Highish end Quietish Build Help

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Admiral Nelson
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Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:04 pm

Highish end Quietish Build Help

Post by Admiral Nelson » Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:09 pm

Hi Folks,
Yes, it is another advice thread! :)

I am looking to build a new system that is at least not annoyingly loud, as opposed to totally silent. It will be used mostly for Adobe Lightroom and for some games, such as Oblivion.

Case Antec P180B
PSU Seasonic S-12
CPU Core 2 6600
Cooling Scythe Ninja
MB Asus P5B Deluxe
Memory 2GB G. Skill PC6400
Video EVGA Geforce 7950GX2 1GB or ATI 1950XTX
HD 1x150GB Raptor, 2 x320gb Seagate (JBOD)
Sound Creative X-Fi Music
DVD/RW Pioneer
Floppy+ Card reader Mitsumi7 in one
OS Windows XP Pro

I keep waffling over the hard disk configuration and over the video card. I am debating using a 1080p HDTV as a monitor, which would mean I'd need enough video horsepower to hanle 19x12 resolutions. Finally, I look at all the possible memory configurations out there and my head spins... :)

I would therefore appreciate any and all feedback before I shell out the bucks!

NeilBlanchard
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Post by NeilBlanchard » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:23 pm

Hello & welcome to SPCR,

The stock video cooler is likely to ruin your noise levels -- a Zalman VF900 should do the trick.

Also, the Antec Solo might be quieter with it's hard drive supension. Seagate HD's are not very quiet, or very cool running -- maybe the new Western Digital SE16 would be a better choice?

Admiral Nelson
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Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:04 pm

Post by Admiral Nelson » Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:31 pm

Isn't the radeon X1950XTX supposed to be quiet? The idea of prying of a GPU cooler and gluing on a new one is terriffying to someone who has never done it before.... :)

teh_robbie
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Post by teh_robbie » Mon Sep 25, 2006 9:26 pm

They are not *that* quiet. Although you can use programs to control the speed of the fan. However a 3rd party cooler would not be able to be installed on the 7950GX2 As far as I know. And they are pretty loud.

Fat_bloater_dave
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Post by Fat_bloater_dave » Mon Sep 25, 2006 10:28 pm

Admiral Nelson wrote:Isn't the radeon X1950XTX supposed to be quiet? The idea of prying of a GPU cooler and gluing on a new one is terriffying to someone who has never done it before.... :)
its not quite as Scarey as you make out it normaly just involves pushing out the push pins and screwing a new one in. There isnt realy any prying or glueing involved.

ryboto
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Post by ryboto » Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:26 am

Admiral Nelson wrote:Isn't the radeon X1950XTX supposed to be quiet? The idea of prying of a GPU cooler and gluing on a new one is terriffying to someone who has never done it before.... :)
actually, you might want to see for yourself. Most people here probably haven't had any play time with the new coolers on the x1950's. It's basically a iceq-3 cooler with a different fan, as far as I can tell. Either that, or a damn fine clone. If you do go the ati route, I'd see if the stock cooler was quiet enough before you go replacing it.

Admiral Nelson
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Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:04 pm

Post by Admiral Nelson » Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:56 am

Yeah, thanks for the advice. I don't need an ultra silent PC, just one that isn't some annoying windtunnel. I do want a door on the case, which would exclude the Solo. I'm not that fussy about Seagate vs. WD, if the performance is the same. Anyone have any thoughts on the other compnents?

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