New build

Cyro · 8 Jan 2007 at 11:10

Hi. I've got about £900 to spend and am looking to build a really quiet PC. This spec comes in roughly on budget. Can anyone recommend a PSU or other improvements? I was looking at "Zalman ZM360B-APS 360W ATX2.03 PSU" but I don't know what wattage I'd need.

TIA,

Gareth

* GeCube ATI Radeon X1950 Pro FZ SuperCooled TURBO SILENT TEC/Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
* Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable
* Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
* Abit AB9 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
* OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)
* Intel Core 2 DUO E6400 2.13GHz Processor (Socket 775)
* Zalman CNPS9700-LED Aero Flower (Socket AM2/939/754/478/775) CPU Cooler
* Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black
* Lian Li C-01B Aluminium CD-ROM/DVD-ROM Bezel (Black)
* Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
* Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM

steve258 · 8 Jan 2007 at 12:27

With that spec you need a decent 400W at the very least, 500W+ to allow OC and future upgrades.

No doubt others will suggest getting a Corsair 520W, too, it's modular and silent.

That Lian Li PC7 has good cooling but is not as quiet as I thought so you may want to look for other case or get a couple of custom silent fans

Lolcb · 8 Jan 2007 at 14:51

Modular PSUs aren't necessarily good. But yea, go with the 520W corsair at least.

Cyro · 8 Jan 2007 at 14:55

Cool, thanks very much

mishima · 9 Jan 2007 at 11:47

I would advise you to change the motherboard, I currently have an AB9 Pro. Their layout, is awful. I also had great difficulties fitting the CPU because it was so poorly designed/made. After all those problems I had BIOS problems with corrupt BIOS updates etc.

For the same price you can get an ASUS P5B, its quite a popular board and reliable. If I had the choice again I would have gone for an ASUS.

As for the PSU I would go for an Antec or Enermax. Antec Truepower Trio's are good choice, 550W would be ideal. Like steve said, I would aim for something 500W+ and a reliable brand.

Cyro · 9 Jan 2007 at 11:51

Aww, I've bought it already. Going to be a fun build...

Thanks anyway.

mishima · 9 Jan 2007 at 12:02

Don't get me wrong it does perform well, its just awkward! You may not have the same problems as I had.

Let us know how you get on!