[uzziah]

where can i get a seagate barracuda V hard drive? is it really quieter than other seagate drives? looking at silent pc review

 

[uzziah]

do i need a 350w power supply, or is 300 ok?

 

[GokieKS]

The 300W Seasonic PSU should be fine for your purposes - there won't be any power-hungry videocards or multiple fast harddrives.

I doubt you'll find the Barracuda IV or V anymore - both are old models that are out of production. So although I can vouch for the quietness of the Barracuda IV (I have a 40GB), it won't do you much good, unless you try to get one off ebay or similar sources (not something I'd personally do, but you may feel adventurous).

As for Duron 1.6 vs 1.8, you might as well save the miniscule amount of money and get a slight reduction in power consumption and go for the 1.6.

I'll also mention that I've personally got a Duron 1.8 with a Thermaltake SilentBoost as my second workstation (or more or less a download machine), and the combo is indeed pretty damned quiet (the PSU is the loudest part of that computer).

~KS

 

[Guust-Fi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMonky and the performance is no different from any wired units.

Not true! I worked with wireless logitech mice and my microsoft wired mouse is much faster (even by changing sensitivity, I can easily tell the difference.

Wireless isn't that bad if you have good nimh recharging system, don't use nicad batteries, they suffer from "memory" and lose their power quickly.

If your pc isn't too far from your pc you can easily configure foobar with some hotkeys and manage your music from your sofa

 

[MadMonky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conraed Not true! I worked with wireless logitech mice and my microsoft wired mouse is much faster (even by changing sensitivity, I can easily tell the difference.

Im not sure what you mean by faster. The only problem wireless mice suffer from is their "sampling" rate, or how often they report what theyre doing. On early wireless mice, it was so low that movement seeemed rather choppy and was basically useless for gamers. But for a least a couple of years now, the sampling rate for a good mouse has been high enough to not be noticeable. I dont know how fast you like your pointer to fly across the screen, but it just might be different drivers that keep the wireless from going as fast as your wired.

 

[uzziah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conraed Not true! I worked with wireless logitech mice and my microsoft wired mouse is much faster (even by changing sensitivity, I can easily tell the difference. Wireless isn't that bad if you have good nimh recharging system, don't use nicad batteries, they suffer from "memory" and lose their power quickly. If your pc isn't too far from your pc you can easily configure foobar with some hotkeys and manage your music from your sofa

exactly what i'll be doing. my pc will indeed be very close by my listening station, with either speaker on each side of my tv. my vid card will have tv out and i'll hook it up to tv so i can sit on the couch, look at the tv, and shuffle songs (can you say "lazy bum"?) should be very nice. of course i'll get a monitor for everything else; as a tv screen is hell to read off

 

[Guust-Fi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMonky Im not sure what you mean by faster. The only problem wireless mice suffer from is their "sampling" rate, or how often they report what theyre doing. On early wireless mice, it was so low that movement seeemed rather choppy and was basically useless for gamers. But for a least a couple of years now, the sampling rate for a good mouse has been high enough to not be noticeable. I dont know how fast you like your pointer to fly across the screen, but it just might be different drivers that keep the wireless from going as fast as your wired.

These wireless mice I tested are recent less than 2j old. They just react slower, period. Perhaps i'm just used to mine but I am sure I can recognise both in an A/B blind test

 

[mshan]

How about a Via Epia C3 in an Antec Aria computer case?

(It's could be a nice little music server, but it only has 1 PCI expansion slot)

 

[uzziah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mshan How about a Via Epia C3 in an Antec Aria computer case? (It's could be a nice little music server, but it only has 1 PCI expansion slot)

huh?

 

[mshan]

It's an integrated solution (CPU soldered to mobo, integrated audio with coaxial out, integrated video with S-video out) that is very slow by today's standards, but is cheap and may be all you need for simple audio playback, etc. (http://www.overclockers.com.au/techstuff/r_via_eden/) It is very limited in terms of upgradeability (1 PCI slot) but you can probably get it very cheap new or used. I think it uses PC100 / PC133 memory, which you can probably get 1 x 256 MB used for ~$10 at AMD Forums Trading Post.

The Antec Aria is a nice little small form factor computer case with a quiet power supply, if you've got low power components. ( http://www.silentpcreview.com/article146-page1.html)

If you can spend a little more, I think the Nforce2 / Athlon XP is the way to go. The Asus A7N8X v2 Deluxe mobo is very similar to the Abit NF-7 (though doesn't overclock as high), but has a passive northbridge so you wouldn't need to purchase the Zalman heatsink. Also, if you aren't going to overclock past 200 fsb, I doubt you need the all copper Zalman 7000A and I've seen used copper / aluminum 7000A heat sink / fans for ~ $25 shipped used at AMD Forums.

Enthusiasts at AMD Forums are all using Athlon 64, so an used Nforce2 is cheap (you should be able to get an Asus A7N8X v2 deluxe and AMD Athlon XP 2500+ for $120 shipped and 1 x 512 MB Buffalo Tech PC3200 (the Asus is very picky about memory, and Nforce2 mobos seem to like the Winbond CH-5 chips in the mentioned Buffalo Tech PC3200) should run you $80 shipped max, probably a lot less if you don't need memory that is proven to overclock to 250 fsb.

And AMD Forums (http://www.amdforums.com) is an awesome resource to learn about building and tweaking a high performance computer. I would also just post your questions about building a computer there. They can probably provide you with a lot of very cheap options for building a computer that just don't have state of the art components.

Hope this helps!

 

[uzziah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mshan How about a Via Epia C3 in an Antec Aria computer case? (It's could be a nice little music server, but it only has 1 PCI expansion slot)

i think i need expandability. how much do those things cost? what do they include? just motherboard and cpu?

 

[mshan]

Hi uzziah:

Roughly speaking (http://forums.pcper.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3):
* Asus A7N8X v2 Deluxe motherboard: ~$60 - $65 shipped used
* AMD Athlon XP 2500+ "barton" CPU: ~ $60 - $65 shipped used
* 1 x 512 MB Buffalo Tech PC3200 memory: probably much less than $80 shipped used
* Zalman 7000A-AlCu CPU heat sink / fan: ~$25 shipped used
* I would buy a hard drive brand new for it's warranty. Samsung Spinpoints are supposed to have quieter seeks than Seagate, but some recent drives have an annoying whine because they use JVC motors instead of Nidec motors. Read about them at http://www.silentpcreview.com
* Coolmax Taurus power supplies are supposed to be very quiet and cheap (400W was $38 shipped a while ago at http://www.newegg.com).
* http://www.svc.com is another excellent online vendor for computer accessories. Artic Silver Ceramique is $3.99 shipped at SVC.com. They also have great low prices on rounded cables.
* Video card: just ask around at AMD forums. You can probaby get a used Radeon 7000 - 9000 for like $25 shipped.
* LiteOn 52327s is an awesome CDRW. Unsure about used price, but a great CD/DVD burning resource is http://www.cdfreaks.com.


I am also a computer building newbie, so I'd ask around at http://www.amdforums.com for much more knowledgeable opinions than mine.

A good place to get an idea of what new prices are is http://www.pricewatch.com.

Confirm the quality of an online vendor at http://www.resellerratings.com.

Hope this helps!