I have all the parts for my next quiet PC! Opinions?

Audiophiliac · Post by **Audiophiliac** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 8:03 pm

Silverstone TJ04 (black)
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum nForce 4 motherboard
Athlon 64 Winchester 3200+ 90nm
2 x 512MB Crucial Ballistix DDR400
Seagate 7200.7 120GB SATA w/ NCQ HDD
Plextor PX-716SA SATA DVDRW drive
Samsung black floppy drive
Asus X300 128MB 128-bit graphics card
Antec Phantom 350W fanless PSU
2 x Nexus 120mm case fans
Thermalright XP-90 H/S
Nexus 92mm fan for H/S
Zalman fanmates x 3 (1 for each fan)
Zalman NB-47 northbridge h/s
Arctic Silver 5+ compound

Initial mods to the case will be removal of lower bezel (intake) and I/O panel from bottom of front bezel to increase intake area, cut grills on both intake and exhaust fans. The graphics card is already passively cooled. I will use the fanmates to control the speed of the CPU fan and both case fans. Starting at full low, I will monitor temps and find a happy place for both noise and cooling. I will also be adding a 400GB SATA seagate drive soon. I am thinking of doing some damping material for the sides and top of the case and some foam to fill in other areas in the case.

Let me know if you have any other ideas. I will do a HDD suspension too. Maybe right now, maybe later. I need a different way to isolate the case fans. I am sure I can figure a good easy way. The silicone isolators I got wont work unless I cut the corners on the Nexus fans :/

Thanks! Great forum!

meglamaniac · Post by **meglamaniac** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 12:56 am

I don't know much about the case or the board, but nForce4 certainly seems to be favoured.

CPU: Good choice
RAM: Great choice - Ballistix consistantly beats all the other, much more expensive premium brands on the A64 platform.
HDD: Most here would recommend the Samsung Spinpoint P80 series over these, but they're a close second.
DVD/floppy: Don't know enough about the drive to comment
Graphics: Good choice for low heat, not great for gaming but maybe that's not what you want to do
PSU: The Phantoms have had a few mixed reviews here (try searching)
Fans: Nexus, you can't go wrong

Heatsink: Consider the XP120 if it'll fit to shave a few more degrees off, otherwise the XP90 is still an excellent cooler
The rest: also good

I have the same corner problem with the nexus fans but it's nothing a couple of minutes and a hacksaw or my dremel won't fix

Cams · Post by **Cams** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 1:33 am

Sounds like a nice setup to me.

You can isolate Nexus fans using cable ties and rubber sealing rings using the Bluefront method. I did just that and it worked a treat.

I'd second the recommendation that you consider the XP-120 if it will fit.

Xier325i · Post by **Xier325i** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 1:46 pm

I have been researching parts for my new setup and decided I wanted an xp-120 for my next system.

In doing so, I have to select my mobo wisely.

MSI was a consideration, but just recently thermalright updated their compatibility page for the xp-120 and the Neo4 Platinum has been listed as not compatible. Bummer.

I am waiting to see what thermalright has to say about the SLI version of the board along with the rest of the nforce4 boards coming out currently.

LL