Hello experts,

I am "Newbie" trying to configure an build my first silent pc. I did a lot of research and reading, reading, reading and finally I have come up with this configuration:

Case: Yeong Yang Cetus YY-5601 with damping material
Mainboard: ASUS K8N-E Deluxe with NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb with Cool 'n' Quiet-Support
CPU: Athlon 64 3400+ ("Clawhammer")
Memory: 2*Kingston ValueRAM DIMM 512 MB DDR400
1. HDD (RAID 1): Samsung SP1614C (Retail) 160 GB
2. HDD (RAID 1): Samsung SP1614C (Retail) 160 GB
3. HDD (no RAID): Samsung SP1614C (Retail) 160 GB
DVD-ROM: Teac DV-516xK 16/48fach (Retail)
DVD-Burner: Plextor PX-712A
VGA: Asus Radeon 9600XT/TVD
Case fans: Papst fans Set C VarioX (2x120mm)
Heat Spreader for Memory
CPU-Cooler: ichbinleise® Cooler 831U 64 TRX
VGA-Cooler: Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Rev. 3
HDD cages: 3*silentmaxx-HD-Damping Rev. 2.0
PSU: Enermax EG 475AX - ichbinleise® edition

Although I am aware that some of these components have some German in their names due to a shop which modifies components to further enhance them, I would very much love to hear any comments or further suggestions!!!!!!

Please feel free!

By the way: I am planning to use this machine for office/internet, multimedia and software development. The PC will sit very close to me for long hours (that's why I'm looking for a silent system rather then a quiet one)!! And I must say that I used to be an Intel-Fan...

Best regards,

Specialman

I'm no expert, I just have a few questions.

I'm assuming that the Case Vents are Fans, right? So if you're going to go with Papst, make sure you're getting the right ones. The exact model number is around here somewhere...

Can you maybe send a picture or description of the CPU cooler?

Thank you.

Hi!

Thank you very much for your interest in my planned configuration!

The model of the Pabst fans is 4412 F/2GL. The german shop I looked at is suggesting these fans for the selected case.



Unfortunately the description is only available in German and it would take me some time to translate it right now, so I am only adding a picture of the cpu cooler:





[/url]

I think that's the right type of Papst.

That heatsink I believe is a Thermalright 947(8) or an SLK-900? with... an interesting mounting mechanism, an interesting fan, and an interesting thermoresistor that I guess can be controlled.

I dont think you can go wrong with a Thermalright. But try to find out what kind of fan that is.

Yes, it can be controlled and is based on the Thermalright Heatsink SLK 948 U (which should be an improved 947), the description says. I only just read, that you have to drill holes in the mainboard in order to attach the CPU cooler in Athlon based systems...now I am getting a little bit scrared

You shouldn't have to actually drill holes. Many modern boards come with mounting holes already and I hope thats what they are talking about. Drilling into your mb would be a mistake I believe!

I am planning on building my own system soon and it looks like I will end up with a configuration similar to yours. The motherboards I am considering are the following:
-Asus K8V Deluxe
-Asus K8V SE Deluxe
-Asus K8N-E Deluxe
-Aopen AK86-L

Why did you choose the Asus K8N-E Deluxe? I have not seen a lot of information on how it compares to the others. Not as many stores sell it, and it is more expensive.

My system will primarily be used as a file server. I am leaning towards using an Athlon 64 3000+ or an Athlon 64 3200+ processor.

Thank you.

To be honest, I used to be kind of an Intel fan. And to be even more honest, I even didn't know any good reasons for voting against AMD...I just thought a P4 stands for POWER...
Now that my main objective is not only to get a powerful system but a powerful AND silent one, I learnt about the qualities of the AMD CPUs and especially about the Cool'n'Quiet technology.

And you are right, it's not easy to obtain valid "real life" information and comparisons including the Asus K8N-E Deluxe.

However, it is said to support the Cool'n'Qiet-Technology as well and I read articles about the chipset (NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb), which led me to believe that this would be a good choice.

I contacted a silentpc components dealer here in Germany to ask for further advice and comments and to check if they maybe would build such a system for me...maybe they'll come up with a different suggestion.

Or I'll stick to my plans to do it myself. However, I am a bit worried about components not really being 100% compatible, as you hear a lot about "wrong" memory modules and such.

And I am still wondering/thinking about

1.
the graphics card (do I really need that model or isn't a quieter one sufficient?)
2.
an extra (external) controller for temperature and fan speed (as I am not reylly 100% sure if I really unterstand who will control what in this silent pc)
3.
how to install MS XP Prof. on a RAID Level 1 system "from scratch"...

That's what I thought, too! But as you can see...such worries (and I've got more of them) can only be addressed by someone who's never set up his own system before...

Some reviews of the nForce3 250 GB I found are:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/sh ... i=2004&p=9
http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/re ... BhZ2U9MTA=
http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard ... gb-25.html

The summary seems to be these sentences from TomsHardware:
"Performance-wise, NVIDIA has caught up with its competitors - but that's about it."
"Its value added is largely derived from its Gigabit network controller and hardware firewall."

My main concern would be buying a brand-new completely reengineered board that has not been put through the paces by a large number of consumers to get the bugs worked out.

At NewEgg, the Asus nForce3 250 GB board is around $30 more expensive.

The performance issues were the ones leading me towards this new board, but I am having those concerns as well. Especially with regard to

a) the fact that I have never built a system before (including the "right" drivers, BIOS settings, and so on) and

b) my wish to "rely" partly on a reliably working Cool'n'Qiet technology.

Thanks for the links, I think I will choose another mb for my configuration. And as the german shop I asked for help doesn't seem to be willing (or able) to help me build this system or at least answer my mail, I guess I'll have to start ordering parts soon...

And I guess I will think about my VGA choice again...

You indicate yoyu want to use 2*512Mb memory. Please realize that Cool and Quiet in combination with TWO double sided memory modules won't work most of the nForce 3 mobo's, as i found out with my Epox 8kda3+. So you might find having one (more expensive) 1GB module may be a better choice.

Not too difficult... first you configure the RAID set using the bios menu (mobo bios or hdd controller, check your manual). If Windows XP installation does not detect your raid array - which it probably won't - you need a driver floppy. You can tell if this is the case when the installation informs you that you have no hard drives installed or only the single drive.

This driver floppy is usually supplied with your motherboard. Otherwise you'll need to copy files from the mobo driver cd onto a blank floppydisk (probably easiest using another computer); check the manual for the folder you need from the CD. Then you can restart the XP installation and hit F6 early on to indicate you want to install an additional driver. Insert floppy, follow instructions and your RAID set will be detected and you can continue installation. Partition/format as you see fit.

HTH!

Don't forget that you need the TXTSETUP.OEM file to be able to use the drivers during an OS install.

I don't know if they will be included on the CD (there is little use for them there, so my guess is no). You would be better off downloading the RAID driver, but this is no guarentee that this will also contain the TXTSETUP.OEM file (though usually they do).

There is a "make RAID driver disk" in the "driver" section of the installation CD that comes with the mainboard. Using this option you can create the necessary floppy to run Windows XP/2000 installation. Only minor drawback is that you'll need another PC to run this CD prior to your XP installation.

AFAIK, Asus has always included these drivers on the CD (and until recently on a floppydisk as well) because you need this to install Windows XP.

I think the only time the floppy drive in my rig gets used is while installing Windows

The Radeon 9600 is a good value-for-money card. I'd go for another brand though as Asus likes to pack several CDs into the package just to make it higher-priced.

The 9600XT version will probably come with a screaming fan on it. There is a very good chance you can just unplug the fan and still get full use out of it. Or you could go safer and buy an Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer rev3. I'm only concerned that you've never done these things before. It really isn't at all complicated but you have to be brave and go ahead with it. Don't worry, we'll help you along

If you've got the money go for better RAM. You're in Germany so you should be able to get your hands on some quality Mushkins. Kingston ValueRAM is just about the slowest out there.

That pic onthe cpu really intriques me to mod mine some more!