I just finished building a system and I wanted to share it with you and hope for your feedback. This PC is specifically designed to be my research workstation. I wanted it to be relatively modern, fast, stable, cool, and, most importantly, quiet. My research is primarily in the acoustics of speech and hearing. I was really tired of the constant drone of workstations in our labs. At home, I really wanted to have the piece and quiet I need to work.

I followed some of the guidelines I found here at SPCR, and I wanted to thank you all for your invaluable contributions. I learned a lot from you guys!

I chose the Antec P183 case, which obviously everyone around here knows really well. I found the case to be beautifully built, and, indeed, quiet by design. However, I wish there were more room behind the motherboard tray for cable management. I struggled trying to route all of the cables neatly. I went with the CP-850 power supply. It is truly awesome. Very quiet and efficient. Impressive. Still, I wish it were fully modular. I removed the top fan and closed off the vent with a piece of acrylic and a fan rubber gasket (my only “mod”). I mounted one of my intake fans on the upper HDD cage.

For cooling and noise reduction, I am relying on the Intel DP67BG board. I am using PWM fans exclusively and I set up fan and temperature control in the BIOS. I have absolutely no need for any additional fan control. The motherboard is doing a fantastic job keeping the system cool and quiet.

I replaced the original GTX460 heatsink with the Thermalright Shaman VGA cooler and the 140mm PWM fan (amazing fan!). For my CPU cooler, I am using the Thermalright HR-02, with a Scythe fan (unfortunately, the Thermalright 140mm didn’t fit). Both coolers are fantastic.

So, overall, it is a rather boring system. No bells and whistles, no mods, no overclocking. However, I think I achieved my goal as the system (even at full load) never goes above the noise floor of my office. I cannot hear it from one meter away either. So, for all practical purposes, it is silent. The temperatures of the CPU and GPU never go above 60 C at full load, so I see no need to increase fan speeds in the BIOS at this point.

Once again, thanks for your help. I’ve been lurking here for a while.

Here are detailed specs:
Intel 2600K CPU, Intel DP67BG motherboard, 12 GB Kingston DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA GTX460 video card, Thermalright Shaman VGA cooler, Thermalright HR-02 CPU cooler, three Scythe SY1225SL12LM-P 120mm fans, one Gelid PWM 120mm fan, Antec P183 case, Antec CP-850 PSU, OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB SSD, Samsung EcoGreen F4 2TB and WD Caviar Green 2 TB hard drives (both quiet), Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, Matlab, Adobe CS5 suite, some custom software of my own.

Beautiful!

Thanks! I tried my best. By the way, here are my fan speeds. They're set rather low in the BIOS, at 25% of their range, to start with, then they obviously increase if need be. I find that such low speeds are perfectly adequate for most of my work. It's only when I run some specific CUDA-intensive code that they ramp up their speeds, but remain quiet.

I wouldn't call this boring I would call this clean build no ghetto hacks or mickey mouse mods this how a computer should look. Neat,clean and to the point.

Yep, that`s what I though when I saw this too. Not boring at all.

Judging from the fan speeds it must be a very quiet build. Are you able to make out any disk drive noise?

Thanks. I think that both the Samsung EcoGreen F4 and the WD Caviar Green are very quiet, especially with the rubber grommets that the Antec HDD suspension system comes with. I just tried copying an ISO of a DVD over, and I couldn't here the process. My office is very quiet. I am, like many folks here, a bit obsessed with quietness . I sit about 1 meter away from the PC, which sits below, on my left, and it is silent enough that I can't hear it.

In my old system, the video card and the PSU were the loudest components. I decided to start from scratch this time and build a system around the Antec P183 case. I did a fair amount of obsessing about which case to buy, but settled on the Antec. It works very well for my smallish system.

This case is like that, a bit boring but functional. The parts inside makes it come alive.
It's really nice when fans can go down that low at times when the system isn't working hard, and that even Intel motherboards has such controls today.

Very nice and clean build! If only the case was black on the inside as well.

Very nice build Quite impressed the Intel board can control that many PWM fans!

Thanks! I researched this quite a bit, trying to find a motherboard with good PWM support. Sadly, most motherboards still include 3-pin case fan headers, except maybe the CPU fan. Some high-end models, I believe, including EVGA and an AMD board from Asus (e.g., Crosshair V), do, but most don't. I do like the Intel board. I have had used Intel boards in three consecutive builds, and have had very few problems. Also, I found their customer support to be very good.

Very nice, i'm trying to build something like that
what can you say about noise level of Zalman CNPS10X Performa for i5-2500k cooling
and what gtx560 ti model do you recommend to have low noise cooling (i'm considering Gainward GTX 560 Ti Phantom)
thanks

I'll add my "Well done" to this thread! Cheers for posting your setup... has given me a few things to think about.

Akustyk -

Thanks for sharing your build. Outstanding! I love the simple, clean precision of your work. I came across your post and immediately told myself this is exactly what I'm looking to build. I have a few questions for you if you don't mind . . .

1. HDD & SSD Placement: Since the upper HDD cage is blocked by the fan (which is where the SSD caddies normally reside), where did you end up putting your SSD and how did you mount it? I assume your conventional HDDs are in the lower HDD cage.

2. FAN Placement: In your post you said you used 3 Scythe 120mm fans, a Gelid 120mm fan, and a Thermalright 140mm. From the picture I think your fan placement is:

Exhaust - Gelid 120mm (I think)
CPU Cooler - Scythe 120mm
Upper HDD Cage Intake - Scythe 120mm
GPU Card - Thermalright 140mm

If that's correct . . . where's the 3rd Scythe? If you did use the Gelid for the exhaust why? Because it's range is from 750 to 1500 rpm?

3. PWM Bios Settings: Would you mind sharing your BIOS fan settings for the DP67BG?

4. CASE Mod: I assume you ditched the original Antec fans because their not PWM fans. I that a correct assumption? Was the decision to remove the top exhaust fan a cooling/air flow one or a silencing one? By the way I like the "Sun Roof" effect of the clear acrylic you used.

5. CPU Coolers: Did you consider any other coolers besides the Thermalright - H02? And with respect to the H02 what's with the pressure adjustment plate? I read about that and just can't get the image out of mind of crushing the CPU in a vice. I noticed they don't include it with the H02-Macho (which also includes the Thermalright 140mm fan that won't fit in the build). For my build I'll likely go with the original H02 like you did because the "Macho" version isn't in stock anywhere. I don't want to delay my build weeks just to save about $30. Luckily I live about 10 miles from the frozencpu warehouse and can drive over and get what I need if it's in stock.

Thanks for indulging me. And again, a very polished and overall terrific build. Your attention to the details -- both big and little -- clearly shows.

Thanks so much. I'd be happy to answer your questions.
1. My SSD is the 3.5-inch variety from OCZ, so it is mounted in the bottom HDD cage, along with two 2TB hard drives. If I had a 2.5-inch SSD, I would probably put it in the 3.5-inch bay, maybe in a hot-swap bay rack. I've seen a really decent one from Icy Dock, I think.

2. You're correct about the fans! Yes, I chose the Gelid because of the slightly higher RPM range, and I also just happened to have it from an older build, and it comes with a nicely sleeved cord. The third Scythe fan is in the front of the bottom hard drive bay, as an intake. It actually does provide decent cooling for the hard drives, too.

3. Here are my BIOS settings. The photo shows CPU fan settings. The other settings have a higher Min Duty Cycle of 30%


4. Yes, I did want all fans to be PWM. I blocked off the top to not have to use a top fan, as a noise reduction strategy. I also read positive reports of people who measured airflow with and without the top fan. It seems that the top fan doesn't really add anything. Thanks for the sunlight comment. The acrylic does look nice. I put a rubber gasket on it to further reduce noise leakage.

5. Yes, I also considered the Macho but couldn't find it in stock. The mounting plate is quite good. I only turned it slightly not to exert too much pressure on the chip. I have considered other fans, such as the Noctua NH-D14 and the Silver Arrow, but wanted a heatsink that would be good with only one low RPM fan. I really wanted to use it with the TY-140, but it just doesn't fit. The Scythe does a good enough job. The only negative about this heatsink is the fan mounting brackets that are somewhat flimsy.

I am still debating whether to put acoustic foam on the side panels and the roof. I know it will help a little bit, but the right panel just barely closes because my cables are routed through the back. So adding another 4-6mm of foam might be problematic. Here's a picture of my cable management:



Thanks again for your comments!

I'm curious why you put an intake fan on the upper HD cage, instead of on the intake fan mount in front.

I'm also curious whether you're using the intake fan slat-cover-things, which always seemed like a really strange feature of the P180 to me.

Great questions. Thanks. I put the fan on the upper HDD cage for two reasons: (1) to provide slightly more direct airflow for the video card, and (2) to move the fan away from the front for just a little bit of more noise reduction. No, I did not remove the front fan covers. They're the removable air filters that you're talking about, right? The Antec case is a bit of a quirky case. I agree. I hesitated between the P183 and the Fractal R3, but finally went for the Antec.

Ah, Antec changed the intake filters for the P183 to something more reasonable. Here's what the original P180 intake looked like:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article249-page2.html

In any case, I'd guess that the noise difference between the two intake fan locations was very subtle, with the fans at the speeds you're running!

Wow! They did change it for something useful. Yes, the differences are very subtle, indeed. I am really impressed with the Thermalright TY-140 PWM fans. They move a fair bit of air, but are silent at speeds around 800 RPM or so.

Nice and clean good job !

Thanks for the good information. This is my first build from scratch. For years though, I've been upgrading and replacing parts.


Ah. The mystery is solved but raises more questions. The DP67BG only has 4 fan headers. How did you handle the 5th fan? Did you split a header or are you just letting it run at full speed? If you split a header I'm assuming you "paired" the two intakes. How did you do that?

In my build I'm not sure if I'll do one or two intake fans. My video needs are extremely modest. As a result, I've gone with a passively cooled Asus GeForce GT430. If I go with two fans I'll mimic your set-up. If I choose to do only one fan, I'd likely go with one mounted on the upper HDD cage to blow on the passively cooled card. Any thoughts on the number of fans?


Thanks for sharing. But I'm a little confused -- your CPU fan setting has a Min Duty Cycle of 30% as well. What am I missing here? Did you mean that the other fans have settings for Min Duty Cycle higher THAN 30%? This will be the first time I've used PWM fans so I'm not quite sure how to go about choosing the appropriate settings. The manual for the DP67BG didn't have much to say about it.


I read somewhere that the H-02 and the H-02 Macho are supply constrained through at least the early part of September. I couldn't find the Macho anywhere. frozencpu told me that they won't have any for about 3 weeks. I finally did track down an H-02 like you have and ordered it today. I had thought of temporarily using the stock cooler and waiting for the Macho but I have a narrow window of "free" time and wanted to get my system built.


You need a tag line for your builds . . . "The relentless pursuit of silence . . . " Personally foams make me nervous. I purchased some high end audio speakers years back that made extensive use of acoustic foams. Fast forward to today and the foams that were used are very dry and crumble if touched. They've lost all resilience and softness. I can't seem to get that out of my mind when I read about using foams inside cases. Now I know that's not likely to happen within the lifespan of a case/system but . . . I can't get the image out of my head.


Thanks for the peek behind the curtain. Very tidy. I see what you mean about wishing the CP-850 was modular. I was torn between the CP-850 and the Seasonic x-560. I went with the CP-850 because of the great reviews and it was on sale making it about $30 less than the Seasonic.

In looking at your pictures again, I noticed that your memory looks like it's silver colored. Is that Kingston Value Ram?

Thanks for your help. My parts should be here by Thursday. My Labor Day Weekend project is to get this system built and running.

It's nice to exchange information about our builds. Thanks for the opportunity!



Yes, 4 fan headers. I used a Gelid PWM fan Y-cable. There's enough power in a header to power two fans easily. So I connected two intake fans to one header with the splitter. I think that the fan mounted on the upper HDD cage will provide some needed airflow for your video card. I wouldn't worry about the card overheating. It's a good card; I've seen it used in silent systems before.



Yes, I set the Min value slightly lower for the CPU after my tests confirmed that it ran cool enough at low fan speeds. I needed higher speeds for the exhaust fan, hence the Gelid.



I like the HR-02 very much. The asymmetric design fits perfectly in my case. It doesn't obstruct the memory modules, even with the fan mounted.



Agreed. I don't like the foam that much either. I have also seen some bad applications of it before. The P183 is really solid and has good sound-proofing. I've recently built a system based on the Lian Li PC-A05N case, and this little aluminum thing is gorgeous, but it has a tendency to rattle and resonate. It's more difficult to build a silent system around it than the P183.



I was considering the Seasonic, too! The CP-850 is truly fantastic to work with. The cables are long enough for the case, so there's not need for extensions. The only cable I don't need is a 4-pin ATX 12V connector, but I tucked it underneath the PSU (there's a bit of room there). I wish I could have skipped the Molex cable because I am only using it to power my DVD drive. I wish I could have made my own cable, instead.

I think you made the right choice with the CP-850. It is cool and quiet.



My pleasure. Enjoy your build and please do share your thoughts afterwards!

Sorry, forgot to mention that the RAM is Kingston HyperX Grey Series 4 x 4 GB sticks. I like their neutral look.

Nice clean build.

Just wondering, im interested on those tie anchors you used on the back for the cable management, do you have a link for the big ones?

I'm not sure where Akustyk bought them but you can get them at FrozenCPU here:

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g2/c34/s487/list/p1/Cables-Wire_Management-Tie_Mounts-Page1.html

They are called tie mounts. Also if you're in the US and live near a Home Depot, they carry them in the electrical department (at least they used to - I haven't looked in awhile).

Man, you think like I do! It's a great look. The inside of your build looks so great it's a shame to cover it up.

Good information. That Y-cable gets good reviews at Newegg. If I go with 2 intake fans I won't have to split because I'm using a passive GPU. I drove over to FrozenCPU today and picked up a Gelid (for exhaust) and two of the Scythe (one for the Thermalright H-02 and the other for intake). Since I don't have a high-end, high heat generating GPU, I'm going to go with a single intake for the time being and see how that works out. The CP-850 PSU will (??) create a small amount of airflow across my HDD so I'm thinking that it will stay happy and cool. We'll see.



I'll definitely share my thoughts. The waiting for components is the hard part!

Black inside case is major pain in the ass because companies lack to clear coat it and it always scratches to hell. No idea why people are always asking conpanies to do this.

Thanks! Yes, you can get them from a cable organizer provider (there are a couple big ones on the Web) or from FrozenCPU. I even saw them at my local MicroCenter and an Ace hardware store, though they were only available in white. I've found that the 1" square tie mounts adhere the best.

I have seen several modding services that offer painting and powder coating. I think it is a look at many people must like or else these services wouldn't be so popular. I think that it is very much a matter of taste. One thing about the interior of the P183 is that it doesn't scratch easily and it's easy to clean, including finger prints. I recently built a system inside a Lian Li PC-A05NB (beautiful case) and handled it with anti-static gloves because it really attracts finger prints and scratches very easily.

The Antec P183 has really grown on me. I wasn't too sure about this multi-chamber design, and the HDD mounting system, but it is perfectly functional. The case is very solid, it does not rattle, does not resonate easily. The side panels have excellent sound-proofing properties. The only thing I'd change is add more room behind the motherboard tray for routing cables.

I think that the Zalman should be fine, at least at stock CPU speeds. As far as the GTX560 TI, I would get the Shaman if it is compatible. It is currently the best silent GPU cooler on the market.

Sorry to respond so late!