Silent PC for audio capture

[Flibb]

A friend on another forum is asking about building a new rig for use in a small home studio. The main requirement is that its very quiet, what would you lot suggest? The spec I was thinking of was Athlon 2500, 512mb RAM and a largish quiet HD. Doesent need a monster graphics card, so are there any fanless ones nowdays.
Any suggestion gratefully received
Flibb

[joshwa]

ATI Radeon 9000 and similar are without FAN and top-notch image quality.

If you get a Zalman Copper Flower heatsink, then that should be very quiet, but be careful what case / power supply you get as they also tend to be noisy.

Also make sure the motherboard you get doesn't have a northbridge fan...

Seagate Barracuda V are supposed to be the quietest hard drives you can get...

[fondie]

to go with the xp2500+ and 512mb of ram :-

Power Supply - Zalman ZM400A-APF 400W
http://www.tekheads.co.uk/site/produ...oductId=601909

Heatsink/Fan - Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu
http://www.thecoolingshop.co.uk/tcs/...?idproduct=615

Gfx Card - ATI Radeon Radeon 9200
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=48465

HDD - Seagate Barracuda V S-ATA 80/120Gb
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Seagate2.html

Motherboard - Abit NF7-S v2.0
http://www.cpucitystore.co.uk/catalo...products_id=45

Nortbridge Heatink - Zalman ZM-NB47J
http://www.thecoolingshop.co.uk/tcs/...?idproduct=696

that should be nice and quiet will a new case be required as well ?

[joshwa]

the zalman 7000a doesn't seem to be compatible with XP cpus, but the 6000a does though

[fondie]

Originally posted by www.josh.org.uk
the zalman 7000a doesn't seem to be compatible with XP cpus, but the 6000a does though

the CNPS7000A is compatible, it's a new revision of the CNPS7000 which wasn't.

a review can be found over at BiT-Tech :-
http://www.bit-tech.net/review/235/4

[joshwa]

Originally posted by fondie
the CNPS7000A is compatible, it's a new revision of the CNPS7000 which wasn't.

a review can be found over at BiT-Tech :-
http://www.bit-tech.net/review/235/4

ah sorry, my mistake
you the man

[fondie]

lol, no need for apologies mate and yes, i am indeed the man!

[Flibb]

yep complete new system. Would an Audigy do the trick or are there industry std cards that are better, any ideas?? Am pimping Hexus on the forum where the question was asked
Flibb

[MrFlibble]

Don't forget www.silentpcreview.com for all your hushy needs

My current setup which is pretty flippin quiet:

Athlon 2600 with Zalman flower (gets quite hot, have to turn zalman up to keep it under 60)
QuietPC PSU (quite pricey)
Seagate Barracuda IV
Connect3D Radeon 9200 (also gets quite warm)

I'm gonna get whipped for this, but have you considered the likes of a Dell? All the newer ones we have in the office are unbelievably quiet for the price, and perfectly capable speed-wise

As for audio cards, the Audigy is fine, but for very low latency, the something like the Audiophile 2496 comes highly recommended

[Stringent]

Dell's FSB is clocked lower, hence in pretty much all the CPUID tests they are underclocked by a few mhz. All our 1ghz machines are like 997mhz, the P4's are like 1.98 or something. Thats one bad thing. But generally they are good machines, and built really well.

[Flibb]

I am running a flower in my current rig was thinking of changing for 1 of the new zalman jobbys. Just dont fancy taking the entire sodding PC apart to fit it. Current idle is 51 with the fan turned up a tad, am just gonna try turning it down a tad now that weathers a bit cooooolerrrrr.
Flibb

watchout for my hex vision

[Flibb]

Jesus was all that noise the cpu fan, cant believe the difference, just gotta watch my temps

Flibb

[MrFlibble]

Originally posted by Flibb

watchout for my hex vision

lol

Ditto with the flower - had to wack it right up during the hot weather, but now its gone cool again I can turn it down

[Flibb]

idle now 54 and its luvly and quiet

Cheers
A very happy flibble

[fondie]

Ok, add to my previous list :-

Case - Antec Sonata :-
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...Antec_160.html (sell the Antec PSU, should get ~£50 for it, and sell the suppied 120mm fan too)

Fans - 2 x Papst 4412FGL :-
http://www.pcsilent.de/en/products/d...pst4412fgl.asp

and a fan controller of you choice. i would suggest the zalman one but i'm not sure that it will fit behind the Sonata's door.

as for a sound card, i think you'll find much better solutions than a Creative Audigy, it really depends how serious they are, and what they are recording, anything from a :-

M-Audio Revolution 7.1 to a M-Audio Delta 44 and beyond
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/product.php?subcat=30

and what's with all the 'Flibb's!

[Tom]

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/product.p...1820d16d816b63

thats the card u want