Well, I built the system and I'm happy to say it is very quiet. The only fan running is the PSU fan.
Details:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e
Gigabyte GA-MA740GM-S2
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4
Silverstone NT06-Lite heatsink
Silverstone ST50EF-Plus-SC (Short Cable)
Western Digital WD3200AAKS
The case is very nice appearance-wise. Steel construction is nice. Not quite as sturdy as an Antec case.
Pros:
- Appearance
- Steel construction
- ST50EF-Plus-SC short cables (but also means this PSU can't be transferred to many other cases)
- Using PSU fan to cool CPU works well for me
Cons:
- SG01-F motherboard stand-offs didn't line up along right side
- SG01-F ground wire not connected (where does this go???)
- SG01-F expansion slot shields rattle when bumped, but don't seem to be a problem with the system running
- ST50EF-Plus-SC only had one cable with two SATA power connectors and did not include any adapters
- NT06-Lite had to be bent to fit (pipes hit memory)
I can hear the WD3200AAKS if I put my ear up to the side of the case. This is my first Western Digital drive in ages, and I'm happy so far. Despite the SG01-F not having rubber HDD insulators/grommets, I don't notice any HDD vibration transferring through the case. The mounting mechanism isn't totally direct though, so this may be helping.
Coming from an Asus M2A-VM, I'm definitely more impressed with the Gigabyte GA-MA740GM-S2 in every way.
I still really like the NSK3480, and I hope Antec is able to improve it somehow. When I build another system, I think I'd go the NSK3480 route again to try a few things I wasn't able to last time.
Anyway, good work Silverstone, and Antec! These are definitely the first two cases that I've really been happy with building, using, and transporting.
