here is my current idea for a system, this will be my first build.


Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400
THERMALRIGHT XP-90 Heatsink
ZALMAN ZM-NB47J Aluminium NorthBridge Chipset Cooler
2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive (NCQ) in RAID 1 (for paranoia)
SEASONIC S12-380 ATX12V 330W Power Supply
ASUS Radeon X300SE 128MB DDR PCI-Express x16 Video Card
MITSUMI FA404A/404M 8-in-1 USB2.0 Digital Card Reader/Writer W/FD internal
CREATIVE Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS 70SB035000000 8 (7.1)
nexus 92mm fan (to go with the xp-90)


thanks go in large part to m0002a and sthayashi for help in coming up with this.

Let me know what everybody thinks! Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

-capleton



SPCR is AWESOME

Not bad, actually it looks pretty good. Since your looking at a silent "budget" pc, any of the the well-known memory brand ram will do (unless you plan on overclocking of course). You might want to look into getting perhaps the XP-120 and let the cpu passively cool (or allows you to overclock even more). However, this all depends on what you want your system to do. Overall, it looks like a very good system as long as you don't plan on playing very many 3D games.

There seems to be a price war going on for the Corsair 1 GB (2 x 512) PC 3200 ValueSelect Ram. NewEgg has it for $84.73 on 4/26/2005 1-day sale with free shipping.
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6820145440
Other sites have similar prices.

i think i'd go for maxtor diamondmax plus 10's instead of the seagates. PC Pro did a batch review a couple of months ago and their tests support the general comments around here, the plus 10's were nearly as quiet as samsungs and a lot quieter than seagates.

I read over at hexus.net that the maxtor 10s weren't that quiet

THG did a test of the Diamond 10 and seemed pleased with what they found, but they did comment that out of the HDDs they tested it against, the baracuda 8 from seagate was the quietest. At least i remember a caption something along those lines.

My 2c....You'll get tired of looking at that Antec case very quickly. Quiet? Yeah but....the design is dated, blah looking. You put a lot of effort into a new system. There are plenty of cases that look better, and probably just as quiet.

I think i'm going to buy a silverstone TJ-04 later today, stunning case! Have a look at it, stylish and just screams quality

maxtor 10 -- a 300G sample is pretty quiet, nearly as quiet as a Samsung, but it vibrates more than any other drive in the lab -- more than a dozen drives being carefully examined fora complete overhaul of the recommended HDD article. Impossible to know if this is typical, but the sample came directly from Maxtor. No way I'd use this in any PC without the best suspension method. Hard mounted, even in a sturdy steel case, the hum and buzzing caused by this thing would drive you batty.

bluefront, what do you recommend as a good silent case?

ive been looking at the tj05 with the temp and fan control; i would try to tamptek it too, just seems like a lot of $. Anybody have experience with this case? without damptek? Im not even sure that the kit would fit into the case as it is supposed to be larger than most atxs.

for hds, i like the 5year warranty on the seagates, and even if they are somwhat louder (in a suspended scenerio compared to the maxtors) i think i may get smart drive coppers eventually for them (if the sound is that annoying).


thanks for all the input

-capleton



SPCR is the best thing to happen to computers

oops, my bad, my mind is shot right now sorry, i had meant the coolermaster wavemaster, same questions apply about tamptek (expecially b/c its alluminum)

my main concern as far as cases go, is to have a front door covering the 5inch drive bays since the drive and the removeable hd im going to put in are that old-school beige color.

If you go with that one you will be very sorry in no time!
A year ago I spent $160 on that piece of crap for my P4 3.00c ghz and Gigabyte 8knxp... and it didn't take me long to realize how stupid that case was!
Loud like hell... almost whistling like a train...
I picked that case based on some flawed /paid for (i wouldn't be surprised!) reviews.
Anyway a week ago after I put together another Pc using AMD 64 and Antec 3700 BQE; I decided to replace that piece of CRAP of Coolermaster with an Antec 3700 also.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Antec look; be it a 3700 or a 3000.
It is the Wavemaster wich in my opinion, looks like Donald Trump's hair...

awesome, thanks. so aside from a couple small quibles, this seems like a solid system to everybody?

-capleton

alright then, im gonna wait for my next paycheck in a couple weeks, then its ordering time. ill let yall know how it goes

Let's discuss our case a little more. The 3000B has a left side tube/vents for CPU and video that are required as an air inlet for P4's (according to new Intel specs for cases). With a fairly cool running AMD64, the tube/vent are probably not needed and some people say they let too much noise out, even if they bring fresh air in.

What I did is to buy a 3700 BQE and sell the PSU on eBay for $25.00 (someone snapped it up right away at that buy-it-now price--I also threw in the Antec Case Fan). Some don't like the BQE drive mounting cage (they say it restricts air flow too much) but it works well with this mounting technique:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=10450

The other option is cover up the side vents on the 3000B if they let too much noise out.

Just some things to consider. Everything else is well accepted on this forum.

I was pleasantly surprised with mine... because both items work flawlessly and silently... sofar!
The fan can be slightly heard trashing air at a distance of 6" or less...
Maybe, because my system is not that loaded... No Graphic card (using Onboard Graphics).

I thought the BQE PSU would be easier to sell as new rather then used, so I didn't even want to try it.