New silent build on AM2! I will post pics when assembled.

mongokitten · Post by **mongokitten** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:33 pm

This is what I have ordered:

Case: Antec P180
PSU: Antec Phantom 350W (Passive)
CPU: AMD64 Athlon 3800+ Orleans (AM2 65W) with stock cooler until AM2 Ninja arrives (will be passive)
MB: Asus M2N SLI Deluxe (AM2)
Memory: 2x 1024Mb Kingston DDR2 PC4200 533
VGA: Asus 7900GT with Aerocool VM-102 (passive heatsink)
Optic: NEC ND-4571 DVD RW DL Labelflash
Screen: Samsung 940N

I will use the P180s included fans on 5V until I can afford better. Any advice? I also need fan controlers.

In a few weeks you'll see some pics and know how it works.

/ Johan

whoatethepies · Post by **whoatethepies** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:11 pm

mongokitten wrote:I will use the P180s included fans on 5V until I can afford better. Any advice? I also need fan controlers.

Very similar to the system I'm going to build (when I finally finish uni...). I'm gonna go with the Nexus 120mm fans and an mCubed T-Balancer fan controller. They're not cheap, but you get what you pay for!

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:27 am

That system is very much like my system! Which hard drive do you have?

If you only have one or maybe two Samsung Spinpoints, you will notice a great improvement using two nexus fans and controlling them with something like the Zalman multi-fan controller. It can be made really neat if you swap the acrylic frontplate for one of the drive bay covers!

If you can get away with undervolting your processor, you can use one nexus in the lower chamber, and only one in the upper chamber, at the rear, while blocking of the top vent (all this is based on the use of the Scythe ninja). I found that the top vent is leaking a lot of sound (like hard drive seeks for example), but it depends on where your computer is located (i.e. under a desk).

I do manage to run my system, overclocked to 2.25GHz with both my nexus fans on 5V (but i do run them at around 7V since my hard drives are louder than the fans at 5V anyway). If you run your processor at stock speed and undervolt it as far as possible, it should be just as cool or even cooler than my processor. My CPU load temp is around 50C in 22-25C ambient, which leaved some headroom.

The 7900GT seem to produce about the same amount of heat as my 6600GT. With the passive Polar Freezer, i have idle temps of 50C and load temps of around 75-80C which is perfectly fine. If you want lower temps, remove one of the PCI-slot covers just below the card. With one of them opened, my idle temp was around 45C and load 70-72C.

One thing I have noticed is that my passive MCP-cooler (aka "north bridge cooler") gets real toasty. Touching it will result in severe burns. However, I have no stability issues and if it aint broken, don't fix it...

mongokitten · Post by **mongokitten** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:52 am

Ackelind-

I forgot to list it.

HDD: Samsung Spinpoint P120 250Gb

I thought of getting a Samsung T133 400Gb but it might not be as silent so I whent for the P120 250Gb instead.

I will put it in a Nexus Drive-A-Way HDD enclosure as soon as I can afford it. I would rather get the Smart Drive 2002 Copper which seems to be better. But it will cost me 95$ if I order it from the states!

Cant get it for less.

I think this will be a rather powerful yet extremely silent system.

I am greatful for any advice

/ Johan

nici · Post by **nici** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:14 pm

I would advice against the Drive-A-Way, heat transfer is pretty poor and its not very good at noise reduction either. The mCubed Vertical Silence is a lot better, and should be easily available in Sweden too

Scythe also has a new enclosure that could be good, havenÂ´t tried it myself though but its available in Finland.

Or you could go with AlleycatÂ´s homebrew enclosure. a 222x146x55mm aluminium box from www.elfa.se and come gel-packs from the pharmacy, so far it has beaten several commercial enclosures i have tried both in temps and noise reduction

DonÂ´t know how it compares to the SmartDrive 2002c though.

If you really want a Drive-A-Way though, i can sell you a blue one for cheap next time im in Stokis

Apart from that it looks like a nice system, though i canÂ´t claim to have any experience with AM2 and DDR2 stuff yet

whoatethepies · Post by **whoatethepies** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:39 pm

mongokitten wrote:I will put it in a Nexus Drive-A-Way HDD enclosure as soon as I can afford it. I would rather get the Smart Drive 2002 Copper which seems to be better. But it will cost me 95$ if I order it from the states!
Cant get it for less.

As nici said, Drive-A-Way's are a bad choice! And the SmartDrive would cost you more than $95, as import duty would hit you badly, plus the EU has an extra levy on certain products imported from the States due to an embargo thats been going on for some time. Try to get one from elsewhere, such as Silencio's shop on ebay. He's an SPCR member, and should be able to sort you out with one cheaper than you'd get it from the U.S.

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 7:15 am

The SmartDrive from silencio is still way expensive. You'll end up around 700-1000SEK for just one drive enclosure.

I came to the point where enclosing my hard drives was the next step in the quest for silence. However, all of a sudden it hit me how expensive it actually would become, and it just was not worth it.

whoatethepies · Post by **whoatethepies** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:14 pm

Yeah, its a problem. Have you considered making your own? Theres plenty of threads where people have made their own on the cheap. The gell pack ones sound pretty good... May be worth a shot, and if it doesn't work you've not lost much cash.

nici · Post by **nici** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:41 pm

Just get 50-052-06 from www.elfa.se, its about 20â‚¬ for a 222x146x55mm box and if you are lucky and live close you can pick up your order from them directly and save on shipping

Search for alleycat and homebrew in silent storage and you should find the thread about it

I have two of them hopefully arriving at my doorstep first thing in the morning

mongokitten · Post by **mongokitten** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:47 am

Thank you!

I will go with the all new Scythe Quiet Drive. It has not been tested alot yet and I could only find information on temperature changes and subjective reports on dampening effects. However I like the way it's built and I am confident it will be just as good with its double dampening and double metal layers. Check it out!

Its about 33$ here in Sweden!

I will put my Spinpoint P120 250Gb in it and secure it in the lower HDD cage of my Antec P180 using the small vibration reducing rubber things included with the P180. It will require a few modifications to the P180 to make room for the Quiet Drive in a lateral position, inside the driver cage.

Hopefully I will have everything by Wednesday (06.21.2006)

mongokitten · Post by **mongokitten** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 3:35 am

I put everything together yesterday and guess what, the MB was DOA. The LED on the MB (ASUS M2N SLI Deluxe) is lit when I turn the PSU on. When I push the power button it starts up but then shuts down again after 3-5 seconds. I have tried removing everything but the CPU and PSU. I even got another PSU (480W) but it made no difference.

I spoke to ASUS and they suggested me to return the MB.

Arrgh! I don't want to wait any longer to get it running.

/ Mongokitten

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:46 am

This is a good time to test the power button - it may be sticking. Easy way to test is to unplug the button from the mobo and turn on the system by shorting the pins with a screwdriver.

New silent build on AM2! I will post pics when assembled.

New silent build on AM2! I will post pics when assembled.

Re: New silent build on AM2! I will post pics when assembled