Hi guys,
so here is the system I want to build :
430W/500W Seasonic S12
AMD 3000/3200 64 Winchester
XP-90 with nexus fan
ECS KN1 extreme w/ ZM-NB47J
2x512Gb RAM
Antec SLK3000B
6600 or 6600GT PCIe video card
Don't know which hd yet, maybe maxtor maxline III 300Gb
what do you guys think ?
I am concerned about :
1) mobo has two fans which seem to be noisy, can anybody confirm ?
2) can you fit the zalman passive north bridge heatsink on this mobo ? Will the north bridge overheat ?
3) what about the XP-90+nexus, does it fit well in this mobo ?
4) can the exhaust fan in the back be turned off ?
5) which video card should I choose to stay silent ? Or should I go with an aftermarket VGA silencer (I saw the NV silencer 6 but it's expensive!)
6) is the hd noisy ?
7) is the PSU good enough ? I know everybody likes seasonic but I have read that dual rail sometimes is not a good idea cause you tend to overload one 12V rail and not really use the other one... the S12-430 has only 14A on one 12V rail and 15A on the other one and even the S12-500 is only 17A/16A. Should I get a single rail PSU and if yes which one ?
I know it's a lot of question but any help is appreciated
cizzino
quieting down the KN1 (and more questions)
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
I can answer a few of those.
You pretty much always can turn off back exhaust fans by unplugging them. Whether or not that's a good idea depends on the overall airflow in your system: if you unplug the fan, the PSU will act as the main exhaust fan. Personally, unless your system is virtually silent already, I'd use a quiet, slow exhaust fan, to keep the hot air out of the PSU and prevent it from ramping up the speed.
The PSU is easily "good", that is powerful enough. Take a look at the PSU forum to see just what you can run off a brand-name 300W PSU. Talk is that the 500W S12 is a bit more noisy than the 430W version, and since the 430W variant is likely to be more than powerful enough even for stuff like SLI, I'd go for that one.
Check the graphics card forum for graphics card advice: you can actually get passively cooled versions of the 6600 graphics cards - of course, your case airflow should be decent if you go for that. Apart from that, aftermarket silencers reportedly work very well. From what I gather, the retail fans are almost always unaccaptably loud to most people, but as always YMMV depending on what's acceptable to you.
For HD advice, check the silent storage forum.
Note that I'm a rookie myself, I'm pretty much repeating what I've read in the other forums here on SPCR, I don't have a lot of first-hand experience.
You pretty much always can turn off back exhaust fans by unplugging them. Whether or not that's a good idea depends on the overall airflow in your system: if you unplug the fan, the PSU will act as the main exhaust fan. Personally, unless your system is virtually silent already, I'd use a quiet, slow exhaust fan, to keep the hot air out of the PSU and prevent it from ramping up the speed.
The PSU is easily "good", that is powerful enough. Take a look at the PSU forum to see just what you can run off a brand-name 300W PSU. Talk is that the 500W S12 is a bit more noisy than the 430W version, and since the 430W variant is likely to be more than powerful enough even for stuff like SLI, I'd go for that one.
Check the graphics card forum for graphics card advice: you can actually get passively cooled versions of the 6600 graphics cards - of course, your case airflow should be decent if you go for that. Apart from that, aftermarket silencers reportedly work very well. From what I gather, the retail fans are almost always unaccaptably loud to most people, but as always YMMV depending on what's acceptable to you.
For HD advice, check the silent storage forum.
Note that I'm a rookie myself, I'm pretty much repeating what I've read in the other forums here on SPCR, I don't have a lot of first-hand experience.
1. Almost all stock MB fans are noisy.
2. Don't know. Check the Zalman website for more info.
3. XP-90 fits fine with any 92mm fan.
4. I would leave it on, but use the low voltage, or buy a Nexus 120mm.
5. There is a fanless 6600GT from Gigabyte, but you might need some kind of slow speed fan on it, or at least very good ventilation if you plan on running 3D games. I have a 6600GT with Zalman VU700 AlCu HSF.
6. Maxtor DiamondMax 10 http://www.xpcgear.com/extremepcgear/ma.html is quiet, along with the new Western Digital drives. Some people prefer the Samsungs.
7. The Seasonic S12-430 is more than enough power for your system. All your storage drives will be on separate a 12V rail from the MB 12V rail. The S12-500 is noisier and is not needed for your system. I am running a Seasonic S12-380 with AMD 3500+, 1GB RAM, 6600GT, 2 – 160 GB hard drives, one optical, floppy, and Audigy 2 ZS sound card.
2. Don't know. Check the Zalman website for more info.
3. XP-90 fits fine with any 92mm fan.
4. I would leave it on, but use the low voltage, or buy a Nexus 120mm.
5. There is a fanless 6600GT from Gigabyte, but you might need some kind of slow speed fan on it, or at least very good ventilation if you plan on running 3D games. I have a 6600GT with Zalman VU700 AlCu HSF.
6. Maxtor DiamondMax 10 http://www.xpcgear.com/extremepcgear/ma.html is quiet, along with the new Western Digital drives. Some people prefer the Samsungs.
7. The Seasonic S12-430 is more than enough power for your system. All your storage drives will be on separate a 12V rail from the MB 12V rail. The S12-500 is noisier and is not needed for your system. I am running a Seasonic S12-380 with AMD 3500+, 1GB RAM, 6600GT, 2 – 160 GB hard drives, one optical, floppy, and Audigy 2 ZS sound card.
clarification on exhaust fan
thank you both for your input.
I did not explain myself clearly on the exhaust fan
What I meant is that this mobo itself has an exhaust fan that pushes hot air out of some kind of a vent were the back panel is with USB/PS2 etc connections see this image, it's the yellow piece of plastic on the top right.
I will change the exhaust fan of the case but I don't know if I can touch the one in the mobo.
Thanks again.
cizzino
I did not explain myself clearly on the exhaust fan
What I meant is that this mobo itself has an exhaust fan that pushes hot air out of some kind of a vent were the back panel is with USB/PS2 etc connections see this image, it's the yellow piece of plastic on the top right.
I will change the exhaust fan of the case but I don't know if I can touch the one in the mobo.
Thanks again.
cizzino
that rear fan is for cooling the mosfets - you'd probably do a better job if you removed their bulky mechanism and let the airflow from the cpu heatsink do the job. unless you're drawing 70+ watts for the cpu, the mosfets won't need active cooling anyway.
better yet, don't use a cpu fan at all, but duct the heatsink to the rear exhaust fan so that even more air is drawn over the mosfet area. this will however take away some of the airflow for the motherboard chipset.
better yet, don't use a cpu fan at all, but duct the heatsink to the rear exhaust fan so that even more air is drawn over the mosfet area. this will however take away some of the airflow for the motherboard chipset.
O btw the duck on the motherboard dosent look like it can be removed easly (at least from the top)
Also the zalman nb cooler can be mounted with the clip that the stock one is mounted with. Takes only about five mins with a little bit of bending to get it to fit. (or you could use thermal glue)
Temps are a little higher with the door closed 57c
Also the zalman nb cooler can be mounted with the clip that the stock one is mounted with. Takes only about five mins with a little bit of bending to get it to fit. (or you could use thermal glue)
Temps are a little higher with the door closed 57c