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Questions about noise and heat

Post Date: 2007-09-15
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DrBubba View Drop Down
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  Quote DrBubba Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: Questions about noise and heat
    Posted: 15 Sep 2007 at 7:03pm
I'm a semi-old-fart who enjoys gaming.  I'm looking to buy one of these machines but I'd appreciate advice about noise supression. 
 
I'd like decent gaming performance but don't need bleeding-edge speed.  I enjoy FPSs and MS FSX.  I'm technically competent but would rather not be bothered with tweaking anything up and down based on room temperature or phase of the moon.  I'd like the machine to work out of the box, and would rather not fool with it thereafter.  Mostly I want it to be as quiet as possible.
 
Graphics:  Does dual cards (SLI) equate to dual noise?  Would I be quieter buying one really good card (8800 GTX) (or even an ULTRA) versus two lesser cards (8600 GTS)? 
 
Processor:  Any opinions regarding the heat output (and therefore cooling needs) of a dual vs quad core?  Is the bang for the buck favorable for a quad?
 
Cooling:  I'm really not interested in overclocking.  Would liquid cooling be worth the money/trouble?  Is it significantly quieter?  Should I look to cool both the processor AND the graphics? (if not overclocked)  Would the machine give off less heat?  (my computer room is pretty small and my current Dell XPS is like having a red-hot vacuum cleaner in a phone booth.)  If I don't go with the liquid, what about the three air cooling options? 
 
Motherboard:  There's little info on the site about the differences of the 650i versus 680i versus the upgraded 680i.  Bang for buck info?
 
Case:  I don't care what it looks like.  Are there cooling/noise advantages of the various options?
 
Power Supply?  Are any quiter than the others?  If I go with SLI, how many watts to I really need?  I tend to give away old computers rather than upgrade, so no need to build in much "room for growth".
 
I'd appreciate Digital Storm running these questions past your tech staff (an earlier attempt using the configuration page didn't seem to work), but I'd also love to hear the opinions of this community.
 
Thanks
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Posts: 2220 		  Quote skyR Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 15 Sep 2007 at 7:40pm
If you are worried about heat and noise. Do not go with SLI. SLI can consume up to 500W (probably more) and generate a lot more noise.

Quad runs a little hotter then duo but both are about the same.. Best bang for the buck would be a E6750. The Q6600 is a good investment if you do anything else besides gaming.

Liquid cooling is preference and opinion. I don't think it is worth the money or trouble. It is extremely annoying to check it everyday to make sure there are no leaks. And if there is a problem, it is going to be a hell lot more work then just simply replacing a fan. Liquid cooling is quieter because the fans will be gone. Water > Air in cooling so it would give off less heat.

I recommend stage 3 air cooling if you decide not to get liquid cooling. Air cooled system runs fine as long as you don't plan on overclocking to the extreme and covering your PC in a blanket.

The main difference between 650i and 680i is that the 650i does not support SLI. If you don't plan on doing SLI, 650i is fine.

A bigger case will allow for more air flow and fans making the PC run at a lower temperature.

Corsairs are quieter than the Thermaltakes imo. Be Quiet are the best in the market if you want silence, call Digital Storm and maybe they could hook you up with one. Depending on what card you plan on going SLI with, you would need 600W at minimum to be safe.


Edited by skyR - 15 Sep 2007 at 7:43pm
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  Quote commast Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 15 Sep 2007 at 10:08pm
Graphics: SLI will generate more heat and noise. A single 8800GTX or Ultra will be much better than 2 8600GTS.
Processor: Quad core use more power than the core 2 dual but not enough to make any difference in cooling. Best bang for the buck is the quad core Q6600. More and more apps will be coded to use the extra cores while the core 2 duo won't be able to use the extra cores. Quad core also is better at multi task since you have 2 extra cores.
Cooling: If you're not interested in OC than don't choose the liquid cooling. It's much too expensive and the performance gain from OC compare to on air is not worth it. Choose stage 3 and DS will OC your machine to a stable point---this is your best option (more bang for the buck)
Motherboard: The 650i doesn't have many features as the 680i but it's performance is just about the same as the 680i.
Case: A bigger case will allow better air circulation and offers more upgrade options
Power Supplier: Some are more quiet than the others. The Corsair and Thermaltake are quiet. For SLI, a minimum 600W for 8600GTS, around 700W for 8800GTS, 800W or more for the GTX or Ultra
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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 15 Sep 2007 at 10:45pm
I can't say I know alot about the noise factor involved with graphics cards options, but I can tell you that noise is definately reduced going from a small to a larger fan size. If you need to move a specific volume of air, a larger fan will generate a higher tip speed (the speed as measured at the edge of the fan blade furtherest from center of the fan) at a lower rpm. If you have a couple of 80mm or 90mm fans in your current computer case, they are going to be much more noticable than the 120mm fans in something like the Pro or Extreme cases.
 
Another thing to consider is the overall airflow in the case. If the case is small and cramped inside after adding all the components and cabling, fans have to work harder to move air through that space. That means kicking up the speed, and kicking up the speed means more noise. There's a nice upgraded wiring option in the customization options to keep things neat and airflow friendly inside the case. I don't know exactly how much airflow is improved, but every little bit helps.
 
One thing on the motherboards: The 680i A1 revision offers some better passive cooling for the board than the LT version. I may have this one wrong, so ask DS, but I believe the 680i  A1 revision passively cools the north and south bridges (though there is the option to mount a fan) whereas the 680i LT version is actively cooled (fans). Passive cooling will definately be the quieter option. Again, ask DS, I could have this one all wrong, or have it right, but the difference between the two may be negligable.
 
There's also case quality to consider in terms of noise. A cheaply built case is going to generate alot of secondary noise due to vibration from all of the moving parts inside a computer. Any place where a case has poor fit and finish will offer a chance for vibration to turn into rattling.
 
As far as the specific cases DS carries, I have no first hand experience so I won't comment other than to say that there is a review given by a (very happy) Digital Storm customer here:
 
 
And he rates his own perceptions of the system's noise.
 
Sound is a pretty subjective thing, everyone's hearing is different and the perception of "loud" is further influenced by experience, but if you look over that post, you'll find that RogerWilco just replaced a Dell, so if anyone on these forums should be able to gauge the difference between the "red hot vacuum cleaner in a phone booth" you're replacing and a Digital Storm build, it'd be him.
 
On the other stuff, I started getting lost after the Pentium 4's were released and never bothered reading up again until now, so I leave the other items for people that have some idea what they're talking about. Wink
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Posts: 1150 		  Quote Bill the Cat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Sep 2007 at 12:51am
Originally posted by DrBubba

I'm a semi-old-fart who enjoys gaming....
 
Cooling:  I'm really not interested in overclocking.  Would liquid cooling be worth the money/trouble?  Is it significantly quieter?  Should I look to cool both the processor AND the graphics? (if not overclocked)  Would the machine give off less heat?  (my computer room is pretty small and my current Dell XPS is like having a red-hot vacuum cleaner in a phone booth.) 
 
 
Old Fart,
 
We could be twins!
 
These guys may be right about everything else, but I think they're missing the point about your heat issues. If you're worried about your computer acting as space heater, then the cooling method you pick is irrelevant. Unless of course, you go liquid cooled and run the pipe out the window and stick the radiator outside. Otherwise all cooling is about sucking heat from the computer's electronics and ejecting it out of the case into the room. All the power your machine consumes will wind up as BTUs in your room. There's really no solution except to get a smaller less power hungry computer. Unfortunately, power consumption and gaming goodness are proportional. Don't use a CRT. Exercise some restraint on number and size of your disk drives. Go with one video card with less VRAM. None of this is going to help a lot, except maybe the CRT part, but you probably weren't going to do that anyway.
 
Personally, I'd get a small fan, not for the computer but, to stick in the room's window or door. Punch a hole in the wall maybe. Of course there is liquid nitrogen....
 
Liquid cooling would be quieter, but probably not enough to justify the cost and maintenence. Does anybody out there use LC just to reduce noise?
 
 
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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Sep 2007 at 2:59am
Originally posted by Bill the Cat

 
Personally, I'd get a small fan, not for the computer but, to stick in the room's window or door. Punch a hole in the wall maybe. Of course there is liquid nitrogen....
 
Liquid cooling would be quieter, but probably not enough to justify the cost and maintenence. Does anybody out there use LC just to reduce noise?
 
 
 
Yeah, I knew I missed something Embarrassed. The heat issue in the room itself.
 
One thing I don't understand, is how LC is supposed to end up generating less heat in a room. Maybe my understanding is incorrect, but wouldn't the Law of conservation of energy hold true there? The liquid cooling may be better in wicking away the heat, but the same energy should remain. However, highschool science class is growing ever dimmer as a memory, so am I missing something?
 
I also did not notice, rereading the OP, if this room is on an outside wall....
 
Either way, if you don't overclock a Core Duo, it *should* run cooler than an older single core chip. I would take a guess that in a hot room efficiency would be a big thing to consider in a PSU as well, since any energy that is not being used to power the PC is probably going to end up waste energy in the form of heat.
 
eh,
 
Blast you Bill the Cat, you had to go and make me start thinking. That's never good Tongue


Edited by Tyler Lowe - 16 Sep 2007 at 3:27am
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Posts: 1826 		  Quote EdH63 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Sep 2007 at 9:37am
I've got an older rig right now that I'm using while I wait for my new DS rig.  My old rig runs a 6800ULTRA 512 MB GPU.  It also has a P4 3.2 HT Proc.  In the day, I would sit and multi-game for hours on end into the wee hours of the morning and the GPU could fry an egg from the amount of heat it would generate.  I stretched the limits of this card many times over and it never gave up, but it did generate an enormous amount of heat.  The P4 also generated alot of heat, as did the disk drive, but not as much.

The combined heat production that resonated from my case was ridiculous and heated my room up considerably.  I have a ceiling fan in the room and I always keep it on medium and the AC always worked well. 

All that said, my rig was hot!  I only have two 80mm fans on the back of the case and two on the front, and it being a standard no bells Chieftech case, it didn't allow for good airflow.  I've asked and confirmed a number of times about airflow, fan setup and heat distribution here , and the DS team has convinced me that the Extreme case will  be a  great case to cool properly without LC.  I've also added two 120mm top fans to the case to assure any risen heat will surly dissipate  from the case.

Others are correct in mentioning that the room you operate out of will really dictate, to a degree, no pun intended, how cool or warm your case blows.  If you're dragging hot air back into the case because your room is tiny and the ambient air temp is already heated up, then your rig will blow warmer air back into that room.  I too will have an outside floor fan of some kind blowing onto the case to assure quick displacement of warm air from the case.  My case now is on the floor sitting to the right of my right leg under a desk.  My setup itself actually sets me up for a warmer environment simply because all the air pockets around the case and doesn't move away fast enough.  I will reconfigure case placement on this new one to give me maximum airflow benefits.




Edited by EdH63 - 16 Sep 2007 at 11:12am
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  Quote DrBubba Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Sep 2007 at 3:52pm
Wow!
 
Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful replies.
 
I'm inclined to go with the 6600 processor (quad), the A1 revision MB, an 8800 GTX or Ultra card, the Extreme case, and the level three air cooling.  Will 500 watts do with this?
 
The discussion on cooling was helpful.  Clearly, the heat has to go somewhere.  Heat TRANSFER from the processor might be enhanced by the liquid cooling, but eventually the heat has to be blown away from the liquid by a fan.  I'm not surprised no one thought the liqid cooling was inherently quiter. 
 
When I started out, I was inclined to go with dual 8600GTS SLI, and liquid cooling.  You've all been helpful.  My original question was pretty nebulous, and your advice was very interesting.
 
One other accessory I'll probably add is a ceiling fan.  The room isn't as bad as I may have let on, but it got pretty warm on hot days, even with the AC on.  My real problem with the Dell was the noise.  The heat was just an added annoyance.
 
Any last thoughts?  Thanks Again.
 
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Posts: 1150 		  Quote Bill the Cat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Sep 2007 at 4:25pm
Originally posted by DrBubba

I'm inclined to go with the 6600 processor (quad), the A1 revision MB, an 8800 GTX or Ultra card, the Extreme case, and the level three air cooling. 
 
 
Are you saying you've decided to overclock? The only difference between level 2 and level 3 cooling is that level 3 is overclocked.
 
Originally posted by DrBubba

Will 500 watts do with this?
 
 
NO! 600W to 750W is probably more like it. The good news is that this is not like have four or five 150 Watt light bulbs in the room. The PSUs don't draw all that power when they don't need it. Further, I believe part of the reason to go with these big PSUs is just to get enough juice on the 12 volt rail. They're over kill for the other voltages.
 
Originally posted by DrBubba

When I started out, I was inclined to go with dual 8600GTS SLI, and liquid cooling.  You've all been helpful.  My original question was pretty nebulous, and your advice was very interesting.
 
 
Your config has improved a lot since then, except for the PSU.
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Posts: 1826 		  Quote EdH63 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Sep 2007 at 5:19pm
I'm going with the 6600 Quad A1 Rev, 8800 Ultra 768, 850WATT Thermaltake PSU and Level 3 cooling.  From what I've been told here, and considering the Extreme case with the extra two 120's on the top, it will cool fine.  Unless you throw a blanket over it as mentioned earlier in this thread, or somewhere else.
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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Sep 2007 at 5:56pm
Only other thought I would offer on the environment the system would be placed in, is that it sounds to me like the A/C unit you're using may be either losing some of it's pep, or is simply undersized.
 
Alot of air conditioning units have suggested room sizes on the packaging, but if you have an additional heat source, such as a refrigerator, or a computer, it's a good idea to move one size category up to compensate. This can also be true if the room gets nearly all day exposure to direct sunlight. You don't want to go overkill, as that can cause it's own set of problems.
 
A sure sign of an under sized A/C is if it rarely if ever cycles off when a middle of the road setting is selected.
 
If you have a 5000 BTU unit in use now, you can likely find a 6500 BTU unit that uses the same case dimensions. It may not seem like much of a difference, but in conjunction with a cieling fan pushing the air up during the summer months, this can have a very large impact.
 
Personally, I'd try the fan with the new system and see how it goes, and then take a good look at the A/C unit if the fan isn't enough. If you're not sure what the A/C is putting out, you can usually find the rating on a label under the face grill. Sometimes it isn't in an obvious spot, like the bottom side of the A/C under the grill; under the dust filter; or on the side, but most of the time, as soon as you pull that face plate, you'll see it right off.
 
The Corsair 620W is a really nice unit that has a reputation, not only for rock solid power output, but for very quiet and efficient operation.  Ask DS for a reccomendation, but there's no way I would go under a 600W unit for what you want to do.
 
On the liquid cooling, I have no doubt it is much quieter, but despite the knowledge that a well fitted hose over good hose barbs should never have a leakage problem from the hose fittings, I have this thing about putting water inside an electronic device. They also do, just like fans, require ocassional cleaning in addition to being watchful for leaks.
 
Between the maintenance, the potential for a leak, and the expense I wouldn't do it unless you absolutely had to have the additional cooling power, but that's my hangup. I'd rather just clean a fan once in a while.
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  Quote DrBubba Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Sep 2007 at 9:07pm
No, I'm still inclined to avoid overclocking.  Going over the site again it looks like level three is the same as level 2, except they overclock the processor to its optimum.  I just missed the descriptions brought up by the grey "i" icon.  Thanks for pointing this out.
 
I'm inclined to leave the processor run at it's intended speed.  I like to minimize headaches.  Probably unnecssary conservatism, but I don't see the point of trying to get that last 5%. 
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  Quote commast Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Sep 2007 at 9:58pm
Originally posted by DrBubba

No, I'm still inclined to avoid overclocking.  Going over the site again it looks like level three is the same as level 2, except they overclock the processor to its optimum.  I just missed the descriptions brought up by the grey "i" icon.  Thanks for pointing this out.
 
I'm inclined to leave the processor run at it's intended speed.  I like to minimize headaches.  Probably unnecssary conservatism, but I don't see the point of trying to get that last 5%. 


If you don't want OC, choose Stage 1 since it has the stock Intel heatsink/fan combo. Stage 2 just add an after-market heatsink/fan combo for people who like to OC their PC.
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Posts: 1150 		  Quote Bill the Cat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Sep 2007 at 11:26pm
Dr B,
 
I'll defer to the DSO techies, but I'd stick with Stage 2 cooling, WTF, it's cheap, you're sticking a Hot graphics card in there, and your ambient room temp is apparently a little on the high side from time to time.
 
Excellent case choice, by the way. The TJ9 (Extreme) should help keep things relatively cool on the inside, even if it gets a little steamy on the outside. It's probably gross overkill, but then that's the way I prefer my overkill. Actually, the Ultra case is bigger 3 cu. ft. compared to the Extreme's 2.4 cu. ft. The Extreme is also significantly smaller than the old "full" tower cases that were in vogue 10 or 15 (cough) years ago.


Edited by Bill the Cat - 16 Sep 2007 at 11:52pm
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Posts: 16314 		  Quote Alex Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Sep 2007 at 3:12am
I would recommend going with a Stage 2 cooling system. We won't overclock it unless you go with a TwisterBoost option.
 
A quad-core runs hot when all four cores are being stressed, a Stage 1 cooling system is not recommended for those types of applications.
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  Quote commast Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Sep 2007 at 3:25am
Originally posted by Bill the Cat

   The Extreme is also significantly smaller than the old "full" tower cases that were in vogue 10 or 15 (cough) years ago.


Ah, not quite true my friend Smile Most full tower cases have similar dimensions. The Extreme case is a little over 21" which is the same height as my current PC.

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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Sep 2007 at 4:33am

Couldn't find anywhere a listing for dimensions on computer cases from the early 90's but did find some now hilarious reviews still out there, questioning things like  whether or not anyone really needs the power of a 400Mhz CPU system for home use, with it's screamin fast 66Mhz bus speeds. LOL
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Posts: 1150 		  Quote Bill the Cat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Sep 2007 at 9:40am
Originally posted by commast

Ah, not quite true my friend Smile Most full tower cases have similar dimensions. The Extreme case is a little over 21" which is the same height as my current PC.
 
Au contraire!
 
I still have a pair of 23" tall Micon PC tower cases and a pair of 23" tall Gateway 2000 towers. The fact that they were still called Gateway 2000 tells you something about how old they are. That plus "100 MHz" sticker on the front of one of them. Ya know, motherboards used to be one hell of a lot bigger before VLSI chip sets came along, and ISA Bus boards were huge!


Edited by Bill the Cat - 17 Sep 2007 at 9:41am
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  Quote commast Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Sep 2007 at 12:18pm
That's less than 2" difference between the cases but i get your point. Didn't have the full tower from Micron but i still have the Micron mid tower Big%20smile I think it's about 12 years old.
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  Quote commast Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Sep 2007 at 12:21pm
Originally posted by Tyler Lowe

Couldn't find anywhere a listing for dimensions on computer cases from the early 90's but did find some now hilarious reviews still out there, questioning things like  whether or not anyone really needs the power of a 400Mhz CPU system for home use, with it's screamin fast 66Mhz bus speeds. LOL



Not to mention that a 10 GB hard drive were considered huge Smile
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  Quote DrBubba Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Sep 2007 at 12:32pm
Thanks to everyone.
 
I rather doubt I'll be changing the Air Conditioner in my home, but the rest of the advice was invaluable.
 
Alex:  Thanks for the heads up on the Stage two cooler.  I'll probably head that route.  You seem to be the techie others referred to.  What do you think about the motherboard choices?  Even going to eVGA's site was pretty mind-numbing.  As I recall (and my head is spinning pretty fast right now), the LT version had two small fans for cooling, the 688i and the A1 revision had more passive cooling (Did I get that right?).  Given my obsession with silence, do you have an opinion of the direction I should go?  Since I'm not going with SLI, would a 650i be adequate/as quiet/as useful otherwise?  I'm willing to spend a little extra on quality, or quiet, or performance, or useful features, but don't like to toss money away needlessly.
 
My first computer had a pretty small case -- an AppleII with a 1 mHz processor, 64k of memory plus an additonal 64 k on an add-in card, a really floppy 5.25 inch floppy disk, no hard drive (not yet invented) and a monochrome monitor on top of the case.  I don't recall it's being very noisy, but performance has improved over the years, hasn't it?  I paid $2500.  (And "Larry Bird versus Dr J." was an awesome game.  Modern programmers couldn't do a splash screen with the above hardware.)
 
Which makes me a bit older than a "semi"-old fart.  I'm at the point where I'm ready to start lying about my age.
 
Thanks again to everyone.
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Posts: 16314 		  Quote Alex Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Sep 2007 at 10:01pm
You are most welcome, I also thank all of the amazing people that are on these forms helping us with great answers! Clap
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Posts: 1150 		  Quote Bill the Cat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Sep 2007 at 10:16pm
Originally posted by commast

That's less than 2" difference between the cases but i get your point. Didn't have the full tower from Micron but i still have the Micron mid tower Big%20smile I think it's about 12 years old.

My current (5 1/2 year old) 2 GHz P4 based Micron "tower" is a paultry 19" tall.


Edited by Bill the Cat - 17 Sep 2007 at 10:17pm
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Posts: 59 		  Quote Sonofek Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Sep 2007 at 10:22pm
My old (that I no longer have) 95' Compaq was about knee high. Of course that varies based upon your height, but it really wasn't all that big. It was a heavy sucker, though.
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Posts: 501 		  Quote sundowner Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 17 Sep 2007 at 10:44pm
Even though I've put my Dell E510 through hell in the last year and a half and it's done well, you can't really compare it to other PC's because when you push these things gaming wise the fan starts to falter temp. wise and is nowhere near what most people would recommend.
Pro case with extra fan
Quad Q6600 2.4 OC'd 3.1!
Nvidia 8800GT
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2xgb 800mhz corsair

xfire - xuntiltheendx
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  Quote Dr Bubba Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 29 Sep 2007 at 7:34pm
Well, I talked it over with a techie and went ahead and ordered.
 
He had several very strong opinions, most of which I ended up following.
 
Power Supply:  He strongly recommended the PC Power and Cooling 1000W unit.  My other hardware choices didn't dictate a need for all that power, but he felt "Everything else is just a power supply.  PC Power and Cooling is by far the best."  (I'm paraphrasing from a week old memory.)  I didn't follow this advice.  The $377 pricetag just seemed too much.  I got the 850W Thermaltake, which had great reviews elsewhere.
 
He felt the Extreme case was better for cooling and quiet, even over the bigger Ultra case.  I went that way
 
He didn't feel and SLI rig added much to the noise factor, but seemed to feel that right now the added cost of SLI wasn't worth the added frame rate.  Throughout our discussion, he'd use phrases like "If you want bragging rights, go with SLI Ultras"  I don't need bragging rights.  I got an 8800 GTX.  (non SLI)  He didn't think 8600GTS in an SLI config would be as good.
 
MoBo:  He felt the A1 revision of the EVA board was worth the money.  Better passive cooling.  Bought it.
 
I got the quad core 2.4 Mhz processer, and the 500 MB drive.     These didn't raise any "noise" worries to him
 
I got the stage 2 cooling, even though he seemed to think it didn't add all that much.  He felt water cooling was a waste unless you overclock.
 
So, that's what I ordered.  I have to wonder if I'd have done anything differently had I spoken with a different techie.  I'm happy with what I'm getting, and will report back on noise issues later.
 
I'm 6 business days into the build, and so far no progress out of the pre-inventory stage, per the web site.  Hope there's no problem.  No real rush, though.  I'd hope they'll carefully test it.  I ended up eating the S&H on a cyberpower PC that worked pooly and clearly wasn't adequately tested, and which was so poorly supported by tech support I was happy to get rid of it at that substantial price.  I want this one to work out of the box.  I'll let you know.
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Bill the Cat View Drop Down
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Posts: 1150 		  Quote Bill the Cat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 29 Sep 2007 at 10:52pm

You wound up with a system very similar to the one I received a week ago. It ain't silent, but the old 2 MHz Micron PC 25 feet across the room is at least as loud as the DSO machine that I can reach out and touch.
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Alex View Drop Down
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Posts: 16314 		  Quote Alex Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 01 Oct 2007 at 12:06am
You made a great choice! The tech. you spoke with is right on the ball. Everything looks great, and let us know how great your machine is once you receive it! Wink
 
Originally posted by Dr Bubba

Well, I talked it over with a techie and went ahead and ordered.
 
He had several very strong opinions, most of which I ended up following.
 
Power Supply:  He strongly recommended the PC Power and Cooling 1000W unit.  My other hardware choices didn't dictate a need for all that power, but he felt "Everything else is just a power supply.  PC Power and Cooling is by far the best."  (I'm paraphrasing from a week old memory.)  I didn't follow this advice.  The $377 pricetag just seemed too much.  I got the 850W Thermaltake, which had great reviews elsewhere.
 
He felt the Extreme case was better for cooling and quiet, even over the bigger Ultra case.  I went that way
 
He didn't feel and SLI rig added much to the noise factor, but seemed to feel that right now the added cost of SLI wasn't worth the added frame rate.  Throughout our discussion, he'd use phrases like "If you want bragging rights, go with SLI Ultras"  I don't need bragging rights.  I got an 8800 GTX.  (non SLI)  He didn't think 8600GTS in an SLI config would be as good.
 
MoBo:  He felt the A1 revision of the EVA board was worth the money.  Better passive cooling.  Bought it.
 
I got the quad core 2.4 Mhz processer, and the 500 MB drive.     These didn't raise any "noise" worries to him
 
I got the stage 2 cooling, even though he seemed to think it didn't add all that much.  He felt water cooling was a waste unless you overclock.
 
So, that's what I ordered.  I have to wonder if I'd have done anything differently had I spoken with a different techie.  I'm happy with what I'm getting, and will report back on noise issues later.
 
I'm 6 business days into the build, and so far no progress out of the pre-inventory stage, per the web site.  Hope there's no problem.  No real rush, though.  I'd hope they'll carefully test it.  I ended up eating the S&H on a cyberpower PC that worked pooly and clearly wasn't adequately tested, and which was so poorly supported by tech support I was happy to get rid of it at that substantial price.  I want this one to work out of the box.  I'll let you know.
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Posts: 3 		  Quote DrBubba Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 01 Nov 2007 at 7:06am
Well, it arrived and has gone through the tedium of moving over gigabytes of pictures, movies, music, settings etc.  I've finally gotten down to some gaming and thought I'd post here about the final build and the noise and heat issues I raised in my original post.
 
Heat seems to be a non-issue.  The days are getting chillier around here, but even with the room sealed up the box doesn't seem to give off much heat at all.
 
Noise is an issue, but not a big one.  There's a fairly high pitched background noise that seems to come from the CPU fan that's mildly annoying.  I got the Extreme case, and it has two large vents on the top, from which most of the noise seems to come.  Putting a few books on top helps cut the noise down by about 50%.  I may try to stuff some sort of insulation on the inside of the case -- I haven't been bothered enough yet to do so.   It seems to run cool enough that I expect I could get away with that.
 
So, if you want a cool-running, quiet computer, my build only meets the first criteria.  This build is a LOT quieter than my former Dell XPS, (which I compared to a vacuum cleaner with only a small amount of literary license.)  This one sounds about as lound as the noise my heat pump makes when it comes on.  It's noticeable, and mildly irritating.  Not overwhelming.
 
I'd be interested if anyone has a similar build, (quad processor, 8800 GTX without overclocking or SLI) but a different case.  Has anyone blocked the top vents in the Extreme case and had problems?
 
 
Integrity is what you do when no one is looking
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nomec View Drop Down
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Posts: 530 		  Quote nomec Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 01 Nov 2007 at 8:39am

I have a QX6850 OC'ed, Stage 3 cooling, SLI'd Ultras, and the optional fans on the extreme case... you can definitely hear it but I only notice it when I go to bed.  It has no impact on gaming whatsoever and I don't even notice it when im just messing around on it.  Plus my room is small so it's not like my CPU is all that far from my bed. 

When I get my own place I will probably not even have my computer in my bed room - but hey when you live with 3 other people you might not have a choice!
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