spec me a new silent but top spec pc plz?

ally

ally

ally

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Hi Guys,

I am struggling to decide what to get. I do a lot with my PC but I don't game at all. I need room for a lot of storage and I want it to be as silent and cool as possible but still be very high spec.

Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks in advance :)
 
Look at a case like the antec P182 or one of the high end Lian Li's
Get a TRUE cooler, get a fanless gfx card like this one, a quiet PSU such as this PC P&C or a zalman
Then whatever other bits and pieces you want, those are the main "noise makers" all quietened down for you
 
If your not gaming then a 400w psu will be more than enough - as long as their are enough sata connectors if you want lots of HDD (and their's less choice in that wattage at this shop).

Budget would also help - as SSD and/or raptors in Raid may be worth a look.

All that said if your not gaming/rendering their are very few applications that even the lowest spec core2due chip will not fly through without breaking a sweat :)

What will its main task be? It's secindary tasks, and is very quiet acceptable or 'dead of night silent' the aim?
 
Hi,

Thanks, budget wise i am open although I am trying not to go over £1000. I need a new monitor too so that will be on top.

I do everything. I use it for general pc use. I use adobe photoshop, indesign etc. but not extensively. Its more the fact that i tend to run a lot at once and leave it on 24/7 as i remote to it through out the day.
I watch hd content and already have a lot of hdds for storage.
I need a gfx card which has both dvi and hdmi to connect a tv and a monitor to.

I thought raptors were noisy?

I have looked at several cases. cm cosmos 1000 & stacker, zalman gs1000, antec zen although this is smaller and would worry about storage.

I want a top spec rig as i tend to build them to last me a while and only upgrade when it is a major one. My current pc mobo died and I want to start fresh.

I have looked at some bits already
namely the zalman zm-600 600w heatpipe psu
mobo decision yet to be made
some say go amd some say i should go core i7 but i am worried that would not make silent usage a possibility.
thanks for your help :) read so many reviews i think im going crazy
 
shadowscotland said:
If your not gaming then a 400w psu will be more than enough - as long as their are enough sata connectors if you want lots of HDD (and their's less choice in that wattage at this shop).

Budget would also help - as SSD and/or raptors in Raid may be worth a look.

All that said if your not gaming/rendering their are very few applications that even the lowest spec core2due chip will not fly through without breaking a sweat :)

What will its main task be? It's secindary tasks, and is very quiet acceptable or 'dead of night silent' the aim?
Click to expand...

Dead of night silent would be great if it is possible but still high spec. If not then as quiet as possible.
 
if you want silent forget raptors ;)

don't know about SSD I don't have any

EDIT If you want to have it for a while and don't upgrade often, then i7 is the only way to go imho

CPU: i7 920 OEM version, don't see why that make any difference to noise level vs a C2D, quad or AMD

Mobo: x58 (many to choose Gigabyte, Asus, Biostar, etc... all good) personally am partial to gigabyte UD5 Gigabyte EX58-UD5 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

CPU cooler: a Noctua cooler they are really quiet (come with everything - thermal and 2 fans - set them at 900rpm for xtra low noise) and easy to set up

RAM: Corsair 6GB DDR3 XMS3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz (3x2GB) Triple Channel DDR3 (TR3X6G1600C9) if you have 64bit OS otherwise only get 3gb

PSU: that zalman PSU you are thinking of is fine, but you could look at PSU less than 500w since you won't be using power hungry GPU Corsair VX 450W ATX PSU (CMPSU-450VXUK) or Seasonic Silverpower 400W PSU

Case: check Lian Li cases -> a few models come with sound proofing (here are an example Lian-Li PC-V1110B Aluminum Super Mid-Tower Case - Black (No PSU)) - can replace case fans with Noctua NF s12 fans they are really quiet and cool very well. These Lian Li are also well built and don't have resonance issues with other aluminum cases with the sound proofing they have. Otherwise heavy steel case like antec p182

GPU: a silent fanless one such as recommended by Thrifles

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AACS) probably as quiet as you will get

to be dead silent you will need 0 fans ;) but then no airflow and stay away from Raptors (fairly silent at Idle, but load is not - they are louder than my 4870x2) - if you want to know more about silent PC then you must check out http://www.silentpcreview.com/
 
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Firstly I myself run a fanless overclocked lite-gaming pc, used for photoshop/AutoCAD/PVR/MS office/low dpi games etc - would I recomend a fanless pc no, would I recomend a near silent single fan pc - YES.

silent = no moveing parts = major cooling nightmare, hassle and cost.

Just one quality fan running at 5v or 7v saves you so much hassle/redundence it's untrue.

Option 1 - use a heatpipe cooled case - Zalman TNN or Mcubed. (over priced but easiest option as long as your house isn't at +30c most of the year)

Option 2 - use a passive watercooled system (what I have) Zalman Reservator / Cape Corra / Konnect-o-matic. (might be more hassle than your looking for)

Option 3 - use a quality midi tower case with a single fan.

The zalman zm-600 is a very good choice but you shouldn't hit 150w load so it's major over kill.

i7 = hot = noise, so your right it's not really a good idea for quiet pc's.

For duel cores intel is still king - and you (infact most people) don't 'need' a quad. Hot and power hungry both working againest a quiet build.

If your into Overclocking the E5200 is a steal at £60, easily hits 3.4/3.6 and above with low volts and temps.
If not then the E8x00 win both in terms of more cashe and stock speed.

This is my log of what a nightmare/enjoyable build a passive watercooling rig (with young children in the house) can be :D

I'm rebuilding that system at the minute (to acheive sub 100w at load @3Ghz) but it's shows my bias and some of my personal knowlage base :)

P.s. my raptor is near silent - it's in a GUP Japan Smart Drive 2002C that been watercooled and bungee'd ;)
And check out SPCR - loads of excerlent advise and a forum of quiet pc owners (even they don't recoment complete fanless)
 
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How about:

OCUK3.jpg
 
Shadow - hehe love how you mounted your HDDs, that is some radical DIY

but how can raptor be silent when read/write? mine aren't
 
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the GUP shuts them up - the watercooling is only required as I've no airflow, in a case with at least one 120mm fan even at 7v the GUP is the business.
Highly recomented, they do a full copper version too at £100 if you want THE very best and you like your bling :D

Edit: comes back to the completely fanless = hassle = expensive = not recomended, statment above. As I wouldn't need half the extra cooling with just a single fan in my pc :rolleyes: (at self)
 
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ok so if i go for a heatpipe psu a passive gfx card and a quiet cpu cooler, i should be able to get away with a single quiet fan in the case?
What about the fact that im filling it with hdds i already have 7 hdds as is so toying with getting an enclosure such as an icy box 5drive to fit in 3 5.25' bays. and ditchin my raptor as os drive i think im going to mirror my 2 500gb drives and use the 1TB drives for storage

if not i7 then what? a q9550?
i plan on running virtual server so i was going with 8gb ddr3 ram too.
i was looking at an asus p5e64 x48 mobo v asus p5q3 p45 both ddr3 altho the latter has less sata ports.
 
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