I am planning on getting the following build. I would appreciate it if anyone could provide comments. I am looking for a machine that meets the following criteria.
1. Silence
2. Stability
3. Performance
4. Bells and whistles (e.g. firewire ports)
I am on a budget of about CAN$2000. The current component mix adds up to this price, more or less.
Case
Antec P180
Motherboard
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe - heat pipes for the chipset cooler are a must have for me though I don't plan to use the SLI capabilities of this board. I also really like the 8 phase power, etc.
hard drives
2 x samsung spinpoint sata 250 gb - I am willing to sacrifice a bit of performance to get extra quiet drives. I plan to configure these in a RAID 1 array.
CPU
venice 3500+ 90 nm - I don't want to spend too much on a CPU and figure I can upgrade this to the top of the line CPU that this motherboard can handle in a year or two for a paltry $200.
CPU cooler
thermaltake sonictower - local store I want to purchase from doesn't carry the scythe ninja, but this looks pretty good. I want a quiet PC and figure the two 120 mm case fans in the P180 right next to the CPU should create more than enough airflow.
Memory
Corsair 2 GB TWINX2048-3200C2 - this is my biggest dilemma. I don't plan on over-clocking, but I want stable performant RAM and I am willing to pay a little bit more. I also don't want RAM modules that prevent me from eventually upgrading to 4 x 1 GB. This makes me reluctant to consider some of the OCZ choices not on the ASUS qualified vendor list for memory for the A8N32-SLI.
Video Card
Gigabyte NX66T256DE Silent Pipe II Geforce 6600GT 256 MB - I am interested in a silent video card and the 6600GT sounds like it has a decent amount of horsepower and the "silent pipe II" design of this gigabyte card is the best I have seen for fanless cooling.
DVD writer
LG GSA-4167B tri-format dvd writer - a popular writer at a very cheap price. I have aq plextor today in my 5 year old computer that has never given me problems, but my impression is that the quirks have been ironed out in DVD writers making them more of a commodity.
power supply
seasonic s12-500 - I know the cabling may be a bit tight to the top end of the MB, but seasonic gets such good reviews, I won't consider another supply. My only dilemma is whether to get the S12-600 instead. I think I read somewhere that the S12-600 is marginally louder than the S12-500.
1. Silence
2. Stability
3. Performance
4. Bells and whistles (e.g. firewire ports)
I am on a budget of about CAN$2000. The current component mix adds up to this price, more or less.
Case
Antec P180
Motherboard
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe - heat pipes for the chipset cooler are a must have for me though I don't plan to use the SLI capabilities of this board. I also really like the 8 phase power, etc.
hard drives
2 x samsung spinpoint sata 250 gb - I am willing to sacrifice a bit of performance to get extra quiet drives. I plan to configure these in a RAID 1 array.
CPU
venice 3500+ 90 nm - I don't want to spend too much on a CPU and figure I can upgrade this to the top of the line CPU that this motherboard can handle in a year or two for a paltry $200.
CPU cooler
thermaltake sonictower - local store I want to purchase from doesn't carry the scythe ninja, but this looks pretty good. I want a quiet PC and figure the two 120 mm case fans in the P180 right next to the CPU should create more than enough airflow.
Memory
Corsair 2 GB TWINX2048-3200C2 - this is my biggest dilemma. I don't plan on over-clocking, but I want stable performant RAM and I am willing to pay a little bit more. I also don't want RAM modules that prevent me from eventually upgrading to 4 x 1 GB. This makes me reluctant to consider some of the OCZ choices not on the ASUS qualified vendor list for memory for the A8N32-SLI.
Video Card
Gigabyte NX66T256DE Silent Pipe II Geforce 6600GT 256 MB - I am interested in a silent video card and the 6600GT sounds like it has a decent amount of horsepower and the "silent pipe II" design of this gigabyte card is the best I have seen for fanless cooling.
DVD writer
LG GSA-4167B tri-format dvd writer - a popular writer at a very cheap price. I have aq plextor today in my 5 year old computer that has never given me problems, but my impression is that the quirks have been ironed out in DVD writers making them more of a commodity.
power supply
seasonic s12-500 - I know the cabling may be a bit tight to the top end of the MB, but seasonic gets such good reviews, I won't consider another supply. My only dilemma is whether to get the S12-600 instead. I think I read somewhere that the S12-600 is marginally louder than the S12-500.
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