Much thanks to you guys, it is done. I have finally built my very first PC!

It's fast, it looks good (imho), and it's very quiet! (not silent but that's ok by me)


Front view:


Inside view:


SpeedFan stats:


3DMark03 stats:



Most of the time was spent trying out and comparing parts for the computer. The finaly list of parts that I used for the computer:

KingWin KT-424-BK-WM case
Seasonic S12 380 W PS
ASUS av8 delux mobo
AMD 3200 cpu with AC freezer 64 cooler
4x Corsair VS 512 ram (2 gig total)
eVGA nVidia 6800 OCed to 400/820 with AC NV silencer 5 rev2 cooler
Samsung S2004 200 gg HDD
2xWD 120 gb HDD in raid 0
CoolerMaster Cooldrive6
3x Thermaltake Thunderblade 80mm fan
NEC 3520a dvd r/w drive
Generic floppy Drive

Software used:
Windows XP Pro SP2
SpeedFan
3DMark03
Ravi Tuner
nVidia 77.x driver with coolbits
HD Tech


Things that I did:

The case has all the 2 fronts and 1 rear fan grills cut out with a dremel
I also cut the plastic fan grill from the dust cover
I sleeved all the cables on the Seasonic PS - which took a LONG time
I build 7 custom power cables and sleeved them to run all the power connectors to the back of the case
I changed the 24pin power supply MB connector to 20+4 pin connectors
The PS is that installed onto the case with the vantec PS sliencing kit
I replace the 4 pin molex connecters on the thunderblade case fans with 3 pin connectors and sleeved the cables
I installed the 3 case fans with plastic "screws" along with the vantec fan sliencing kit
The 2x120 gb raid drives are soft-mounted with rubber mounts that came with the Kingwin case - I did not find a reason to suspend or silencing them further since they are quite quiet
I tossed the stock AMD heat sink and replaced it with the AC Freezer64+ was installed with AS5
I removed the stock fan/heat sink on the 6800 and replaced it with AC NV Sliencer 5 using AS5
I sleeved all the cables on the Cooldrive6 and hooked up the 3 case fans to it
The 2 front fans are undervolted to ~1000 rpm while the rear fan is undervolted to ~1500 rpm
I folded the flat ribbon cables instead of using round cables because it actually offers better air flow
I use SpeedFan to decrease the AC Freezer64+ fan to 40% normal speed which now runs at ~900 rpm instead of 2200 rpm
I OCed the CPU 10% to 2200 mhz
I OCed the 6800 to 400/820 (it is actually stable to 410/860)
I then unlocked the pipes and shredder on the 6800
I raid0 the 2xWD 120g HDD - it's actually faster than a 74GB raptor in most all tests.


Stats:

At 400/820, it pulls ~ 11500 3DMark03. It tops 12000 at 410/860

At idel, the temperatures are:
CPU - 37c
Motherboard - 22c
case - 22c
6800 GPU - 46c (sppedfan reading is off by 10c)

At full load the temperatures are:
CPU-45c
Motherboard - 30c
Case - 28c
6800 GPU - 64c

The biggest noise maker in the case is the freezer64+'s fan @40% Speed . =)

Nice rig. Looks nice.

I love the shielded CD-ROM Audio Cable. Where did you find that?

Beautiful job - cabling is really neat. The sleeving looks wonderful.

You may want to try Crystal CPUID. You'll probably be able to drop your idle temp at least 5C. I have the same motherboard and CPU speed (mine's a Winchester - not sure if you're the lucky owner of a Venice).

Feels good, doesn't it? That's a lot to tackle for a first-timer, so congrats. And it appears the cablegami gauntlet has been thrown. Your move, Ralf Hutter. Your move.

mleung,

Nice!

You said:


Where did you find an after-market 20+4 pin connector set? I'd like to make that conversion to the S12-430 when sleeving that cable.

-Cheap RAID chips (like what mobos come with built-in) tend to suffer reliability problems that a Raptor drive would not. If you are running such a system in RAID-0, it is considered prudent to back up your important data OFF the machine......

thx for the suggestions guys!

the 20+4 PS mod was from sunbeam and i can only find it at oxoide:

http://www.xoxide.com/changeover.html


"I love the shielded CD-ROM Audio Cable. Where did you find that?"

if you are referring to the cable at the bottom of the case, those are actually usb cables that came with the case. the other cable sitcking out of the DVD drive is one of the custom power calbes that i made.

Would having the freezer 64 blowing from bottom to top be a problem at all?

WD? Quiet? I don't believe you.

I used to have two WD 120 GB HDDs in my computer (RAID0 actually), but I got rid of them when I couldn't take the noise anymore. Together they were one of the biggest sources of noise I've ever had in my system, I'd estimate about 35 dB. My brother still has them in a system. *shudder*

They might have gotten new motors or something, but Western Digital is definitely not a good hard drive manufacturer. They are cheap though.

Samsung, Seagate and Hitachi all the way for me, they may be slightly more expensive, but they sure are quiet.

Apart from the choice of drives, the system looks pretty nice, it doesn't look remotely quiet, but it looks pretty nice.

"WD? Quiet? I don't believe you. "

i have a few WD 160s. they were noisy. these 2 WD120 are quiet though.

please keep in mind that there is also a samsung SP in the case. to make sure the WDs will work, i put all my HDs side by side and listen to them on a glass table (my normal computer table). since i have 5 computers at home, you are talking about comparing about 10 different HDs before i decide to go with my current setup.

i also have/tried hitachi and segates drives. in terms of ranking, with 10 being the best here are the ones that i tried:

Samsung SP 200g: 10
WD 120g: 9 (i have 3, 2 in this rig and 1 in another)
Segate 160g: 7 (i have 2 in my other computer)
Hitachi 7k250: 5 (i tried 3 different ones with manufactor dats raning from 2/05 to 5/05 since i really like the drive's performance and really wanted to use them if i could, but because of the heat and noise, i had to return them)

i had those drives side by side and listen to them when they are ideling and seeking. particular batch of drives may be more quiet or noisy, but the best way to test a drive is to listen them for yourself.


"Apart from the choice of drives, the system looks pretty nice, it doesn't look remotely quiet, but it looks pretty nice."

well, for my taste, it's quiet. my baseline is my dell (i have 2) at home witch is pretty quiet already. this rig is significantly quieter than the the dells i have.

i do not build this rig to win the queit PC contest, i just build it so that i can experience the process of building a computer. and in the process, i discover this site. i agree with most of the stuff here, and decide to make my first PC build a quite PC also. it may not be as quiet as your PC but it is good enough for me.


and you know what, a few months have now passed since i finished my PC, and when i look at my computer everyday, i still think it looks good, work well, and does so very quietly.



PS i am now off to other stuff - current project is building a car stero system around my SE K750i phone. i still drop by once in a while but not as much as when i was activly building my PC.