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My NEW PC...Despite the anticipated criticism...I AM VERY SATISFIED ;)

A

anonymouschris

Diamond Member
Okay, so here is the story. I was getting tired of the noise my athlon XP 1800 produced. I had already made every effort to make it silent by using an alpha 8045 with a silencer as the heatsink fan, a modded PSU with silencer fans...and only 2 x silencer case fans for the whole computer; yet it was still loud and annoying. I realized I did not need that much CPU power and decided to take a big step down. i sold all my components, even the monitor, and rebuilt from scratch a budget/silent system.

Here are my component and the prices I paid for them:

Antec 1000 series case - $45 brand new (local comp case store)
Antec 300 watt PSU - $25 brand new (FS/FT forums)
Lite-On DVD drive - $50 brand new (Dell)
Lite-On 24x CDRW - $60 brand new (OfficeMax)
Shuttle Motherboard & NEC floppy - $55 shipped brand new (FS/FT forums)
Matrox G450 dual head 32mb Video Card - $75 used (FS/FT forums)
256mb/pc133 NEC ram - $25 used (local deal)
alpha pal 6035 heatsink/fan - $15 shipped new(FS/FT forums)
1 x Silencer 80mm fan for PSU mod - $9 new (friend)
Cyrix/Via C3 933 processor - $70 shipped brand new (axiontech)
Seagate Baracudda IV 40gb 7200 hard drive - $90 brand new
2 x Envision 15" LCD monitors - $230 - $70 (rebate) = $160 & $6 - $70 rebate = they pay me $64. total for 2 LCD's = $96 (Staples)
*i typed a coupon code wrong and it turned out to be a $344 off any amount purchased coupon and luckily they let the coupon go through. thats how i got the LCD so cheap. tried using it again; but no go.

total = $605

as expected, this computer is not the fastest 😉 but it does the job very well. i dont play games anymore, and i dont mind the decrease in performance for cpu intensive apps. this computer is so quiet...the only thing i hear is the hard drive...and since its the barracuda IV, its virtually silent as well. i think i will stick with this for quite some time....before i give in and build another computer 😉

 


<< 2 x Envision 15" LCD monitors - $230 - $70 (rebate) = $160 & $6 - $70 rebate = they pay me $64. total for 2 LCD's = $96 (Staples)
*i typed a coupon code wrong and it turned out to be a $344 off any amount purchased coupon and luckily they let the coupon go through. thats how i got the LCD so cheap. tried using it again; but no go. >>



OMG!

Deal of the year!
 
I took home an ibm aptiva from work. It was a 533 p3. Unless I look at the led light there is no way I can tell it is on. Nic and quiet My regular rig emits a loud whine from fans and hard drives and is very annoying. I can see where your coming from. eeeek but a cyrix? I would have sold one of the LCD's and bought a p4. From what I hear the run pretty cool and surely a nice smaller fan could do the trick.
 
your p3 is much faster than my C3 processor. much faster 😉 but one thing is for sure...this system runs cool and quiet. i was contemplatin on a p4....but...i always wanted a dual lcd rig. when im bored....i might try a p4 some day 😉
 
No offense meant, but.... I didn't know that Cyrix even made processors anymore.... I remember the good ole' days, when I bought an x586 cyrix chip... If you wanted quiet, you should have looked at a P3 Tualatin... I've heard that they can be run on just a heatsink...
 
Oops. I didnt see that. I thought you kept your 1800... 😱 ...and i was like...umm...i guess thats not fast enough for him. LOL. Well right now im trying to rewire my rheobus... just because that damn cpu fan is driving me crazy. Good luck to you.
 
Why did you pick a Cyrix/VIA CPU anyway? Isn't this socket370? I reckon a Celeron would run much faster, wouldn't it?
 
Everything looked good till I read "Cyrix/Via processor"....ewwwww. You could have gone with a NW P4 and no additional cooling besides the retail HSF. 😉 However, i am sure you are happy with your purchase, and that's all that really matters.
 


<< Despite the anticipated criticism >>


As long as you are happy with it, who cares! But..........since you anticipated criticism.....I'll chime in with the others. A C1.0A Tually would have been nice. You can run it stock speed, and undervolt to 1.2 -1.3 Vcore. It would also be very cool, quiet and quite a bit faster.
 
well, the one silencer fan by itself is not audible. you seriously can't hear it at all. the only thing i hear is the small amount of noise made by the hard drive. barely audible. the C3's really aren't as bad as people have said. i understand its no comparison to P4's or athlon XP systems...but my C3 933 is comparable to a celeron 800. And as much as i hated VIA chipsets before, this system is amazingly stable (knock on wood).
 
u should've picked up a shuttle SV24 barebones system - it's a small mATX form factor aluminum case and integrated mobo that supports C3 processors...

most people run the 933 processors without a fan actually, even tho the chip says right on it to run it with one...

the cooler master DP5-GN01 is probably the most popular.

the noise is defnitely a pain in the butt - unless u live to like or get used to it.

i'm trying to reverse the psychological effects....noise is great!...soothing!
 
You should have try'd harder with that XP dude, I have a that exact proc and my system is EXTREEMLY quiet. Temps dont go above 43C. 4 80mm fans with 7volt mod, power supply fan modded to 7volts also. The 8045 isent as great as it's made out to be
rolleye.gif
 
With an Alpha6035, you should be able to run the C3-933 without a fan.

Nice to be able to hear yourself think next to a system huh? 🙂

Windogg
 
A Celeron Tualatin 1.0A GHz can run w/o a fan, this chip is cooler than the ambient with just a heatsink

So this thing magically dissipates a negative amount of heat? Amazing, gotta get me a couple of 1GHz Tualatin cellys for those hot Finnish summer nights 😛
 
Ah, the memories.... First computer - a 386sx amd, sold it after 2 yrs for $200, bought a 486-66dx, upgraded to a dx4-100, then rebuilt it all with a Cyrix 200+ on a Mustang board. For everythig I was doing it was great. Knocked the socks off of anything all my friends had - then I found out about GAMES (shudder). Then it sucked. Sold it all for 400. Bought a 450p3 - then I found great GAMES. Gutted and built my 1700xp (ARH, ARH, ARH). But I still fondly remember that Cyrix. Got my hands into building and upgrading.
 


<< i'm trying to reverse the psychological effects....noise is great!...soothing! >>



I have trouble sleeping when I turn my system off for whatever reason. The constant hum drowns out the ringing in my ears from tinnitis, and now I'm just used to it. I do try to reduce the noise however I've yet to find an effective combination that's quiet as well as cools well. (Haven't tried any silent fans yet though.)
 
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