mCubed HFX Classic vs Silverstone GD04, if not using SSD?

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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sgny
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mCubed HFX Classic vs Silverstone GD04, if not using SSD?

Post by sgny » Tue Sep 14, 2010 5:59 am

Hi everyone,

I have wanted to build a media player/server for some time but I've got somewhat lost as to what matters more for a quiet setup so I would appreciate some comments and help.

I'm looking to setup a system around the Intel DH55TC motherboard with an i3 530 CPU and no additional graphics card. Reading the review for the Silverstone GD05 case, such a system should be easy enough to cool with only the CPU cooler and PSU fan. I should be able to source a Nexus PSU as was tested in that setup.

However, I am a bit curious how noticeable it would be to move to passive solutions. I consider two changes

1) HFX Classic case with BorgFX CPU cooler (with Nexus PSU)
2) Seasonic X-650 or X-400 (with Silverstone case)
3) both (HFX case and X-400 or X-650 PSU)

I don't have much flexibility to place the system and I would sit about 3m/10ft away.

If I were to use WD Caviar Green or Samsung F4EG drives, would the benefits from passive cooling simply be lost on me as the drive noises would already dominate over everything else? What if I were to add a small SSD for the OS?

The primary goal is to playback audio. If I were to boot the OS from a SSD, I believe I could get the hard drives to spin down once the files are cached to memory (I'm aware of at least one player which does that). How would that change the equation?

Thanks in advance for any help.

~El~Jefe~
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Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:14 am

I would use 1 suspended 2.5 inch laptop drives and 1 ssd.

You really dont need much speed and they are more than adequate. the ssd will give the os speed and swap file speed. I would load it up on cheap ram, 8 gigs, less hd movement.

Toshiba 1 TB

120 dollars for a 1TB 5400rpm drive. It only has 8 meg cache, which is strange, but the density should give it strong performance. I havent seen a review of it, but it would be quiet if decoupled.

You could get a 750gb drive which is probably more than you need for audio, those use less platters and probably have more selection.

Modo
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Post by Modo » Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:36 am

Even with lots of memory, you will run out of it and be forced to spin the hard disk up from time to time. Especially if you are using FLAC or some other lossless compression. I'm not sure you want to stress a drive like that.

Speaking from experience, a 3.5" hard disk is the loudest part in a very quiet system. If you can, put it in an SQD. If not, I would also recommend a 2.5" drive. In an SQD if funds permit it.

By the way, the 8 MB cache is normal for 5400 rpm drives. It's those two numbers that are connected—the size of a drive doesn't appear to change the ratio.


A very quiet PSU would make sense only if you also work on the CPU cooler. Improving one while leaving the other alone will probably not do much good.

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