Deciever Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 I am rearing up to upgrade my computer finally! But I would like some help on deciding on a few things. My goal is to build a Core 2 Quad PC that is very quiet, cool running and Mac compatiable. So here is what I have decided on Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 stepping Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme 2x Noctua NF-S12-1200 120mm Fans 3x 500gb SATAs in RAID5 configuration (giving me roughly 1TB of useable capacity) 250gb SATA and 200gb IDE, for 2 other OS's to run in VMware (already own the drives, I will just repurpose them) Undecided is Motherboard Case ($100-200, hopefully insulated and quiet) Graphics card (I am not a BIG gamer, so the 8600GT might be ok, but I need to ensure it works with OSX) btw I do own a real mac apple Power supply must be quiet RAM (I assume I will go with a 2x 2gb kit) I want this rig to be overclockable, but I am not certain that I will overclock it. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPressland Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 If you want it to be Mac compatible then i suggest you buy a Mac, it's cheeper then the machine you're building and it's absolutely silent. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116318 Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedFlow Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Antec P180 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129154 Quietest case around. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116319 Share on other sites More sharing options...
APH-Alex Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Quietness: 5x Noctua NF-S12-800 (much quieter than 1200s and cheaper, very good, 5 can be put in the case below if you replace the standard ones and put in the optional ones) Antec P182 And a Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler Speedyness: Asus Maximus Formula Seasonic S12 ENGERGY+ 550W Radeon 3850 OCZ Platinum Rev. 2, 2x2GB or OCZ Reapers PC2-6400 2x2GB Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116332 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chconline Veteran Posted January 6, 2008 Veteran Share Posted January 6, 2008 Ahh this is the kind of topic I like lol. This is what I am doing to my PC exactly. Some quiet components to consider: - Noctua fans, as you mentioned. For the front intake I would suggest the Noctua NF-S12-800, the NF-S12-1200 is too loud. For rear exhaust use the 1200rpm but connect it to your motherboard and make sure it spins up only when it's under high load. I have it configured that way. - For your heatsink it takes a 120mm fan. Get the new Noctua NF-P12, I am quite impressed by it. I have one as well. - The case is not really that relevant, since you are swapping fans anyway and noise isolation is not too big of an issue. The P182 is a silent case for excellent sound blocking, BUT SWAP OUT THOSE ANTEC TRICOOLS. They are not part of the quiet formula. I have one haha. Use the Noctuas :p - For graphics card get something, powerful, such as a 8800GT or 8800GTS G92. Get an Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 rev. 2 cooler and passively cool it. - Power supply: Seasonic S12/S12+/S12II/M12, any of them is good to go. You have way too many hard disk drives for a silent computer. Grab yourself a NAS and shove the rest of the disks in and make it out of sight and out of hearing range. I have mine in the basement with my home built in gigabit network, all works like a dream. For hard drives, you can go extreme and buy the quietest drive and get an enclosure to it, so far I havent done so yet but it's a good idea haha. Here's my setup: Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116339 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deciever Posted January 6, 2008 Author Share Posted January 6, 2008 I already do own a real mac... and umm... the machine I am building is still going to be cheaper than a Mac Pro I am sure. Would it not make sense to throttle the Noctua 1200 fans? chconline, what heatsink is it that you are using? Tunic? And yea I do not like the fact that I will have 5 hard drives in my case. I am thinking a year or 2 from now I will be running my OS's on SSD drives and will have a NAS in RAID5. It is just I unfortunately have everything hooked up wirelessly. I wanted to go all wired but convincing my parents to put holes in their walls didn't pan out... not that this will really be relevant for much longer any ways since I will be moving out in the foreseeable future... I really do not like the overhyped and overpriced drobo that has everyones attention.... $500 for an enclosure that only does 22mb/s over usb only o0... I don't care if it does your kids diapers for you too, that is just ridiculeous. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116374 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chconline Veteran Posted January 6, 2008 Veteran Share Posted January 6, 2008 Yeah throttling them is the way to go, but don't use the ULNA adapters for the 1200, slows it down way too much. The heatsink is a Scythe Infinity with a Noctua NF-P12, but I am considering swapping for a Noctua NF-U12P soon. For the NF-P12 make sure you use the LNA adapter included out of the box that slows it down to 1100rpm, it's acoustically much quieter. :D Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116387 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+shift. MVC Posted January 6, 2008 MVC Share Posted January 6, 2008 How quiet is that Scythe Infinity fitted with a 120mm Noctua NF-P12? Next to silent pretty much? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116391 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEX4S Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 is a hackintosh 100% do-able ? I was going to make one - but saw all the tweaking and scripts that someone posted - and thought against it If its pretty easy I might still do it....Im just lazy Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116393 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chconline Veteran Posted January 6, 2008 Veteran Share Posted January 6, 2008 -SHiFT- said: How quiet is that Scythe Infinity fitted with a 120mm Noctua NF-P12? Next to silent pretty much? Yep, so is my entire computer :p TEX4S said: is a hackintosh 100% do-able ?I was going to make one - but saw all the tweaking and scripts that someone posted - and thought against it If its pretty easy I might still do it....Im just lazy I don't think we are allowed to discuss that here, but "if only it works out of the box... LIKE WINDOWS!" :p Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116395 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deciever Posted January 6, 2008 Author Share Posted January 6, 2008 I will just say regarding the hackintosh stuff that a lot of developments have been happening the past 2 months over at insanelymac. I thought about going with a liquid cooling kit but I imagine it is not really any quiter and probably not that much cooler than using large heatsinks with quiet fans is it? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116411 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chconline Veteran Posted January 7, 2008 Veteran Share Posted January 7, 2008 Personally I did not go quiet cooling because of the associated maintenance, but you can probably get a quieter water cooling system. The difference is not worth it IMO, you can buy quiet and effective enough parts on air :p Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116570 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos Armed Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I can't say for sure how these work, but I haven't heard anything negative about them. It basically uses your home's wiring to send data, and requires an adapter for each device that plugs into the network. http://www.dlink.ca/products/?sec=0&pid=533 Plus, how cool would it be to use your power plug for data? B) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116642 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deciever Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 (edited) Chaos, I already have some of those, not by DLink, more like from a direct manufacturer. I have not had the best of luck with DLink products anways. However I have not had much like with ethernet over power lines either. It would seem like the Tungsten light bulbs in my house KILL the signal. They work great... unless I want to turn my lights on. The technology for those devices I guess just isn't really here yet -.- . I supose I could also try the new flourescents or LED bulbs but I have finally found some great Tungsten light bulbs that I really like and with photography being my hobby good lighting in my room is a MUST. It is amazing the difference in color different types of lights can make when you really look at things closely. Here is what I bought http://www.gheldmandare.com/product.php?pn=T1PN00000100 , They run farily hot, but that is not their reason for failure. I ran a ping test with -t so it would ping indefinitely and during that time I would turn the tungsten lights on and off in various rooms where I would relocate them to see if it was a specific problem with a room or the lights in the room. Every time it was an issue that only came up when the lights in any given room that it was plugged into. Almost every room I guess in my house is on an individual breaker and if the fan light was turned on, on the same breaker as the device it would cause the device to no longer ping back. Some how tungsten lights must be able to create a frequency that interferes with some and maybe a lot of these devices. I might ought to try them out again, but I would have to first read some reviewers who have experienced bad ones and good ones and could make me feel confident in the technology before wasting another $60-80, I do not remember but I wasn't too happy. And these days Gigabit is a concern to me. chconline, thanks for confirming that for me. I thought that could be the case. Edited January 7, 2008 by Deciever Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589116942 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chconline Veteran Posted January 7, 2008 Veteran Share Posted January 7, 2008 Well I never used power line networking, but it's improved a lot lately. It's uber expensive to setup, and it works only on the same power grid (Should be fine for 99% of residential locations though) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589117026 Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandnewfantx Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Chconline what heatsink is that ? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589117037 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chconline Veteran Posted January 7, 2008 Veteran Share Posted January 7, 2008 Scythe Infinity with Noctua NF-P12, as mentioned :) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589117040 Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamend Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Have you considered pre-n wireless for your networking? It should at least have effective throughput greater than powerline stuff. Regarding the fans, I actually prefer Tri-Cools. The Noctuas are great, but they have a very mild "tick" that undervolting won't get rid of. Also consider replacing the fan(s) in your power supply. Even high-end ones aren't likely to have anything special. For the case, I think it's very important and I recommend the P182. The loudest parts you'll have to deal with are the hard drives, whose vibrations will be blocked by a good case. I usually use silencing enclosures or lots of foam padding, but those are either expensive or unsafe (overheating, unsecure mounting, etc.). You should be OK with a quiet hard drive with an effective AAM setting to lower the seek noise. Oh and for the e-peen: Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589117064 Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimReeper Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Check out SilentPC Sorry to shamelessly plug this site but I found it to extremely useful in getting computers as silent as possible so I think you would find it useful. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589117416 Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvSouL Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 check out a local compusa if you have one.. they have huge discounts on cases. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589117422 Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothin2seehere Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 chconline said: Well I never used power line networking, but it's improved a lot lately. It's uber expensive to setup, and it works only on the same power grid (Should be fine for 99% of residential locations though) When I installed mine a few months (and still do I guess!) got a solid 50Mb (megabit - I never quite remember the MB or mb or Mb :) ) connection between two 100Meg devices connected via the powerline adapters. I'm using Devolo kit and will never look back to wireless, even though it's rather more cheaper than powerline. I'm in a flat which is ~10 years old, but I know you won't get the same performance in every installation. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/611736-ultra-quiet-ultra-fast-computer/#findComment-589117612 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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