Silent Workstation | DAW pc

kees · Post by **kees** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 9:52 am

In the next couple of day I will order the components, so shoot!

case: antec solo
psu: seasonic x-460 (passive, top mounted, i hope I will enjoy this piece for quite some years...e.g. investment...)
cpu: i5 760
mobo: ASUS P7P55D
memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB(2x2GB) PC3-10666/1333MHz
hdd: WD AV GP 500GB SATA II 32MB
fans: nexus 120 mm (2x)
heatsink: Prolimatech Megahalems
fan controller: Zalman Fan Mate 2 Adjustable fan speed connector (2x)
dvd: Lite-On iHAS124 24xDVDRW

(for backup I will use a NAS server, which is in another room)

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 10:12 am

I wouldn't use a Green Power drive for this, but I guess if that's what you really want, you'll see the performance for yourself.

kees · Post by **kees** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 10:19 am

bonestonne wrote:I wouldn't use a Green Power drive for this, but I guess if that's what you really want, you'll see the performance for yourself.

Yeah you said that... hmm but it's silent... Is there a silent alternative?

What is your opinion on the rest of the setup?

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 10:55 am

kees wrote:
bonestonne wrote:I wouldn't use a Green Power drive for this, but I guess if that's what you really want, you'll see the performance for yourself.
Yeah you said that... hmm but it's silent... Is there a silent alternative?

Use a 64g SSD for the OS + programs and the GP drive for data. No change in noise, +1~2W in heat/power and ~$120 for an Intel-made 64g Kingston SSDNow V-Series. Quieter, probably cheaper, and faster in most ways than a WD Velociraptor (fastest HDD) of similar capacity.

kees · Post by **kees** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 10:58 am

@MikeC, hmm SSD, I will think about it, thanks.
A little problem, I will use a dualboot with 2 Linux distro's, so I might need more gb's.
The plan was to wait a year, till ssd will get cheaper.

What do you think about the rest of the setup as a 'silent guru'?

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 11:11 am

kees wrote:What do you think about the rest of the setup as a 'silent guru'?

Fine, should be super quiet.

You might consider this post about coil noise in the Asus P7P55D-E
viewtopic.php?p=521887

kees · Post by **kees** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 11:32 am

Hmm that seems to be a complex problem, at least to define it... A google search show that asus p55 boards have problems with it, but so do other brands...

I was picking the asus cause it should work with M-AUDIO, it has firewire and 3 x pci

Hmm

Vetotat · Post by **Vetotat** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 12:01 pm

But how will a SS X-460 perform in a SOLO? Mustn't the vent side face upwards? That's not possible in a SOLO, right? Or will it be adequately cooled by air sucked in through the PSU?

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 12:11 pm

Vetotat wrote:But how will a SS X-460 perform in a SOLO? Mustn't the vent side face upwards? That's not possible in a SOLO, right? Or will it be adequately cooled by air sucked in through the PSU?

It's probably worth experimenting with the PSU either way... if you have a temp sensor or two you can stick into the PSU through the vents. imo, it'll work fine with the vent facing up -- as you rightly say, the case fan will pull air from the outside through the PSU.

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 2:15 pm

For M-Audio, I would strongly suggest the Asus P7P55D-LE...Worry about the coil noise if it has it.

I don't have an extensive list of compatible motherboards with M-Audio, but I can tell you right now, there are boards that just don't work.

As for the Green Power, I'm not sure it'll be able to keep up. I guess an SSD could be fine for the OS/apps, but I don't trust it for audio yet.

A Scythe Quiet drive or similar situation could make a 7200RPM work better for this.

I've also seen Green Power drives die when being used as a scratch disk (I'm not making this up, the drive was less than a year old).

From an audio standpoint, you may have to make certain adjustments...it's not really going to be silent without a lot of thought and effort, but I wouldn't use a Green Power for it. Simple as that.

quest_for_silence · Post by **quest_for_silence** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 3:29 am

bonestonne wrote:I don't have an extensive list of compatible motherboards with M-Audio, but I can tell you right now, there are boards that just don't work.

Just to know: what about EVGA and BioStar, generally speaking?

And about the following ASUS? P7F-M, P7F-M WS, P7F7E WS, P7P55 WS .

bonestonne wrote:As for the Green Power, I'm not sure it'll be able to keep up.

Even just to know: which are the relevant performances to check out?

Regards,
Luca

quest_for_silence · Post by **quest_for_silence** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 4:00 am

kees wrote:hdd: WD AV GP 500GB SATA II 32MB

Apart what bonestonne says, it seems to me too much small.
If I'm right, it seems there are no actual and compelling reasons to choose just it.

kees wrote:heatsink: Prolimatech Megahalems

It seems to me needlessly costly: with an i5, IMO a Scythe Mugen could serve globally better (I assume the HS will run with a fan), even if it needs a stabilizer.

kees wrote:fan controller: Zalman Fan Mate 2 Adjustable fan speed connector (2x)

I wouldn't buy it, but wait and see before how Linux (and your mobo) goes to control your fans. Generally speaking an external rheobus isn't user friendly when the PC isn't placed rightly in front of you.

About the Kaze Server or other similar panels, I guess they are a bit flimsy and tricky to mount with Solo's rails, but I mean it can be done (moreover, its semi-automatic mode shoud be very useful).

Regards,
Luca