New A64 system

Jademonkey · Post by **Jademonkey** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:24 pm

I am going to be building a system soon, and want advice on cooling products.

The system will be:
Lian Li PC 68 case(Already Have)
Athlon 64 3500
1GB OCZ Dual Channel RAM
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum MB
Gforce 6600GT
Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
NEC DVD Burner
Sony Combo Drive

I am looking at an OCZ Powerstream 470W, although am not sure on that.
I would like advice on what fans to use, as well as power supplies that are quiet and have enough power to power this system. I also would like advice on cooling for the cpu. I am looking at the xp-120 right now.

Thanks

REMF · Post by **REMF** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:34 pm

couple of suggestions:

> make sure the 3500+ is a winchester
> if you want a 6600GT (good choice btw), then get a gigabyte silentpipe version.

Lifecycle · Post by **Lifecycle** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 1:29 am

Welcome to SPCR Jademonkey!

I think your Lian-Li PC68, while being a very nice case aesthetically, is not so great from a quiet computing viewpoint. A couple of points:

- Its aluminium construction is prone to vibration and resonance, especially with high-speed case fans and hard-mounted disks. You may also want to consider adding some additional damping like AcoustiPack or similar.

- The case design is restricted to a single 80mm exhaust fan and dual 80mm intakes (I think). This limits you options with fans a bit, as most people here would probably favour going for larger 120mm fans which can push more air at lower speeds (and hence lower noise levels).

- Seriously consider hard-drive suspension or foam mounting. This cuts the noise level produced by disks noticably.

I would like advice on what fans to use, as well as power supplies that are quiet and have enough power to power this system.

You're probably looking at Panaflo L1A, Nexus or Papst 80mm case fans. I'd try one on the exhaust and one (not two) on the intake, initially and see how you get on. You probably also want to bring the fans down to 5v or 7v. There is already a great article on recommended fans.

As for the power supply, I don't know about that OCZ PSU. Most people around here would probably recommend either Nexus or Seasonic. Again, there is already a great article on this too, which should help you here. Also, don't worry about how much a power supply can run - it's a lot more than you think!

I'd also strongly agree with REMF that you want to go for a Winchester core A64 and look for a passively cooled 6600GT (Gigabyte seem to be the only people doing passive cards lately - I wish more manufacturers did

)

Happy silencing!

Blappo · Post by **Blappo** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 6:32 am

A passively cooled 6600GT is a great idea (I wish I knew about it 2 weeks ago). I have the MSI 6600GT and it's louder than DFI's HSF for the nForce4 and the stock AMD cooler.

It's not horribly loud (and much quieter than my old PC), but I will still be replacing in with a NV6 or a Zalman cooler.

zsandman · Post by **zsandman** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:55 pm

So, Jademonkey which Power Supply did you get?

My system:
MSI K8N NEO4 Platinum
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 90nm
1 GB;2x512 PC-4400 Corsair-TWINX1024-4400C25PT
SATA RAID1, 2x Raptors WD740GD - 74GB
EVGA GeForce 6800 Ultra
Enermax Noisetaker EG495AX-VE
NEC ND-3520A

halfpower · Post by **halfpower** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 9:10 pm

I just ordered a 3500 Winchester OEM. I just discovered that I could have saved $100 by going with a 3200 Winnie instead

. $100 seems like a bit much for a, correct me if I'm wrong, 10% performance increase.

Straker · Post by **Straker** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 10:46 am

yeah, that's about right, even less if you plan on overclocking, since the faster you go within a line of CPUs, the less the higher-end ones will overclock, relatively speaking. i went with a 3200+, but the price:performance on even that sucks ass compared to a 3000+.