Thanks for all the pictures.

See my photography at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29229060@N04/

I think the answer to Mike's question, are we better served by quiet gear, is "within reason". As far as the quiet computer thing goes, my machine is quiet enough for me to hear the hum from my monitor. OTOH, the heating and AC system in parts of the house is loud. In retrospect, I wonder if some of...

Congratulations. That is one fancy way to hide a computer. Best in show looks like it is set up for Liquid N2 cooling.

Photo updated.

Its not margarita-ish, its a blue margarita.

Updated the photo to show post front panel replacement cabling. I found an article on Tom's Hardware where they set up the CPU at 180 Bclk, 1.2 Vcore 20X, Turbo off. For the first time since dispatching the stock settings, the CPU drops its multiplier to 9X at idle, using only 3 watts (according to ...

The side panel duct is not in the right place for all motherboards. In particular, all of the new socket 1156 mobos have the cpu socket further away and towards the bottom of the case than the location of the side panel duct, even if you are using a stock or blow down cooler. It sure does not help w...

That radiator looks like it could cool a motorcycle engine.

Postscript: Antec sent me a new front panel because the original had one bad USB connector. Their customer service is excellent. The original graphics card was a Radeon 4670 with an OEM Acceelero L1. It developed a noisy fan bearing and then started to BSOD when Windows Experience Index was run. Its...

Nice looking computer. Please show us the insides. Also, what method did you use to install OSX? Not a bad price on that custom front panel although I suspect getting all the measurements correct was a delicate job.

Nice build - I will be doing something similar in a few months. Can you answer a question about the Accelero S1 in this setup: would it be possible to insert a card in the 3rd slot (2nd from bottom) while it is installed this way, without a fan on it? There is clearance to insert a card in the thir...

The original photo made the cable situation look worse than it really was. A few ties have been added and a few wires moved. The "ground rules" for this build were to avoid metal cutting, elastic drive suspension, wiring on of fans, and home made ducts. Its a "screwdriver" build for the industrially...

The 4670 uses a bit less power under load, but it uses much less at idle. The 4670 adjusts its clock down at idle. I don't think the difference is significant, though.

R2_ wrote:Nice rig dude, but i would consider some more cable management.

I am not sure what that would accomplish. I could change the camera angle slightly and most of those cables would disappear. Air does not move the way most folks think it does. Thanks for looking, but I think you are dead wrong.

Let's start with a picture: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2533/4155194343_4424315133.jpg Clicking on the picture will take you to the flickr page. This machine is optimized for photo editing, although it would work for most other applications. It is very quiet. If there is any ambient noise the com...

IMO, the NSK3480 is very good to nearly perfect. It would be nice if Antec sold it without the PSU, and they cut a hole in the upper chamber to stuff the extra wires down the back, but that's about it.

What I like is it is different, and a lot of creative thought went into getting it right. Its nice that it enables a ducted PSU simply by choosing one with a 120 mm fan.

My recently purchased NSK3480 had one USB port on the front panel that did not work. Rather than RMA the case to Newegg and rebuild the computer, I contacted Antec directly. Yesterday Antec customer support said a new front panel had been shipped. It's too much work to rip apart and rebuild a machin...

I think some of you have your wires crossed on 6 core CPU upgrades. That is for socket 1366, not 1156. The main advantage of socket 1156 is lower power requirements and fewer components on the mobo. There is no Northbridge on 1156, the memory controller is in the CPU package. There are no 2 core pro...

The big deal with the NSK3480 case is the separate chamber for the power supply. In the context of a passive PSU, I am not sure that case makes sense, especially when paying $90 and throwing out the PSU. Don't get me wrong, I love my NSK3480. An 800 RPM Scythe fan (either an S-Flex or the newer seri...

I agree with Rogue completely.

To the OP, 1200 RPM on a 120 mm fan is not in quiet computing territory. Unless the system has a bunch of other bad noise sources, a drop in fan RPM to about 900 should make an audible difference with a reasonable increase in temperatures to the mid 50's.

At idle, a temperature of only 5 or 6 degrees Celsius in excess of ambient is in championship territory for air cooling. That is what I get on my system with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus and a 900 rpm fan. My I5-750 CPU is running @ 3.36 Ghz by the way. With Prime 95 running the temperature levels...

All of the above. Notebooks are now 70% of the market in unit sales. Ther small, low power, inherently quiet PC's are being purchased an large numbers by corporations who are impressed by their low total cost of ownership. Power for hundreds of PC's and the associated air conditioning does add up. T...

The NSK3480 is as good as it gets. Just make it available without the PSU and fan so extreme silencers don't have to throw away those components.

The packages arrived and I built the machine. The Tri-Cool fan that Antec provided with the case was too loud, so it was replaced with a Scythe S-Flex 800 RPM fan. The fan shipped with the cooler was decent, but the Gigabyte software needed to control the PWM was not. It kept causing UAC prompts in ...

I wen ahead and ordered the stuf. It turns out the Powercolor passive cooled 4670 is not available and thre is no definite ship date so I punted ordered a Sapphire 4670 with the modified Accelero L2 cooler. Newegg was out of the Hyper 212 Plus and did not have the 1156 mounting kit in stock for the ...

I have focused on the i5-750 as it offers nearly the performance of an i7-920 with much lowr power consumption. Overclocking, if any, will be 20% or less. mobo: Gigabyte GA-55PM-UD2, inexpensive mATX and blessed by Anandtech. Case: Antec NSK3480, well known around here. I like the small size and sep...

Has anyone around here built a mATX system with one of the new socket 1156 mobo's from Gigabyte, ASRock or Asus? The CPU socket is pretty far from the top of the board and the video card needs to be put in the first slot. I am wondering if there is enough room for a Xigmatek SD1283 or similar sized ...

A few xp-120's have been known to have a warped contact area. I would try mounting the stock heatsink for a test. If the problem goes away, then you know there is something wrong with the xp-120.

You rally have not provided enough information, but I will take a stab at it anyway. Try suspending your hard drives.