The (new) Official PC building thread!

It's as big as the TRUE, but it doesn't matter, your case will fit it fine. I've heard this fan is pretty quiet(Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185006&Tpk=scythe+SFF21F

WAY too expensive for my taste though. I would ask around and see what fan gives you best silence for the price. I would just get a decent cheap fan that moves a lot of air and then just turn down the speed till it's quiet.

Why don't you try using the stock fan? If it's too noisy for you THEN think about getting a new fan.

 

mrk44,

All I ever recommend is two silverstones. The 80mm I linked to before and the FM121. No need to run them very fast! at 800 rpm they will outperform most fans. I run mine at 1400 rpm and move about 75 CFM out the back of the case. They are capable of 110 CFM, but the noise would drive you out at the max 2400 rpm. No need to ever run them that fast though! They are way quieter than the stock Cooler Master fan that came with my case and move lots of air! Realistically if you had to run them fast enough to be annoying, there's a problem that would be there with any case fan! I haven't found any other fan that moves as much air for a given rpm! Not in an 800 rpm usable range anyway. First fans I've had in years that have lasted without fuss past the 1 year warranty! LOL!!
Highly Recommended!

FM121 or FM121-B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999344



Russ

 

You guys and your quiet PCs! I take my stock fans and run them at 100 percent, no need for fan controllers!

Only reason I would get a new fan was if I wanted a fan to move MORE air.

 

one disadvantage with the silverstones is that you have to use the included speed controller. more wires and too much clutter for me.

you know me, I don't like clutter and just one reason I like the corsair 620HX modular psu.



the scythe SFF21F can be had for less money if you shop around. here is one example http://www.svc.com/sy-fan-sff21e.html

 

Mort
Thanks for that info about the two fan headers on the P5E. Two questions though: How do I use the headers, and is Q-Fan already in the BIOS or do I have to flash it or something??

Abuzar
I looked up the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 on frostytech and the stock fan can run at 1000 RPM with noise level at 35 dBA while keeping at 19C above ambient, AMAZING! Maybe I won't need a replacement fan.....
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2233&page=5

theonejrs
Disregard that quote in my earlier post. I decided to go with the lexa blackline. The only problem I have with it is that people say the case fans don't blow much air, but they are silent. I don't know what to do with that because both you and sammorris said that the fans that it comes with are just fine with airflow and noise.

 

Fan headers are just a place where your fan plugs in. There is no special way to use them, just plug them in!

Seriously, use the stock fan first. This way you can save some money if you like it.

 

Mort81,

I have to disagree! Unless Silverstone has changed them since I last bought some the cable from the controller to the fan is plenty long enough to go from my top 5.25 bay, mounted in a Bay blank, down the front and under the MB to the fan in the rear with no problem. It's almost invisible. You can run the fan from the MB headers and control it with the bios, but you do have to use the controller or it won't work right. If you remember, I did that with mine but I had to change it back after I installed the Enzotech NB cooler as there was much more heat being pulled out of the MB than with the stock cooler and it just didn't work as well as before.

The yellow speed wire on the 120 is also long enough to run under the MB to the fan header, so it all looks very neat. I'm a bit of a slob when it comes to my room, but I'm a bit of a neat freak when it comes to my computers. Witness the AMD 64x2 4800+ I posted pics of! It's super neat! You can't see the wires for the most part and even the flat IDE cable is almost invisible and isn't in the airflow! If you didn't know one was there, you wouldn't even notice it!

It's my "Trademark"! I love it when my Customers Ohh and Ahh when I first show them what the inside of their new computer looks like! If I didn't get at least a "Wow" out of them, I would be very disappointed! LOL!! Looks like you are about as bad as I am when it comes to neat builds. Very nice Pic! You get a "Wow" from me on that one. I have to pick on one tiny thing! When the hell is Thermalright going to wake uo and put a proper fan mount on the damn cooler? Those stupid clips look like crap! Just a little plastic mount for a 120 for God's sake! Metal would be nicer, but plastic's cheaper. Maybe a mount something like the Freezer series uses. Screw the fan to the mount and snap it on the cooler. Simple, and very cheap to make. Sam was using Twist Ties with his! ARGH.....! You guys should complain to Thermalright! Enough people complain and they might just do something about it, but if no one complains they won't do a thing! Write a review on Newegg! Most of the manufacturer's watch those reviews, and promptly answer if there's a complaint, so get to Bitching! LOL!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

You shouldn't need to change the fans on the Lexa Blackline, they don't push that much air, but they push enough air. I've run a high performance gaming PC with these fans in use before, and cooling was never an issue.
As for the 100 dollar hard drive at best buy, I don't see why not, that's about ten dollars more than you'll pay for it at newegg.
With regard to fan controllers, the Gigabyte boards have two fan connectors that are automatically controlled to give you lower speeds than the Asus boards will allow (Asus ones only go down to 50%)

Theone: Yeah, the metal clips are irritating, but the fact that I was using a cable tie was merely laziness at doing the job properly. Didn't fancy spending 10 minutes attaching a fan when the heatsink was on and ready to go!

 

Russ, can I see some pics? I love seeing neat computers for some reason lol. Maybe it's because that's how I want my computer to look but it never turns out that way.

 

well no problems all weekend(other than no sound)
my temps have been the same all weekend also. i have ran dvd-rebuild a bunch of times. actually running right now.temps is only 57c.
49-51c at idle cpu itself is 30c idle 39c right now with rebuilder runnning.
heres a shot at everest. this is with dvd-rebuilder running



andi have the mem runnning in auto right now seeing there is no OC. so the volts are lower than the 2.2v

 

Interesting - my RAM autoes at 2.14V...

 

@sam
once i get done with sandra im gonna go into bios and check i all again in there and see what it says. if its running fine like it is. should i change the volts? and when i do go and do my OC should i still leave them at auto and let the board do its work or should i bump them up myself?

i have some more programs istalled now.
i have sandra installed and is running the burn in test right now. it is actually working no errors like before, ive never been able to run the burn in on the old ram...yes problem solved..lol i probably shouldnt be doing it this way but i have dvd-reb finishing up right now in the burn process. and sandra running at the same time... my temps are still in the mid-high 50's runnig both these prgrams at once.
once sandra is done i will post the results. also run a mips of it at the stock settings. which i know what the score will be right at 30,000. but will do it anyway.... im very pleased right now...

 

ok here is the results from sandra burn in. got some errors with my HDD??

SiSoftware Sandra

Display on Screen
Connection : Local Computer
Board Temperature : 39.0°C (Min 39.0°C; Avg 39.0°C; Max 39.0°C)
CPU Temperature : 35.0°C (Min 35.0°C; Avg 35.0°C; Max 35.0°C)
System Fan : 1386rpm (Min 1386rpm; Avg 1386rpm; Max 1386rpm)
CPU Fan : 674rpm (Min 674rpm; Avg 674rpm; Max 674rpm)
Auxliary Fan : 990rpm (Min 990rpm; Avg 990rpm; Max 990rpm)
CPU DC Line : 1.17V (Min 1.17V; Avg 1.17V; Max 1.17V)
Aux DC Line : 2.05V (Min 2.05V; Avg 2.05V; Max 2.05V)
+3.3V DC Line : 3.36V (Min 3.36V; Avg 3.36V; Max 3.36V)
+5V DC Line : 4.87V (Min 4.87V; Avg 4.87V; Max 4.87V)
+12V DC Line : 2.56V (Min 2.56V; Avg 2.56V; Max 2.56V)
Standby DC Line : 5.05V (Min 5.05V; Avg 5.05V; Max 5.05V)
Battery DC Line : 3.06V (Min 3.06V; Avg 3.06V; Max 3.06V)

Run 1 executing...
Processor Arithmetic : Started on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:16:03 AM...
Processor Arithmetic : Finished on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:17:17 AM.
Processor Multi-Media : Started on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:17:17 AM...
Processor Multi-Media : Finished on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:18:40 AM.
Multi-Core Efficiency : Started on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:18:40 AM...
Multi-Core Efficiency : Finished on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:19:20 AM.
Power Management Efficiency : Started on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:19:20 AM...
Power Management Efficiency : Finished on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:38:58 AM.
File Systems : Started on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:38:58 AM...
Error : 3.5" 1.44MB (A @ ST3250410AS 250GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : Cannot obtain drive information; check that a disk is in the drive and it is correctly formatted.
File Systems : Finished on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:44:05 AM.
Physical Disks : Started on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:44:05 AM...
Error : ST3250410AS 250GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache) (C : Write Performance : Disk must be empty to be write-benchmarked.
Physical Disks : Finished on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:44:42 AM.
Removable Storage : Started on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:44:42 AM...
Error : 3.5" 1.44MB (A @ ST3250410AS 250GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : Cannot obtain drive information; check that a disk is in the drive and it is correctly formatted.
Error : 3.5" 1.44MB (A @ ST3250410AS 250GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : Cannot obtain drive information; check that a disk is in the drive and it is correctly formatted.
Removable Storage : Finished on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:45:23 AM.
Memory Bandwidth : Started on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:45:23 AM...
Memory Bandwidth : Finished on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:45:39 AM.
Memory Latency : Started on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:45:39 AM...
Memory Latency : Finished on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:47:39 AM.
Cache and Memory : Started on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:47:39 AM...
Cache and Memory : Finished on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 10:49:12 AM.
Board Temperature : 38.0°C (Min 38.0°C; Avg 38.5°C; Max 39.0°C)
CPU Temperature : 40.0°C (Min 35.0°C; Avg 37.5°C; Max 40.0°C)
System Fan : 1646rpm (Min 1386rpm; Avg 1516rpm; Max 1646rpm)
CPU Fan : 673rpm (Min 673rpm; Avg 673rpm; Max 674rpm)
Auxliary Fan : 985rpm (Min 985rpm; Avg 987rpm; Max 990rpm)
CPU DC Line : 1.17V (Min 1.17V; Avg 1.17V; Max 1.17V)
Aux DC Line : 2.05V (Min 2.05V; Avg 2.05V; Max 2.05V)
+3.3V DC Line : 3.36V (Min 3.36V; Avg 3.36V; Max 3.36V)
+5V DC Line : 4.89V (Min 4.87V; Avg 4.88V; Max 4.89V)
+12V DC Line : 1.44V (Min 1.44V; Avg 2.00V; Max 2.56V)
Standby DC Line : 5.05V (Min 5.05V; Avg 5.05V; Max 5.05V)
Battery DC Line : 3.06V (Min 3.06V; Avg 3.06V; Max 3.06V)

Burn-in Computer
Finished Successfully : Yes

gotta love that finished Successfully...lol
stand corrected i wont hit 30,000 mips until i do a OC.

SiSoftware Sandra

Benchmark Results
Dhrystone ALU : 23439MIPS
Whetstone iSSE3 : 22106MFLOPS
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.

Performance vs. Speed
Dhrystone ALU : 7.81MIPS/MHz
Whetstone iSSE3 : 7.37MFLOPS/MHz
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.

Performance Test Status
Run ID : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz (Dual-Core, 3GHz, 6MB L2, 1.33GHz FSB)
Platform Compliance : Win32 x86
NUMA Support : No
SMP (Multi-Processor) Benchmark : No
Total Test Threads : 2
Multi-Core Test : Yes
Cores per Processor : 2
SMT (Multi-Threaded) Benchmark : No
Processor Affinity : P0C0T0 P0C1T0
System Timer : 3.00GHz
Number of Runs : 64000 / 640

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
Speed : 3GHz
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Type : Dual-Core
L2 On-board Cache : 6MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 24-way, Inclusive, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing

 

To be honest, I think that's a question you can answer yourself now. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

 

sammoris: So I don't have to replace the fans? That's a big relief. Less money! I just hope it runs quiet with that xigmatek cooler abzuar recommended.

One last thing before my build is complete: Vista 32 or 64 bit? I am planning to upgrade to 4GB RAM in maybe a year, so I am thinking I should just get Vista 64 now. Is there an advantage? All I have heard is that 64 bit has less driver support and has a lower ability to run certain things.

Oh, and on Q-fan on the ASUS MOBO, how does the fan speed ratio work? What units does it go by (ex. 10/15)?? Same for the Speed Up/Down Response time.

 

it is just a percentage of the fans rated/top speed. enable Q-Fan in the bios and select the percentage you want the fan/s to run. very simple. the speed won't change until after you reboot.

 

That's only for certain motherboards though, all the Asus boards I've owned have had QFan, but none have had variable speeds.

 

i was just over at microcenter looking around at fans and such. Stumbled across some mobo's intel,asus,gigabyte,biostar.....they had 2 of the asus formula maximus mobo's. so i opened it up to take a look see...WOW!!!!!!!! that board looks awsome. if i had $339 to spare id give that a try..lol

then looked at some cases. the NZXT lexa it had a ASUS P5N E mobo with a AMD Phenom in it water cooled. that looked sweet as hell also. and it had a Coolermaster 750w real power PSU in it... couldnt hear it running at all.. i beleive the REAL POWER series are the ones to get in the Coolermaster PSU's

as for fans. seen some silenx 120mm fans. 14db at 1400rpms pushing 74cfm now thats some nice air movage and quiet.....but theyt were $29.99. a little out of my ranges..lol

edit:
they also had a cool gigabyte water cooling system. had a little resivor tank for the back of the tower. ran a nice blue looking solution through it

 

cincyrob,

Yeah, they're quiet all right. Not! They were designed by the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny with a little help from Santa! ROFL!! Try doubling that Dba and add a few Db! If you guessed 32-33 Dba, you would be just about right! Silenx is notorious about lying about their noise levels! I'm sure you knew that and were just funnin with us! ROFLMAO! Oh and the box it comes in still says 60 cfm on it, but hey! It's a "Magical" fan! LOL!!

Russ

 

well i said 74cfm i ment 72
also said $29.99 met $31.99..lol
here is the link to them
http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0276339