Need "finishing touch" help...

[Witness]

System Specs:
Epox 8k7a+
Athlon 1.4 TBird
512mb Crucial PC2100 DDR Ram
2 60GXP 40gb ATA 100 7200rpm drives in RAID 0
Creative 52x CDROM
Plextor 24x/10x/40x CDRW
TB Santa Cruz sound card
Lian Li PC-60USB brushed aluminum case
Enermax 350w PS

Need 2 things: A Geforce 3 card and an HSF. I was thinking Visiontek on the GF3, but I've heard gripes that it's "strictly a reference board". Huh?

And I have absolutely no idea for the HSF. I don't want to go with the beastly loud ones, considering I have 2 intake fans and one exhaust fan built into the Lian Li case and the 2 fans on the PS.

Also, any comments on the the Creative CDR? Good or sucks or somewhere in between. This box will be running Win2k, btw.

For all pieces, price really isn't a factor. My company's paying for it all.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

 

[MichaelD]

Hi there,

Nice rig! Dig the case! Good choice of components. Being that you're running RAID 0 (I am too) I would highly suggest making frequent backups of important data. For example, my rig at home is a gaming rig. Lots of games (I have the CD's) and lots of patches and maps! I have the patches and maps backed up to my backup HD and burned to CD. I have personal letters/spreadsheets etc also on the backup HD, so if RAID crashes, it's no biggie.

I understand you don't want your pc to sound like a hovercraft, but don't skimp on the CPU HSF; it's the single most important non-electronic piece of equipment in your pc, especially when running a BBQ grill like a 1.4GHz TBird. Might I suggest a GlobabalWin FOP32-1? Use one w/Arctic Silver II and you'll be good to go. It's not the quietest thing out there, but nowhere near anything with the infamous Delta blacklabel fan.

As far as the Creative CDR goes, a name-brand CDR is a name-brand CDR. You got a name-brand, so no worries. And you got a 24x Plextor! Wow, can I work for your company?

Good stuff you have there. Good luck.

 

[TruculentTucan]

Get the Tiasol copper bottomed heatsink. I have it on my 1.2 ghz Athlon @ 1.4, with the stock fan it's not that loud at all. Considering i have two fans in my case (one on my Radeon LE, one on HSF), it's really quiet, and at a very low temp (idles around 43). If I were to run my fans front to back i'm sure I would idle around 39 or 38.... but that's too loud for me =)

Good Luck!

 

[Blain]

SK6 (lapped), with a quiet fan.

 

[bjc112]

get the Gainward/Cardexpert 3...

the one without VIVO is 313... the other is running for about 340... read anands GF3 roundup... its the best one! !