Just ordered my new machine.

Anvar · Post by **Anvar** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 12:39 am

It is the following:

Antec P180B (after correspondence with David Forster from Antec who told me they won't be releasing the P182 in the next several weeks. He also told me MikeC would likely be one of the very first to see and review the P182

Sorry Mike, did a bit of namedropping, but hey, good news for SPCR.)

Corsair 520HX PSU.

ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus. The new updated version of the non-plus version. There's a little blurb about it on Anandtech.

Intel E6600.

Scythe Ninja 1100P.

2 WD 3200KS. One is for use in an external enclosure hooked up via eSATA. The other I'll mount in the bottom tray with the PSU.

NEC 7170S SATA DVD burner.

2GB of Corsair DDR2-800 RAM. (Only $40 more than equivalent DDR2-675.)

eVGA Geforce 8800GTS.

So that's it. Should hopefully last me a few years.

Now for a few questions regarding cooling. I was looking at buying Noctua fans, but it seems there are issues with them when it comes to restrictions, so it'll be Nexus or Scythe S-flexes. But how many and where is where I hope you can help me. I don't plan on overclocking it, so stock speeds are where it's at.

Also, fan control, I'd like to have it, but not some bling-bling front mounted alarm thingy. In my old one I used the NMT-2 from Noisemagic, which was easy to use as it's temperature controlled, but I'm not sure it's the best bet. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thank you in advance,
Anvar.

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 1:08 am

You should look into Samsung hard disks, specifically the 321KJ. I'm very impressed with mine.

Also make sure to listen closely to your PSU as there are reports of coil whine with the Corsair PSU's.

Anvar · Post by **Anvar** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 1:14 am

jackylman wrote:You should look into Samsung hard disks, specifically the 321KJ. I'm very impressed with mine.

Also make sure to listen closely to your PSU as there are reports of coil whine with the Corsair PSU's.

I'm getting the WD's just as a beginning HDD until the 160GB/platter comes out in force. I haven't been able to find them in Denmark.

And I read those posts about the Corsair, I'll definitely keep an ear on it.

Thank you for your input.

McBanjo · Post by **McBanjo** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:29 am

I was looking at buying Noctua fans, but it seems there are issues with them when it comes to restrictions

What issues? I have 2 Noctuas and 2 S-flex (all on 1200rpm) and 1 Ninja-plus-fan (some Adda)

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:38 am

Several posters have questioned the Noctua's ability to work against backpressure (ie restrictions, grills, heatsinks). See the 120mm Fan Roundup thread in the Article Forum for more detail.

dnoiz · Post by **dnoiz** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:21 am

Got the PSU and Samsung HD's myself and they're indeed worth every penny, noise wise.
The loudest parts in my setup are the (case & cpu) fans.

Have fun with the new system.

R.

DonQ · Post by **DonQ** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 9:53 am

McBanjo wrote:
I was looking at buying Noctua fans, but it seems there are issues with them when it comes to restrictions
What issues? I have 2 Noctuas and 2 S-flex (all on 1200rpm) and 1 Ninja-plus-fan (some Adda)

Could you give us your impressions of the Noctuas vs the S-Flex fans?

I myself find the Noctuas to have a weird buzz from certain angles but at ~800 or less they almost silent while still pushing a fair amount of air. They make a rough sound at max speed but at max speed I don't care 'cause I be gaming then!

I find the S-Flex to be very smooth and quiet (much like Yate Loons) but don't seem to push as much air as the Yate Loons or Noctuas.

I do hate that my Gigabyte motherboard does not register the Noctuas fan speed under ~750 RPM (they read 0) but it reads the S-Flex all the way down to under 600 RPM!

McBanjo · Post by **McBanjo** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:47 am

DonQ wrote:Could you give us your impressions of the Noctuas vs the S-Flex fans?

I myself find the Noctuas to have a weird buzz from certain angles but at ~800 or less they almost silent while still pushing a fair amount of air. They make a rough sound at max speed but at max speed I don't care 'cause I be gaming then!

I find the S-Flex to be very smooth and quiet (much like Yate Loons) but don't seem to push as much air as the Yate Loons or Noctuas.

I do hate that my Gigabyte motherboard does not register the Noctuas fan speed under ~750 RPM (they read 0) but it reads the S-Flex all the way down to under 600 RPM!

I can hear a slight motor noise from both at full speed but noting annoying (I rarely sit with my ear 10cm away from them

) and undervolted (below 10V?) I can't hear it at all. Windnoise is a slight "problem" with noctuas fans but I wouldn't count that as a bad thing. They do push a lot of air.
Noctuas fans wins since they push most air but S-Flex is close second. Noctuas fans is worth about 1$ more or so but not 10-15$ as I've seen. Luckily they cost the same here in Sweden and then it's Noctuas all the way