Please check my spec + add comments!

caff · 3 Nov 2006 at 23:11

Ok - I'm looking to build a nice, fast pc with the following requirements(top priority first):
1. Quiet as possible (for music creation / playing DVDs) - must be quiet as a whisper ideally!
2. Fast and quiet disks in 2 RAID-0 arrays and lots of space (for music composition) - backups not an issue
3. Good for gaming (however I am not too concerned about future proofing, ie. Vista / DX10)

So here is the spec I've put together:
Proc: Intel Dual Core E6600 (Socket 775) £220
Case: Antec SLK3000B £35
Mobo: Asus P5W DH Deluxe £158
PSU: Zalman ZM460B-APS ATX Noiseless PSU 460W £64
Mem: GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz £164
HDD: 4xSamsung SpinPoint T HD401LJ 400GB SATA-II 16MB Cache £388
DVD: Samsung SH-W183 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) £28
Gfx: HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ £240

Any thoughts on this setup? I've selected it based on replies on this forum and reviews found on google. Would be interested in your opinions thanks!

A.N.Other · 4 Nov 2006 at 00:00

That's a fair spec! 1.6 Tb of storage!!!

Anyway, with 4 HDDs and a 1900XT, I'd be tempted to get a slightly better PSU - Tagan, Seasonic, Enermax etc - around 600W ish. Were you particularly after the silence?

Good luck with it.

caff · 4 Nov 2006 at 00:07

Yep silence is golden as they say, esp. in music production PCs

Also I watch a lot of DVDs and I'm fed up with my noisy as hell generic DVD drive.

I had a look at other PSUs and thinking of changing the Zalman for a Seasonic S12-500 (500W) as apparently these are solid PSUs, and nice and quiet. I run a similar rig (same number of drives + components) at the moment, except with a more power hungry processor (p4 3.2ghz) on an Antec 400W.

caff · 4 Nov 2006 at 01:52

Ok I changed the graphics card too, to the 'silent' MSI 7900GTO

So final spec is:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)
Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS)
Seasonic S12 500W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-001-SS)
Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN)
4 x Samsung SpinPoint T HD401LJ 400GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-034-SA)
Samsung SH-W183 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-076-SA)
OS-002-MS Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (E85-04026) (OS-002-MS)
HD-001-OK Sony Floppy Drive - Black (HD-001-OK)
GX-041-OK OcUK MSI GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-041-OK)
Total inc VAT £1,375.72

Should be nice and fast and quiet I hope!