April Computer Build Thread

[Grand Design]

The Mushkin RAM was the only 2G at 1066, and I'd like not to have the bare minimum speed.

The case is nice and very heavy - and appears to be quiet.  I really like the double 120 blowholes - I'm surprised that isn't used more often.

I'm about to pull the trigger - just going over everything in my head for the fiftieth time because I know I forgot something.

Edit: And I love that CPU.  That is a work of art - I've watched it drop off of my buy list twice today because Newegg sold out.

[Trippy]

I have an Antec 900 right behind me. Good case, overwide, overloud. The bottom psu can be put in so the intake faces up, exhausting the case a bit more. It'll fit the biggest cooling stuff, though the Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme precludes using a side panel fan. The 200mm fan has a low level hum, even on a low setting, which is why I retired the case. A niggling problem, but it was driving me nuts.

Why not just remove/replace that fan if it was bothering you so much?

[Grand Design]

I fucked up and bought DDR2 RAM for a DDR3 mobo. 

Fixed the rig build (+$50) and its on the way.

If anyone need 4 gigs of DDR2 1066 RAM, let me know.  Otherwise I'll test Newegg's return policy.

[rattran]

I have an Antec 900 right behind me. Good case, overwide, overloud. The bottom psu can be put in so the intake faces up, exhausting the case a bit more. It'll fit the biggest cooling stuff, though the Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme precludes using a side panel fan. The 200mm fan has a low level hum, even on a low setting, which is why I retired the case. A niggling problem, but it was driving me nuts.

Why not just remove/replace that fan if it was bothering you so much?

Because it gave me an excuse to buy a new case, and I can sell the 900 with contents to my boss. I'd picked it up on a whim at Fry's for ~$50AR I'm much happier with the cosmos, though there's a newer version (1010 I think)

[Viin]

A friend of mine got this case for a new build I just helped him with:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

I like the power supply on the bottom and there's plenty of room for these long ass 8800 video cards. The huge fan on top is also awesome, it's rpm is like 200 but it moves ton of air up and out.

Edit: And I think it's a ton quieter than the thermaltake case I have with 6 built-in smaller fans and probably cools it better.

[schild]

Schild, what temps are your cores operating at now?  Are they still around 45 C?

My E8400 cores are right around there at idle with the stock cooler and although it's not OMG hot it seems a little warmish for idle.  Though, my core temps don't budge from 45 C even playing AoC for 4 hours at max settings so maybe I shouldn't worry about it.

It's kind of hot in the house right now, but they're at 38/38/36/44.

I just closed AoC after 8 hours.

[Trippy]

A CPU cools off quickly when not under load. You need a temp tracking program that can keep a log to actually know how hot the cores are getting when playing the game.

[Lantyssa]

Which brings us to the Real Temp program you mentioned earlier, as it has current, min, and max.

[Murgos]

Thanks for pointing me to RealTemp.  I was using CoreTemp and it's apparently off by 8 or 9 degrees at idle because RealTemp reports 36ish where CoreTemp was reporting 44/45.

[Grand Design]

Update

Everything except for the CPU arrived a day early (go go Newegg), giving me the chance to setup the machine without rushing.  The Coolermaster case is a sight to behold.  It is big, but not huge - it doesn't fit under my desk, and if I removed the drive bays, I could place my P4 case inside of it.  There is so much room to work with inside of this thing, I am forever spoiled.  But that room is needed, especially if I go SLI.  Above that, it is silent.  The first time I turned it on, I started cursing because I thought I had forgotten to plug in the PSU.  Nope, its that quiet.  From a gaming perspective, I can honestly say that I now hear things in games that were drowned out by the P4's ambient noise.  That was unexpected.  I hate to go on about a damned case, but every time I thought I found something wrong with it, I was wrong.  The PSU is in the bottom - but there is still room for two, even three graphics cards.  And, the heat from the PSU never gets into the case because of this placement.  The PSU 12v connector barely reaches the motherboard plug - then I found the extension that came with it.  I had to supply my own screws - then I found the hidden stash of more screws of every imaginable shape than I could use building three machines.  I love this case.  And, schild was spot on with the PSU suggestion - more cables and adapters than I could use.

I don't need to say anything about the CPU - it is a beast.  I do hate the Intel fan and I am replacing it asap.  It 'clicks' into the motherboard very unconvincingly.  I took it out twice because it felt like nothing had 'clicked.'

The motherboard has more features than I will ever use.  Apparently you can boot it up as a webserver without loading the OS, making it safe to browse for porn on the most dubious of foreign sites without the risk of malware getting onto the hard disk.

The 9800.  I can't stop it.  In Conan, I have everything turned on with great fps.  AoC crippled my P4, sending me into Vanguard flashbacks.  I'm a sucker for Total War, and the huge battles with all the bells and whistles turned on rarely drop below the 60 fps ceiling.  CoD4 obviously runs like a dream, but it did well on the P4 too.  Somebody suggest a game to throw at this thing and I'll pick it up when I've replenished my funds.  It does extremely well with Fraps turned on in Eve, which was a nagging problem I had with the P4.

So, what's wrong with it?  Its too new.  I had to flash and update the BIOS to get it to see the CPU.  It locks up at random - I'm guessing related to bad RAM or Nvidia's drivers.  I've run it for ten minutes before it freezes and for five hours before it freezes.  Its annoying, but updating to the latest drivers as opposed to EVGA's seemed to improve its run time.

All in all, a great upgrade for a reasonable price.  Thanks for all of the advice.

And 

[Engels]

Great news on the case. I'm in the market for one, myself, and that case looked pretty intimidating, with its VGA air-duct and all. Glad to hear that it seems user-friendly. Does it have a front fan, or just that bottom fan?

Also, those hard locks you talk about sound like maybe there's a physical connection or seating problem, perhaps with a connector somewhere, or, maybe with the CPU itself (my factory intel heatsink and fan clicked in perfectly, with just the right amount of pressure to convince me the heatplate was making contact with the CPU). Don't get me wrong, I think an aftermarket CPU fan is a great idea, especially if you like to push the machine a bit more than the ordinary user.

If making sure the connections are good doesn't fix the issue, I would run a benchmarking tool of some sort, some form of burn-in software, many of which are available for free on the internets. Nvidia's NTune has a decent one bundled into its freeware suite for CPU, memory, hard drives and gpu. Not sure how good it is, tho; I haven't played with mine yet.

Oh, I also love Medieval Total War cranked on the high settings. It makes a dramatic difference on how enjoyable that game is to be able to sweep through the battlefield with no graphics lag.

[Yegolev]

I have a $99 digital camera now.  Here are the pics of my rig in its current state with two functioning PSU, which I am perversely proud of.

[Engels]

I think the first picture may make Trippy's heart sieze up.

[Grand Design]

Tie straps, man, tie straps!

[Grand Design]

Does it have a front fan, or just that bottom fan?

No front intake, and it has solid metal on the inner lower front.  The bottom intake replaces it, and the PSU has its own intake.  Two on the top, one in the back, one on the bottom. 

Also, those hard locks you talk about sound like maybe there's a physical connection or seating problem.

I've done a cursory inspection, but a full re-seating is in order.  The case should make that task go quickly.

Oh, I also love Medieval Total War cranked on the high settings. It makes a dramatic difference on how enjoyable that game is to be able to sweep through the battlefield with no graphics lag.

I loved the game before, but now I have a new appreciation.  A full-on flaming missile assault at night looks fantastic.  Empires cannot get here fast enough.

[Viin]

I have a $99 digital camera now.  Here are the pics of my rig in its current state with two functioning PSU, which I am perversely proud of.

[pic]
[pic]

Wholly hell, and I thought my case was a bit messy and disorganized.

[Engels]

Does it have a front fan, or just that bottom fan?

No front intake, and it has solid metal on the inner lower front.  The bottom intake replaces it, and the PSU has its own intake.  Two on the top, one in the back, one on the bottom. 

So does I take it the idea is that the bottom fan blows UP to blow air coming off the hard drives towards the top 2 fans, yes? Once you get your system stable, I wouldn't mind hearing back from you on your temperature readings under load, in particular, your vid card. Its an uncommon design to have a bottom fan, so I'm wondering about it.

[Lantyssa]

I have a $99 digital camera now.  Here are the pics of my rig in its current state with two functioning PSU, which I am perversely proud of.

I'm going to have nightmares of tentacle monsters trying to stick modular cables in places they don't belong.

[Yegolev]

My computer works great and runs cool.  Crybabies.

[rattran]

My Cosmos 1000 Temps:

Ambient is 28C/82F for those playing along.

Temps taken with Real Temp 2.5 & CPUID hwmonitor

Q6600: 35/33/30/32 idle (45/44/41/42 load)
9800gtx: 42 idle (57 load)

4 drives, I have a fan in the alternate hd cooler spot in the case (sucks air past the drives) 31/35/35/37 (Hitatchi 250, Seagate 300&500, WD 500)

Top exhaust air reads 35C, rear 32C, psu exhaust 28C.

[Engels]

Ok, this time its my turn to ask for advice. Bottom line, I need a new case.

I currently have two cases. an Antec Lanboy, which is an all aluminum mid-tower with two 120mm fans front and back, and the famous Antec P180.

I'm currently using the Lanboy for my gaming rig, and I've run into a problem; with AoC, the vid card overheated with my standard low-spin 120 fans. I put in a new high spin 120 fan, and the video card is now in acceptable heat ranges, but the case has absolutely no noise reduction, and in fact probably telegraphs the sound even more.

I seriously don't want to go back to the P180. Its huge, its heavy, and has poor cable management. Its airflow abilities are pretty weak as well, despite being able to put in 5 120 fans into the box. If you stick to the standard 2 120 fans, the box becomes an oven. Over 2, and you're back to the original noise problem, which is what I bought the behemoth for to start with!

So, in sum, I would like to get a case with the following criteria in mind:

A) Must hold at least 4 hard drives for my raid5 set up. Must have decent airflow -around- these 4 drives. Trippy pointed out that this is a problem with many modern cases, and doing some investigation, he's right. Often the hard drive placement seems like an afterthought

B) Should do a decent job of noise reduction

C) Should not be a ginormous behemoth

D) Easy front CD/DVD drive access. We watch a lot of movies, and the nice closing panel on many boxes makes the cases look nicer, but they end up getting in the way and in my not so informed opinion, prevent decent front-panel airflow

E) Not a total nightmare to get around in. Cable management, with the ability to route cables behind the motherboard plate a plus

F) Last but not least, GOOD airflow.

Any input is much appreciated.

[Salamok]

the nice closing panel on many boxes makes the cases look nicer, but they end up getting in the way and in my not so informed opinion, prevent decent front-panel airflow

Good airflow is accomplished by a well thought out airflow plan not by air seeping in through the seams around your drive components. If anything air leaking though the seams in your case is a detriment.  A well thought out sealed case with air intake ducts will not only keep your components cooler but also reduce noise and dust. 

Then again you could just say fuck it go the cheap, noisy, dirty and ugly route to keeping your shit cool *coughyegolevcough*, which is still less efficent than a forced air path... 

[Trippy]

The P180 cabling issue can be handled with zip ties, velcro cable ties/cable hook thingies that you can stick to parts of your case. Fan noise can be managed with quieter fans (Antec fans are noisy). Assuming mastering the art of "cablegami" doesn't appeal to you there are some other options though your 4 hard drive requirement is going to narrow your choices a lot unless you are willing to use one of the floppy drive bays or even a 5.25" bay.

The Antec Solo is a very quiet case design. It's basically an Antec Sonata without a bundled power supply. If you need another PS for some reason you could go with one of the Sonatas. The Solo has room for 4 hard drives though there won't be that large a gap between them if you fill all 4 in the hard drive cage (you could use one of the floppy slots or 5.25" bays.

Going to the other extreme of a cool case there's the Antec 900. It's similar to the P180 in that it has the PS bay at the bottom but there's no separate lower compartment so the drive bay configuration is more standard and you can actually fit 6 hard drives in there though with your 4 , 2 will have to be close together.

[Engels]

the nice closing panel on many boxes makes the cases look nicer, but they end up getting in the way and in my not so informed opinion, prevent decent front-panel airflow

Good airflow is accomplished by a well thought out airflow plan not by air seeping in through the seams around your drive components. If anything air leaking though the seams in your case is a detriment.  A well thought out sealed case with air intake ducts will not only keep your components cooler but also reduce noise and dust. 
 

I think you may have misunderstood me. My problem with the P180s front door is not that it prevents seepage through component cracks, its that it lies basically 1/6th of an inch directly from the 120 mm intake fan. That's what I think may be preventing a free airflow into the case, or out of it, depending on how you orient the fan.  Although it doesn't outright block airflow, the expulsed/intake air doesn't go right out, it has to come in or leave from the sides of the swing door. If front-facing hard drive enclosures block airflow, how much more would a flat panel of metal right on the intake vent!

Trippy, can you recommend fans that are both high volume and moderately low noise? I've been using Thermaltake fans, which are blow a good volume, but are louder than advertized.

I took a look at the Antec 900, but I heard reports that it is too noisy, not only from rattan. The Sonatas looks nice, but does it have a front fan? I saw these three on newegg. Comments on them?

[Lantyssa]

I'm happy with my Coolermaster Mystique.  It has a drive configuration that Trippy wouldn't be entirely happy with for airflow, but fits a lot of your criteria.  The front visor/panel does not obstruct airflow as it's a half inch beyond the front plate and you can leave it locked open when you're watching movies.

Mine, at least, is quiet.  My disks make as much noise than the fans.

[Engels]

I noticed on the Coolmaster Mystique that it has two side vents, one with a funnel that ostensibly lies over the CPU. Have you had any issues with that funnel? I'm concerened that should I buy an aftermarket CPU cooler, say the scythe ninja, for instance, the funnel woud be in the way. Also, are those funnels meant to take 80 mm fans or some such?

[rattran]

Silentx or scythe fans are pretty quiet, and move a lot of air. I use Scythe S-flex sff21f fans as case ventilation. 1600rpm 63.6cfm 28dba at full power. ~$14 each from newegg in quantity. I

As for the door of the P180, you can take it off entirely if you choose.

[Hoax]

I say fuck Antec, for a variety of reasons and mostly because they sold me a bum case that I tried to use while sort of drunk.  It didn't go all too well. I've been looking at Lian-Li's stuff and it sure is pretty, but I haven't started a serious case search.

[Trippy]

Trippy, can you recommend fans that are both high volume and moderately low noise? I've been using Thermaltake fans, which are blow a good volume, but are louder than advertized.

Those are mutually exclusive concepts though obviously there will be fans that are quieter than others for the same amount of air moved. The Scythe S-Flex that rattran mentioned above is a good reference fan to compare others to:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article695-page5.html#sflex
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html

I took a look at the Antec 900, but I heard reports that it is too noisy, not only from rattan. The Sonatas looks nice, but does it have a front fan? I saw these three on newegg. Comments on them?

You don't want the III since that one has the rotated drive cage. The other two are virtually identical in design (though obviously the outside appearance is different) with the Plus being the newer design (the Designer is a rebadge of the old P150 which I have).

All those have power supplies, though, so if you like that design you'll want this one which is the same as the Plus without the PS:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129018

Some of them do come with front fans (the Solo doesn't) so you should check the specs though like I mentioned before the Antec fans aren't particularly quiet so you'll want to replace them all anyways.

[schild]

The Zalman fans that come in the HT160 are 3,000 RPMs and nearly silent. In fact, I think they are silent. I sure as shit can't hear them from about 30 inches away.

[Trippy]

If they are really spinning that fast (which I highly doubt) then they are not silent -- you just have other stuff that's drowning out that noise.

[Engels]

I would really go for a Sonata if I weren't dealing with some fairly serious heating issues that are only going to get worse as the summer gets hot (still pretty cool here in Seattle). The lack of a front fan, and the reliance of a solitary back fan to push or pull air out of the case makes me think that no matter how well the cabling gets tucked away, its not going to be cool in there with that long 8800 card that heats up and 4 drives going at it. Its a swank looking case, very simple and elegant, and gets a 10/10 for aesthetics and probably good marks for silence, but I just don't think it's going to do the trick.

[Trippy]

The lack of a bundled front fan does not mean the case doesn't have front fan mounts. Read the specs. All those Antec cases have front fan mounts (some have 2).

[Murgos]

I have a $99 digital camera now.  Here are the pics of my rig in its current state with two functioning PSU, which I am perversely proud of.

I'm going to have nightmares of tentacle monsters trying to stick modular cables in places they don't belong.

Care to elaborate with a short work of fiction? 

[Lantyssa]

I noticed on the Coolmaster Mystique that it has two side vents, one with a funnel that ostensibly lies over the CPU. Have you had any issues with that funnel? I'm concerened that should I buy an aftermarket CPU cooler, say the scythe ninja, for instance, the funnel woud be in the way. Also, are those funnels meant to take 80 mm fans or some such?

The first thing I did with the case was to remove the funnel since I have a gigantic tower cooler on my CPU.  I think the spacing would fit an 80 mm fan.  The case is decently wide, so I might be able to fit one there even with my cooler, but it would be very close.

The funnel is just to provide an isolated outside air source to the CPU fan.  You would have to mod things to add a fan to the setup.  A fan with screws holes on both sides, and cutting the funnel down to size, would allow you to insert a fan between the side panel and the funnel.

Care to elaborate with a short work of fiction? 

Darkness filled the room, shadows dancing across surfaces as the PS2's screen saver whirled in rhythmic circles.  On the couch slept a nubile young woman, a too large nightgown drapped over her curves.  As the controller slipped from her hand and bounced off the floor her lids bolted open.  Her eyes focused intently and she screamed, "Fuck off!  Write your own wank material!"  Then she drifted back to sleep, content.

Fin.