Given your arrangement of case fans, it seems to me that a lower-profile CPU cooler and a Condor with the wing in standard (up over the CPU) orientation would be a good combination. The SI-120 would be a good choice.

With modest overclocking (and thus no overvolting) of a 6600, the P5W voltage regulator does not get hot. This is for three reasons: the CPU power consumption is relatively low, the VRM is 8-phase which is highly efficient, and the motherboard has a heavy copper layer (called StackCool) that sucks heat away from the MOSFETs.

Also I gather that you intend to stick with the stock north bridge/VRM heat sinks. This would be a fourth reason not to worry about the VRM temperatures.

You're right that I want to avoid replacing the stock north bridge heat sink. I think for the modest overclocking I have in mind, it's probably adequate. If I decide to go that way (with a low profile CPU cooler, a Condor in the up position and stock north bridge/VRM heat sinks), should I avoid any overvolting? I thought I might be able to get away with a small amount of overvolting.

I didn't mean to imply that you shouldn't overvolt. I was just pointing out that at modest overclocks (which don't need overvolting with C2D), the VRM will not get hot at all.

With the heatsink and fan arrangement above, you won't overheat the VRM at any sane voltage/clock. With most recent 6600's (week 27 or later), you can get to 3.2 GHz or so with considerably less than 1.5V.

Thanks again for your advice. I don't know if I'll ever want to overvolt. You're probably right that I'll never need to. I was just curious.

Currently, I'm trying running at 335 (3.02 GHz) with my fans running at about 700-800 rpm. My CPU temperatures are safe under normal loads, but the whole case is running a bit warmer than I like. I may try switching my upper rear case fan to the normal exhaust arrangement to cool the case. I'll lose most or all of my positive pressure and thus stop pushing much air through my PSU, but maybe a cooler case will offset that. Unfortunately, that leaves my fanless PSU operating without a net (I don't have the Phantom 500 with the back-up fan). If my PSU gets too hot, I won't know, it will just cook. But it doesn't seem to be running hot now, so I feel fairly safe.

Chris - I'm assuming that you removed the VRM heatsink/heatpipe along with the NB heatshink/pipe since they are connected. Did you replace the VRM heatsink or is the top fan enough to cool it without any fins/heatsink?

Yes, the NB heat sink, heat pipe and VRM radiator are a single unit, which I removed.

The VRM is cooled by the top case fan (and the venting leading to it), but with this MB/CPU combination, the VRM really doesn't need any special cooling. The combination of the 8-phase conversion (very efficient), StackCool (copper layer on the back of the board), and relatively low power consumption of the Conroe CPU keep the MOSFETs from getting hot.

Cool - that is exactly what I thought. Thanks for the reply!

One more quick one - how did you mount the middle-chamber (video) nexus?

I'm sad to report that after about 4 months of sterling service, my G.Skill memory DIMMs died. Running them at 2.3V 24/7 was probably a bad idea...

I've replaced them with more pedestrian Patriot 6400 EP DIMMS, which I'm now running at 2.0V (they are rated for 2.2V) 4-4-4-12-4 latency, and FSB/DRAM clocks of 361/722. At these settings, I no longer need to run memset to adjust tRD.

This slows my system ever so slightly (to 3.252 GHz), about 3% overall. I expect this memory will last indefinitely.

It's wedged in place and secured with a cable tie. It bumps against the blue IDE connector and the SATA connectors on one edge, nestles between various cables on two other edges, and has the foam on the front edge that touches the side panel. The main power cable and the HDD cage keep it from moving left or right. The cable tie goes around the cable that powers the DVD, which is quite taut.

Here's a photo showing all this (except the foam). The cable tie is at the bottom right. Note the mod to the Nexus frame. The fan doesn't budge when I move the system, but I'm sure UPS could make it move.

Hi Chris

I am also building a supposedly quiet system based on the P180B and E6600. Can you give me in indication on whether it will be much noiser than your system, considering i'm not planning to overclock it at all as it runs quick enough at stock speeds.

My specs are:
Antec P180B Case
Intel C2D E6600 CPU
Asus D5W DH Delux Mobo
580W Targan EasyCon Modular PSU
Akasa 120mm Amber Case Fans
Zalman 9700NT CPU Cooler
Corsair TwinX 2GB 8500 Dominator RAMs
XFX 8800GTS GFX
74GB 10k Raptor HDD
2x500GB Samsung SpinPoint HDDs
Pioneer DVR111DB DVD
A Hauppage TV card and a Razer Soundcard

I figured mine won't be compartmentalised like yours but at least the P180B should be cool and quiet even without your mods as i'm not sure i'm up to the task of drilling holes in my pride and joy.

I have been looking at the Scynth Front Fan as well but again, is this really necessary if I don't plan to compartmentalise my system? Surely an extra fan will add more noise.

And lastly, do you really recommend taking the cover off the northbridge heatsink? I'm thinking on installing a bigger Zalman heatsink instead as this area normally gets really hot.

Cheers
Thanh

It will certainly be louder than my system, which can't be heard over the nasty noises of my company laptop (or LCD if the laptop is off).

But that's beside the point. Your system noise will be dominated by the video card cooler and the power supply fan.

Whether you find this to be quiet enough for you, or whether you go completely around the bend to achieve inaudibility is a personal choice...

Well absolute silence would be nice and i am willing to pay for it. The bits and bobs of my system is already mounting to about $5100 as it is.

I suppose I could retrofit my NVidia 8800 GTS with a massive sink but from the reviews I heard its already moderately quiet at around 40db whole system noise.

The bottom compartment fan will be working so it should mean that my PSU fan won't be spinning much. The bottom compartment fan is also deep inside the damped case so noise should be less of an issue even if I use Antec stock fans.

Do you suggest using Acousti blocks to enhance the damping on my case? I was advised against this as my builder said the case is already quiet as it is.

Cheers Chris

If you want modular the Corsair 520W is probably a better choice.



Haven't had good experiences with Akasa Ambers, Yate Loon 120mm is good and cheap at jab-tech.com.



SPCR's definition of quiet is <30dBA @ 1m. Yes, we are fanatics...

And my system is about 20dB...really fanatic.

Chris, you know thats studio quality sound levels... there's no way you'll get that unless you're meter is undercalibrated! and you're in a anechoic chamber!! actually my Scan.co.uk's made beauty just arrived today. Hopefully i'll be as quiet as i hoped. If not i'll make some more posts for advise on how to make it 30db. To be fair, i've got Tinitus anyway so there'll always be some noise in my head. lol

Chris, great job with that system. I just happened upon the story today and was intrigued to learn about what you did in putting together those specific components since they match fairly well what I had bought to put together myself a few months ago. Here are my components:

Core 2 Duo E6600
Asus P5W DH Deluxe
2 GB Corsair XMS2-6400
Antec P180b case
ATI Radeon x1650 Pro
Antec Trio 550 PSU
2x Seagate SATA 2 HDDs

The parts were ordered in a hurry with originally 4GB of RAM, so I wasn't pleased that I didn't get to research things better. The ATI card was just amazingly cheap at the time.

The system wasn't put together until very recently and is now being repurposed for work. Due to the latter I won't be overclocking and after spending what little time I've had troubleshooting what ended up being a bad stick of RAM coupled with an uncooperative mobo (and working with a p180 case for the first time, hehe), I can't afford to spend the time to work much more on the system.

Basically what I want to ask is if you think that temps will stay okay in this system running everything stock speeds and parts (I did add an Antec fan in the front of the case and of course changed memory timings, but that's about it) without much more modification than clean wiring and controlling fan speeds?

I haven't had time to properly test things, but under heavy/full processor load the temps seem to rapidly climb a bit high for my comfort level with a system I'm going to need to be very stable. Silent operation has also become less of a factor since the system has been relocated.

Any thoughts, tips, suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Jason

ps. When I finally do get to build my own personal system likely 2nd quarter of this year, your article and particularly your homemade duct mods will serve as great inspiration!

Yes I know you can't get that measurement at 1 meter unless you have a $5K meter and a totally quiet environment.

My meter reads 27 an inch or two from the disks, the loudest things in the case.

I'm estimating 20dB based on extrapolations from SPCR measurements of Nexus fans at much higher RPMs. What SPCR says is 23dB is more than twice as loud as my whole system. The fastest fan in my system is a 600 RPM Nexus buried in the center of the case. The fans start to be audible at 650 RPM.

It would be more accurate to call my cooling system "assisted convection" than "forced air".

You didn't explicitly say so, but I gather you are running the stock Intel CPU HSF, and the stock TriCool case fans.

If so, your system will be more than adequately cooled at stock clocks and voltages, but it will be over twice as loud as necessary. You don't need that front fan at all, and you probably don't need one of the case fans either (either the top or rear is enough for this configuration, running a TriCool on low).

If you want to attack the noise with minimum effort, replace the TriCools with Nexus or Yate Loon, slow them down with SpeedFan, and replace the HSF with an HR-01, ducted to the back case fan.

As for CPU temps, the stock Intel cooler controlled by the BIOS will let the CPU get pretty hot under full load, around 70C IIRC. This will not impact reliability. Your CPU will outlive its usefulness.

Of course, that video card will be loud under 3D load, but should be okay in 2D. [You wouldn't game at work would you??]

Yep, all stock atm.

Thanks for the quick fix tips and reassurance (especially the latter!). Your estimates sound about right as I've been staying a bit under that after a bit of trial and error with the latest beta of speedfan. I think I'm going to give your plan of attack a go as soon as I have a chance. Should make for a nice quick compromise.



Haha, nope, no gaming. I'll likely be swapping that card out now. Honestly these days it seems to be just a bother to look for a card that isn't overly gaming oriented (without spending more on a workstation card that likely only has marginally better opengl performance). I own some decent Matrox video editing equipment and yet I still have no idea if they actually produce real video cards anymore.

Something I forgot to note before: in regard to feedback on the original article, it's greatly appreciated when those such as yourself take the time to not only put a big thing together but also annotate all the little details. In the one picture where you had a side note about running the power cable under the board, I honestly wouldn't have noticed that otherwise and I think with all the crazy wiring examples out there something so simple as that can go a long way.

So thanks again!

Jason

Chris,

Ooc, have you looked at the Noctua NH-U12F hsf? It's a bit shorter than the HR-01 (by 4.5 mm). I'm wondering if the HS-01 would have clearance issues in a Solo case? I notice your build is in a P180b.

$wise, they are within $10 of each other. With a passive GPU, I'm wondering if the fan on the Noctua might make a cooler running E6600. That fan is pretty quiet per spcr review.

Just curious about your thoughts here.

Edit for spelling.

Sorry, I have no experience with either the Noctua HS or the Solo case.

Thanks. I vividly remember how ugly my first build was, so I'm motivated to help others avoid some of the (obvious in retrospect) pitfalls.

Hi Chris,
First of all, I want you to know how surprised and glad I was when I found your article. Your rig has almost the same components with the one I'm building (E6600, P5W-DH Deluxe, P180B, 7600GT) with the same purpose (general office, light video encoding/decoding, some 3D games, downloading,...). I used to change parts in the computer before, but never build a computer from scratch. Your article will be a great guide for me to follow. And I have some questions:

The PSU Antec Phantom does not get high recommendation for a good power supply. In the PSU Recommended List of SlientPreview, in the Fanless section, it only has 7/10 for quality, and 9-/10 on the quietness (most of the PSU on that section has full 9/10). And it's also expensive in the watt range too. Do you have any alternatives PSU that I can use?

Also, you said you change the DIMM, right? Do the new pair of DIMMs work well for you?

And if I don't need a TV tunner, can I remove the video chamber? As I recall, the GPU doesn't need much cooling.

Thanks in advance

I like the Phantom because, when paired with a seriously undervolted Nexus, it is completely inaudible (less than 20 dB). Nearly all the supplies recommended by SPCR have fans, and they typically run at about 23-25 dB under reasonable loads.

The early Phantoms had quality problems. Mine has been rock solid. Some people report whining noises under light load. Mine is silent.


Both sets worked fine. It's just that I overvolted the first set so aggressively that they failed after about 4 months. I chose Patriot over Corsair simply because they had a big rebate that day. Most of the top brands use the same Micron chips.


Depends on how you decide to cool the GPU. There are so many variants of 7600GT, I'd need more detail to give any advice. If you haven't bought it yet, consider getting one that uses a two-slot "silencer" HSF.

So the Phantom may not work for everybody? can you tell another PSU that works the same with your rig?


Any idea for one?

I haven't seen any recent complaints about the Phantom, but there were quite a few a year and a half ago. So maybe Antec has fixed all the issues. As I said, mine is rock solid and silent.

Some folks have chosen a Fotron fanless supply. I don't have any experience with that supply.


Nothing specific. Shop around on Newegg. They have nice photos of all their stuff. Avoid any single-slot cards, as they will scream like vaccuum cleaners when running 3D loads.

Chris, is there any way that I can contact you? IM? I have a lot of questions that need your help.

Click on the PM button at te bottom of any of my posts.

I really enjoyed this article. So much so, that I plan to "borrow" this build to replace my father's aging PIII machine. He didn't really give me a budget, but I think he'd settle for one under $2,000, including a monitor. He just wants me to convince him that the parts i'm choosing are picked out with good reason.

Here's what I have selected so far:

Black Antec P180b case
CORSAIR 520HX
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 CPU
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3
GeIL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (it's cas 4 and relatively inexpensive)
XFX GeForce 7950GT 512MB GDDR3 video card (fanless)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS
SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner Model SH-S182D
NEC floppy drive
Scythe SCNJ-1100P
creative sound card

Do these parts look good and most importantly quiet? Do you see any problems with this build? I only plan to o/c to 400 fsb, so that's why i got non micron ram.

I also plan to buy those yate loons at jab tech, are those ok? I'll probably get one of those Noctua to see if they live up to the hype. And you only used 4 fans? Would it be wise to put a fan in the top where you put your karma bay? And how about one for the exhaust of the ninja?

Okay from a quietness perspective, although I'm not familiar with that power supply. It's all about getting the fan speeds as low as possible.

I'd suggest a 6300 or 6600 instead of 6400; the 6600 has larger cache, and the 6300 is cheaper and can be equally overclocked.

You have a 50/50 chance of mounting the Ninja Rev B without some filing on a DS3. Try it and see.

Yate Loons are fine; you will need to undervolt them more than Nexus to get the same sound level, but that shouldn't be a problem.

The Kama Bay is in my system to provide filtered inlet air. There is no need for a fan there because the other fans are pulling air through the system. Similarly, there is no need for a rear case fan if the Ninja is ducted. That is, you need only one fan either upstream or downstream from a ducted Ninja, you don't need two fans in series.