Hi all,

About a year ago I built a PC that was meant to be silent in a small form factor case.

It was actually based on this very system from an article in SPCR

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Anitec_SilenT3_PC

Well, it overheated, so now I am going to build a new PC....

I am salvaging bits from the SFF pc, the bits are

Sythe Shuriken heatsink
RAM
HDD
DDR 2 RAM
Fanless Graphics card (I believe this caused the system to overheat)

The CPU I currently am using in the SFF system is a AMD Athlon 64 5050e 45W.

For the new build I am going to get a CPU and motherboard.

I am going for the Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... id=3447#ov

as this takes DDR2, has firewire and is mATX.

My questions are:

If I get a AMD Athlon X2 260 3.2 GHz, 65W..... if I use the Scythe Shuriken will I still get a really low RPM fan speed (800 rpm) that I got with the 45W CPU, and will it be cool still?

Also the motherboard is AM2+ DDR2, will the AMD Athlon X2 260 work fine with this?

Thanks for help

It always comes down to airflow in your case. For example i was able to keep the Athlon II X4 620 undervolted to 1.12V relatively cool with a passive Ninja 2 and 2 slow running fans (Noiseblocker Multiframe, the 850RPM version regulated down to ~500RPM).

X2 260 Works fine in AM2+ boards, it's other way around which doesn't work (AM2 only CPU in AM3 board, as the CPU lacks the DDR3 memory controller).

Yeah I thought it would be about airflow. Im building the new system into my older mATX case which has a 92mm fan on the back. I am thinking of the following set up in terms of air movement:

Scythe Shuriken (hopefully mostly on 800 rpm), with 65W CPU
Nexus RX-630 PSU - This is a pretty slow fan
Noctua 92mm fan, with ULV adapter, 800 rpm I think

I will then put my fanless Sapphire HD 4670 ultimate back in.

Does this sound feasible with the setup outlined?

Is there a better 92mm fan? 120mm would be nice but I would have to buy a new case.

Depending on the case, you may need a front fan to give airflow to the passive video card.

I have the same Gigabyte motherboard and its "Smart fan" controller sucks, spinning the fans way to fast, and I couldn't get it to work with SpeedFan. So plan on something elseto control your fans.

I've just upgraded to an AMD 260 - it is fitted in an AM2+ Gigabyte GA-MA78G-S2H.

It's cooled with a Xigmatek hdt-s1283 (gross overkill, but hey) and a Yate Loon D12SL-12 fan running on a fixed 5 volts, which gives roughly 600rpm. This is ducted out of the back of the case, and acts as the only case fan as well. The case is free-flowing and the PSU has a separate air path which cools the HDD.

The CPU runs at ~30C, despite the fact that Cool'n'Quiet isn't working yet (as I haven't updated my BIOS, so the motherboard doesn't recognise the new CPU). This is about the same temperature as, if not cooler than, the 45w rated 1.9GHz Sempron that I had in the computer previously.

The only issue is the northbridge temperature of about 75-80C - which is a widely reported issue with this board.

I'm not sure about the graphics card (I use the onboard graphics), but as long as you have a fairly free-flowing setup then I wouldn't expect any issues from the CPU overheating.

What matx case do you have that it cools the HD? I'd be interested in seeing a pic and some more stats on temps/ power usage etc, if you don't mind.

My Gigabyte 785G board also runs hot, temps idle well in the 50's... Maybe reseating the NB/SB heatsink with new TIM would help?