Hello all,

Am putting together a new PC and have just discovered the world of SPCR..

Below are the bits I've come up with. I'd appreciate some feedback on the components, and be grateful for suggestions for a suitable PSU and whether I need any additional cooling unit.

FYI - I have no desire to overclock. The machine will be used for photo editing, web surfing, occasional photoshop, occasional gaming - not necessarily the latest which require a mack truck to run.


CPU: Intel 775pin Q9550
Motherboard: Asus P5QL-SE
RAM: Kingston 4GB (2x2) 800
Optical Drive: Pioneer 216
Case: Cooler Master RC-500 Sileo Black Tower Case
Graphics Card: Asus 9800GTX+ 512MB
Card Reader: Samsung All In One (Internal)
HDD: 2 x 1TB Samsung (already got)
Monitor: LG 2252TQ-PF (already got)

Thanks in advance.

Seems pretty good.
3 things to make it really quiet without spending too much money:

1. Replace the case fans. i dont know anything about the case you choose, but ive yet to see a case with fans as quiet and efficient as those by scythe, nexus or the other recommended fans on the SPCR list. I love my scythe slipstreams. With this system 800rpm exhaust would do wonders for noise levels, or if you have hot summers, a 1200rpm version and a zalman fanmate to dial it down when not needed. Neither cost that much but will make a big difference to noise levels. A quiet intake fan will also help.

2. What PSU will you be using?

3. Replace the stock cooler on the CPU. Its reasonably quiet on the 45nm processors, but its far from ideal. Again check out the SPCR recommended list to find something in your budget. This wont invalidate your warrenties (unlike most GPUs), so no need to worry here.

And if you want to get really quiet, slap a AC Accelero on that GPU, with a turbo module fan (or zip tie a low rpm 120mm fan onto it). You'll invalidate your warrenty with most (I think eVGA are an exception) suppliers, but its rare that cards just fail for no reason. If you mount it properly it should last a long time (and your temps will drop like a stone, which can only help the card).

I've asked for some suggestions on PSU given my setup in my original post.

A faster clockspeed dual core processor will be more efficient than any of the quad cores at those tasks. The Core 2 Duo E8400 is plenty, but you could opt for even more clockspeed. The Core 2 Quads aren't a good choice for anyone now that the Corei7 is out.

They are a very good choice for anyone with an existing LGA775 board that supports quads, or anyone who objects to paying twice as much for a new board and 4 times as much for RAM.

CPU: Intel 775pin Q9550[/quote]

A faster clockspeed dual core processor will be more efficient than any of the quad cores at those tasks. The Core 2 Duo E8400 is plenty, but you could opt for even more clockspeed. The Core 2 Quads aren't a good choice for anyone now that the Corei7 is out.[/quote]


I've been recommended to go the Quad core (on another forum), argument being that it will be better suited to the photo editing / photoshop work.. What do the folk here think?

Opinions may differ, but tests say otherwise. The majority of Photoshop is old legacy code and not even multi-threaded.

How does one work out what speed fan will be sufficient?
(The case in question has a 120mm intake and a 120mm exhaust fan)

And I'm in Melbourne, Australia - so yes we do get rather hot summers..

Theres no real way to "work out" what fan you will need, but you can get a pretty good idea.
The CPU and GPU are similar to mine in heat output. I use a Scythe Slipstream 1200rpm exhaust and a 92mm Scythe kama as intake (running at 7v). This provides ample cooling. When not stressing the CPU i can turn down my exhuast to 5v (with the zalman fanmate, very handy tool), if im gaming or encoding i can turn it up to full speed and dont have to worry.

In your system i could say 1200rpm exhaust. For intake you really just need it to direct the air that is being sucked in anyway over the HDD and towards the GPU. Go for an 800rpm here.