Silent Comp.

[Mr Smiley]

I want to build a comp for about $800. The only catch is is that it must be as silent as possible. I was thinking of getting an Opteron because I hear they run pretty cool. Would a Core duo suit me better? I don't like flashy or big cases. I have a centerion 5 case on my main rig and I love it altough it is a little bit cramped with a ocz powerstream psu in there. I don't need a beefed up video card as I won't be playing games but it must be decent and quiet of course. As for ram, a gig would be fine. I already have a monitor. So does anyone have any suggestions for where I should start?

 

[dBTelos]

380W Seasonic S12. Antec P180. No videocard. Whatever CPU fits you best. Scythe Ninja.

 

[imported_goku]

Impossible, in order to build a computer you must have at least $2000. A good place to pickup a machine is from alienware as they make top quality systems, systems that are less than $2000 are 3 years behind in technology. I can't believe you'd think that you could build a system, the only people who can build computers are big companies with tons of equity and large scale assembly.

 

[dBTelos]

You can make a great gaming system for about $1000. This build wont even have a videocard. How do you figure?

 

[lxskllr]

I think the C2D would be good for your cpu. They run very cool. I game on mine with the cpu fan all the way down and the temps barely rise. I'm using the Thermalright XP-90c heatsink.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

What is the comp to be used for? You might need 2GB of RAM if the pc is for work. For an $800 box, I would tempted to go with S939. The Opterons are industrial-grade with an industrial price, so don't bother. Newegg has X2 939's for slightly more than AM2, but the prices for motherboards and memory favor 939. Intel/Intel/DDR2 remains the most expensive option.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

SONATA II $100
Scythe SCINF-1000 $52
SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series 250GB SATA $70
NEC 3550 $30

Any mobo and video must be passively cooled

 

[DaveSimmons]

Antec NSK44400 with PSU, Biostar TForce 6100-939 with onboard nv6100 graphics (also has a PCI-E slot if you want more), X2 3800+ socket 939, Zalman 7000B-alcu HSF.

I'm using this for my home office work PC and it's silent except for the hard drive seek noise (which I can't hear with the radio on). Temp stayed under 40C even in summer without AC.

 

[Bobthelost]

My "Near silent" machine:

Semperon 3000+ with stock 4 pipe heatsink (from my X2 )
M2N-VM with 6150 graphics (crap choice for overclocking, really crap)
1GB Value RAM
Samsung HDs (3)
Antec P150

It's not silent, but it's very quiet.

The semperon is plenty for most roles as is the 1GB of RAM as this isn't a gaming machine. The stock 120mm tricool is good enough at low speed as is the NeoHE. The suspension system for the drives (note: Can be done using elastic in any normal case) makes the quiet samsung spinpoints very quiet indeed. The only other moving parts are in the PSU (quiet) and the CPU fan (it's not exactly stretched).

Take that and add to it as you need, faster CPU? Drop one in. Gaming? Drop in a 7950GT and a faster single core CPU. Media transcoding? Drop in a dual core. If you don't have a s4 pipe heatsink lying around then find something with a 120mm fan on it and be happy.

 

[videogames101]

Originally posted by: goku
Impossible, in order to build a computer you must have at least $2000. A good place to pickup a machine is from alienware as they make top quality systems, systems that are less than $2000 are 3 years behind in technology. I can't believe you'd think that you could build a system, the only people who can build computers are big companies with tons of equity and large scale assembly.

Uh... yeah... I hope that was sarcastic.

 

[Mr Smiley]

Ok this is what I have so far:
Lian li PC-7B - $110
SeaSonic S12-380 ATX12V 380W - $77
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 - $220
G.SKILL 1GB DDR2- 800 - $125
SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP2514N 250GB - $74
Scythe Ninja - $52
Which comes out to $658. Now I just ned a mobo and some type of video card. Looking at this guide, they used the Gigabit GA-965P-DQ6 and the Asus P5W DH Deluxe which happen to be above $200. For the video card, I dont need anything fancy. Lets say something that will atleast be able to play counter strike at 1024x1280. Will there be a big difference between the E6400 and the E6300? Any suggestions would be nice.

 

[dBTelos]

Save yourself $15 on the PSU:

http://tinyurl.com/kavyw
Seasonic S12 380W

However, I didn't realize that you wanted a videocard. You said you wern't going to be gaming. But if you just want low-end gaming, the 7600GS (or GT, I forget which) is good. If I were you, I'd up the PSU just a little bit.

http://tinyurl.com/fyax4
Seasonic S12 430W w/ PCI-E

To support the 7600. Also, G.Skill RAM is kind of expensive, Corsair Value RAM and Patriot RAM tend to be cheaper but keep the fairly good timings. You could save $100+ on the case by going with a Ultra Wizard case for $5 (Hot Deals forum), then you could afford a 7900GT. Gigabyte and MSI make good budget boards, so I'd pick one of them.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: Mr Smiley
Ok this is what I have so far:
Lian li PC-7B - $110
SeaSonic S12-380 ATX12V 380W - $77
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 - $220
G.SKILL 1GB DDR2- 800 - $125
SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP2514N 250GB - $74
Scythe Ninja - $52
Which comes out to $658. Now I just ned a mobo and some type of video card. Looking at this guide, they used the Gigabit GA-965P-DQ6 and the Asus P5W DH Deluxe which happen to be above $200. For the video card, I dont need anything fancy. Lets say something that will atleast be able to play counter strike at 1024x1280. Will there be a big difference between the E6400 and the E6300? Any suggestions would be nice.

[*]Mainboard w/ Vista-ready DX10 graphics: Intel BOXDG965RYCK

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: John

[*]Mainboard w/ Vista-ready DX10 graphics: Intel BOXDG965RYCK

What does that mean? The IGP is DX10?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

the s12-380 is a perfect fit for your box. it's an excellent family, and you'll never come close to 380W. if i knew you wanted to spend more on the box and ps, i'd have suggested this and the antec solo for $90.
check out what spcr did with this box
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article293-page1.html

GIGABYTE GV-NX76T256D-RH Geforce 7600GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125025

 

[pkme2]

Originally posted by: Mr Smiley
Ok this is what I have so far:
Lian li PC-7B - $110
SeaSonic S12-380 ATX12V 380W - $77
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 - $220
G.SKILL 1GB DDR2- 800 - $125
SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP2514N 250GB - $74
Scythe Ninja - $52
Which comes out to $658. Now I just ned a mobo and some type of video card. Looking at this guide, they used the Gigabit GA-965P-DQ6 and the Asus P5W DH Deluxe which happen to be above $200. For the video card, I dont need anything fancy. Lets say something that will atleast be able to play counter strike at 1024x1280. Will there be a big difference between the E6400 and the E6300? Any suggestions would be nice.

:thumbsup:
Wise choice, keep it up.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost

Originally posted by: John

[*]Mainboard w/ Vista-ready DX10 graphics: Intel BOXDG965RYCK

What does that mean? The IGP is DX10?

It means that the GMA X3000 could eventually be changed to DX 10 with a driver update thanks to programmable pipelines.

 

[dBTelos]

the s12-380 is a perfect fit for your box.

Nope, better to up it to 430W. The 380W only has 168W on the 12V rail! remember he wants a low-end GPU also.

 

[HGC]

I just built a computer with the same priority of low noise. I wanted a good work machine that could handle moderate gaming. If you don't mind going socket 939, check out my new system listed below. I think it prices out at about $800, excluding the monitor. I just finished it yesterday, and I'm very happy with it. It is indeed very quiet and a big step up from my previous XP 2600+ mobile and Radeon 9600XT.

The CPU fan is very quiet on low speed, the motherboard is cheap and has no fan, and the case is designed for low noise with rubber grommets for the single large fan and hard drive mounts. I dumped the SmartPower power supply that came with the case and went for the Neo which is virtually silent. The video card is fanless.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Mr Smiley
Ok this is what I have so far:
Lian li PC-7B - $110
SeaSonic S12-380 ATX12V 380W - $77
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 - $220
G.SKILL 1GB DDR2- 800 - $125
SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP2514N 250GB - $74
Scythe Ninja - $52
Which comes out to $658. Now I just ned a mobo and some type of video card. Looking at this guide, they used the Gigabit GA-965P-DQ6 and the Asus P5W DH Deluxe which happen to be above $200. For the video card, I dont need anything fancy. Lets say something that will atleast be able to play counter strike at 1024x1280. Will there be a big difference between the E6400 and the E6300? Any suggestions would be nice.

For the Lian Li PC-7 I would suggest you swap out the fans with 120mm Yate Loons.

The Ninja is very much overkill for a cool running chip such as the 6300 or 6400, I also don't like the fact that it uses a sleeve bearing fan.

The Zalman CNPS-7700 ALCu would be my choice.

DDR2 800 is not needed 677 or even 533 is fine; 1GB is rather low however. This Corsair 2GB DDR2 667 makes more sense.

I just installed this passively cooled Gigabyte 7600GT and I am pretty impressed with the design and performance.

 

[kenji4life]

Whatever, I have 3 seasonic 380w psu's on systems with mid-range gpu's and they are all stable even overclocked.. and quiet indeed. what has been recommended so far is pretty good.. i'll throw a few more into the mix for fun

scythe ninja (a lot of other scythe hsfs)
thermalright anything with a quiet fan
zalman 9500 downthrottled
zalman aclu's downthrottled
thermaltake (GASP) big typhoon (doesn't sound like a typhoon)

65w amd 3800+
any intel c2d (i dislike intel but i can't lie)
amd semprons
avoid any intel netburst AKA p4


many vidcards come with either:
silentpipe (i/e gigabyte)
or nvsilencers (although possibly rebranded, these are easy to spot. the stock cooler is usually a small lotsa finned black fan. the nvsilencers or 'clones' thereof use larger (fewer) finned fans)
you'll be hardstruck to find decent performance AND low noise from anything other than the above in games

antec p150
antec p180
silverstone temjin (tj06, tj07.. etc)
lian li's being aluminum are usually not a good choice unless you are big on LANS.. aluminum cases are harder to silence and have more resonance in general

larger >120mm > 80mm > anything else for case fans, cpu fans, psu fans, etc

powersupplies:
anything seasonic
lots of fortron
most enermax
some antec
a few others (most are rebrands of another company i/e ocz, corsair, thermaltake, etc especially)

motherboards with passive heatsinks (you'd be suprised how high of a percentage of people's system's loudest component is the motherboard northbridge chipset fan (often 40-60mm and SCREAMERS) this is not ALWAYS true though, there are SOME (very few indeed) small fans that aren't loud (but generally smaller fans have to spin faster and have higher frequencies which are more annoying. however don't make this the sole factor, MOST mb chipset fans can be replaced (I'd say 95% of them) with quieter fans or hs's

hard drives: samsung > western digital > seagate > hitachi > maxtor (this is an extreme generalization, although actually QUITE true in reality!!) do some research on silentpcreview.com to find out more
(suspending drives like bob said with elastic improves VIBRATION noise quite a large bit.)

did I leave anything out?? I'm a few beers deep. excuse grammar/rambling. this is too much fun for geeks like me.

-kenji