[cyberspacegenie]

I’m now in the final stages of choosing the parts for my quiet system. Any further comments would be welcome. This is my first system. I am based in Tokyo and the computer is in a room without aircon so in mid summer the ambient temps will get up to about 30 degrees C. The computer will be used mainly for design and office apps, and for gaming occasionally. I have chosen a mid range GPU with this in mind. It's likely that I will experiment a little with overclocking in the future.

Case: Antec P150
Proc: Core 2 Duo E6600
Motherboard: P5B-E Plus or P5B Deluxe
Memory: PQI DDR2-800
GPU: Asus EN8600GT Silent (fanless) or EN8600GT (with fan)
HDD: Samsung HD321KJ
DVD: Asus DRW-1814BLT
HSF: Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B or Scythe Arctic Freezer 7 Pro


The P5B-E Plus will be my most likely choice as this seems to fit my needs quite well, but I haven’t ruled out the P5B Deluxe completely, although it is about $50 more expensive. The cooling seems better on the deluxe, which is an important issue here in summer.

The EN8600GT Silent is about $30 (I’m converting from yen) more the version with a fan. I’ve heard the fan on this is pretty quiet so I’m haven't made a decision about which yet.

The Ninja seems very highly regarded but I get the impression it may not be so easy to fit hence the alternative of the freezer 7 Pro which I’ve read is relatively easy to fit.

Comments on the proposed build are very gratefully accepted.

many many thanks.

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Give us a link to all your hardware that'll make it easier for us to determine everything.
I recommened the 7900 series or x1900 (or 1950) over the 8600GT. They are the same price point but one is DX9 the other DX10. The 7900 or x1900 will outperform the 8600GT for equal or lesser price point.
Please next time continue in the other thread that I had already posted in. Also please mention the PSU that your planning on using. On another note with ambiant temperature being so high I don't recommend passive cooling as it won't be quite as effective.
James

Edited by james_8970, 25 May 2007 - 07:48 AM.

[james_8970]

Give us a link to all your hardware that'll make it easier for us to determine everything.
I recommened the 7900 series or x1900 (or 1950) over the 8600GT. They are the same price point but one is DX9 the other DX10. The 7900 or x1900 will outperform the 8600GT for equal or lesser price point.
Please next time continue in the other thread that I had already posted in. Also please mention the PSU that your planning on using. On another note with ambiant temperature being so high I don't recommend passive cooling as it won't be quite as effective.
James

Edited by james_8970, 25 May 2007 - 07:48 AM.

[cyberspacegenie]

Tanks for the comments James - they were very helpful (sorry for not following up my other post...oops)

Your comments about the 8600GT fits in with most of the other I've now read which has on the whole been pretty negative. In line with your advice I'm looking at other options within the same price range:

Asus EN7900GS
Sapphire Radeon X1950 PRO
Galaxy GF P79GS-SP/256D3 (7900GS) with coolermaster fan (not been able to find the version with the Zalman fan)

I'm a little worried about fan noise though - any experience with any of these? Or any other options I should consider?

Unfortunately the sites I'm looking at are all in Japanese and give nothing but the most basic info anyway - not sure it would be useful to include them in the post.

In terms of psu the Antec P150 comes with the NeoHE 430watt. I've read quite good things about it, although I'm aware that there were initially problems with it and ASUS MoBo's but these seem to have been sorted out now.

many thanks

[warriorscot]

The PSU is a little underpowered P150 and its power supply are old now something newer would be better you want at least 500W. 8600 is rubbish a 8800GTS(cheap one is 320mb) would be ideal for you or one of the budget ATI dx10s when they get released(depends on where you are and when you are building). For the mobo look for the new P35 chipset same price but better performance and upgradability.

Zalman kit is good if you are concerned about noise, the new sonata 3 from antec is out looks nice you might want to take a look they are very quiet by design.

[Bruce25]

Hello everyone
quick question/statement
New Computer comes with the full meal deal of Mcafee antivirus, spyware etc.
Is it any good and are there any issues with it?
thanks
B

[warriorscot]

Its not worth paying for but if you have questions please start your own thread to ask them its impolite to hijack someone's thread.

[Adebisi]

I would highly recommend the Antec 900 case. I do not know anything about the case you chose, but I do use a 900 myself. It has fans up the yingang and blows air directly over your hard drives, along with a 20cm fan that sucks all the heat out of the top of the case. And it looks good and has room for any video card on the market.

As for its volume, the fans all have 3 speed settings (sadly, you must set them inside the case but at least you can set them) and on the lowest they are pretty much silent, on the mid they are very quiet but move a whole bunch of air, on the highest they are very noticeable and move far more air then you will need to for the setup you have.

Because the 900 case is heavy, you may want to buy it from a store instead of ordering the case online. The shipping costs on the case, when I bought mine, were crazy.

As for the 8600, it is not going to run DX9 games as well as the 2 GPU's James mentioned. But it will do DX10 games. However, I think DX 10 games are going to demand a much stronger card than the 8600 to really be appreciated. For me it just sucks having to play newer games on low quality settings. The 8800 series is really the only way to go if you plan to play DX10 games, so you should consider that. If you have the budget I would highly consider getting a 8800 series card of some kind. As far as the heat produced, lots of people live in warm places. You have a premium CPU cooler, depending on your case you should have ample air flow. I don't think heat will be all that big an issue unless you intend to overclock everything.

[james_8970]

As for the 8600, it is not going to run DX9 games as well as the 2 GPU's James mentioned. But it will do DX10 games. However, I think DX 10 games are going to demand a much stronger card than the 8600 to really be appreciated. For me it just sucks having to play newer games on low quality settings. The 8800 series is really the only way to go if you plan to play DX10 games, so you should consider that. If you have the budget I would highly consider getting a 8800 series card of some kind.

Your kinda contridicting yourself there. You cant put much detail on game with the 8600, the DX10 will be much more demanding thus you will be forced to play at even lower settings.
If you cant afford a 8800GTS or HD2900XT min. then just get a higher end DX9 card. Even with the high end card today I have doubts they will run efficiantly on DX10 games because they will in generally be more demanding.
James

[Adebisi]

I don't think I contradicted myself. If it reads that way let me clarify my point.

My point was the 2 cards you mentioned would do DX9 games better than the 8600 but will not run DX10 games, and that while the 8600 will run DX10 games, it will likely suck very badly for DX 10 games. Only I tried to phrase it nicer than that

Edit: Ahhh ok I see what I did, I put the word "not" in there by mistake. The above sums up what I meant to say. We are in definate agreement but I badly worded my original post.

Edited by Adebisi, 30 May 2007 - 11:06 AM.

[cyberspacegenie]

Its Ok I understood what you both meant and that you were both saying the same thing! I've decided to hold off on the build for a weeks now and wait and see what the new mid-range ATI cards are like. Hopefully it should drive prices down a little too. As I said I am an occasional gamer, and dont really have the cash or the need for something as high as an 8800. My main uses for the computer will be design work and possible some video stuff in the future. As a result I think a mid range GPU should be ok.

I also hear that CPU prices are going to fall on July 22nd in anticipation of new CPUs being launched. My current desktop will happily continue longer and as I'm only in the planning stages of my new business, it should cope just fine up until then.

Just in terms of PSU. It is possible that I may experiment with overclocking in the future, although perhaps not by a huge amount. In this case is it better to get the Antec solo and a 500w PSU. If so can anyone recommend a good quality PSU that is also quiet. I'm try to build something that is as quiet as possible. I was also looking at the new Antec sonata III (with 500w PSU). The case looks good and the PSU seems to have a good rep too. Any thoughts about this?

[james_8970]

Just in terms of PSU. It is possible that I may experiment with overclocking in the future, although perhaps not by a huge amount. In this case is it better to get the Antec solo and a 500w PSU. If so can anyone recommend a good quality PSU that is also quiet. I'm try to build something that is as quiet as possible. I was also looking at the new Antec sonata III (with 500w PSU). The case looks good and the PSU seems to have a good rep too. Any thoughts about this?

Can you give me a budget on the PSU? I can give you many PSU's but they go up to 300$ or more in price, a hefty price tag that many (like me) don't want to pay. I highly recommend 600W for room for future upgrades.
James

[cyberspacegenie]

I've taken a look around at PSU prices here and decided to get a case with one included, as per my original plan. Both the Antec P150 and Sonata III have highly regarded PSUs, and as complete units they work out very good value. Once I've been able to compare them in a shop I'll make a final decision. My biggest consideration in this was budget. I haven't seen much written about the Sonata III as yet so if anyone has got one or come across any reviews then let me know your thoughts.

[james_8970]

I strongly recommend you buy a separate PSU, while they are ok, they are nothing better and it'll be likely that you will struggle with future upgrades.
James