[AuroraProject]

If you're going to keep it in your room and want it on all the time and still be able to sleep I would recommend a case with 120mm fans. They are quieter and move more air than 80mm fans. I'm running a Lian Li PC-7077B for my main computer, it's got 2 120mm + 2 80mm case fans, and I've got a 92mm Panaflo on an XP-90 cooling the cpu. The Panaflo is running half speed and the computer is pretty quiet, quieter than the Dell I used to have which only had one fan!

 

[Kirosia]

Wow, that's a lot of fans! Well, the sonata II does have a single 120mm, and it's known for it's silence . . . it's probably not the best in the price range, but I think it'll do. I may even downgrade to sonata I. I'm gonna stick with the stock PSU, until I go sli or get into power-hungry stuff. (mainly due to lack of $$$) I wish I had the money for parts like you do, your PCs always look freakin' cool!

My current fan is pretty loud and unhealthy, and the computer noise is unbearable if I'm trying to sleep. I was listening to my HD650s, and I was wondering why they didn't sound too resolving. Til I realized my compy was killing the sound, so I put it on standby, and viola!

Also, the only reason I don't get a lan case is cause I don't plan on carrying it around. The tower will probably spend most of it's life stationary.

 

[Imyourzero]

Don't worry about losing any performance with the Seagate drives. I'm running 2 of the 200 GB drives right now and they're fast and quiet. I've had Maxtor, WD, Quantum, IBM/Hitachi, etc. and it's not like there's a huge performance gap between drives with the same RPM/cache/etc. Any speed difference will only show up on benchmarks and will not be noticeable in real life, especially for what you'll be doing.

Sure, there's a speed difference between my 7,200 RPM Seagates and my 10,000 RPM Raptor but I wouldn't recommend a Raptor to anyone who is not going to be gaming or running HD-intensive apps. The storage per dollar ratio is far worse with the Raptors, but they're nice to have if you're really impatient like I am.

Those Sonata cases are nice. If I wasn't a Lian-Li convert, I'd probably have to have one. Antecs are nice to begin with...QUIET Antecs are even better!

 

[Kirosia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imyourzero Don't worry about losing any performance with the Seagate drives. I'm running 2 of the 200 GB drives right now and they're fast and quiet. I've had Maxtor, WD, Quantum, IBM/Hitachi, etc. and it's not like there's a huge performance gap between drives with the same RPM/cache/etc. Any speed difference will only show up on benchmarks and will not be noticeable in real life, especially for what you'll be doing. Those Sonata cases are nice. If I wasn't a Lian-Li convert, I'd probably have to have one. Antecs are nice to begin with...QUIET Antecs are even better!

Cool, I guess I'll go for the seagate. I don't plan on doing any heavy stuff. The sonatas seem good, the only I complaint I've read so far is the compromises in airflow/cooling due to the need for a quiet design. The lian lis look good too, but their so expensive . . yes I'm a cheapass.