Project Quiet Baby

As of today I have ordered the first parts in a project setting on a quieter system, and one with less bling (Windowed panel, lights etc).

I ordered an Antec Solo case, which comes with acoustic dampening pads fitted, and the ability to suspend hard disks. It also aids a fair bit better with cable tidying.

I have also ordered myself an eVGA 320MB 8800GTS Superclocked to replace my X800XL. Hopefully the stock cooling system will prove fairly low noise, however I will be scrutinising my warranty to see how fitting a 3rd party cooler will affect or void it.

Another part of the project involves a huge clean of my parts with compressed air (and possibly a hoover), and finally finding a fan that will only give low noise levels, yet move enough air as possible.

Pictures come tomorrow once the parts arrive, and I'll be reviewing the ease of use with the case.

Future modifications to the system are likely to be uprgrading at the end of the summer with an Asus P5K Deluxe Wifi (based off the new Intel P35 chipset), which seems to have impressive overclocking abilities, an Intel Core2Duo around the E6420 mark, and 2GB of DDR2 800 with 4-4-4-12 latencies.

Current system as it stands is as follows:

-AMD Athlon 64 3200 based on the Venice core, overclocked to 2.5Ghz and a 1.568v VCore.
-2GB Corsair XMS4000PT TwinX running at DDR500 speeds and 3-4-4-10 latencies.
-HIS X800XL ICEQ2 Turbo @ Stock
-Zalman CNPS 9500 CPU cooler.
-Thermaltake Tsunami.
-320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 & 200GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 (both SATA)
-NEC DVD burner (IDE)
-Tagan 420W Black Series PSU

woot pictures!!!

Ok, case and GPU have turned up, and all is running. Sounds alot quieter, shame I lack some case fans atm as the Chipset cooler keeps flying at full whack (7000rpm).

Anyway here are Pics!



















And finished:

Cant you turn your hard drives around the other way to hide some more cable?

How loud is the video card stock cooling?

Can't hear the video card cooling tbh, all I can hear is chipset.

I'll be getting some Akasa Amber series fans for the system, so we'll see how sounds go then.

I can't turn the drives round as the cage trays mount from underneath and they only fit 1 way round.

Really I need some right angled SATA cables.

i love that case. how much did you pay for that one if you don't mind me asking.

I 1st saw that case a couple years back and liked it immedtiately, as my tastes gravitate toward something simple with clean lines and a classic, timeless design.

my case cost me about 57 GBP.

Just played in oblivion, ran it fine at 1280*1024 (monitors native res), with everything maximised.

That includes personal shadows etc. And god it looks good.

what case is that i really like it?

Antec Solo. It's really nice to work with actually.

its sexy, sleek and clean. how is it compared to the tsunami?

Quieter, alot heavier though. Has the shine to the side panels like the tsunami and the top. Front USB are positioned in a better place.

You can make your wire management better. check out my Antec Solo build http://hothardware.com/cs2007/forums/t/34723.aspx?PageIndex=1

 Ah, but you have a modular PSU and only 1 HDD, I have 2 HDD's, as well as a non modular PSU.

 If I had a modular PSU, I could do alot better.
 

i have all the cables plugged in and 3 hard drives and it looks the same. i will update the pics tomorrow. even if its not mudular you can still hide all the cables

Elsp, keep an eye on your voltage for your psu, with that new vid card you might be cutting it close with a 420watt psu.  Definitely though when you get your new cpu and motherboard, get a new psu to go along with it.

Slade you should just start a wire management business -- $50 to ship you a computer, you mess with the wires and ship it back Lol, I doubt many would go for it but still just tossing it out there

Drago:

Elsp, keep an eye on your voltage for your psu, with that new vid card you might be cutting it close with a 420watt psu.  Definitely though when you get your new cpu and motherboard, get a new psu to go along with it.

 

 Woo I managed to do a quote!

 Drago, I have done calculations and I reckon even with a core2duo, and new board and RAM, the 420W PSU should just be enough to power everything.

 I have double checked my voltages, everything is running fine atm, +12V is 12.03V, +5V is 5.13V and the +3.3V is 3.33V.

 I can get an X2 3800 for s939 for about £47 GBP atm or an X2 4400 on s939 for £105 GBP, so I might stick with AMD a while longer.  If I do that, it means I can afford a nice new HDTV
 

Alrighty, I've ordered some Xilence 92mm Red Wing fans to go on the front of my solo, as well as some rubber fan mounts that should cut out some vibration. 

 Elsp that is plenty tidy for a case with no side window. Fantastic choice of case. Ive heard that the cooling and silence make it a must buy (far better than the P180). Careful when you mount that 92mm fan though..... Will it have a speed control to keep it nice and slow (and quiet)?

They are meant to be silent fans.  If they are noisy tho I'll either 7v or 10v them, either with a cable from Akasa (I believe they do one for 7v), else I'll be whipping out my cable tools and solder iron. 

Right, I should point out these fans are. . . interesting.  They come with a 3 pin and a 4 pin molex built in to them, so you can't remove the molex unless u are sure you like wirecutters :D

anyway, they are doing well!  Very quiet and shift some nice airflow for the noise.

 Nice, are you going to try and put a filter onto them of some kind, especially if your PC is floor mounted?

Case has a front filter pre-fitted, and it sits on my desk any for now.