need advice on PSU/cooling/VGA for AMD4400+ / Lian-Li V1000+

[dcalde]

Hi all,

I have put off buying a new PC for quite a while, so I have decided it is finally time to make a decision and have therefore spent a lot of time on SPCR lately. First of all I want to say how much I have appreciated the wealth of quality information on this site and forum, but I am still somewhat undecided on a few things (particularly PSU/cooling/VGA) regarding my new system.

First of all, the system is intended for J2EE/.NET development, number crunching, 24/7 operation and for watching HDTV, but NOT for gaming.

The parts I am pretty sure about are:
CASE: Lian-Li PC-V1000+
CPU: AMD Athlon64-X2 4400+
MOBO: Asus A8N-SLI Premium
RAM: 2x 1GB Corsair TwinX PC3200 C2
HDD: WD Caviar SE16, 400GB, SATA, 16MB
DVD: Pioneer DVR-110
DVB-T: Nebula DigiTV PCI

But, I have a hard time picking a suitable PSU, since I want it to be as quiet and efficient as possible. I'd like the Seasonic SS-400HT but this PSU does not appear to be available in Australia. The ones that are available though are:
FSP ZEN300
Antec Phantom 350 or 500
Seasonic S12 430W
I think my personal preference would be the ZEN since it is efficient and quiet, but it only has 300W. Which of these PSUs would offer the best option, considering that I am not intending on overclocking or use SLI. However there is a good chance that I will add a second video card for additional displays and GP-GPU.... which brings me to my next problem, the video card. It should be PCIe, have at least 256MB and have DVI for my Dell 24" TFT @ 1920x1200, and D-SUB since I have several CRT standing around that i would like to use. On the other hand I will most likely buy another TFT at some stage, so I'll need additional DVI, so if there are any cards with 2xDVI, one of which can be converted to analog/D-SUB, then that would be perfect. But keep in mind I don't want the card to be for gaming, just normal workstation use and HDTV.

And finally...which heat sink and fan do you recommend? Once again, quiet, no OC, and preferably without fan, as the system will be running 24/7 and I don't want to come home to a fried CPU just because the fan stopped working.

If that's not enough for you to think about, then feel free to comment whether I should get a SATA II for my apps/OS, instead of the WD SATA that I already have.

And most importantly ...should I get the silver/aluminum or the black V1000+ case. Unfortunately there aren't any stores here in Brisbane/Australia that carry both. I think I am leaning towards the silver one, because the pictures of the black one show silver aluminum shining through the front grill.....ahhh, soo many questions and things to consider....

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Daniel

[jackylman]

It sounds like you want a Radeon X1600XT. Gigabyte and ASUS make passively cooled versions, but I don't know if you can get them in Australia.

HD: The WD4000KD is supposedly a very nice drive if you need that much storage. You'll probably want to suspend it though. And no, you don't need SATA2

PSU: My vote goes to the S12-430.

CPU heatsink: What all is available in Australia?

[dcalde]

It sounds like you want a Radeon X1600XT. Gigabyte and ASUS make passively cooled versions, but I don't know if you can get them in Australia.

Thanks, I looked up the specs, and indeed that card appears to be exactly what I am looking for, except that I can't get any of the passively cooled versions. I'll probably go for the Gecube ATI Radeon X1600XT which I can get at a reasonable price.

HD: The WD4000KD is supposedly a very nice drive if you need that much storage. You'll probably want to suspend it though. And no, you don't need SATA2

Well, I already got that harddrive because .... it's very good, simple as that. And I needed something to move my stuff off may laptop, besides I wanted to see if my laptop would perform better if I had my apps sitting on a fast external harddisk, instead of on the slow 2.5" hdd. BTW, if you are looking for a very connected 3.5" enclsoure, check out http://www.agestar.com/english/products/cfb3a.asp, for IDE/SATA via USB2/FireWire/SATA.

PSU: My vote goes to the S12-430.

for any particular reason?

CPU heatsink: What all is available in the states?

Pretty much everything as they are easier to import than cases or PSUs

Thanks jackylman,
Daniel

[jaganath]

Standard SPCR recommendation:


PSU: S12-430
H/S: Scythe Ninja
Fan: 120mm Nexus


Reason for the PSU, same as you don't want to come home to find the CPU fried, you don't want to come home and find the PSU fried either. Your system will be on 24/7 and may potentially have quite a heavy load when you get your new graphics card, that's a lot of thermal load to be putting on a fanless PSU. Even if you do get the Zen you'll have to run it with a fan anyway just to be safe, thus defeating the whole point of having a fanless PSU in the first place.

[dcalde]

votes so far:

S12-430: 2 - Fanless PSU: 0

mmmh, 2 votes are not what you would call "statistically significant", but a trend is clearly visible, so I guess the Seasonic wins. I only wish pccasegear wasn't the only shop in Australia that carries those PSU, since it is sold out at the moment.

Your feedback was greatly appreciated and the parts are on order.

Thank you, Daniel

[hravn]

I second the Ninja as HS. The Antec Neo HE is really nice when it works

[Krazy Kommando]

scythe ninja
seasonic S12 430w
nvidia 6600LE or x1600

[epiphane]

...SNIP..And most importantly ...should I get the silver/aluminum or the black V1000+ case...SNIP...
Thanks, Daniel

That's a pretty case in either color. Take a look around where the unit will be placed...put something black or silver there if that helps...OK, which blends in better?

Cheers
peter

[LOUISSSSS]

does that mb work with the case? the mb uses heatpipe for northbridge, and the lian li case attaches the mb upside down, is the heatpip still effective?

[dcalde]

That's a good question, but I think it should still work:

Wikipedia - heatpipe#mechanism:

The condensed working fluid then flows back to the hot end of the pipe, either by force of gravity in the case of vertically oriented heat pipes, or through capillary action in the case of heat pipes containing wicks, or heat pipes that are orientated horizontally relative to gravity.

Wikipedia - capillary action:

Capillary action or capillarity (also known as capillary motion) is the ability of a narrow tube to draw a liquid upwards against the force of gravity

But once I get the motherboard, I'll find out.

[Tyrven]

I just ordered a very similar configuration off NewEgg this morning, by chance (same case, similar chip, different mb).

I ordered the HIS Radeon X1600XT IceQ Turbo Crossfire card with it. After doing my research, it seemed like the GeForce 6800GS is the best value on the market (on sale for around 150$) *but* I ended up choosing ATI X1### series insted because ATI has reasonably priced cards with Dual Link DVI ports. I chose the HIM because a) it has TWO Dual Link DVI ports, b) it supports 2560x1600 resolution and c) the fan on it can allegedly operate < 20db and also acts as an exhaust port. (I needed this to connect up to an Apple Cinema Display 30" -- nothing on NVidia's side can come close, at least under $300).

I don't know much about HIM and I think the card looks pretty ridiculous, but it meets my functional needs.

Interesting enough, I'm on this site researching what fans and fan controller I'm going to toss into the Lian Li. From what I've read the stock 120mms it ships with aren't that quiet. I figure tossing a couple Nexus or SilenX fans in should help quiet it down.

[dcalde]

Lucky you! I am referring to the fact that you live in the US and that you can actually order from NewEgg, whereas over here the supply of the non-standard hardware is, well, limited. You wouldn't believe how frustrating it is having this beautiful Lian-Li case sitting next to my desk without being able to complete the setup because some of the parts are sold out. For the past three weeks I've been waiting for the Seasonic PSU and the Ninja heatsink and I'll probably have to wait for two more weeks .

Btw, I ended up buying the PowerColor Radeon X1600XT, because it only takes up 1 slot as I might want to install a second video card at some stage.

[Tyrven]

The multi-slot occupation of my X1600XT is definitely an annoyance -- as is the fact that the fan is sodered to the board; while this would be easy to undo, it would be difficult to redo for the purposes of warranty validation should I need it . Fortunately the stock fan is quiet and efficient.

Unfortunately, I'm not getting the full performance out of my X1600XT because the beta drivers for Vista are really flaky in the latest build. NVidia is releasing the drivers a bit faster than ATI, although Microsoft has stated that ATI's are running faster under Windows for various reasons.

I think I often take living in the US for granted. The other day I was whining about shipping costs and how flakey UPS's tracking was (even though the packages got here in a timely three days). I've heard that the postal system in the US is a lot better than many other countries, though, especially where you have to rely on orders being shipped across national boundaries instead of just the state boundaries I have to contend with.

[Tyrven]

Oh, also, let me know when you get that Scythe! I've decided I want to get the Scythe for my system but I'm concerned about whether or not it will fit and would like to hear from people who have it in the PC-V1000. My CPU is about 1CM below the center of the rear 120mm fan giving it about a 1CM variance between the bottom of the compartment and the Scythe -- I'm curious if anyone else has this restriction and if that variance is good enough without interfering with the heatsync or transfering too much heat down to the PSU.

Also, I'm curious if the proximity of the rear 120mm fan pointed inward will allow the Scythe to run without a fan of its own -- that would be ideal.

[dcalde]

I finally got the last of my parts last weekend and I've been running the system for a couple of days now. Here are my first impressions:

Using the Scythe Ninja with the V1000 is not a problem as long as you fit the heatsink to the MB before you install it in the case. However installing that cpu heat deflector thing that comes with the V1000+ won't fit properly if you install a 12cm fan on the ninja (maybe if you move it all the way down and let it sit on the ram).

Btw...the loudest part of my system is by far the fan on the Colorpower X1600XT. All the other fans or even the WD HDD are hardly noticable even with a sieve like case as the V1000. But I should note that I did not install the rather noisy blower fan that came with the V1000+ as my MB temp is only ~43C and the CPU temp always ~40-41C.

On another note, I love the case but I gotta say that blue front led is almost annoyingly bright.

Daniel