Building a New Computer

[xcelr8]

Hi all,
I'm planning on building a new computer, hopefully fast and quiet, soon and was looking for some advice. I have been reading most of the posts in the forums and was wondering about a couple of things. Out of he enermax silencer or the antec true power PSU's which is better and quieter? Also, would you recommend getting an athlon xp 2000+ or getting a p4 1.6ghz and overclocking it? I'm also wondering which mobos would be good in either case, i have been looking at the abit kr7a for the athlon and i really don't have any ideas for the p4 option. As a final question, which heatsinks and fans would be good and quiet? I have seen a lot of people recommending the thermalright ax-7 and getting an 80mm fan for this, would a 27cfm fan be good enough? Also, what is the opinion on the slim hs/fan combos like the thermaltake volcano 7, as well as the volcano 7+ which i know is not slim. One website i have looked at has a slim hs/fan combo that only puts out 22cfm at 21db but they claim it kept an athlon xp 2000+ at 120F under full load for 4 hours, do these work that well? I want a quiet pc, but stability and temp are obviously larger concerns. Thanks for all of the help, sorry about the number and length of the questions, i hope it doesn't discourage too many from responding.

Thank you,
John

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

<< I'm planning on building a new computer, hopefully fast and quiet, soon and was looking for some advice. I have been reading most of the posts in the forums and was wondering about a couple of things. Out of he enermax silencer or the antec true power PSU's which is better and quieter? Also, would you recommend getting an athlon xp 2000+ or getting a p4 1.6ghz and overclocking it? >>


P4, thats just my own opinion though


<< I'm also wondering which mobos would be good in either case, i have been looking at the abit kr7a for the athlon and i really don't have any ideas for the p4 option. As a final question, which heatsinks and fans would be good and quiet? I have seen a lot of people recommending the thermalright ax-7 and getting an 80mm fan for this, would a 27cfm fan be good enough? >>


that would work fine, the AX-7 is awesome.


<< Also, what is the opinion on the slim hs/fan combos like the thermaltake volcano 7, as well as the volcano 7+ which i know is not slim. One website i have looked at has a slim hs/fan combo that only puts out 22cfm at 21db but they claim it kept an athlon xp 2000+ at 120F under full load for 4 hours, do these work that well? >>


no reason to get one unless you need to save space, and thermaltake stuff generally isnt the greatest. they came with the golden orb and have long since left. the crystal orb is good for video cards though

 

[xcelr8]

Bump

 

[microAmp]

If you want a quite CPU, hate to say it but P4.

 

[ahsia]

Personally, the P4 1.6A will give you a quieter system, and since it has great overclocking potential, you might get higher than 2.2GHz, which will equal the performance of an Athlon XP 2000+. Here is my recommendation:

Gigabyte 8SRX - Simply the best overclocking P4 SiS645 board. This board is UNDER $80! If you don't believe me, read HERE and HERE.

Intel Pentium P4 1.6A - I don't know anybody that hasn't got to at least 2.2GHz

Seems like the Enermax is more popular at Newegg, read the user's reviews, and you'll see.

As for the other parts, they are easy. Maxtor or Seagate for hard drive, whatever video card you want to get (GeForce, Radeon), Audigy or Santa Cruz for sound card, get memory from Crucial, Kingmax or Samsung, and you should be set.

As for the second part of your question. That should be answered by the P4. The stock HSF will usually be more than sufficient for even the extreme overclocking. I am using the stock HSF, and have my P4 1.6A OC'ed to 2.3GHz, and running very quiet and cool. Again, not to put down the Athlon, but most people need a very good HSF just to cool the XP 2000+, and most good HSF are LOUD. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask....

Good luck!

 

[Zukatah]

If you want a quiet system, I'll tell you what I'll be buying in two weeks (I'm so eager....).
P4 1.6a with stock heatsink/fan, but with AS3 instead of the thermal pad
Probably the Gigabyte board or the Asus P4533
256 or 512 megs of ram (depends on how much I've worked)
Geforce4 4200 (will hold on my TNT2 Ultra until it comes out)
As for the PSU, I'll get the Antec 860 or 880 because I don't like the front door on the 10xx series and the TruePower PSU seems to be VERY quiet.
I'll get a BarracudaIV HD
And four Panaflos or four Vantec stealth fans to keep the case cool

 

[AntaresVI]

you can make an athlon quiet - get a SK6 heatsink and put an 80mm Panaflo-Low fan on it. Very quiet.