silencer vs. Super Tornado.
I installed a front-intake 120mm Yate Loon fan to cool the hard drives, because when I touch them, they are warmer than the XP-120 near the CPU. They were probably fine without them. No noise difference to me; all my fans (case exhaust, XP-120, front intake) are 120mm Yate Loons running at 5V.
From what I have read in the forums, the Tornado should be quieter unless you want to modify the Silencer.rtsai wrote: I don't feel too strongly either way about Super Silencer vs. Super Tornado.
I am currently researching the best fan controller and media card reader. The reviews of fan controllers seem so mixed.
Meh. I don't think that many people have been able to do a heads-up comparison of the two power supplies. Of those who have, I doubt that the results would be directly applicable to my own hardware, case, etc. I will probably be able to find just as many forum threads saying "it depends" (ducting for SS, ST picking up hot CPU air and speeding up, etc., etc., etc., mostly speculation).mfc2 wrote:From what I have read in the forums, the Tornado should be quieter unless you want to modify the Silencer.
Anyway, you will most likely be fine either way. Have fun
.I looked around for a fan controller for this system and I did not find any that I thought were great. I was hoping that they would automatically adjust the fan speeds according to temperature and have audible alarms when the case got too hot, but they just seem to be able to set a fixed fan speed and any alarms are based on fan speeds. The only intelligent fan controller was around $70. I think SpeedFan is better than these hardware controllers since it adjusts fan speed according to temperatures.