Silverstone FT02 For DAW/ Gaming Rig - Will I Want To Change Fans? If So, To What?

Jaydash

Jaydash

Jaydash

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17 Jan 2012
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After shunning the idea of building a dedicated gaming system plus a lower-spec/ quieter DAW, I'm now thinking of a 'do it all' compromise machine. The music creation side of things will be the most dominant use though (Cubase/ soft synths etc), as I'm not sure if I'll get back into PC gaming yet. So, the machine won't exactly be maxed-out all the time and low noise at idle/ moderate load is definitely the most important consideration.

Having put aside any notion of trying to build a 'NoFan' passive PC, I'm now looking at getting a Silverstone FT02 Fortress, partly because I like the look of it and partly because it has good airflow. However, some people have moaned that it isn't that quiet, while others say it's very quiet indeed. Is it just the top fan that can create problems?

So, can anyone say from experience whether this would be a suitable case, and comment on whether I might want to change some, or all, of the fans? If the latter, what would I change them to - Noctuas? BeQuiet SilentWings? Or, can I just remove the top fan altogether? Also, are both of the bottom fans essential really?

Lastly, is the supplied soundproofing any good, or would I want an additional AcoustiPack kit? A friend put the old QuietPC stuff inside his machine, but temperatures went right up.

Here's the sort spec I'm thinking of going with, having already bought some of the bits:

- Core i7-870 2.93 Quad Core/ 1156 CPU (probably not clocked for now)
- BeQuiet! Dark Rock Advanced CPU Cooler
- 16Gb Crucial RAM (4 x 4Gb, non Ballistix)
- Asus P55P-E Deluxe Motherboard
- MSI 560 Ti 448 Twin Frozer III 1280Mb Graphics (quieter than other brands at idle, apparently)
- Samsung F3 1Tb Hard Drive
- DVD Drive
- Firewire card (don't want to use the onboard F/W, as it doesn't have a Ti chipset)
- Possibly an M-Audio sound card - haven't researched it all yet
- BeQuiet! Dark Power Pro P9 (80 Plus Gold) Power Supply, either 550w or 650w

Thanks in advance for your help and advice. I have yet to get my head around fan controllers, fan profiles, undervolting fans etc...!
 
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Hi Reflux,

Yeah, that chip was leftover. Actually, it is new and boxed, so I did consider selling it and going for a newer i7 with onboard GPU, allowing me to remove the 3D card if the gaming doesn't go anywhere. Is that what you were thinking? Unfortunately though, I've already bought the motherboard and would therefore be on to a loser before I've even started. Still, I haven't discounted selling-up and starting again.
 
Mine is very quiet, the AP fans seem to be very good - there are 3 of them by the way, not 2. There is a basic hi/lo switch for each fan to toggle between two speed settings, I keep mine on 'lo' as I don't obsess over temperatures, as long as they're within a reasonable range.
 
Jaydash said:
Hi Reflux,

Yeah, that chip was leftover. Actually, it is new and boxed, so I did consider selling it and going for a newer i7 with onboard GPU, allowing me to remove the 3D card if the gaming doesn't go anywhere. Is that what you were thinking? Unfortunately though, I've already bought the motherboard and would therefore be on to a loser before I've even started. Still, I haven't discounted selling-up and starting again.
Click to expand...

OK, no worries. It's still a good chip :)
 
Noisiest part of my FT02 are the fans on the Corsair H70 rad which I'm replacing in the next couple of days. The onboard 3x 180mm fans are very quiet on low setting and not much louder when set to the higher setting.
 
Thanks for the replies so far. So, if I leave the fans set to 'low', I should be okay? Do you need all three fans going though, even when you're not gaming? (given that the CPU, GPU and PSU will all have fans too). I have to admit, I'm a bit concerned about the GPU noise even at idle, but nothing I can do if I want reasonable power from a graphics card. I wish you could completely switch-off a card slot so the 3D card isn't even powered, then I would definitely have a CPU with onboard graphics for the non-gaming stuff.

Anyone using this case for a DAW? Any specific advice on complimentary spec therefore? (or is that a question for a different forum)
 
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