Please Advise on spec needed.

TC1

TC1

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Silverstone SG-01 Evolution MicroATX Case Silver

1446xl4.jpg


Nice looking case. Do they take ordinary PSU's? Are they able to produce a quiet / cool system?

Looking to go 'Small' but needs to be quiet. What motherboard should i opt for as i have an X2 4400 ready to put in my new build. I don't know anything about Mobo's for these cases. I have the other items that would go in the build like Hard Drive DVDrw and a 7800 PCIe Graphics card. What CPU Cooler would fit / be quiet? Thinking of selling my Coolermaster ATC 201 Case to help pay towards the build. Any advice would be great thanks.
 
i think these take normal ATX PSU's

for a mobo your looking at anything thats micro ATX in size, though i can't guide you on what to buy lol

Cooler, check out the silverstone NT06. highly recommended round here by a few and can be ran passive :)
 
SG01 Evo owner here! :)

You might want to take a look at the SG03, due the end of the month. In my opinion, the SG01e has poor airflow and my X1950 gets hot and noisy. The SG03 looks like it might fix these issues.

As for motherboard, well there's AMD's Socket AM2 and Intel's LGA775 Core 2 Duo/Quad range. For the Core 2 Duo's, it's down to either the Abit F-I90HD or the Gigabye GA-G33M-DS2R.
The DS2R is based on a newer chipset (Intel G33M), however it has no 1:1 memory divider, so you're going to need good RAM if you want to overclock. With the right RAM though, this board can give some crazy speeds, i've seen it stable at 480FSB and booting at 490FSB.
The F-I90HD is a little more restrained. It's an older chipset (ATi RS600) but has a 1:1 RAM divider. But it doesn't overclock anywhere near as well, the highest you're looking with this board is probably around 350-370FSB.

If you're going AM2, there's no contest here - you want the Abit NF-M2 nView. It's an excellent board, overclocks well, and is packed with features.

For a cooler, well many of the top coolers won't fit. As mentioned, there's the NT06, which is passive but a good cooler, or there's the Zalman CNPS8000. I quite like the CNPS8000, it keeps my system nice and cool (I get around 35-40 idle, 50-55 load - depending on room temperature) and it's very quiet just like it's description claims.

Anything else feel free to ask. :)
 
TC1 said:
What about a socket 939 mobo? Which one?

DFI RS482.

There's also a Biostar one, the name of which escapes me.

Either way, you're unlikely to find these new, although I don't think you'll struggle to find them second hand.

It might be worth considering selling your processor and buying yourself a nice Core 2 Duo setup though. :)
 
What if i wanted to go AM2. What motherboard would you recommend i should get?

The NT06 Heatsink. Is there room for a 120mm fan on it?
 
The Abit nF-M2 nView.

And I don't think there's room for a fan, it comes up pretty close below the PSU. The point of it is that the PSU fan draws air over it anyway. :)
 
Tute said:
The Abit nF-M2 nView.

And I don't think there's room for a fan, it comes up pretty close below the PSU. The point of it is that the PSU fan draws air over it anyway. :)

Ok. Ta. And that is sufficient? Any good reviews on the case?

The Silverstone Nitrogon NT06 comes with a fan. That has to be taken off then?

The Zalman CNPS8000 looks great. Which is the best one when it comes to cooling / noise?
 
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TC1 said:
Ok. Ta. And that is sufficient? Any good reviews on the case?

The Silverstone Nitrogon NT06 comes with a fan. That has to be taken off then?

The Zalman CNPS8000 looks great. Which is the best one when it comes to cooling / noise?

Well I have a CNPS8000 and it's silent on low setting, which I use. This setting allows me an overclock to 3GHz, and I get idle temps of around 40C, and load temps of 50-55C.

Turning the fan up makes a bit of a whooshing noise, but doesn't seem to affect temperatures a lot.
 
Would this be a good spec to buy for this case:

Silverstone SG-01 Evolution MicroATX Case Silver
£71.38

1. Zalman CNPS8000 Ultra Quiet Low Profile (Socket 754/939/940/775/AM2) CPU Cooler
£29.36

2. AMD Athlon 64 AM2 X2 Dual Core 4600+ 2.40GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £79.89

3. Abit AN-M2 Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £52.86

4. GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
£68.14

£301.63 Total

I want to keep the costs down. Let me know what you think.

I suppose i could get a 939 board for now and a new CPU Cooler? If so, what mobo for a 939 would you recommend guys?

(Asus A8V-VM SE Socket 939 VIA KM890 VGA AUDIO mATX?) Would this mobo fit:

Motherboard Info

Cheers guys.
 
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Or...

F-I90HD £72.84

C2D E4300 £81.06

Doesn't change the budget too much but turning that E4300 up from 200Mhz FSB to 333Mhz (a modest overclock) gives you 3GHz and more power than any AMD system currently available could.

If you fancy it, there's also the GA-G33M-DS2R. Overclockers don't sell it (hopefully they will) but looking around the price doesn't vary too much from the F-I90HD. I think that RAM you've chosen should be more than powerful enough to overcome the lack of a divider and give an even higher overclock than the F-I90HD. :)

But, overall, and I think the whole of OcUK will agree with me here, it's not worth buying a new AMD system. Core 2 Duo reigns supreme, especially with overclocking boards like the F-I90HD/G33M-DS2R.
 
What about a cheaper MOBO? I want to keep the cost down. Thing is, i don't really Overclock much, if at all. Wouldn't AMD do?
 
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