My case/cooling plans, your opinions...thanks!

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snowairg
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My case/cooling plans, your opinions...thanks!

Post by snowairg » Sun Aug 17, 2003 5:50 pm

Not sure on which nForce 2 mobo I'm going with, and I'll either plug in a cheap 1700+ or spend the extra $$ for the Barton. Otherwise, here are my *quiet* case and cooling plans. Let me know if there are better/cheaper places to get this stuff or other recommendations on parts! Thanks!

Antec SLK3700AMB w/ Fortron FSP300-60PN
= $77.72 after shipping at Directron

Thermalright SK-7 $15.99
with Panaflo 80mm L1A $6.99
Artic Silver III 3.0g Syringe $4.99
Rounded 10" Single Device Floppy Cable $1.39
Rounded 24" Dual Device IDE Cables (2) $2.79 each
= $37.82 after tax at SVC

Two 120mm Panaflo L1A's will also be used for intake and exhaust in the case.

Rusty075
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Post by Rusty075 » Sun Aug 17, 2003 6:23 pm

Do you really need 2 24" cables?

For every inch longer the cables are you lose HDD performance. And rounded cables are much more sensitive to that than flat ones are. If you've only running 1 HDD, you're better off putting that on its own short (say 12") cable. Rounded cables don't really help airflow that much, since flat ones can be folded out of the way.

The intake and exhaust 120's are redundant. You're better off just having one or the other.

50CFM blowing in the front, and 50CFM blowing out the back does not equal 100CFM flowing through the case. It equals 50. Almost exactly the same as you'd get with just one or the other. (I think I should just add that paragraph to my sig.)

snowairg
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Post by snowairg » Sun Aug 17, 2003 6:30 pm

Rusty075 wrote:Do you really need 2 24" cables?

For every inch longer the cables are you lose HDD performance. And rounded cables are much more sensitive to that than flat ones are. If you've only running 1 HDD, you're better off putting that on its own short (say 12") cable. Rounded cables don't really help airflow that much, since flat ones can be folded out of the way.
I've got two hard drives and two optical drives. Maybe 18" cables will be just fine...

Flat ones folded are better than rounded ones?
Rusty075 wrote:The intake and exhaust 120's are redundant. You're better off just having one or the other.

50CFM blowing in the front, and 50CFM blowing out the back does not equal 100CFM flowing through the case. It equals 50. Almost exactly the same as you'd get with just one or the other. (I think I should just add that paragraph to my sig.)
Yes, I understand this. The front fan will mainly act as a hard drive cooler.

Thanks for the response!

Rusty075
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Post by Rusty075 » Sun Aug 17, 2003 6:40 pm

Yup, rounded cables increase the occurance of crosstalk between the data wires. In a flat cable every other wire is just a ground, to prevent this crosstalk. But in a rounded cable you end up with data wires next to other data wires, so crosstalk happens more. The longer the distance the wires are next to each other the more likely it is to happen. So a shorter cable is better.



You want to try it with just the intake then.

snowairg
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Post by snowairg » Sun Aug 17, 2003 6:49 pm

Interesting and valuable info I was previously unaware of. Thank you once again.

Zhentar
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Post by Zhentar » Sun Aug 17, 2003 7:12 pm

you left out part of it rusty. Whenever you get cross talk you can end up with errors; the hard drive's solution to errors is to send the data a second time. Obviously, this wastes time and performance.

And I've been seeing that line a lot lately....

DonP
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Post by DonP » Sun Aug 17, 2003 7:13 pm

Rusty075 wrote:Yup, rounded cables increase the occurance of crosstalk between the data wires. In a flat cable every other wire is just a ground, to prevent this crosstalk....
Hmm.. I tried SiSoft Sandra to get SMART info on my WD800JB and it seems to have reported a CRC Error Count of 3 - the computer's been up for about three days (Raw read error rate = 0, seek error rate = 0, write error rate =0). Would this cross talk manifest itself in this value?
I'm running rounded cables and I think my drive is running slower.. but I can't be sure it's the cable's fault as I installed resident anti-virus software at the same time.

About the flat cables.. I've noticed some people fold them onto itself so it's flat but now goes off perpendicular to the original direction.. wouldn't this cause cross talk too? ..and wouldn't this really hurt the single conductor 80-pin cables - each wire is really thin.

DonP.

Shadowknight
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Post by Shadowknight » Sun Aug 17, 2003 7:25 pm

Your setup seems fine, but...

1) I would recommend Arctic Silver Ceramique - it's the same (or better) as ASIII, except it's not electrically conductive. Nice to know you won't have to worry about frying something if you get it in the wrong area...
2)Go for a Barton. On New Egg, it's only about $40 more for a 2500+ vs. a 1700+ Thoroughbred. Thoroubred=hot.

Good luck.[/quote]

snowairg
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Post by snowairg » Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:48 pm

Okay, Ceramique it is. Or what about Arctic Alumina?

Also, it has been suggested to me in another forum to spend twice as much on the SLK-800 over the SK-7 because it performs better with low-flow fans (i.e. quieter ones). And to get the YS-tech adjustable fan instead of the L1A. What do you guys think?

Zhentar
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Post by Zhentar » Sun Aug 17, 2003 9:16 pm

ceramique is probably better. AS3 isn't conductive, its just capacitive, which can be problematic is some areas.

If you want a heatsink that performs well with low flow fans, the thermalright AX-7 is a great deal. MikeC has a comparison with it somewhere here.

Don't trust a non SPCR forum on quiet fans, they generally have no idea what their talking about :) They're usually overclockers used to delta screamers, nothing like the silent obsessed here.

The barton isn't better than the t-bred for heat, they're really pretty similar. The barton has more cache though and this results in a pretty decent performance boost.

snowairg
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Post by snowairg » Sun Aug 17, 2003 9:31 pm

Zhentar wrote:ceramique is probably better.
Ok. Ceramique. Check.
Zhentar wrote:If you want a heatsink that performs well with low flow fans, the thermalright AX-7 is a great deal. MikeC has a comparison with it somewhere here.
I'll look into that. TY.
Zhentar wrote:Don't trust a non SPCR forum on quiet fans, they generally have no idea what their talking about :) They're usually overclockers used to delta screamers, nothing like the silent obsessed here.
So you'd recommend staying with the L1A, then?

Everyone has been an incredibly great help thus far! Thanks again and keep it coming!

Zhentar
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Post by Zhentar » Sun Aug 17, 2003 9:41 pm

yeah, get an L1A, but plan on undervolting it. I like the zalman fanmate.

snowairg
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Post by snowairg » Sun Aug 17, 2003 10:04 pm

Ok, the AX-7 did well, but I think I'm going to spend the extra $10 on the SLK-800. Not only does it perform better, but the design of the base is nicer (more room around the motherboard for capacitors and whatnot).

snowairg
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Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2003 4:00 pm

Post by snowairg » Mon Aug 18, 2003 4:35 pm

Are there any reviews on the Fortron FSP300-60PN besides what I can find here at SPCR?

Thanks!

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