Hi all, I want to build a rig bearing three things in mind. 1. It has to be silent. Very, very silent. Well, 25dB in idle would be fair. 2. It has to have the potential to OC very, very, very well Within reasonable limits of course. I do not want to change the whole thing after two years, rather overclocking it after I will notice, that the newest games can't run very smoothly. 3. 24 inch monitor. Rather for movies, but doesn't neccessarily have to be on PVA. A good TN will suffice. The total budget is 1100-1200 pounds. I am going to buy it probably at the beginning of april. I already have the hard drive, keyboard and mouse. Prices taken from scan, apart from RAM (OcUK). CPU - E8400 £139.81 CPU cooler - Thermalright Ultra-120 38.76 Case - ANTEC p182 £86.82 Mobo -this is a hard nut to crack. I think DFI LANPARTY LT X48-T2R would suit my purposes, but haven't seen any review of it. Bah, let's put ut for now! Mobo - DFI LANPARTY LT X48-T2R £164.44 RAM - Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2X2GB 800MHz 4-4-4-12 £90 GPU - 1GB Asus 8800GT PCI-E 2.0, Mem 1800MHz GDDR3 £170.61 PSU - 525W Enermax MODU82+ £76.36 Monitor - Samsung SM-245B £305.37 DVD - LiteOn LH-20A1L-14C 20x DVD±R, 8x £22.67 Thermal Paste - Xigmatek PTI-G3801 Silicon-base thermal grease 4.69 Have I forgotten about something? TOTAL - ~1100 pounds. After the whole purchase, I plan to change the cooler in the GPU for something passive, and add swap the tricool fans for noctuas. I appreciate all the comments Cheers
First, I would get the Ninja instead of the Ultra-120 if you want quiet; the Ninja is better with lower airflow. You should switch the 8800GT for a regular 512MB one, as the extra VRAM won't give you much help in games. Also, with a reference design 8800GT you can stick on an Accelero S1 fanless with no trouble. Your DVD burner will be loud at ~12X and above, depending on how sensitive you are; you can get software to turn the speed down though. You're missing the most important part of a quiet computer, however - the fans. I'd recommend Scythe Slipstreams or Yate Loon D12SL-12 as the best choices. Noctua's NF-S12 and NF-P12 are okay, but expensive and fill somewhat niche roles; the S12 is horrible with any sort of restriction, even as low as a regular wire grill.
I would agree with the sentiments above, particularly around the 8800GT. Either get the 512mb version or get an 8800GTS. The extra RAM provides zero benefit, so you're better off using the cash somewhere else. The DFI may be a good board, but a safe choice (that still overclocks brilliantly) is this (or the rest of Abit's IP35 range).
Thanks for all the replies! Really? I remember reading a test somewhere, where thermalright outperformed ninja. I can;t find it now right now. What about newer games, like Crysys. No gain here? Asking just out of curiosity (crysys doesn;t float my boat ) Yea, I know... unfortunately it is impossible to find something even relativitely quiet her. Well, the Antec182 comes with 3 fans installed. I know that the antec's tricool fans are the best as far as silence is concerned, but I do not have an unlimited budget Definately will replace them with something better. Thanks all for the recommendations - have checked them and will check them out again! So, 2 votes against the 1GB version. Will look for something else then. Cheers
Keep the Ninja Passive(mine is), i know you are going to Oc but the rear case fan will have enough pull to keep it silent. Also use 5V resistors on all the case fans and gel vibration mounts on everything that screws down bar the mobo. The Thermalright does perform well but with fans, the Ninja is better at low to no fan usage. My machine is spec'd up for round 18/19db idle, im sure i can bring it down more. I agree with the lower spec 8800GT as your not gonna be playing at rez's what can fill the extra memory, the only game that trully taxes machine is Crysis, nothing else comes close.
a x38 is enough, why would you need such extreme motherboard? is that Thermalright Ultra-120 an Extreme? if it is, it should be the best out there, but only at extreme voltages, when you DO overclock. at stock/lower voltages, other coolers are better. another thing, if you want real silent, put your case on the desk. because the top fan lets graphics card noise escape. btw, no need for 5v resistors on case fans, they already have the speed switches. speaking of fans, i think you forgot to put a fan in the front of the p182.
Wow, that's really something. I am aiming for something similar. With so much hope, I think I'll manage to do so That's a third vote against, so you have me convinced there Honestly? I want the best mobo that's available!! But seriously: I thought that I want to buy something, which is going to be very stable, yet offering a lot of OC solutions, and after 2-3 years, or so, of usage, I would install a new CPU on it. Perhaps, I would be better off buying something less expansive, nonetheless good, now and after 2-3years replace both the mobo and CPU. Which option do you think is better? I would have to have a very solidly built desk then to limit the vibrations, wouldn't I? Well, I thought 3 fans in p182 would be enough. If not then I will definately buy Noctua NH, or a Fander if I manage to buy it in UK, along with the new computer. Thank you very much for all the comments and advice. Much appreciated! I think that, when I start doing the OC, I will look for best performance/energy usage, heat emmission ratio. I don't want to have a rig overclocked to the max, which's going to melt if the fans stop working for 10sec. Nonetheless, when it becomes older, I will try to OC it more, even though the energy usage and heat emission will surely rise then. - that is more or less my general idea towards OCing. Cheers
