[Genetic]

Regal was asking in another thread if he should go that way.

For me lets suppose that I do need it...

I have a question about these Dual Cores: is it possible to know which one of these two is the best performer (in the silent operation aspect) ?

AMD® ATHLON 64 X2 4200+ 2 .2Ghz ($250 Can)

Against

INTEL® Core2® Duo E6300 - 1.86 GHz FSB ($280 Can)

More info on what I plan to do with that? Not much beside the usual music listening/encoding CDs/ word processing/ web surfing, all at the same time. Seems to me that these activities are not PCU power hungry BUT I need the PCU to be the quietest as possible.

So what is the verdict? Which one is the best for performing these tasks in the super silent mode?

Thanks in advance.

PS
I gladly will chose the quietest over the quickest.

 

[ebrius35]

Processors themselves aren't noisy. It's the cooling equipment that's needed to keep them from overheating. Doing some quick googling, the A64 X2 4200+ has a max rated full load heat output of about 65W. The Core2 E6300 also seems to be around 65W. So as a heat generator, they're probably about the same. (assuming the sources I randomly picked are close to right)

What'll affect your sound level is whether you get a heat sink that has a screaming fan pumping air through it, or a bigger fan that runs at less RPM and thus generates less noise. If it's that important to you, you could try looking for "noiseless" or low-noise after market heat sinks to cool the processors. My experience with stock coolers are that they're fairly quiet as heat sinks go, and perfectly suited to the task provided you don't overclock or let them get clogged with dust.

In my system the loudest unit is actually the power supply =\ and quiet PSU's that have high power ratings of 3-400W cost... alot. Relatively speaking.

 

[ebrius35]

Hrm, 10 seconds after I posted my last post, I remembered that building super-quiet PCs was another hobby I used to toy with before my money sank into headphones....

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

has a bunch of articles on the topic.

 

[Genetic]

Thanks ebrius35,

Since they are equal heat generator I will try to choose the one (maybe both are) that can be cool down with those fanless heat sinks.

The power supply will be the Antec phantom 350 so I hope it will live to its reputation.

And yes I have painfully read many articles (not enough obviously

) from that Silentpcreview site.

Many thanks.

 

[soloz2]

the core2 duo would give better performance, but if the AMD was an AM2 you can get the cooler ones and that would require less powerful cooling and thus give you a quieter computer.

but anyway if you want a quiet computer here's what you need for cooling:

Swiftech Apogee cpu block
DD Maze 4 cpu block and some RAMsinks
passive chipset cooler
swiftech mcp355/ddc pump
a double or tripple black ice gt rad with some Yate Loon fans

A case that uses 120mm fans instead of 80mm fans, and then have a couple more Yate Loons

for hard drives go with some Samsung or Seagates and a Plextor optical drive and you've got yourself one quiet computer that can also be OC'd if you want.

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soloz2 the core2 duo would give better performance, but if the AMD was an AM2 you can get the cooler ones and that would require less powerful cooling and thus give you a quieter computer. but anyway if you want a quiet computer here's what you need for cooling: Swiftech Apogee cpu block DD Maze 4 cpu block and some RAMsinks passive chipset cooler swiftech mcp355/ddc pump a double or tripple black ice gt rad with some Yate Loon fans A case that uses 120mm fans instead of 80mm fans, and then have a couple more Yate Loons for hard drives go with some Samsung or Seagates and a Plextor optical drive and you've got yourself one quiet computer that can also be OC'd if you want.

I have to search for info about your listing since its quite honestly many new products for me.

About the case I will go completely crazy on this and buy one of those upper fancy Lian-li case.

I have already, thanks to a nice Head-Fier, imported (US-Canada) a Samsung 400g and I'll wait a bit for adding more of them in a near future. I just wanted to try it before spending too much $ and not being satisfied.

I'll go Plextor as so many are looking up to them.

«a double or tripple black ice gt rad...»....I'll find out what it is.

Thanks

 

[Epoch]

He is talking about doing water cooling. That gets to be an expensive proposition.

You might be best looking at getting Zalman products for your cooling needs, they tend to make some extremely quiet products. Another thing is to make sure that your hard drives are quiet, and possibly isolated from the chassis by using rubber mounting grommets.

If I were you I would also look at getting a better power supply. There are a couple options out there that are very quiet, some even fanless with higher wattage ratings.

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epoch He is talking about doing water cooling. That gets to be an expensive proposition. You might be best looking at getting Zalman products for your cooling needs, they tend to make some extremely quiet products. Another thing is to make sure that your hard drives are quiet, and possibly isolated from the chassis by using rubber mounting grommets. If I were you I would also look at getting a better power supply. There are a couple options out there that are very quiet, some even fanless with higher wattage ratings.

Yes I open to suggestions even the ones where I'm looking at aquarium's pumps....

When you say «look at a better power supply» do you mean that the Antec Phantom 350 is too short on power? I wont do much with this PC beside the audio thing.

Amicalement

PS l
Leaving for now, time to go to bed....

 

[ebrius35]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genetic Yes I open to suggestions even the ones where I'm looking at aquarium's pumps.... When you say «look at a better power supply» do you mean that the Antec Phantom 350 is too short on power? I wont do much with this PC beside the audio thing.

I believe he means 'better' in the sense of quiet. Antec power supplies are great, I've never had a problem with their PSUs for the systems I've built. They're very good at doing their job, providing DC power, but they're not normally designed with quiet as top priority.

A few years ago, there was a silent 350W PSU around, I forget the brand, but it had a huuuge array of aluminum heat sinks sticking out of it's rear to get fanless operation. It also cost $135 back then.

 

[soloz2]

for water cooling if you want quiet you'll want to stick with a 'real' water cooling pump. get a 12v pump that plugs into your psu. they are much quieter than so called aquarium pumps. Trust me, I've had both. if you do go with an aquarium pump get a via aqua... you can mod it, but it'll still be louder.

get a Swiftech MCP655/ Danger Den D5 (same pump)
or a Swiftech MCP355/ Danger Den DDC (again same pump)

The black Ice Stealth GT is a radiator made by hardware labs if I recall correctly.


for a PSU, get a Seasonic S12-500 or S12-600 they cost a bit more than the Antec psus, but they are more reliable, more stable and quieter. They are very efficient (over 80%) so they can get by with 1 slow moving 120mm fan. I've got a S12-600 powering my rig. don't have time to get into it all now, but I can post my rig specs later if u want.

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soloz2 for water cooling if you want quiet you'll want to stick with a 'real' water cooling pump. get a 12v pump that plugs into your psu. they are much quieter than so called aquarium pumps. Trust me, I've had both. if you do go with an aquarium pump get a via aqua... you can mod it, but it'll still be louder. get a Swiftech MCP655/ Danger Den D5 (same pump) or a Swiftech MCP355/ Danger Den DDC (again same pump) The black Ice Stealth GT is a radiator made by hardware labs if I recall correctly. for a PSU, get a Seasonic S12-500 or S12-600 they cost a bit more than the Antec psus, but they are more reliable, more stable and quieter. They are very efficient (over 80%) so they can get by with 1 slow moving 120mm fan. I've got a S12-600 powering my rig. don't have time to get into it all now, but I can post my rig specs later if u want.

Indeed I will take notes about your suggestions for the water cooling option. I'll will submit them to my PC builder. BTW he is insisting on these parts:

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetai...?ProdID=24500#

(Seems that the completely fanless 350 is no longer available but this one is should do it. And this cost much more than Seasonic's PSUs)

And this cooling device (Scythe Ninja Plus):

http://www.jab-tech.com/Scythe-Ninja...r-pr-3281.html

Ouf..... I'll try to discuss the water cooling option an see what he feels about that.

Thanks

 

[JahJahBinks]

core duo

 

[soloz2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genetic Indeed I will take notes about your suggestions for the water cooling option. I'll will submit them to my PC builder. BTW he is insisting on these parts: http://www.antec.com/us/productDetai...?ProdID=24500# (Seems that the completely fanless 350 is no longer available but this one is should do it. And this cost much more than Seasonic's PSUs) And this cooling device (Scythe Ninja Plus): http://www.jab-tech.com/Scythe-Ninja...r-pr-3281.html Ouf..... I'll try to discuss the water cooling option an see what he feels about that. Thanks

that Antec psu is overpriced and not as stable as the Seasonic S12. It's also not as powerful. People are willing to pay a premium to get a psu that doesn't have a fan... but that psu will just have a larger heatsink that is attatched to the case to help discipate heat... the problem is that while it isn't as powerful and will heat up (forget about leaving your computer on all the time) it will discipate heat into your case instead of exhausting it out of the case like a psu with a fan will do. So, not only does it run hotter but it will heat up the rest of your components as well. All in all it's just a bad idea as far as I'm concerned.
Seriously, you cannot hear my S12-600. the fans that Seasonic uses for their S12 series are made by Yate Loon, which I mentioned earlier. Yate Loon fans are not very expensive, but they are the best fans going for a quiet computer. If you do a little research about quiet fans I'm sure you'll come up with the name Nexus... the orange fans that are extremely quiet... well guess what... they're just rebranded and undervolted Yate Loons. And you can get about 3 Yate loons for the price of one Nexus fan. If you stick aroung water cooling forums long enough you're bound to hear about Yate Loon fans. I can personally attest that they are great!


As for my computer. I originally had an Aspire X-Navigator case. it's great for air cooling and kept my pc very cool, but it was also very loud and used mostly 80mm fans which tend to be louder than 120mm fans. I am also an overclocker so good cooling is necessary. I used a TT big typhoon cpu cooler. but the ninja is also a very good air cooler. When i first switched to water cooling I used a double heater core and 2 tt thunderblade fans. I also had a Hydor L35 pump. the pump was louder than all my fans combined (3 120mm fans and 4 80mm fans) I switched that for an MCP655 pump and the pump was quiet enough that it couldn't be heard. My system as a whole with the water cooling was quieter and cooled much better, but just wasn't quiet enough for me. so here is what I did...

I got a CM Stacker case. I modded the top to fit a custom tripple radiator grill and painted the inside black. I swapped out all the fans for Yate Loon fans. (black for rear exhaust and blue LED for front intake) I used some Medium speed Panaflo fans on the RAD. they are on a fan controller and undervolted to about 9v. My system isn't silent, but it is very quiet considering what I have in it:

DFI Expert mobo
Opty 165 @ 2.8Ghz (1.375v, for a 1Ghz OC on both cores)
2gb G.skill DDR500 RAM
Asus TOP 7900GT @700/1650 (overvolted to 1.55v on the core, memory voltage is stock)
X-Fi Xtreme music
2x WD Raptor 74gb 16mb cache hard drives in RAID 0 for system drive
I just sold my 2 Seagate 80gb drives that were also in RAID0, but I've got a 250gb WD drive on the way for a data drive.
Sony DVD-ROM
Plextor DVD-RW DL
Sony floppy (gotta load the RAID drivers

)
Seasonic S12-600 PSU

for cooling:
Swiftech Apogee cpu block
DD Maze 4 gpu block (low profile version) Swiftech and OCZ RAMsinks
Swiftech MCP655 pump
Black Ice Stealth GT 360 rad with 3x Panaflo 120x38mm fans
7/16" ID masterkleer tubing
Fillport

the chipset has an Evercool VC-RE copper cooler

here is a thread about my build with some pictures at the end... some of them aren't the best quality... I need to post some better ones
http://www.overclock.net/water-cooli...ker-build.html

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soloz2 here is a thread about my build with some pictures at the end... some of them aren't the best quality... I need to post some better ones http://www.overclock.net/water-cooli...ker-build.html

Wow!!! Nice job you've done there. Now I feel like a newbie asking for advices on a CMOY amp and getting this one as a good alternative.....

http://photo.head-fi.org/showphoto.p...o=3981&cat=540


I'll try my best to digest the info you're feeding me....

(1) I was going to buy Nexus fans (now I'll have to find Yates Loon fans in Canada)
(2) The Antec Phantom is out of the picture and Seasonic PSU (my second choice) will be the one.

Many thanks

Amicalement

 

[lan]

I'd go with the core 2 duo myself. I'd skip the watercooling though as I feel it's overkill. You spend more $ there but you can spend it elsewhere. The noise of the computer is overrated anyway. I rather spend that on a better source.