building my first silent system! advice welcome!

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daahli
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Joined: Mon May 03, 2004 4:05 am

building my first silent system! advice welcome!

Post by daahli » Thu Sep 09, 2004 5:48 am

Hey guys,

I'm in the US for 2 weeks and thought it may be wise to use this opportunity to buy the parts for my first truely silent system. I'm a student and as such don't have loads to spend, but I've configured a sub 1000$ system which I hope will suit my needs. The most important part is that it is really silent since my last system wasnt and I've learned to HATE loud computers :wink: I have read the pages on this great site fairly well and have come up with the following:

PSU: Zalman APS-B 300W
CPU: AMD 64 2800
Heatsink: Zalman 7000A AlCu ("B" version is out now, any clue what the differences are I couldnt find any)
Motherboard: Soltek K8AN2E-GR
Hard drive: Samsung 1614N (is it worth it to get the C with serial ATA?)
Video Card: Rosewill 128MB Radeon 9600 (should I go for the 256MB Sapphire which is 30$ more expensive?)
Ram: Crucial 512MB

That is all I plan on buying in the US (all from Newegg except PSU from zipzoomfly because it's 10$ cheaper). I'll buy the case back home (Italy). The case is actually what I am most undecided about, I'm thinking of getting a 60-80$ steel case, but I'm not really sure which one. I'd appreciate any advice on this as well.

Also, since I am truly new to this I was wondering if it is worth it to buy panaflo fans to mod my zalman parts? And should I look for a strech magic to suspend my drives? Any other materials that may come in handy?

Alright enough questions, thanks already for your help :)

sthayashi
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Post by sthayashi » Thu Sep 09, 2004 11:10 am

Looks good to me.... I would maybe suggest looking into the Seasonic Super Silencer, but this is really quibbling on levels of silence.

The B version is supposed to be a little bit lighter. To me it's an insignificant amount. The A should work for you. Heck you may not even NEED to get the A.

daahli
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 03, 2004 4:05 am

Post by daahli » Thu Sep 09, 2004 12:50 pm

alright great!

I just found out that I can take an extra piece of luggage on the plane, so I'll buy the case here too. From what I've read here steel is the way to go. I don't need a PSU since I'm getting the Zalman so how do you think this case would be?

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductde ... 013&DEPA=1

or is there a better black steel case without PSU available from Newegg? Maybe an Evercase case?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 047&depa=1

Thanks! :)

sthayashi
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Post by sthayashi » Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:05 pm

Your second link doesn't resolve, so it's hard to say which is better ;)

EDIT: It resolves now. For silencing, I'd go with the second option. But it's not as pretty though.
Last edited by sthayashi on Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

burcakb
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Location: Turkey

Post by burcakb » Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:06 pm

I've got both A and B and they look identical, except for the fanmate.

daahli
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 03, 2004 4:05 am

Post by daahli » Thu Sep 09, 2004 2:27 pm

yeah it certainly isn't as pretty, but after reading the other reviews it seems that the pretty one doesnt have good airflow, and that I would need extra fans, which I say NOOOO to ;)

Alright, I'll order the parts now, thanks for the help, I'll post the results once I get the parts and have the system up and running.

Thanks again,
Dan

daahli
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 03, 2004 4:05 am

Post by daahli » Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:37 pm

hey!

Well I got my parts yesterday and the system is already up and running and I am truly shocked by how silent it is!! Of course now that I'm at it I'm wondering whether I should go all the way and mod the zalman parts with panaflo fans (I feel like an addict in some ways...). What size and voltage fans would I need for the power supply and the CPU cooler? Would I even notice a difference?

Also, after reading the strech magic review I feel I should definitely get some of the that as well. I found a store today that has some but their thickest was 1.0mm, just over half as thick as the one used in the review. Any idea if it is strong enough?

Thanks, this site and forum rules! :)

sthayashi
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Post by sthayashi » Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:44 pm

There have been a few people who have swapped their HSF, but it's otherwise not really worth it unless it's bothering you now.

On the other hand, ARM PC regularly replaces the Zalman PSU fan with a Panaflo M1A. You will notice a slight difference if you make this swap, but it won't be a huge difference.

Welcome to the curse of SPCR.

sustenance 0
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Location: Oklahoma City

Post by sustenance 0 » Tue Sep 21, 2004 6:15 am

as far as case fans go i haven't used very many but i found these!

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 010&depa=0

they run really smooth. when turned down all the way they are almost silent to me. I haven't measured the decible level or anything just stuck my head down really close to the case. But when i do turn them up they sound like a f-14 so that's how it goes, but i really like them over my old ones. :D

sthayashi
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Post by sthayashi » Tue Sep 21, 2004 6:32 am

sustenance 0 wrote:as far as case fans go i haven't used very many but i found these!

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 010&depa=0

they run really smooth. when turned down all the way they are almost silent to me. I haven't measured the decible level or anything just stuck my head down really close to the case. But when i do turn them up they sound like a f-14 so that's how it goes, but i really like them over my old ones. :D
I believe this is the equivalent of an 80mm Globe fan. This is a fan that's growing in popularity.

burcakb
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Location: Turkey

Post by burcakb » Tue Sep 21, 2004 12:44 pm

Errr, that's a Globe HIGH-speed fan. It'll probably be very noisy.

You might want to look at the other Enermax (aka Globe), the UC-001B-TC. That's a dualball bearing version of their medium-flow fan which I like better (the sleeve bearing version) than the Panaflo M1A.

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