Cheap(ish) - but still quiet - system. Suggestions
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Cheap(ish) - but still quiet - system. Suggestions
Hi all,
After following the discussions for some time I've decided to build my own PC. Money is an issue and absolut silence is not required (I'm not going to be sleeping next to the PC), but it should still be quiet. Power is not a big issue either - a little gaming, editing my digital photos, ripping CDs (my own) and Internet surfing are the typical tasks. I'm not going to modding case/PSU/CPU cooler - at least not for now - so components have to be 'good enough' out of the box.
So far I've come up with the following components.
Case: Antec SLK3000B (cheap)
Power supply: SeaSonic S12-430 (not cheap - but quiet)
Motherboard: Abit AX8 (KT890 chipset - passively cooled, and fairly cheap)
CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+ Venice (cheap)
Graphics: ASUS EN6600SILENCER/TD/128 (passively cooled as far as I can see - and not too expensive)
Disk: Samsung SpinPoint P120 SP2004C 200 GB (SATA II - is that a problem with the KT890 chipset ?)
CPU cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 (+ a fanmate to control voltage)
Some sort of optical (CD/DVD Writer) drive - but as I hardly ever use it that'll be the cheepest alternative I can find
I'm probably going to by a replacement fan - most likely a Nexus or a Pabst (they seem to be the available choices here in Denmark). The plan is to run one fan only - will that be a problem?
Are there any suggestions for other better and/or cheaper components ?
br
Jacob
After following the discussions for some time I've decided to build my own PC. Money is an issue and absolut silence is not required (I'm not going to be sleeping next to the PC), but it should still be quiet. Power is not a big issue either - a little gaming, editing my digital photos, ripping CDs (my own) and Internet surfing are the typical tasks. I'm not going to modding case/PSU/CPU cooler - at least not for now - so components have to be 'good enough' out of the box.
So far I've come up with the following components.
Case: Antec SLK3000B (cheap)
Power supply: SeaSonic S12-430 (not cheap - but quiet)
Motherboard: Abit AX8 (KT890 chipset - passively cooled, and fairly cheap)
CPU: AMD Athlon64 3000+ Venice (cheap)
Graphics: ASUS EN6600SILENCER/TD/128 (passively cooled as far as I can see - and not too expensive)
Disk: Samsung SpinPoint P120 SP2004C 200 GB (SATA II - is that a problem with the KT890 chipset ?)
CPU cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 (+ a fanmate to control voltage)
Some sort of optical (CD/DVD Writer) drive - but as I hardly ever use it that'll be the cheepest alternative I can find
I'm probably going to by a replacement fan - most likely a Nexus or a Pabst (they seem to be the available choices here in Denmark). The plan is to run one fan only - will that be a problem?
Are there any suggestions for other better and/or cheaper components ?
br
Jacob
The only S12 models officially available in Europe are the 430, 500 and 600. You might be able to find a retailer who has imported the lower range but that is very unlikely. You would be better going for an OEM version (the SS-301HT for example) as these are very cheap at around €40 and are readily available in Denmark.
You will experience problems with the SATA-II drive on the AX8. The problem is that the motherboard does not recognise the drive when its set at SATA-II. Don't worry though as you only have to move a jumper to fix this. For the Samsung it should be placed like this:
Details can be found here and here.
Other than that you have a very well balanced system that should be nice and quiet. Go for the single Nexus as exhaust and undervolt as necessary, you shouldn't have any problems with temperatures.
You will experience problems with the SATA-II drive on the AX8. The problem is that the motherboard does not recognise the drive when its set at SATA-II. Don't worry though as you only have to move a jumper to fix this. For the Samsung it should be placed like this:
Details can be found here and here.
Other than that you have a very well balanced system that should be nice and quiet. Go for the single Nexus as exhaust and undervolt as necessary, you shouldn't have any problems with temperatures.
Hmm - seems that there is no consensus that the SS-301 seasonics are related to the S12 series. According to other threads on this site they definitely are not identical. I did find one German supplier of S12-330's though, but as far as I can see they have no internationaln shipping - I'll dust of my german language skills and ask (otherwise I'll just end up using a S12-430 - extra cost will be ~20 euro which really isn't much considering the total build cost).