Well boy do I suck, it was actually a piece of cake to remove the fan, I just didn't notice the small slits I had to poke, and then the other bits just slid off. Easy. I'm dense. The PSU will probably have one hard drive down there, though I can always put that in the upper chamber, but with the 487...

Alas, I went with the P182 and have run into a snag... I also went with a Zalman ZM1000-HP, and the P182 has a fan in the lower chamber I didn't know about which stops the PSU from fitting. I chose the PSU because it's efficient, quiet (quietest reviewed by SPCR), and supplies all the power I'll eve...

I thought the ZM-600 wasn't part of the HP range?

EDIT: My bad, it clearly is. I think I'll just play safe and invest the additional money in the 1000 then.

In that case I'll probably go with the ZM 750-HP, since I assume it should, pretty much, share the same characteristics as the ZM 1000-HP, while being cheaper and providing all the power I need.

Thanks all.

OK, so really the rating represents maximum draw, while the effeciency is how much it will cost me to run over time. So an 80% efficient 750 power supply is cheaper to run than a 70% 650 PSU, approximately.

I've been steered towards the P182 as an alternative to the SOLO and as I'm someone looking to do minimal work on the case itself this looks like a good choice. I looked at your PSU and certainly it looks to be a solid choice. I was surprised that, with the noise coming in as low as it does, that it...

In case you'll be able to get aftermarket cooling for the 4870X2, you need a case with very good airflow. IMO the P182 wouldn't be much better than the Solo, I'd say go with the Mini P180 and a uATX motherboard. The Mini P180 has a top 200 mm fan, SPCR review here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/art...

I prefer to get as much work done up front as possible. I may find an after-market solution for the GPU (no doubt they'll be along), and as the case fan will be linked to the CPU it's entirely possible I'll perform a task which puts strains on the outtake without calling on the GPU and thus it may b...

I'm told the ATI HD 4870 X2 doesn't fit the solo without cutting into the drive bay, and I'll probably only stabbing myself in the eye or something. So, that means I need to venture off this incredibly well trodden path and look for another case... and I have no idea since the SOLO is so widely used...

I didn't know it didn't fit the Solo. That's... a pain.

Thanks.

I came here a few months ago to ask this question but then put the build on hold until the HD X4870 X2 became available to the UK. My build looks as follows: Antec Solo case problably with replaced outtake fan Core 2 Duo 3.33Ghz 45nm w/ HR-01 PLUS using 120mm duct to outtake fan 2x 4GB RAM ATI HD 48...

I'm putting together a build with noise being a consideration for the first time ever. I'm not obsessive over it, I'd just like to keep it down where possible. My build looks as follows: Antec Solo case Core 2 Duo 3.33Ghz 45nm w/ HR-01 PLUS using 120mm duct to outtake fan 2x 4GB RAM ATI HD 4870X2 - ...

Are there any front runners or is it a bit of a lucky dip?

I use Vista, every time I type into the Start Menu I'm doing a search. Indexing is a big thing in Vista, though the performance is partially addressed by low priority IO, I was wondering if anyone had figures on the benefits and downsides.

But how do drives handle this? Do the apps request a certain speed, so I play a DVD in Windows Media Centre and it says "Low speed, please." or does the DVD drive firmware handle it?

Likewise, is there any meaningful difference between the noise of slot and tray solutions?

Hopefully you can clarify this for me. What is something like 3dBA is the world of PC sound? The problem is I see these numbers and don't have a base to judge whether they represent a lot or nothing. Are they pounds or pence? Dollars or cents? etc.

I'm contemplating how many drives to put into my Antec SOLO (which I believe has suspension for three drives), one or two. I'm considering a second because Vista likes to index personal data, and I see some benefits of splitting the data it's going to want to index off from the drives housing everyt...

These days there are only three scenarios where I see optical drive access occuring 1. Installing. 2. Watching DVD. 3. Burning. The first isn't important in terms of noise since the idea with an install is to get it over and done with. The third you can control the speed of the burner in any good ap...

I suspect StorageReview.com will also have some data on this subject. Mentioning the Samsung F1 got a reasonable endorsement at ArsTechnica.

Thanks, so I'll probably go for the HR-01 PLUS, since I don't think my preferred supplier even provides the base model, and I prefer the peace of mind from a better design than saving a few quid. I'll probably wait for the 4870X2 to come out and use that, since I can't bring myself to suffer the pai...

I think the HR-01 comes with a duct so the case exhaust fan sucks through it removing the need for a fan directly on the heatsink. The E8500 is a pretty cool CPU (as long as not over-clocking) so no problems there. What's the difference between the HR-01, HR-01 PLUS and HR-01 X? http://www.thermalr...

widowmaker wrote:What operating system are you using? What could you possibly do with 8gb ram?

Windows Vista 64-bit.

You have also missed one vital component to your PC - the screen, this is simply put: The MOST important component of your PC. Andy IMO the keyboard is the most important component, followed by the mouse followed by the screen. Since the screen isn't related to the quietness of the machine, nor the...

Won't that increase noise??

How does the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtremestack up against the HR-01? I've seen several recommendations for the former, but I can't tell what the difference would be in the real-world, except the former appears to have a fan recommended where as the later does not. The build is beginning to come to...

I'm looking for recommendations for a 4870 cooler, but not in a void, something that will work with the rest of the from scratch build. * Intel Core 2 Duo, E8500, S775, 3.16 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, OEM. * ATI - Radeon HD4870 - PCI-E * 8GB RAM * Asus Xonar DX sound card * Samsun F1 1TB hard drive * ...

Well obviously the SOLO has the 120mm outtake fan (do I need to replace this, or is it quiet enough?) The CPU was going to be passive with an HR-01 if I could get away with it. The GPU an HR-03 with 92mm. A passive PSU. Motherboard with heatpipes, as appears to be all the rage on P45 motherboards. P...

2. SuperFetch in Vista pre-emptively caches information, so the more RAM the more it can cache and the faster my load times, and since hard-drives are still one of the slowest components in any PC, that's a good thing. I’m curious to see how much RAM Vista will utilise when you have 8GB installed...

P45 uses PCI-E 2.0 which doubles the data rate of PCI-E. So, two 8x lanes of PCI-E 2.0 (as available on P45 boards) is actually equivalent to two 16x lanes of PCI-E 1.1. So you're not missing out on anything! Good to know, thanks! Going quad over dual essentially doubles your heat output. You'd hav...

OK, so I'm going with the dual core and 8GB of DDR2 1066 memory at 5-5-5-15. Wy would you want to waste your money on 8GB of RAM when nothing out there gets a benefit from the jump between 3GB and 4GB, its a waste of money. 1. RAM is dirt cheap, doubling the RAM costs me almost nothing. 2. SuperFet...