Quiet and Small, does this beast exist??

[adammthompson]

Cindy,

Before you order parts (like a card reader), I'd recommend posting on the Ubuntu forums to see if anyone has experience with them (if you haven't done so already).

 

[tylerdustin2008]

I have an X-Qpack. it is quiet as hell. And it keeps my system nice and cool. I am going to be adding 4 more fans to it in the next couple of days, so it wont be quiet anymore. The microfly is the same case, it just has a front 80mm intake. If you want small and quiet go for the Lian-Li PC-300. Because you can always add quiet fans still with good cooling.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112113

 

[cindyhot]

Thanks guys, I went over to the Linux experts board and asked some of the chipheads about which boards are good...

I'm still thinking about Cheesehead's C7 board, and someone said go with ASUS P5B-VM, and Gigabyte cards with NVIDIA are supposed to be good... well when all this is over I'm gonna have an electrical engineering degree!!!

If I really want to deck it out would it be good if I put a Zalman CNPS7000 heatsink on whatever I got, instead of a fan or something?

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: tylerdustin2008
I have an X-Qpack. it is quiet as hell. And it keeps my system nice and cool. I am going to be adding 4 more fans to it in the next couple of days, so it wont be quiet anymore. The microfly is the same case, it just has a front 80mm intake. If you want small and quiet go for the Lian-Li PC-300. Because you can always add quiet fans still with good cooling.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112113

how can you say its quiet when the stock PSU pushes more then 30db of sound? Maybe if you changed the PSU to something better. But i dont see how it can be quiet :X

to me quiet would need to be within the 22-24db ranges. 30 is knida loud IMO.

ZAP: oops i missed the part where she said she would only use open office. So yeah, your build would be better. However if she was planning on migrating the system to windows, i think a DC option would last longer. But if you dont mind the upgradability, Zap's solution is certainly the cheapest.

 

[cindyhot]

aigomorla, I do a lot of data processing ... open office and PDF files, sometimes HUGE files and lots of fonts... and photo editing too ... I like good sound. But that's about it...

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: cindyhot
aigomorla, I do a lot of data processing ... open office and PDF files, sometimes HUGE files and lots of fonts... and photo editing too ... I like good sound. But that's about it...

so how will a Dual Core not benifit her now???

Photo Editing itself... hmmmm maybe a C2D instead of a AMD..

my 2 cents...

 

[tylerdustin2008]

I replaced the fan in my PSU. But i dont have that 420W anymore, i have an Antec Neo 550W in it.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: tylerdustin2008
I replaced the fan in my PSU. But i dont have that 420W anymore, i have an Antec Neo 550W in it.

Hehe... same PSU as my NAS. I believe its quiet now, cuz the Neo 550 has to be as quiet as my old seasonic.

 

[VooDooAddict]

The Ultra Fly and X-QPack are great little microATX cases for the $$. I prefer the extra space of the Ultra Flys though compared to the X-Qpacks it does tend to have more sharp internal edges that make working in it "hazardous."

If you are mainly looking for silence and not size... Antec P180 is nice. There's also a rebate sale running at Fry's on the Sonata II that's hard to pass up. SilentPCReview has reviews and recommendations on these.

From the description of what you are looking for... Antec Sonata II with power supply for $50 after rebate is a nice deal.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: VooDooAddict
The Ultra Fly and X-QPack are great little microATX cases for the $$. I prefer the extra space of the Ultra Flys though compared to the X-Qpacks it does tend to have more sharp internal edges that make working in it "hazardous."

If you are mainly looking for silence and not size... Antec P180 is nice. There's also a rebate sale running at Fry's on the Sonata II that's hard to pass up. SilentPCReview has reviews and recommendations on these.

From the description of what you are looking for... Antec Sonata II with power supply for $50 after rebate is a nice deal.

i also second this option. Although the case isnt great for ocing, its quiet and its fairly cheap.

 

[dampeal]

Originally posted by: cindyhot

Originally posted by: Zap
For the card readers... starting at $7 plus shipping for internal units.

Woo hoo!
These just plug right into the mboard, I don't need drivers even on Linux??



MUCH better than my SCSI PCMCIA solution!!

Finally, there is only one external bay and that's for an optical drive, meaning you won't be able to install an internal flash card reader.

NEXXXXT!

Seriously, if I doesn't have what I need then I don't think I should get it ... so it's either back to the X-QPack,
or NSK2400, which I am liking already... http://www.directron.com/nsk2400.html

I distinctly see TWO drive bays on this one.... but if I get a card reader that probably means the builtt-in ports on the side will have to be unplugged?

The NSK2400 is an excellent case actually, fairly heavy though once everything is in it.. its' chambered design actually helps to keep everything cooler... and it is also made to be silent as well

I have the Antec Fusion, which is the same case, but made to be an HTPC, it has VFD display on it instead of top drive bay... and I had the NSK2400 as well so I am speaking from experience, you will be quite happy with the quality and design of the NSK2400..

as far as taking up space, it could easily hold an LCD monitor on top of it, but I wouldn't put a CRT on it... so space won't be that much of an issue... unles of course you have a tiny desk

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: cindyhot
aigomorla, I do a lot of data processing ... open office and PDF files, sometimes HUGE files and lots of fonts... and photo editing too ... I like good sound. But that's about it...

so how will a Dual Core not benifit her now???

Photo Editing itself... hmmmm maybe a C2D instead of a AMD..

I was basing my original recommendations on what she has said up to now, and she never mentioned photo editing. Now, if she wants to start spending more money on the system than the low $400 range that I came up with, my first recommendation would be to double the RAM. After RAM is at 2GB, then a dual core CPU (though they are cheap now, eWiz x3 3800+ for $95).

I tried to find some info/benchmarks on The Gimp running under Linux comparing single to dual core, but couldn't find anything. However, I did find an Anandtech article benchmarking Photoshop (considered multithreaded) running on Windows and comparing single to dual core.

Dual Core Performance Preview

At the same 2.4GHz with 1MB cache, an x2 4800+ does the specified Photoshop task in 311 seconds. The A64 4000+ does that task in 314 seconds. As you see, dual core did make a whopping 3 second difference, almost 1%!!!

Ya know what? I was doing photo editing on my 486DX2-66MHz computer with a few MB of RAM. Has software become so bloated that a single core at a few GHz can't even do that these days?

Yes yes, there are tasks that see more advantage and indeed up to 2X in cases such as Folding. Also, multitasking may see some benefits. I know about all that - heck I'm typing this on an overclocked dual core setup! However, it doesn't mean everyone needs it or wants to pay for it.

Maybe we need some more information from cindyhot... Hey cindyhot, what is your current system? We know it has SCSI devices, a Matrox video card and four noisy fans. What CPU and at what MHz? How much RAM? If we knew what your baseline performance is, perhaps we can help you make a more informed purchasing decision?

Originally posted by: cindyhot
I have a desktop system here but its getting antiquated, it's bulky and not much to look at, I'm pretty sure I don't want to upgrade it. Actually I hate it! I've been going through a lot of changes professionally and personally, so it feels like its time to dump this thing and get a whole new system in my life....

I quoted this from your other thread (and noticed that I missed the "including some photoediting"). It doesn't sound as if extreme lack of performance was what made you want to get a new system. Am I right? Wrong?

 

[adammthompson]

I don't think Cindy needs dual core, or even 2 GB of RAM. The GIMP isn't that demanding. It would probably be worthwhile to get a (single-core) Athlon 64 instead of a Sempron--mainly because it's not that much more money.

 

[cindyhot]

Originally posted by: Zap
I was basing my original recommendations on what she has said up to now, and she never mentioned photo editing. Now, if she wants to start spending more money on the system than the low $400 range that I came up with, my first recommendation would be to double the RAM. After RAM is at 2GB, then a dual core CPU (though they are cheap now, eWiz x3 3800+ for $95).

Zap, I hope to keep it CHEAP.... but I don't want to be skimpy, either....so should I try to get 1 gig on a single stick, so I can add another stick if I need it later??

Maybe we need some more information from cindyhot... Hey cindyhot, what is your current system? We know it has SCSI devices, a Matrox video card and four noisy fans. What CPU and at what MHz? How much RAM? If we knew what your baseline performance is, perhaps we can help you make a more informed purchasing decision?

Some of these questions are gonna be hard to answer...

I got this system a long time ago in a story I won't get into now, but I added to it a little here and there and pulled some things out in frustration.... It's an AMD CPU. I have 256 megs of RAM... not enough hard drive space ... I think I have about 100 gigs right now and it's 80% filled up ...

I have an old set of speakers and a really old monitor that I can't wait to get outta here. I'm going LCD all the way!!!

I quoted this from your other thread (and noticed that I missed the "including some photoediting"). It doesn't sound as if extreme lack of performance was what made you want to get a new system. Am I right? Wrong?

Depends on how you define "extreme" ... the other day I had about 8 photos loaded in the GIMP at the same time and had to sit once I started saving changes to disk ...and then I had to wait every time I tried to do something, even using the keyboard shortcuts, it didn't want to move at all.... I hope things go quicker on the new system and I know my lack of RAM has a lot to do with it. Also I'm running out of disk space I think and GIMP loves its swap files....

This linux chiphead told me that an asus-P5B-VM motherboard would be fine. It's more expensive than Cheesehead's idea but the guy told me that I should have no problems. The other idea are those Gigabyte boards on Newegg, theres 2 of them and one's like 50 bucks.....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128031

I guess its a toss up.... I hear AMD64 chips are more quiet than others, but they said the graphic's good on the asus ...

Hmmm.....

 

[Zebo]

Silverstone Sugo SG01 and disconnect the rear fan...so purdy not plasticy garbage I see peoples recommending..

But the real deal on quiet is buy parts which don't make noise.

1. Passively cooled motherboard with no fans on it

2. A HDD enclosure Smart Drive 2002 or Nexus's Drive-a-way and mount into 5.25" slot
Since all HDD are noisy, all HDD's vibrate the case making even more noise and vibration this is a must have IMO.

3. A passive Video card like XFX's 7950GT at the highest end or 7100GS or even on board video at the low end and anything in between without a fan on it.

4. A silent PSU with good flow since it's your only case fan like Corsair 510 or something from Seasonic.

5. A silent CPU cooler like CNPS7700-CU or Typhoon at 5-7volts, tower coolers are not condusive to SFF

 

[cindyhot]

I've been clicking all day so much that my head spins! But I am happy for all the advice.

Zap, I'm going ahead and placing my order now for the system you originally linked up.... everything in it looks GREAT! Took a look at the Abit and everybody says its thte best of the bunch for Linux support...

Am I going to need to buy a heat sink to put on this thing??

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: cindyhot
I've been clicking all day so much that my head spins! But I am happy for all the advice.

Zap, I'm going ahead and placing my order now for the system you originally linked up.... everything in it looks GREAT! Took a look at the Abit and everybody says its thte best of the bunch for Linux support...

Am I going to need to buy a heat sink to put on this thing??

Zap's recomendation is great. As i have said, he seems to know linux pretty well. I dont tend to recomend anything that i have little to no experience in, IE linux, so i would go with his recomendation.


Also Cindy, if you buy a OEM cpu, meaning its cpu only, your gonna need a sink.

If its retail, meaning u get it in a nice AMD box, it comes with one, however i still suggest you change it because the stock is kinda loud unless you get one off a mid model model X2 with heatpipes, or a opty.

Remember to consult someone that has the case on there cooling option. The last thing i would hate to see is you getting all your parts and then having to stop because the cooler was just too big to fit on your case.

Good luck with the build tho... it should be fun.

 

[Zap]

I am not a Linux expert. Far from it.

Best bet for CPU would be retail box, and use the cooler that came with it. Guaranteed to fit the MicroFly. The Abit board has Smart Fan. Just enable it in BIOS and it will run the fan slow, and will automagically speed it up only when needed. Under these conditions it's amazing how quiet a retail box AMD fan can be.

Everyone has great suggestions, but...

I hope to keep it CHEAP....

I got this system a long time ago .... It's an AMD CPU. I have 256 megs of RAM... not enough hard drive space ...

I think the cheapie system I recommended fits the bill... cheap, quiet, fast. Are there cheaper? Yes. Are there quieter? Yes. Are there faster? Definately yes. Are there all three? Haven't seen such a suggestion from anyone else yet.

The thing is that what I suggested is not the best choice for any particular reason. However, I believe it to be the best choice based on a particular combination of reasons. Additionally, I believe it will meet and exceed cindyhot's expectations in comparison to her existing system.

Yes, a stock speed $300 Core 2 Duo E6600 will rape the highest overclocked Sempron in any benchmark. However, her basis for comparison is a several-year-old AMD. A socket AM2 Sempron will already be much better, plus much friendlier on the pocketbook.

Zebo is right in saying that all HDDs vibrate. However, a modern HDD with fluid bearings (basically they all are these days) will already be quieter than a 100GB HDD from several years ago.

Yes, there are really "quiet" power supplies when compared to the stock Ultra V-Series. However, it is probably going to be a lot quieter than any PSU from several years ago when nobody paid any attention to these matters over their 6800RPM Delta 60mm fans.

My point is this: I think everyone is trying to oversell her. I know everyone has the best of intentions. Yes, this part is quieter. Yes, that part is faster. What it comes down to though is balance and relativity. A balance between price, performance and quietness. Relative to her current/old system, noticeably faster and quieter.

-------------------------

How about an analogy? She's coming from a 20 year old Ford Escort that's slowly becoming a rattling deathtrap. Wants something cheap but is "nicer" than that old beater. One person recommends a Corvette, because you can never get enough performance. Another person recommends a Mercedes, because it has style and is really quiet inside. Someone else recommends a Hummer because you may one day have to transport a number of people.

I'm the one trying to recommend the Honda Accord. It's sensible, cheaper than the other recommendations and it exceeds the car it will be replacing in all ways.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: cindyhot
Am I going to need to buy a heat sink to put on this thing??

I had linked to a retail box CPU so it will come with one.

Originally posted by: cindyhot
should I try to get 1 gig on a single stick, so I can add another stick if I need it later??

You can. A single 1GB will cost about the same as two 512MB. However, two 512MB will run faster due to being dual channel. Also, you don't necessarily want to run four 512MB because there is a small performance penalty. If all capacities are identical, fastest configuration is a matched pair. Second fastest is two matched pairs. Slowest (relatively speaking) is a single.

If you are absolutely certain that you will be adding another stick in the future, okay, get the single 1GB. Keep this in mind though. Optimally the pairing has to be as identical to each other as possible. Due to the rapid pace in the computer industry, 3, 6, maybe 10 months from now when you go to buy the other stick, it may no longer be available. A "similar" stick may work just fine, or it may not.

Originally posted by: Zebo
But the real deal on quiet is buy parts which don't make noise.

Absolutely. I cringe whenever I hear about people wanting to build some awesome machine with this video card, that CPU cooler and X number of case fans. Then, they say "oh, but I'm going to buy some Pax Mate or Dynamat for the case to make it quiet."

Originally posted by: Zebo
1. Passively cooled motherboard with no fans on it

Good place to start. The Abit board I linked uses two passive heatsinks connected by a heatpipe.

Originally posted by: Zebo
3. A passive Video card like XFX's 7950GT at the highest end or 7100GS or even on board video at the low end and anything in between without a fan on it.

Yup, going with onboard video. The board will have a PCI-E slot so... cindyhot, you reading this? If the onboard video ends up not powerful enough for your needs (unlikely based on what you've said so far, but a possibility) then Zebo's advice is to be heeded - buy a video card that doesn't have a fan.

I will append to that by saying "buy a video card which doesn't have a fan, AND which uses relatively less power." Less power = less heat. Less heat means your case fans can run slower. Example: In the mid-range, the ATI Radeon x1950Pro seems to be a popular choice. However, the Nvidia Geforce 7900GS performs nearly as well but draws much less power and puts out much less heat.

Remember that you aren't "stuck" with your (soon to be) new computer. You have choices. Video not good enough? Get a new video card. CPU not fast enough? Get a faster one that is also dual core. RAM not enough? Double it. Well, at 1GB you will already be FOUR TIMES what you currently have... grumble grumble... women can be so demanding... hrmmph hrmmph. Just kidding.

Case not pretty enough? Get the Silverstone Sugo that Zebo (and others) suggested. Don't worry, as long as you don't break the other stuff you can sell them to other people here to recoup some of your investment.

 

[VooDooAddict]

3. A passive Video card like XFX's 7950GT at the highest end or 7100GS or even on board video at the low end and anything in between without a fan on it.

Yup, going with onboard video. The board will have a PCI-E slot so... cindyhot, you reading this? If the onboard video ends up not powerful enough for your needs (unlikely based on what you've said so far, but a possibility) then Zebo's advice is to be heeded - buy a video card that doesn't have a fan.

If you really need more power the 7600GS are great passive cards. Unless you want to hook up a couple monitors ... the on-board should be fine.

Enjoy the SFF!

I look at standard ATX towers and and just think of all the wasted space ... similar to SUVs

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: VooDooAddict

3. A passive Video card like XFX's 7950GT at the highest end or 7100GS or even on board video at the low end and anything in between without a fan on it.

Yup, going with onboard video. The board will have a PCI-E slot so... cindyhot, you reading this? If the onboard video ends up not powerful enough for your needs (unlikely based on what you've said so far, but a possibility) then Zebo's advice is to be heeded - buy a video card that doesn't have a fan.

If you really need more power the 7600GS are great passive cards. Unless you want to hook up a couple monitors ... the on-board should be fine.

Enjoy the SFF!

I look at standard ATX towers and and just think of all the wasted space ... similar to SUVs

uhh... u guys are getting too power hungry.

Cindy stay with zap's recomendation. You wont need a power hungry video card if your not gaming.

A better solution then all three zap gave is hard to find. I guess you should ask yourself how long are you going to keep the machine and if its worth the extra 100 or so in investments.

If you answer yes, then a dual core will help with video editing and photo editiing. If you plan on using windows, Dual cores are being more optimized now for regular window application. Although zap did give u an estimate in encoding times, it would still overall be a better choice.

What about a regular s939 single core opty also? I think you can find those relatively cheap, and there far better chips then the regular A64.

 

[cindyhot]

Just a quick update... I put in the orders yesterday and I think I was right around $400 for everything... not bad!

I bought one memory stick so maybe I'll bookmark it on newegg so I can watch for a sale!

And you guys won't believe this, but the case is already here! I ordered it from Frys late at night, and it was delivered ... with free shipping... not in two days ... not in one day... IN LESS THAN TWELVE HOURS!!! We don't even HAVE a fry's around here so I don't know how they did it!

 

[aigomorla]

there warehouse is probably near your location.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
there warehouse is probably near your location.

Back when I used to order from Frys.com/Outpost.com, I was getting stuff the next business day from when I ordered. IIRC they have a shipping depot in Ohio or something, so it's quite central, plus they work closely with DHL.

Alas, I no longer order from them because my very last order showed up... as an empty box (perfectly sealed, no signs of tampering). Almost two months later and the drama is still going on. :disgust:

cindyhot, keep us updated on that system.

 

[VooDooAddict]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: VooDooAddict
If you really need more power the 7600GS are great passive cards. Unless you want to hook up a couple monitors ... the on-board should be fine.

uhh... u guys are getting too power hungry.

Cindy stay with zap's recomendation. You wont need a power hungry video card if your not gaming.