Building (mostly) quiet system . . .

[amol]

Basically, only quiet when I'm NOT gaming . . .

ThermalTake Tsunami Black with Window
2x120mm quiet fans (PLEASE RECOMMEND SOME)
1x90mm quiet fan (PLEASE RECOMMEND SOME)
Antec Neopower 480W
Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester (ANY SILENT HSF FOR THIS?)
Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI Motherboard
1x1GB Corsair Value Select RAM
BFG 6800 GT OC (ANYWAYS TO QUIET THIS DOWN DURING GAMEPLAY?)
NEC 3520A DVD+RW
Another DVD-ROM (ANY SILENT/QUIET ONES?)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 300GB or 400GB (havn't decided yet . . .)

Maybe a fan controller too? Please recommend some of these too . . .

TIA

 

[flamingspinach]

For just normal case fans, I believe that "Panaflo" fan is supposed to be very good. An awesome and relatively inexpensive HSF is the Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu. Zalman also makes models CNPS7000B-Cu (pure copper), and the CNPS7700 series, but these are all actually over weight spec for the processor mounting, which could get dangerous. If you really want to spend some money, get an XP-120 heatsink combined with a very powerful fan (not quite sure, but I've heard the Vantec Tornado fan is good). All these HSFs are pretty large and heavy though, so be careful...

For the video card, consider an Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer, I've heard these are very good.

For DVD-ROMs, I don't think there's really any way to make them more quiet except by padding them or something, or getting a quiet case with grommet-mounts in the drive bays...

As for a fan controller, try going here - Zalman has a few products there. I think someone recommended one of these, but I'm not sure which.

Sorry about being so vague, I'm not really an expert at this, just trying to remember what others have said

-fs

 

[amol]

okay, panaflos for the fans . . .

as for the rest, any other opinions?

 

[dc5]

3 x nexus 120mm, thermalright xp-120

or

2 x nexus 120mm, zalman 7700al-cu

either way, both will be very quiete. your loudest component would be the hdd.

 

[dc5]

Originally posted by: Amol
okay, panaflos for the fans . . .

as for the rest, any other opinions?

panaflo 120mm isn't that silent at 12v.

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: dc5
3 x nexus 120mm, thermalright xp-120

or

2 x nexus 120mm, zalman 7700al-cu

either way, both will be very quiete. your loudest component would be the hdd.

umm . . . the case has room for 2x120mm (front and back) and 90mm (side)

where are you getting 3x120 from??

 

[ts3433]

One of the 120mm fans goes on the XP-120 in that scenario (the XP-120 is sold without a fan).

You probably don't need all those fans for ample airflow, by the way--cutting down on those may also cut down on noise a little.

 

[amol]

any good fan controllers? i like the look of the thermaltake hardcano 13, what else?

 

[dartworth]

good resource- http://silentpcreview.com/

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: dc5
3 x nexus 120mm, thermalright xp-120

or

2 x nexus 120mm, zalman 7700al-cu

either way, both will be very quiete. your loudest component would be the hdd.

which solution is quieter?

 

[stevty2889]

don't know about the Zalman. I am using a 120mm thermaltake fan with adjustable speed control, with my thermalright xp-120, and it's pretty quiet. Cant' hear it over the 6800gt anyway.

 

[JBDan]

[

 

[JBDan]

Originally posted by: dc5

Originally posted by: Amol
okay, panaflos for the fans . . .

as for the rest, any other opinions?

panaflo 120mm isn't that silent at 12v.

No they really aren't, BUT are very high quality fans never- the- less. My choice is SilenX, but there are many SilenX "bashers" here, for what reason I have no idea. They are pricey but have the best cfm/dba ratios BAR NONE. check this link out. SilenX's are not tested here but pretty interesting. http://www.directron.com/noise.html I have the Tsunami as well and have replaced all fans with SilenX 120mm's 14 dba's. It is barely audible.

 

[amol]

even though im not building this till march, i may wait for reviews for the new Tt Soprano . . . see my thread in C&C

 

[SofaKing]

Originally posted by: Amol
Basically, only quiet when I'm NOT gaming . . .

ThermalTake Tsunami Black with Window
2x120mm quiet fans (PLEASE RECOMMEND SOME)
1x90mm quiet fan (PLEASE RECOMMEND SOME)
Antec Neopower 480W
Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester (ANY SILENT HSF FOR THIS?)
Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI Motherboard
1x1GB Corsair Value Select RAM
BFG 6800 GT OC (ANYWAYS TO QUIET THIS DOWN DURING GAMEPLAY?)
NEC 3520A DVD+RW
Another DVD-ROM (ANY SILENT/QUIET ONES?)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 300GB or 400GB (havn't decided yet . . .)

Maybe a fan controller too? Please recommend some of these too . . .

TIA

I know this is off-topic, I really think you should get 2x512mb..just for the dual channel.

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: SofaKing

Originally posted by: Amol
Basically, only quiet when I'm NOT gaming . . .

ThermalTake Tsunami Black with Window
2x120mm quiet fans (PLEASE RECOMMEND SOME)
1x90mm quiet fan (PLEASE RECOMMEND SOME)
Antec Neopower 480W
Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester (ANY SILENT HSF FOR THIS?)
Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI Motherboard
1x1GB Corsair Value Select RAM
BFG 6800 GT OC (ANYWAYS TO QUIET THIS DOWN DURING GAMEPLAY?)
NEC 3520A DVD+RW
Another DVD-ROM (ANY SILENT/QUIET ONES?)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 300GB or 400GB (havn't decided yet . . .)

Maybe a fan controller too? Please recommend some of these too . . .

TIA

I know this is off-topic, I really think you should get 2x512mb..just for the dual channel.

Yeah I thought of that, but I want to be able to upgrade to 2GB within a couple years (when it is REALLY NEEDED) and not have the speed go down to 333

 

[imported_yetti]

i'm running a BFG 6800GT with a panaflo 92mm on my HS and an antec 120mm fans and it's not that loud. my pc got quieter when i switched from a volcano 12 HSF to a SI-97 and the panaflo. cools a lot better too.

 

[amol]

well, i like the look of the xp-120

would a steel case be better for lessening sound vs an aluminum case? its only about 5lbs difference, the ones im looking at