New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

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akorzan
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:58 pm

New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by akorzan » Thu Jan 06, 2011 10:59 am

Hello, I am considering building a Silent PC somewhat similar to the SPCR Puget computer. This is computer is NOT for games but as a silent multi-monitor workhorse. Can someone critique the parts? I am also puzzled on a quiet DVD player and Fans. For DVD players I used LGs which were very quiet but recently I bought a couple that couldn't read dual layer discs. In the Antec p180, I mainly plan only for one auxiliary fan on the back behind the CPU heat sink with the top one removed.

CPU
Intel® Core™ i7 2600K Unlocked Processor

CPU Heatsink
Thermalright HR-02 FANLESS

Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-H67A-UD3H 1155 ATX

Memory
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 7-7-7-21

Case
Antec P183

PSU
Antec CP-850 850W

Video Card 1
HIS Silence H557HR1G Radeon HD 5570 1GB DDR3

Video Card 2
HIS Silence H557HR1G Radeon HD 5570 1GB DDR3

HDD 1
Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVTRTL 500GB 5400 RPM
Accessory: Rosewill RX-C200P 2.5" SSD / HDD Plastic Mounting Kit for 3.5"

HDD 2
Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVTRTL 500GB 5400 RPM
Accessory: Rosewill RX-C200P 2.5" SSD / HDD Plastic Mounting Kit for 3.5"

DVD: ?

Fan: ?

Any help greatly appreciated.

speedkar9
Posts: 307
Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:39 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by speedkar9 » Thu Jan 06, 2011 8:17 pm

I find LG drives noisy.
Pioneer DVD drives are quieter.
If your not using the top fan, be sure to seal it off to prevent air from entering the top and out the back.

bozar
Posts: 305
Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:49 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by bozar » Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:03 am

You should go with undervolted Nexus fans and suspend both drives with elastic clothing. Two casefans should be plentiful, one is probably enough.
Don't forget to cover up the top fan position and mount all fans with rubber screws.

quest_for_silence
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Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:12 am
Location: ITALY

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:25 am

akorzan wrote:Gigabyte GA-H67A-UD3H 1155 ATX

It's not a good pair for a K processor: you likely need a P67 board.
akorzan wrote:Video Card 1
HIS Silence H557HR1G Radeon HD 5570 1GB DDR3

Video Card 2
HIS Silence H557HR1G Radeon HD 5570 1GB DDR3

IMO it's a rather unusual and somewhat seemingly impractical choice: IIRC a fanless 5750 (like a SilentCell) should offer about better performance, for the same heat (or a few watts less) and about the same money.
akorzan wrote:HDD 1
Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVTRTL 500GB 5400 RPM
Accessory: Rosewill RX-C200P 2.5" SSD / HDD Plastic Mounting Kit for 3.5"

HDD 2
Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVTRTL 500GB 5400 RPM
Accessory: Rosewill RX-C200P 2.5" SSD / HDD Plastic Mounting Kit for 3.5"

IME a couple of Scythe Quiet Drive are to be preferred to the Rosewill mounting kits, for a sub-18dB target.
akorzan wrote:Fan: ?

The usual SPCR champions, what else?

tim851
Posts: 543
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:45 am
Location: 128.0.0.1

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by tim851 » Fri Jan 07, 2011 4:34 am

How many monitors do you plan to use?

Radeon 5xxx and 6xxx can drive three monitors simultanously.

jamotide
Posts: 41
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:39 pm

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by jamotide » Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:52 pm

Get an external DVD drive, then you wont have annoying boot clicking sounds, and save power when you dont need it. I also only use external HDDs for storage, and a SSD for normal use. Rarely need to access storage.

For Graphics, how about some of the Powercolor Go green cards. They are passive and extra tuned for low power usage.

PSU I'd get one of the Seasonic x series, either fanless or one of those that starts the fan only at a certain point. They are more expensive, but worth it I think. Also 850W seems to be way over the top, the system wil waste power due to low efficiency at low PSU usage percentage, below 20% efficiency drops like mad. I would estimate your system at 100W max idle and maybe 200W under stress.

akorzan
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:58 pm

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by akorzan » Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:43 pm

jamotide wrote:PSU I'd get one of the Seasonic x series
But doesn't the Antec CP850 provide 14dB service till 300 Watts? And it's cheaper.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article971-page7.html
tim851 wrote:How many monitors do you plan to use?
At least four.
quest_for_silence wrote:you likely need a P67 board
Thanks for the catch. I'll probably go with this one: GA-P67A-UD4 LGA 1155 P67 ATX
Hopefully the Thermalright HR02 passive heat sink will clear the MSOFT heatsinks.
quest_for_silence wrote:IMO it's a rather unusual and somewhat seemingly impractical choice: IIRC a fanless 5750 (like a SilentCell) should offer about better performance, for the same heat (or a few watts less) and about the same money.
Indeed, if I was using three monitors or less. But I need to propel at least four monitors and I am not interested in gaming. In fact a HD5450 would be great but I do not really want skimp on twenty dollars to get something with less than a quarter of a HD5570's performance.
quest_for_silence wrote:IME a couple of Scythe Quiet Drive are to be preferred to the Rosewill mounting kits, for a sub-18dB target.
Would getting a 3.5 inch drive and pairing it with the Scythe Quiet Drive be better than a 2.5 inch notebook drive? If so, what is a quiet 3.5 inch drive?

quest_for_silence
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Location: ITALY

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by quest_for_silence » Sat Jan 08, 2011 12:47 am

akorzan wrote:
quest_for_silence wrote:IME a couple of Scythe Quiet Drive are to be preferred to the Rosewill mounting kits, for a sub-18dB target.

Would getting a 3.5 inch drive and pairing it with the Scythe Quiet Drive be better than a 2.5 inch notebook drive? If so, what is a quiet 3.5 inch drive?

Scythe makes two enclosures called "Quiet Drive".
I was referring to the Scythe Quiet Drive 2.5", which lets you mount a 2.5" disk in a 3.5" bay (while the other "Quiet Drive" lets you mount a 3.5" disk in a 5.25" bay). Just as a side note, you might even enclose a Quiet Drive 2.5" in a Quiet Drive 3.5" for a somewhat superior noise insulation.

tim851
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Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:45 am
Location: 128.0.0.1

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by tim851 » Sat Jan 08, 2011 4:54 am

akorzan wrote:But doesn't the Antec CP850 provide 14dB service till 300 Watts? And it's cheaper.
I agree. For the price, the CP850 seems to be very good. Although it is grotesquely overpowered for your system. I don't see you going over 200w ever.
akorzan wrote:Would getting a 3.5 inch drive and pairing it with the Scythe Quiet Drive be better than a 2.5 inch notebook drive? If so, what is a quiet 3.5 inch drive?
[/quote]

A problem of the 5.25" Quiet Drive has always been that you can't screw it to the case, because it acts like a vibration amplifier. I tested it with a variety of drives and cases. I'm still a fan of them and have used them in a dozen of different builds, but I always sandwiched them in foam between an optical drive and the bottom/top of the 5.25" mounting frame.

2.5" drives are generally quiet and the P183 is a big case with sound dampening in the side panels. You should be fine.
I have a 1 TB laptop drive and found it to be very audible in my virtually inaudible setup. I put it in a 3.5" Quiet Drive and found it still to be louder than hoped. Then I put this construct in a 5.25" Quiet Drive and used my sandwhich method and voila, it has become virtually inaudible.

akorzan
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:58 pm

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by akorzan » Sat Jan 08, 2011 10:00 am

Thank you all for the help. What are your views on DVD players? I want to avoid going external. So far this is the build:
CPU
Intel® Core™ i7 2600K Unlocked Processor

CPU Heatsink
Thermalright HR-02 FANLESS

Motherboard
GA-P67A-UD4 LGA 1155 P67 ATX

Memory
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 7-7-7-21 F3-10666CL7D-8GBRH

Case
Antec P183

PSU
Antec CP-850 850W

Video Card 1
HIS Silence H557HR1G Radeon HD 5570 1GB DDR3

Video Card 2
HIS Silence H557HR1G Radeon HD 5570 1GB DDR3

HDD
Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD7500BPVT 750GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5"
Accessory: Scythe SQD2.5-1000 Internal HDD Silencer

DVD
HP Black Multiformat DVD Writer 1260i

Fans
2 x Nexus BASIC D12SL-12 120mm

quest_for_silence
Posts: 5275
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:12 am
Location: ITALY

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by quest_for_silence » Sat Jan 08, 2011 1:49 pm

akorzan wrote:What are your views on DVD players?

Sorry, I can't definitely give any advise on that: I own currently LG and Pioneer units, and they are all reasonably noisy.
But I think you may help your ears reducing the player's speed with something like Nero Drive Speed.

akorzan
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:58 pm

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by akorzan » Sat Jan 08, 2011 2:18 pm

Thank you Luca for all the help.
The DVD drive is rarely going to be utilized so the noisiness can get by.

quest_for_silence
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Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:12 am
Location: ITALY

Re: New sub 18 dB i7 build. Fan questions and Critique

Post by quest_for_silence » Sat Jan 08, 2011 8:48 pm

akorzan wrote:Thank you Luca for all the help.

Eventually take care of the WD's 4k Adv. Format issue: I don't know which OS you will run, however some recent products (as the 750GB Seagate Momentus ST9750420AS, see it on storagereview.com) might better address any need for alignment software.

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