New System

thommo1961 · Joined: 22 Dec 2005 Posts: 2 Location: Canberra Australia

Hi all,
Through a bit of luck I found SPCR a while ago in my pursuit of getting as much info as I could on building a quiet PC to replace my aging system (2.0G celeraon, integrated 845 video and a Antec Sonata). Thanks to all involved in the running of and contributing to SPCR.

After a lot of work I have just about finalised my new system and thought I would see what comments others have as my first post.

The parameters are:
I have calculated I need a shade over 360W to run the system at peak load. (I am pretty sure the load will frequently be around 220) I used a calculater linked to one of the posts on the site).

A 6800GS will meet my graphics needs (any less I will probably regret)
AMD 3200 or better
NF4U
1G RAM
1 x 160G - 7200
1 x 250G - 7200
DVD Rom
DVD RW
lots of usb and IEEE intefaces
dual network interfaces etc

and a few bucks here and there doesn't matter if I get a quieter outcome (quiet wise) and minor variations in performance won't matter thus I have no real interest in overclocking. The machines main use is for moderate gaming (not networked), office suite, and burning movies and recording music (vinyl to cd)

My first choice in a case was the P180 with a Phantom 500 but after seeing the reports of slight case issues (the warping/bent doors) I went away from it because that would tick me off big time. Also if the phantom noise level ramps up then what's the point and I might as well go to a "fanned" solution. I also hate messy layouts so would want good cable length from the PSU.

Thus I have settled on the P150 with the Neo HE which then excluded the ASUS and ABIT (i think Abit has been included in the many discussion around the place) NF4U boards.

Heatsinks will be via a blue Zalman chipset cooler and the XP-90. I would like a passive solution for the GS6800 but don't think there is one so it will be an Artic Cooler unless anyone points me in a different direction.

So the board choice is primarily driven by, not asus not abit with good clearence around the chipset/CPU and PCIex16 slot. This leads me to the MSI boards, ECS extreme and DFI's. everything else looks a bit tight, in terms of physical space and airflow, around the graphics slot esp if a passive solution emerges with big heatsinks/pipes.

So does anyone have a view on any of the possible graphic card/board/cooler combinations and any traps?

I have enough info to finalise the drives etc.

I would also appreciate if anyone can refer me to infomation about on board and external audio capability as I want to get the good performance I can on the recording side, playbacks not a big deal. Basically im' not sure if there is any meangiful difference in the various onboard audio solutions.

thanks in advance Smile

jackylman · Joined: 22 May 2005 Posts: 783 Location: Pennsylvania, USA

First off, if you want this system to last, get 2GB of RAM.

I'm pretty happy with my EPoX 9npa+ultra. There's plenty of room around the chipset and I think it meets your other criteria. The XP-90 works very well. You can put a 120mm fan on it (one clip holds nicely) and the larger fan will cool the capacitors and MOSFET's around the CPU as well. It supports 6 USB and 2 Firewire out of the box, with expansion to 10 USB possible. Gigabyte NF4Ultra might be a good alternative too.

6800GS is a nice choice for your graphics card. Good bang for the buck right now.

stupid · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 544 Location: NYC, NY

jackylman · Joined: 22 May 2005 Posts: 783 Location: Pennsylvania, USA

stupid · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 544 Location: NYC, NY

Elixer · Joined: 02 Jun 2004 Posts: 520 Location: Las Cruces, NM

He said if he wants the system to last. I just think about these old pentium 3 machines around that have 64MB of ram. If you put that up to 512 (or even 256) they can run most current apps people need them for. In their current state however they are incredibly slow running almost any current software. Memory use has increased dramitically over the years, and I for one don't expect the trend to end. Putting 2GB of ram in the machine is a good future proof for future software. I do agree that 2GB is excessive for most current apps, so maybe go with a 1GB and plan for more later?

ozdoc · Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 138 Location: Perth, Australia

Thommo
It seems like your case choice has taken precedence over the internal components. (ie. P150 => neo => no ASUS / ABIT => ?what now).

As I see it, a couple of choices..
1. Go the 150 anyway and see what happens. (There are some antedotal reports of P150s in Australia working just fine with ASUS).
2. If not, go the 150, grab a seasonic 430 from PCCaseGear, and use whatever MB you desire. Ditch the Neo on ebay.
3. Work from the inside out. Choose the quietest and most functional internal components that suit your needs, then find the case to suit this. Who knows, perhaps your existing sonata case will suffice until the P150 comes on the market without a PSU..

I wouldn't worry too much about the 1GB vs 2 GB issue. That's probably one of the cheapest components of your system, and can add at any time.

Finally,
Seriously consider dual core. Opteron. Mmmm. Smile

spolitta · Joined: 13 Oct 2005 Posts: 317 Location: Earth

thommo1961 · Joined: 22 Dec 2005 Posts: 2 Location: Canberra Australia

Thanks for all the input so far. Hope you all had a good christmas.

(I don't know how to make the quotes work yet so excuse me Smile

)

On the 1G vs 2G RAM - I'll be sticking in the 1G and as soon as I hit an issue I'll throw more at it. That's the easy part on the build. I usually ditch a machine off to a community group every couple of years and they only use them for basic apps anyway.

Jackylman - thanks for the comment on the boards, further investigation tells me I probably want a mb with the NB on the CPU side of the PCIe otherwise the length of the grapics board interfears with any passive coolers with a bit of height, So the EPOX 9npa+ultra, ECS and Aopen nCK804Ua-LFS all fit the bill. I thought of a Gigabyte passive board but there is some issue fitting an XP90 due to Giga's unique CPU retention.

ozdoc - yeah I thought of that approach ie go with the P150 and the asus but I the possible slight improvement in the features/performance doesn't (in my mind) make the possible hassle of buying and selling varous PSU's worthwhile. (I actually wondered if the higher mains voltage in Australia made a difference to the NeoHE problem)

spolitta -
I wouldn't call it serious in times of being a music buff. But I do have 550 vinyl albums that I want to convert to cd. So I if I can get significant improvement on recording quality over that offered by the onboard audio for a few hundred bucks it is worth it.

Thanks again for taking the time to post. Very Happy

Bluefront · Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 5:00 am Post subject:

FWIW.....I sure would not let that dumb Antec PSU, limit my choice of mother-boards. There are so many PSUs available that work with all boards, I'd pick the board first, then the PSU.

Building a system from scratch requires a bunch of choices.....I usually pick an airflow design, and choose parts around it.
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