Seeking advice on my first "hopefully quiet" build

Balmoth · Post by **Balmoth** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 5:30 pm

Hi All
I am new to SPCR, but I have lurked here for 3-4 months now, trying to decide upon my new system.
And I have to say I have gotten a lot of useful information from this forum, thanks to all the contributors in here.
Especially wainwras "Horror story" was a good and eye opening read, in my current situation

I am new to computer building and it's not the easiest set of components I have chosen, So I hope I can get some help from some of you.

I won't overclock initially, but would like to be able to do that, as I get a better feel of the System.
I play a lot of games, mostly strategy games but also WoW and Oblivion when I get the new system.

Unless I have made big errors choosing components that don't match, or work poorly together, I don't seek input on alternative components to the one's I have chosen, as they are already ordered.
But If I have made errors, I can of course still return them (except the Nexus fans coming in from endpcnoise.com)

I have ordered the following components, which will arrive between now and 12.06.2006. I have more or less decided to change the Motherboard to a A8N-SLI Premium because of the lower power usage while still passively cooled, and I don't mind saving a bit of money even if the price isn't that big an issue.

Antec P180
SeaSonic S12 PSU, 500Watt
Asus A8N32-SLI/Deluxe
AMD Athlon64 X2 4200+, Bulk
Scythe Ninja
Asus EN7900GT
Zalman VF900-Cu
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
Kingston Dual Channel DDR400, 2x1024 MB
WD Raptor 1500ADFD, 150GB
ASUS DVD Writer DRW-1608P
Floppy

Extras:
Arctic Silver 5, 3.5gr. Thermal Compound
2 x Nexus 120mm Fans
Round Floppy Cable
Round IDE Cable For Optical drive
Sharkoon Silencing Kit

Current Basic installation plan:
being a newbie system builder I will lean heavily on the input from more experienced people.
I have decided to use Devon Cookes P180 review as a basis for installation.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article255-page6.html
I will use config 5 although I will replace Tricool rear fan with a Nexus 120.

and last but most important, I have a lot of questions:

1. Do I need an extension for the cabling between the chosen PSU and MB?
2. Anything I should be aware of when mounting the Ninja on the selected MB.?
3. Where can I find instructions on how to remove existing cooling off the 7900GT?
4. Zalmans instruction video on mounting the VF900 seems pretty straight forward, anything I should be aware of?
5. What are your experiences using Q-Fan2 on the ASUS MBs for Fan control? Do you have better and safe alternatives for temperature controlled fans.
6. Will my Raptor HDD be cool enough having only the PSU (S12,500) for cooling?
7. In the article they have the rear tricool fan on low and the ninja fan on 12V. I would like to set VF900 to 7V and have rear fan and Ninja Fan temperature controlled using Q-fan2. How do I go about testing this safely?
What software is the best for measuring temperature?
8. Any small things I have forgotten to order, but which might be necessary/come in handy during installation.

If you have other input that might be helpfull, please add that as well.

That was it for now, hopefully you can find the time to help me out.

McBanjo · Post by **McBanjo** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 2:18 pm

1. Depends on what revision your getting. The laterst one has longer cables

2. Don't sneeze?

Acctually I think the glu on the backplate is way to sticky so you can't remove the backplate once it's there. Not sure if the solution was to let the paper be on. Might only be Intel issue tho
Don't have that cooler so don't know if there is anything to consider.

3. You don't really, just use you brain. It's a couple (4?) of screws than wiggle the fan a little to get the thermal greese to let go. Just be careful when you do. Warrenty is gone if you do it (or rather, if they find out

)
It's easy so I doubt there is a guide on the net for that.

4. Be careful and follow the manual

Zalman ZM80D-HP works on my eVGA 7900GT if you want to go passive
One guy at this forum has it on his overclocked XFX 7900GT in P180 with ZM80D-HP, reaching 75C but since 125C is top then it's good enought.

5. No experience with Q-fan but simular options hasn't worked very good for me. Bether to have a fancontroll. Fanmate 2 is cheap and works great

6. Yes, just cover up the ventilation holes around the PSU

7. Just test, you don't fry a cpu in 2 sec. With that setup I doubt you can fry it at all without a flamethrower

CPUBurn and Speedfan is useful for testing ventilation. The gpu-temp is shown in the drivers
For stresstest the gpu: http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl/
You can duct the Ninja to the exhaustfan on the back and have the Ninja as "passive"

8. Possibly a storage-disk? Samsung Spinpoint 250Gb that I have is cool and silent.
Arctic Cheramic is a little worse than silver but apperently you don't have to reseat the cooler once every 6 months as you have with Silver. (Just read info so no experience on it from my side)
Buy a USB-memory and ditch the floppy

That's all I can think for now

Balmoth · Post by **Balmoth** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 1:56 pm

Thanks a lot for the input McBanjo!

I have decided to change the order to use A8N-SLI Premium instead.

1. I will check with my supplier then.
2. As for the Backplate I think that the plate already on the MB, can be used.
3. k, should be no problem then.
4. I will use the VF900 initially (at 5 or 7V), and then consider changig to passive if noise is too much, which it shouldn't be compared to the rest of the system.
5. It seems Fanmate is the way to go. I think I'll do that then.
6. good
7. Good, I will test
By ducting the Ninja to the exhaustion fan do you mean to mount a fan duct on the rear fan?
8. I have extra disks I can use, but I don't need the extra space. I only use 95GB on my current system.
concerning the Arctic Silver, I am very disappointed to hear that I need to reseat the cooler every 6 months. I will try to find out more about that . thx for pointing this out.

McBanjo · Post by **McBanjo** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 4:11 pm

4. I will use the VF900 initially (at 5 or 7V), and then consider changig to passive if noise is too much, which it shouldn't be compared to the rest of the system.

Passive good, active bad

VF900 is, from what I've heard, quiet but all noise sources add up a bit. But it's your money

If your going for SLI then VF900 is most likely a bether choice

By ducting the Ninja to the exhaustion fan do you mean to mount a fan duct on the rear fan?

Yep, from the cooler to the rear exhaust fan. There are plenty of examples here on SPCR if you need inspiration

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:17 pm

First of all, you might want to go with the AM2 or LGA775 platform (with a mobo that supports Conroe) so that you'll be able to upgrade the CPU later on, or go for the fastest CPU (Conroe) if you wait about a month longer.

That said, you can save a bit on the motherboard by going with a non-SLI mobo. Chances are the non-SLI mobos you look at will have HSF-cooled chipsets, but you can always replace it with a passive cooler. Besides, SLI isn't as cost-effective as going with a single card.

Along those lines, you should go with an X1800XT instead of the 7900GT, because you'll be playing Oblivion. The average FPS of the X1800XT in that game is only slightly higher than that of the 7900GT, but the minimum FPS is significantly higher (at 1280x1024).

EDIT: Never mind, it looks like you already ordered the parts. It's always wiser to ask for opinions before you do that...

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:42 pm

Reseat Artic Silver after 6 months? Naaaaaahhhhhh...it should be fine for a couple years I would think--it certainly has been for me

Balmoth · Post by **Balmoth** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:18 am

psiu wrote:Reseat Artic Silver after 6 months? Naaaaaahhhhhh...it should be fine for a couple years I would think--it certainly has been for me

I am very pleased to hear that, reseating heatsinks after 6 months wasn't exactly my idea of fun

Balmoth · Post by **Balmoth** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:34 am

Howard wrote:First of all, you might want to go with the AM2 or LGA775 platform (with a mobo that supports Conroe) so that you'll be able to upgrade the CPU later on, or go for the fastest CPU (Conroe) if you wait about a month longer.

Conroe looks to be nice, and I thought a lot about waiting for it, but theres always something nice in the horizon, and the system I have chosen, will deliver what I need.

Howard wrote:That said, you can save a bit on the motherboard by going with a non-SLI mobo. Chances are the non-SLI mobos you look at will have HSF-cooled chipsets, but you can always replace it with a passive cooler. Besides, SLI isn't as cost-effective as going with a single card.

I think I will move to SLI when 7900GT has reached a lower price.

Howard wrote:Along those lines, you should go with an X1800XT instead of the 7900GT, because you'll be playing Oblivion. The average FPS of the X1800XT in that game is only slightly higher than that of the 7900GT, but the minimum FPS is significantly higher (at 1280x1024).

I will not choose a GPU based on a single game, as I play too many different games for that to be viable. I am aware of x1800/x1900s superior performance on Oblivion, but 7900GT has a good overall performance, generates less heat, and performs well with 1600x1200 which I will use.

Howard wrote:EDIT: Never mind, it looks like you already ordered the parts. It's always wiser to ask for opinions before you do that...

You're right of course, but in my case most of the questions were asked by others than me, and a lot of times the answers come down to "I like AMD/Intel better and the same with GPUs. So my system build questions have been asked and answered in passive mode, that's the SPCR way isn't it

Balmoth · Post by **Balmoth** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:40 am

McBanjo wrote: Passive good, active bad
VF900 is, from what I've heard, quiet but all noise sources add up a bit. But it's your money
If your going for SLI then VF900 is most likely a bether choice

As I will probably go for SLI later, I will stay with the VF900.

McBanjo wrote:
By ducting the Ninja to the exhaustion fan do you mean to mount a fan duct on the rear fan?
Yep, from the cooler to the rear exhaust fan. There are plenty of examples here on SPCR if you need inspiration

I will browse the forum for some good examples of this.

cAPSLOCK · Post by **cAPSLOCK** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 5:23 am

Just another minor input: save the trouble of putting the VF900 at 7v, 5v will be just fine, have a look at the recent SPCR Review

Balmoth · Post by **Balmoth** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 10:09 pm

cAPSLOCK wrote:Just another minor input: save the trouble of putting the VF900 at 7v, 5v will be just fine, have a look at the recent SPCR Review

I read the article, but somehow missed that the benefit of 7V over 5V is negligible. thank you for the input.