dave87's Home Media & Digital Lifestyle - WIP!

[dave87]

The replacement Aerial Booster:



First a proper plug socket was installed (the one supplying the original booster was off the lighting circuit - so I thought it better to have a spur put in from one of the 30A ring mains.

Then skip a few steps (running of aerial cable to various rooms, termination at each end - F-Type at the booster end, sockets at the other) and you get this:



UHF is in from the aerial on the roof - not got a DAB/FM aerial attached, but that can be added later if need be. Then Outputs 1-8 go to the different rooms.

I've also run second cables to a couple of the rooms to allow me to distribute sky to them if I want:




Those two will be terminated with F-Type connectors and joined with an F-Type coupler - and allow me to send Sky from the second sky box to my study. Will do the same so that the picture from the main sky box can also be sent to my parents' room so they can watch it in their room if they want to. That'll probably have to wait until the lounge is redecorated as you need two runs of Co-Ax to do that.

These are the odd jobs I've been catching up on - got some more interesting stuff coming - just waiting on the bits to arrive

[dave87]

If you’ve been reading this, you’ll have probably have read the rest of this thread and possibly seen a thread in the AV section entitled ‘Zak, g8ina, Lowe...you lot are a bad influence...’, and if you have, you’ll realise this is the result of those two threads.

If you haven’t been reading them, a quick background for you: I’m a geek at heart. There, I said it. So it comes as no surprise that when it comes to a geek’s study, the technology in it is quite high up the list of priorities. Such fripperies as decorating, other things we promised ages ago....well that’ll get done eventually; I think.

So, when you have nice high end kit, and a suitable case to put it in – that’s it isn’t it? Well until recently I thought the same. Put the kit together, make sure it is stable, overclock it if you can and away you go. After a set of Altec Lansing speakers went boom I dared look in the AV section of the forums, and....well....that was bad, for my wallet at least. Good for my ears though. It struck me I was missing half of what a PC was about. Sound. With suitable investment made into sorting the sound aspect (an XFi soundcard I already had, a Denon amp and some sexy B&W Speakers) I’m done aren’t I?

As it turns out, no. See sound is only any good if you can actually hear it, especially with kit that can actually bring out the subtleties of each track as well as the B&W Speakers can. Given my approach to building PCs – and the kit it contains – I wasn’t hearing everything I wanted to hear, because my PC was making such a racket. Ok, it wasn’t Delta Screamer levels of noise, but it was more than I wanted.

I want a fast machine. Every geek does. I now want a quiet machine. Ah. Fast. Quiet. Not normally two words that co-exist without great expense. How does one deal with such a situation? This is the question I’ve attempted to answer below, and hopefully it serves as a guide to building a quiet PC.

The Existing Hardware

Intel’s Q6600 forms the heart of this system cooled by a Xigmatek S1283, alongside an ATi (as they were at the time) HD4850 from Asus which has a Zalman-esque cooler on it. Power is provided courtesy of a Seasonic S12 500w PSU. All a good start for a quiet system – these are good components, if dated compared with the latest Intel/AMD offerings – but still providing quite a punch. Where it perhaps goes wrong is the addition of two Western Digital 150gb Raptors, a couple of additional storage drives and an overclock to 3.1ghz from the stock 2.4 on the Q6600. Suddenly things aren’t so quiet, partially due to the addition of 10,000rpm drives, but also the additional cooling needed to keep the slightly toastier Q6600 cool. That’s before we start exploiting the HD4850’s potential performance.

Can I have my cake and eat it?

I want the performance the kit above offers. I don’t want the noise. Can I?
Well, yes. Of course I can. I can scrap the lot and build something newer. Seems a bit wasteful, as the current stuff does everything I want quite happily. It also means that potentially I’ll find myself in the same position once I’ve decided I want to have some fun overclocking the new kit (well, it would be rude not to!). If I do this right, I could also carry it over to the new machine, so this is a longer term investment.


As it would be unfair to keep you guys out of the loop any further - a few highlights of what's coming:

First port of call on a new build - the case. The hint was:




This is the full item:



Complemented with one of these to keep the front looking as it should:



Into which the following will be installed:

Corsair H80 for cooling duties:



Zalman F1 SSD (60gb)



Xilence 120mm Red Wing fans (I've got 5 of them, will be using 4 in this build )



Some Noise absorbers for the fans:




As mentioned earlier, I'll be carrying across my Q6600 based setup (Q6600, DFI P35-T2RS, 6gb DDR2-6400 RAM, ATi Radeon HD4850, X-Fi, 2x 150gb WD Raptors, 2x320gb WD 7200rpm drives) and fitting it with a BluRay drive.

[Biscuit]

Do you rate the Xilence fans? One of the few fans i have never used.

[spoon_]

I have lots of them (around 10) in various machines and they're brilliant! Not the quality/specs as Noctua but definitely worth the price.

[vrykyl]

Subscribed to this thread Dave - you're doing everything Im in the process of doing... only finishing before me! Which is proving very handy, as I can just check to see what you did in my position

Let me know how you get on with the booster in the loft... im looking to do something similar - only I need a new roof first

[dave87]

Still waiting on a few bits, but I've made a start:

The Case:



Unboxing:



And in all its glory:






Internal Layout:



The PC-A05 takes a full ATX motherboard despite its rather diminutive size - and the layout is the main reason it can do so - the PSU is at the front, rather than top/bottom of the back. Oddly, the PC-A05FNB is a traditional ATX layout, whereas its predecessor was inverted ATX - will have to see if it causes any issues.



A shot of the front with the optional drivebay cover temporarily installed (you have to remove it to install the drive) just wanted to see how it looked. Much better than a non-matching drive front imho



New addition for the revised model - optional 140mm blowhole at the top (comes with a cover should you not wish to use it).



Some screws. Why am I showing you these? I think these pretty much sum up Lian Li cases. They were designed and built by engineers - the fit and finish is perfect. Simple things have been thought about and dealt with - for example the rubber washers on the thumbscrews so you don't scratch the side panels as you tighten them up. Simple, but clever. Attention to detail. A bit like the refreshing lack of sharp corners.

[dave87]

Do you rate the Xilence fans? One of the few fans i have never used.

No idea - haven't used any of them yet

I have lots of them (around 10) in various machines and they're brilliant! Not the quality/specs as Noctua but definitely worth the price.

Good to hear - for the price I got them for, I can't argue (thanks Blueball!)

Subscribed to this thread Dave - you're doing everything Im in the process of doing... only finishing before me! Which is proving very handy, as I can just check to see what you did in my position

Let me know how you get on with the booster in the loft... im looking to do something similar - only I need a new roof first

Booster seems to be a success - need to wire in the other rooms to really tell though

[Terbinator]

What will this PC be for exactly? General use/gaming or HTPC duties?

[pollaxe]

I have one of those cases - it's really good - though it's the older type without the blowhole.

[Guy]

I have one of those cases - it's really good - though it's the older type without the blowhole.

^This.

Although I'm going to have to do something about fixing up an extra support for my GFX, as the weight of it causes it to hang down a little.

[Biscuit]

Im fed up of this god damn resonating corsair pile of disappointment... im buying a lian li

[dave87]

Whilst waiting for the sound deadening I’ve ordered (Acoustipack – not cheap, but considered the best option – hopefully it will show why it is so much more expensive than the Akasa Paxmate I’ve used before), I got on with a few other jobs.

Firstly, the Corsair H80. It comes with two 120mm fans included in the box, but as I’ve got the Xilence fans ready and waiting, I’ll use those. The Lian Li has reversed airflow as standard (the intakes are on the back, the fans on the front are exhausts, so this suits the H80 perfectly as it is recommended to be used in that configuration.


The H80 as it comes out of the box:





Added an Xilence 120mm Red Wing on the inside of the cooler, and used one of the vibration dampers for good measure:





Then, just to show what it would look like, complete with the other Xilence Red Wing on the other side:








I’ll have to take the back fan off to mount it in the case (as mentioned earlier, it works best as an intake, and bolts to the case through the 120mm fan mounts). I didn’t use a vibration damper on this side as firstly, the screws weren’t long enough, but secondly the Lian Li case has rubber grommets for the fan mounts anyway, so it’d be pretty much redundant.

The second job I managed to get done was to change the exhaust fan on the Hard Drive cage. This is the default setup from Lian Li, probably works perfectly fine but as I’ve got the red wings....








First step – remove the fan and keep hold of the anti-vibration mounts it uses:





Attach the anti-vibration mounts to the new Xilence fans and reattach. Et voila:





The fan was rotated so that the wire for the fan exited at the bottom right – should make hiding it/cable management a bit easier.

The Third job I managed to start was to begin working out what shape/size the pieces of Acoustipack would need to be cut to, to ensure a perfect fit. Starting with the sacrificial lamb:





Getting a useable sheet of cardboard:





From which a number of templates were cut....enabling me to measure/fit/test the design for the pieces of sound deadening – such that I don’t cock it up, and so that it fits perfectly. Better that than making it up as you go along.... More on that when the sound deadening arrives.

[Pob255]

The Acoustipack stuff is better than PaxMate, it's thicker and multi layered, with the layers being of different density. However that's balanced against the added cost.

I'm not a big fan of fan gaskets (excuse the pun) mainly because they don't effect one key area, the screws, the screws are often the main source for transfer for vibrations.
It's why I've moved over to rubber plugs rather than screws these days.
Shame the gaskets didn't fit on the H60 a gasket between the fan and rad to improve the seal seems like an ideal thing to me.

The Xilence fans are ok from my experience (http://forums.hexus.net/chassis-mods...ml#post1859391) solid fans for the cost but nothing out of the ordinary.
At 1300rpm they should be fairly low noise but not silent, at the same time going below 1300rpm is when the motor/bearing noise comes in and you do need to look at more expensive fans to get near silent fans.
I run mine around 950rpm

[dave87]

What will this PC be for exactly? General use/gaming or HTPC duties?

My Main PC - so a mixture of everything - Gaming/Work/Video etc, and now it is hooked up to the Denon & B&Ws, music

I have one of those cases - it's really good - though it's the older type without the blowhole.

Surprisingly light I found - thought it would be heavier for some reason? I must admit my Antec P160 was fairly weighty even before I fitted stuff...

^This.

Although I'm going to have to do something about fixing up an extra support for my GFX, as the weight of it causes it to hang down a little.

What graphics card have you got? Mines ok in the current case, but I can see how it would be an issue with a heavier card.

Im fed up of this god damn resonating corsair pile of disappointment... im buying a lian li

Lian Li + Sound Deadening FTW! Or at least, that is the hope. I'll let you know in a couple of days

[dave87]

The Acoustipack stuff is better than PaxMate, it's thicker and multi layered, with the layers being of different density. However that's balanced against the added cost.

I'm hoping by doing it right the first time, I won't have to do it again, & hence the additional expense is worthwhile. I went for the Ultimate Kit & an extra 7mm sheet - should be plenty to do a proper job

I'm not a big fan of fan gaskets (excuse the pun) mainly because they don't effect one key area, the screws, the screws are often the main source for transfer for vibrations.

I realised I screwed up the photos in the post above (now sorted) but I was able to use a fan gasket on one side of the H80, on the other there are grommets on the case anyway - so hopefully there shouldn't be any vibration transfer to the case.

It's why I've moved over to rubber plugs rather than screws these days.
Shame the gaskets didn't fit on the H60 a gasket between the fan and rad to improve the seal seems like an ideal thing to me.

I considered those, as I've used them on previous machines. Unfortunately they wouldn't be suitable for this particular case due to the mounting points & the choice of hardware...

The Xilence fans are ok from my experience (http://forums.hexus.net/chassis-mods...ml#post1859391) solid fans for the cost but nothing out of the ordinary.
At 1300rpm they should be fairly low noise but not silent, at the same time going below 1300rpm is when the motor/bearing noise comes in and you do need to look at more expensive fans to get near silent fans.
I run mine around 950rpm

I'm undecided whether to run the fans on the H80 off the H80 itself, or use motherboard headers to do the job...will have to see how noisy they are/what the fan profiles are on the H80. How do you control yours?

[Guy]

What graphics card have you got? Mines ok in the current case, but I can see how it would be an issue with a heavier card.

An Nvidia GTX 580. I was surprised it fitted in the case tbh!