Very quiet new PC.

lemmerdeur · Post by **lemmerdeur** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:56 am

I spent the last few days putting together my new machine, and I'd like to share my experience with everyone here.

Components:

Lian Li v1100B case

This case is beautiful. Really worth the extra money to have a case that is both silent and an elegant addition to any room. I've already been spoiled by the good looks of my previous Shuttle XPC, which also look very nice when you are looking to avoid that equipment room look. Thanks to Apple for pushing the industry in this direction. You can really see the quality in the way the parts all fit together perfectly, the way the door snaps shut with a satisfying "click". I updated the case fans with Nexus Real Silent case fans. No clicking, barely audible when I put my ear up right next to the running fans.

The only reservation I have here is that the front fan is not in the main compartment, so I'm not sure how much airflow is getting through the small cable hole and into the main compartment with the motherboard. I am thinking of modding it somehow to get the fan repositioned in front of the case, or (better yet) finding a very quiet 5 1/4" drive bay fan.

Enermax Noisetaker AX 600W PSU

I am shocked at how absolutely quiet this PSU is with the fan turned all the way up. Excellent investment.

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum motherboard
2x512Mb OCZ DDR3200 Platinum Rev. 2 memory sticks

I chose these components after a lot of research. I have been unable to run the memory in Dual Channel mode, as the PC will not POST with the memeory in the correct configuration (DIMM1&2 or 3&4). Not too concerned, as reviews all agree that the perfromance increase is abotu 2-4%, and Single Channel is said to be more stable. Memory runs at 2-2-2-5-2T rock-solid, which is good enough for me (the 1T setting doesn't work at any combination of settings).

Powercolor ATI x800XT-PE 8x AGP video card
Video card runs perfectly overclocked at 527MHz GPU, 1120MHz memeory, 42° GPU temperature.

AMD Athlon64 3500+ 90nm CPU
Thermalright XP-120 heatsink
Acoustifan AF120CT 120mm fan

Yes, the XP-120 fits on this motherboard. The Acoustifan is very very quiet, with no clicking, at full speed (I severed the thermal probe on the fan, shorted the rpobes wires and wrapped them with silicon tape to set the fan to full speed).

I have been able to finish Prime95 Torture Test at Priority 10 with the CPU running at 2420MHz, 1.569 volts, 4x HTT, memory 3-3-3-11 173MHz. Problem here is the CPU heats up to about 56-58°. This isn't a massive overclock, CPU at load should be 8-10° C lower. I believe I have an air bubble between the heatsink and the CPU spreader, I'm going to reseat it next week.

Vantec silicon vibration dampeners for fans and PSU, rubber grommets for all hard drive and DVD writer

The fans don't need rubber grommets, the Lian Li already has rubber lining the screw holes for the fans).

2 Smart Drive 2002 Copper Cool Hard Drive Enclosures
2 Western Digital 74Gb 10K rpm Raptor hard drives
NEC 3500A black DVD-writer

The enclosures are the best piece of equipment I purchased, These are fantastic. The drives, with no fan cooling the enclosures or blowing directly on them, remain at 36-37° during defragmentation, and are barely audible (a very low rumble during defrag, if you stand very close to the PC). Nice.

The NEC DVD-writer is, as I've read everywhere, also very quiet.

With this machine running Prime95's Torture test, you cannot hear it running sitting right next to it. My Shuttle XPC sounds like a main battle tank compared to it. When defragmenting a hard drive, you can hear a faint rumble coming from inside the box, but even this cannot be heard from 5 or 6 feet away.

Future plans:

If my CPU temps don't improve after re-installing the heatsink, I will try a more powerful fan. Otherwise, early next year, I will upgrade to an nForce4 Ultra motherboard (probably go back to Asus, their products are known to be unmatched in terms of quality) and maybe try some new DDR4000 memory and a new CPU.

If any of these products stand out, they are the Lian Li V1100B and the Smart Drive 2002 Copper Cool Hard Drive Enclosures.

daba · Post by **daba** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:28 am

Nice job on the V1100! I have a V1000B myself... with all Nexus (spare PSU and VGA) fans.

sorenbro · Post by **sorenbro** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 8:13 am

Are you running your videocard with stock cooling?

The temperatures for your CPU seem fine, so nothing to worry about here, I will trade low temperatures for low noise any day (as long as the temps are not causing instability of course)

Boss__Scorpius · Post by **Boss__Scorpius** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:49 pm

Can you take picture of the system? I'm curious how everything is fitting together, I've heard Neo2 has problems with a bunch of heatsinks.

Derek Baker · Post by **Derek Baker** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 6:13 pm

Specifically Thermalright say the XP-120 doesn't fit the Neo2: http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main ... 120_k8.htm

Boss__Scorpius · Post by **Boss__Scorpius** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 7:44 pm

Yet he claims he's fit it in there, so let's see some pics.