Hello,
I'm putting together my first quiet system which will include:
- P180 case with Acoustipack Deluxe
- Asus P5WD2 motherboard
- Intel P4 840 XE (Dual 3.2 GHz)
- 4 x Hitachi T7K250 SATA II drives
- HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X850 XT PE ICEQII
- 2GB of Corsair TWIN2X1024-8000UL RAM
- Plextor PX-716A
- Mitsumi 7-in-1 card reader with Floppy Drive
My first problem is deciding on which PSU to get. I want the best (i.e. quietest, most efficient etc) one around, but I'm a bit concerned with the posts I have been reading regarding the length of the power cables to reach the motherboard. I don't want to use any extenders...
Has anyone put a PSU in a P180 with the Asus P5WD2? If so, which one?
Also regarding the PSU... Is the Antec Phantom 500 a good choice? I know the reviews are great, but will it be good enough for this case if I remove the center fan in the PSU/HDD space? As I have 4 hard disks, I will probably put 2 in the top and 2 in the bottom section (unless someone here disagrees...). If I am forced to use a fan in the bottom section, should I stick with the one supplied with the case, or shopuld I put in a Nexus fan?
The other decision to make is the CPU cooler.... I have read good things about the Scythe Ninja, so I'm thinking about getting this one. Anyone have any better ideas?
No doubt someone reading this post will notice my choice of graphics card and will comment - it seems to be the best ATI 850 based one with dual DVI and VIVO which I require and has a quieter cooling system than the stock ATI card, so this is why I chose it. If anyone has a better suggestion, then I'm all ears...!
One final question... Should I buy some more Nexus fans? A 120mm system fan, and maybe a 80mm for the top? I don't know, but they're pretty cheap, so I was going to buy them (maybe a front one too?) and stick them in and see what happens...
Cheers,
Dennis.
P180 and Asus P5WD2 - which PSU, and which CPU cooler?
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Hi Jim,
I also couldn't find it in Athens, so I have to get it from the UK (as well as most of the other components).
Try http://www.overclockers.co.uk
Cheers,
Dennis.
I also couldn't find it in Athens, so I have to get it from the UK (as well as most of the other components).
Try http://www.overclockers.co.uk
Cheers,
Dennis.
Sorry if this response is too late, at least others may benefit from it if so.
Fans: all the fan mounts in the P180 are 120mm, and it comes with two quiet 25mm fans already mounted at the top and rear exhausts, and a somewhat less quiet 38mm fan in the HDD/PSU tunnel, which you may prefer to remove, or replace with a Nexus 120mm.
PSU: The Antec Phantom 500W would run fanless if you had a Nexus in the tunnel. I don't suggest you try to run a fanless PSU in the bottom tunnel with no tunnel fan. A Nexus is practically inaudible anyway, unlike most PSU fans.
If you prefer the PSU fan/no tunnel fan option, the S12 430W has slightly longer cables than the 500W model, and still has enough juice for that dual core Extreme Edition. Of course, the 500W model has PCIe power connectors, saving you the use of an adaptor going from the graphics card to two molex connectors.
CPU: I know you didn't ask about this, but wouldn't you rather have the extra gaming performance of an Athlon X2 4400+ or 4800+? The 4800+ is only $50 more than the 840 XE, but it's faster (especially in games), significantly cooler (=quieter), better designed (faster than two single core Opterons of the same speed, because AMD actually take advantage of the fact that both cores are on the same chip to speed up communication between cores)... I really, really think it's the better option.
If you switch to AMD, you'll need an S939 motherboard - one of the new Asus or Abit nForce4 motherboards with heatpipe chipset coolers would be nice, and save you replacing the chipset cooler.
HSF: The Scythe Ninja is a good match to the P180, and could probably run fanless with an AMD chip. You'll probably need to mount a fan on it to cool the dual core Intel, though. ThermalRight XP-120 is a good backup option, though it doesn't really exploit the airflow of the P180 so well as the Ninja does.
HDDs: good choice. A Raptor for your OS/Games/Apps drive might be slightly faster, and depending on your storage needs you might want to consider a RAID 1+0 (= RAID 10) of those four Hitachis, or perhaps an external hard drive for backups.
RAM: If you go the AMD route, you'll have to get DDR RAM instead, but the stock bandwidth (dual channel) is similar and the latency is much lower, plus it's cheaper, so that's actually a good thing.
GPU: Obviously, the GeForce 7800GTX is now out, but it might stretch your budget a little. Probably a better long term inverstment than an X850 XT PE right now, though. You can always put a Zalman VF700 on it for quieter cooling.
I hope this helps you out a bit.
Spod
Fans: all the fan mounts in the P180 are 120mm, and it comes with two quiet 25mm fans already mounted at the top and rear exhausts, and a somewhat less quiet 38mm fan in the HDD/PSU tunnel, which you may prefer to remove, or replace with a Nexus 120mm.
PSU: The Antec Phantom 500W would run fanless if you had a Nexus in the tunnel. I don't suggest you try to run a fanless PSU in the bottom tunnel with no tunnel fan. A Nexus is practically inaudible anyway, unlike most PSU fans.
If you prefer the PSU fan/no tunnel fan option, the S12 430W has slightly longer cables than the 500W model, and still has enough juice for that dual core Extreme Edition. Of course, the 500W model has PCIe power connectors, saving you the use of an adaptor going from the graphics card to two molex connectors.
CPU: I know you didn't ask about this, but wouldn't you rather have the extra gaming performance of an Athlon X2 4400+ or 4800+? The 4800+ is only $50 more than the 840 XE, but it's faster (especially in games), significantly cooler (=quieter), better designed (faster than two single core Opterons of the same speed, because AMD actually take advantage of the fact that both cores are on the same chip to speed up communication between cores)... I really, really think it's the better option.
If you switch to AMD, you'll need an S939 motherboard - one of the new Asus or Abit nForce4 motherboards with heatpipe chipset coolers would be nice, and save you replacing the chipset cooler.
HSF: The Scythe Ninja is a good match to the P180, and could probably run fanless with an AMD chip. You'll probably need to mount a fan on it to cool the dual core Intel, though. ThermalRight XP-120 is a good backup option, though it doesn't really exploit the airflow of the P180 so well as the Ninja does.
HDDs: good choice. A Raptor for your OS/Games/Apps drive might be slightly faster, and depending on your storage needs you might want to consider a RAID 1+0 (= RAID 10) of those four Hitachis, or perhaps an external hard drive for backups.
RAM: If you go the AMD route, you'll have to get DDR RAM instead, but the stock bandwidth (dual channel) is similar and the latency is much lower, plus it's cheaper, so that's actually a good thing.
GPU: Obviously, the GeForce 7800GTX is now out, but it might stretch your budget a little. Probably a better long term inverstment than an X850 XT PE right now, though. You can always put a Zalman VF700 on it for quieter cooling.
I hope this helps you out a bit.
Spod
First of all: Sorry if this is hijacking a thread. Let me know if you want me to remove my entry.
SPCR is a new discovery for me, and I'm totally stunned by the detail and thoroughness you guys seem to be putting into your reviews. I stumbled over SPCR a couple of hours ago, searching for reviews of the P180.
I wrote a thread on a Norwegian computer forum yesterday about this case, asking for experiences. No replies. Later I found out that the case doesn't hit stores here for another two days, and I surely intend on owning one when it does. The price is about 210 US dollars over here, right in the Lian-Li segment.
I currently own an Arctic Cooling Silentium T1, unmodded with Zalman flowers covering all the nasty bits (VGA, CPU). I have been plagued by a hum for too long (PSU I guess, having read in the forums here and the review of the T2), and I can't wait for the P180 to acommodate an Athlon 64 3200+, a new 6800 Ultra which is getting an AC VGA silencer and a single quiet enough WD hard drive.
Considering I have the parts that I do, what PSU should I get? I guess 400 watts will do plenty, maybe a 350 watt one would cut it. What do you think? I'm on no budget for a passively cooled phantom (costs more than the P180 alone her in Norway), so please consider cost when recommending.
Salutations,
Gilgamesj
Edit: I just found out there was a thing called "Recommended PSU's". This place is good
Disregard my question and just take my post as a big hello instead.
SPCR is a new discovery for me, and I'm totally stunned by the detail and thoroughness you guys seem to be putting into your reviews. I stumbled over SPCR a couple of hours ago, searching for reviews of the P180.
I wrote a thread on a Norwegian computer forum yesterday about this case, asking for experiences. No replies. Later I found out that the case doesn't hit stores here for another two days, and I surely intend on owning one when it does. The price is about 210 US dollars over here, right in the Lian-Li segment.
I currently own an Arctic Cooling Silentium T1, unmodded with Zalman flowers covering all the nasty bits (VGA, CPU). I have been plagued by a hum for too long (PSU I guess, having read in the forums here and the review of the T2), and I can't wait for the P180 to acommodate an Athlon 64 3200+, a new 6800 Ultra which is getting an AC VGA silencer and a single quiet enough WD hard drive.
Considering I have the parts that I do, what PSU should I get? I guess 400 watts will do plenty, maybe a 350 watt one would cut it. What do you think? I'm on no budget for a passively cooled phantom (costs more than the P180 alone her in Norway), so please consider cost when recommending.
Salutations,
Gilgamesj
Edit: I just found out there was a thing called "Recommended PSU's". This place is good
Disregard my question and just take my post as a big hello instead.