Quiet, not silent advice for a power machine

unparagoned · Post by **unparagoned** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:09 am

This setup, is built so it will last long, play the latest games, and also be quiet. The parts with a dash - next to them I'm fairly cirtain on getting.

Antec P182-
Corsair HX 620 PSU-
Q6600-
Thermalright 120 ultra, S-flex 1200rpm
P35-DQ6
2gig ram, not too sure yet, speed pc6400-8500... from some decent brand.
8800GTX generic value brand.-
WD Caviar 500GB
Samsung spinpoint 500GB
DVD-WR.

I've read that the mobo DQ6 has power placement that makes it not ideal for the p182 since the PSU is at the bottom. Will the cables reach easily? I had the most trouble choosing the mobo, so I'm willing to change that.
I know the graphics card will require the bottom HD enclosure bit to be removed or cut.
What speed ram should I get, can I just get pc6400 and OC? I'll proberbly get something from tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=607047
Whats the best DVD-WR atm?
I couldn't decide between the WD and samsung so I decided to get one of each, is one much better than the other?

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:50 am

welcome to SPCR!!!

Now, your PSU is complete overshot for that System. HX 520 would be overshot too. But both are very quiet PSU's that have good cable management. I have Samsung SpinPoint and its very, very quiet. Many like that paritcular Samsung drive. WD has a lot good HDD's I just personally cannot tell that model since I haven't tired.

HX's cables are lengthy se having them in P182 and route them behind motherboard should be easy task.

Cooler and fan are excellent choices.

Samsung have good DVD-raw in Sata Connection. You should think getting Sata and then you get rid of regular power connectors and Ide cable. Eases the air flow in case.

Mari0-Br0s · Post by **Mari0-Br0s** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:56 am

Hi unparagoned,

First of all, Welcome to SPCR!

For the motherboard and power supply cable lenght, there souldn't be any problem. But I would recommend an ASUS board instead of a Gigabyte one.

The ASUS P5K Premium/Wifi-AP ans the ASUS P5K3 Premium WiFi/AP should be a better deal. They also have the power placement at the same spot.

Corsair power supply are nice because they're modular ones, but they do get hot, compared to other quiet power supply. I prefer the Antec NeoHE series, but this is just my personal preference.

Ultra-120 + S-Flex is good, this is exactly my current setup in my gaming machine at home.

For the RAM, well I'll let you choose the speed you want, but brand wise, Kingston, OCZ, Patriot, Crucial are very good ones. You can also get some Corsair TwinX, but I just had a bad experience with them, 6 kit out of 10 were defect, when I builded the last systems at my workplace.

For the 8800GTX, why not getting also an ASUS?

The hard drives are fine, I do not have any experience with the Samsung, but the comment on them over the net are quite good. I only use WD drives, personal preference.

And finally for the DVD burner, they are all about the same stuff, but you could get a SATA one from LiteOn, I think they're now up to 20X or 22X. SATA cable will allow faster transfert speed and a better airflow in the tower.

edit: damn jamppa welcomed you while I was typing the post!!!

unparagoned · Post by **unparagoned** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:13 am

Hi, thanks for the prompt and detailed replies. I already have a HX 620. Also I've read that as time passes the PSU get weaker and weaker, so the high wattage will come into play in 3/4 years time. (I've experienced this with my current PC, where after 3.5years the peak draw during boot up caused problems sometimes, even though the PC ran perfectly when booted up.)

I'm not too sure on the mobo, but why do you think the ASUS P5K Premium/Wifi-AP is getter than the DQ6? I've read bits and pieces here and there that say the DQ6 is better for a quad core, although nothing solid.(12 phase thingy instead of 6).

I'm getting a generic 8800 instead of ASUS, since it's Â£70(~$140) cheaper, it's retail as well so it can't be that bad.

I'm thinking of getting a Noctua NF-S12-1200 instead of the S-flex, or should I just stick with the s-flex?

Mari0-Br0s · Post by **Mari0-Br0s** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:26 am

Well, ASUS warranty is better than GigaByte, and I had very bad experience with Gigabyte in the past. On the third year of the warranty, GigaByte will only replace it for 40$ USD.... and don't forget to add shipping cost...

This fees apply because on the third year, Gigabyte does not include labor in te warranty.

What do you mean by "generic" 8800GTX ? Do you mean an nvidia branded card? I've never seen anything like that. Only ATi has some ATi branded card, but they're usually more expensive than the ASUS, MSI or other manufacturer branded names.

The S-Flex is good, but I've seen quieter fan, and also, if you intend to do the 5 volt mod, be advised that it'll have difficulties to start. So if the Noctua is quieter, you should get it in my point of view.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:50 am

For heatsink S-flex with FanMate2 / Another fan controller is best option. Noctua's are great but they don't do that well in tight space like HSF etc. They're excellent case fans though. Only Heat sink I would mount Noctua's is Ninja, due its very open fin space. In rest Heatsinks Noctua's might develope a whine / howl due turbulence created by tight finspace / pushing / pulling air thru thick filter due is blade design.

unparagoned · Post by **unparagoned** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:47 am

Mari0-Br0s wrote:Well, ASUS warranty is better than GigaByte, and I had very bad experience with Gigabyte in the past. On the third year of the warranty, GigaByte will only replace it for 40$ USD.... and don't forget to add shipping cost...

What do you mean by "generic" 8800GTX ?

By generic 8800GTX I mean http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=607841, it's basically the cheapest 8800GTX they can get, so I don't know who makes it, it could be ASUS but I doubt that it's proberbly one of the lesser known makes.

gforcefan · Post by **gforcefan** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:11 am

evga sells in Europe -- and I would really recommend that brand if possible. evga has a real lifetime warranty, not "lifetime" of the card (i.e. until they stop making it). They even let you overclock without voiding warranty.

Also, a 90 step-up. If they come out with a newer model within 90 days, you can upgrade for only the difference in price.

Max Slowik · Post by **Max Slowik** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:38 am

All 8800s are made by Foxconn and MSI. Other companies re-badge them, or pick better-binned cores then re-badge them, but they're all physically the same, no matter who sells them.

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:06 pm

What speed ram should I get, can I just get pc6400 and OC?

Unless you plan on taking your CPU beyond 3.6 GHz (9x400), DDR2-800 will be just fine, and you won't need to OC it unless you want to try a memory divider (not recommended).

unparagoned · Post by **unparagoned** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:26 am

I just made the order, they didn't have the dq6 in stock so I ordered the ds3r. Let me know if anything needs to be changed and I may be able to get it changed.

1 of Antec P182 Performance One Super Midi Tower Black - No PSU
1 of Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular Whisper Silent PSU
1 of Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-E DDR2 ATX Motherboard
1 of Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz 'Kentsfield' 8Mb Cache LGA775 (1066 Mhz) - Retail
1 of Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme Socket LGA775/AM2 CPU Cooler
1 of Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm 1200 RPM Quiet Fan
1 of TekValue nVidia GeForce 8800GTX 768MB DDR3 HDCP Dual DVI/HDTV Out (PCI-E) - Retail (XPERTVISION 8800gtx)
1 of Corsair Twin2X 2GB DDR2 (2x1024MB) XMS2 Dominator 6400C4D HX
1 of Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM
1 of Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3GB/s 16MB Cache - OEM
1 of Samsung SH-S203 S-ATA 20x20 Dual Layer DVD-Rewritable Black - OEM