Building My First HCPC

B

betamac

Guest
OK I have Ordered The Following

Shuttle SN95G5 AMD64 Barebones system(http://eu.shuttle.com/sn95g5.htm#specificatio)

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 64 bit 512k L2 Cache Retail inc.fan Skt 939

160 GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 7200rpm 8MB cache HDD

XFX GeForce 6800 GT 256MB DDR3 Dual DVI/TV-Out Retail Box

512MB OCZ PC3500 DDR Memory (Already Had)

Pioneer 107 DVD Writer (Already Had)

When i get the shuttle i will replace the standard fan with a 12DB Silent X Fan, the hard drive is the quietest you can buy, and after reading up the XFX seems the quietest 6800 Card Available but remains to be seen how quiet

Going to be connecting this to Panny PWD6 Plasma is the best way to go from DVI out on Gfx Card to VGA on Plasma?

Also The Shuttle Has SPDIF Out For Sound, What Cable Do I Need To Connect To My Amp?

Thanks In Advance
 
Wow, what a spec!

Looks like the shuttle support both optical and Coaxial SPDIF. :thumbsup:so you should have no problems with connections to your amp.

Good luck :smashin:
 
Looks very nice indeed :thumbsup:

Do you think you'll have any problems running the XFX GeForce 6800 GT on a 240w PSU? I heard they are quite power hungry, have you heard of others that've been running them in a Shuttle? It'll certainly be a very nice setup if it all works out...

Regards,
Iain.
 
Great spec , but can I ask why? :confused:

If this is just for a HTPC its IMHO way over the top and the work you will have to put in on the heat, noise (6800=big fan) and power side just seems like your making a rod for your own back.

Thanks.... puzzled.
 
Too exspensive?

Surely thats up to me to decide?

This will be used for gaming on my plasma as well so i need a top end card to make Doom3 and Half Life 2 look there best, It will be put with my other home cinema equipment but will be linked to my plasma AND my TFT monitor so i can use PC while watching a DVD or TV etc I also dont want to have to upgrade for a long time this will be apart of my setup for as long as possible.

Basically i am replacing both a PC and a laptop with this (The laptop is sat on a table right in front of my chair which i use to do work on and its pretty noisey Its Self) i dont think this HCPC will be any noisier once placed at the back of the room with my AMP, DVD etc

And The power and heat issue the GT series work fine on the shuttle but the Ultra needs more power, this has been confirmed by a few review sites and guys on forums, The segate runs cooler than any other hard drive, and the 6800 cards are some 15 - 20C cooler than X800 cards
 
Your quite right - you didn't ask our opinion on your new system.

We were just trying to save you money as you indicated it was a HCPC.
 
drummerjohn said:
Your quite right - you didn't ask our opinion on your new system.

We were just trying to save you money as you indicated it was a HCPC.

OK point taken i apologise for that remark i do want oppionions

When i have sold my Laptop and PC i will have a certain amount of money from that sale, i built the best possible system i could with that money,

And Like i said i want this to last along time and play the latest games for a long time so a very good gfx card is essential i think i have put together the best components i can taking into account the lowest heat and noise they give off,

I will of course inform you of what the noise level is like once its all built

Its is a HTPC in the fact its going next to my amp in the front room to play movies (HDTV) view pictures, play PC games, etc etc

But it is going to be the "main" PC as well for surfing the net, editing pictures etc
 
The loudest component in my HCPC is a pair of 25DBa 60mm fans, these are running in serial so will be slower and therefore quieter than 25dba.

and it's too loud. I'm looking at replacing them with a vantec unit (20dba) but if these slientx beasties come in 60mm i'd be very interested.

The HCPC is in my rack sat below my XBOX, so standard XBox cable length from my sitting position. (about 11ft), I've replaced the PSU fan with an 18DBa antec, and cleared the airflow and put a kamakaze running @ 1500rpm (about 18dba) (couldn't get a Zalman flower in the case). The hard drive is in an enclosure, and am using a GF5200 (no fan). I can hear a constant low hum from the case even with sound deadening the case, the HDD is a pair of Maxtor diamondmax9 SATA's (quietdrive) but they are audible, the real noise factor is the DVD drive - althougth I'm trying some software to reduce the spin speed. ....

The PC is acceptable to the wife - but wasn't when I had a couple of 35DBA fans in there...

Basically 45DBA is well too noisy for a HCPC (20dba is a whispered conversation and the scale is logrithmic) 45dba is twice as loud as my too noisy fans it's not quiet probably about the same as spoken voice. I'd seriously look at some alternate mechanisms such as specialist GPU coolers rather than the stock cooler, even try underclocking the GPU to reduce heat....
for more silent pc info - look here... http://www.silentpcreview.com/

Simon,
 
Hi m8 i have received everything apart from the shuttle (which i know is silent as it uses Silent X PSU and Fan and had superb reviews)

The 6800GT is 39DB at full whack but with the speed control i can run it as 40% in 2D mode which makes it less than 19DB which i cant even hear, then when you play games etc it goes upto full speed (or less if you want) which wont matter as my sound system will be blasting out when i play games etc anyway

So it looks like the setup is going to be very quiet i tested my laptop the other day and its 28DB from where i sit to use it and its not too distracting and thats right in front of me the Shuttle will be sat the other side of the room.

I think i have chosen fairly wisely got a very powerful very quiet setup (when the shuttle finally arrives) I will post my proper findings when i get it all built

Appreciate the feedback though

Mark
 
Well received my shuttle today

For a start it looks superb, great design,

I set the switch on the gfx card to 32DB before i put it in the case and then use a tool to put the fan down to 50% in 2D mode and its whisper quiet, i then installed speedfan and put the shuttle fan down to 10 - 20% even running at this the cpu never gets about 50c idle and again its whisper quiet

Right now i have the shuttle right next to me until i get the 10 Metre VGA lead then i will put it over in my AV rack and even next to me its extremely quiet so when it gets moved it will be even better, theres no doubt that even with the TV on low you would not even be able to tell its present in the room

I am extremely happy, superbly quiet and powerful HTPC which looks damm cool to :)
 
best of luck betamac with your build,

going of the subject a bit but what keyboard and mouse are you using,as i am in the market for a good,small & neat keyboard for my set up.i have just purchased a wireless logitech trackball mouse and am well happy with it dont know how i managed without it,now looking for the keyboard any advice would be appreciated. :thumbsup:
 
Hi m8 i am using the Microsoft Wireless Desktop pro setup and find it great, very responsive good enough for games

no problems with the receiver been on the other side of the room atall, also great looking device so fits in well with the high tech room :)
 
Hi betamac.

I'm very interested in your list of components. I too, was looking for a PC that I could use now as a gaming machine and in the future (and occasionally now) as a HTPC. I also wanted something that was portable (small) and quiet yet powerful. Lastly, I wanted a dual DVI card. Your Shuttle put together all of the components I was looking for. I currently don't have any of the components but am getting very close to a decision on getting them.

My concern right now is the quietness of the XFX card. You've done a lot to quiet the card down. My current PC is just to noisy. Probably a lot to do with the fans and the hard drive. However, my laptop is very quiet. How does the sound in your system(especially the XFX card) compare to a laptop while you're surfing the net?

I'm also interested in adding a Fusion HDTV QAM-T PCI tuner card to your SN95G5. Will there be enough room in it for that?
 
Hi m8

the XFX Card is surprisingly quiet on the card is a switch to go from 41DB to 31DB i flicked the switch which made it not bad but still to noisy

i then got a program called Expert tool and in that i set it to control the GFX card fan in 2D mode the XFX fan runs at 40% and its pretty much silent, then in 3D mode it kicks into 80% which is fine when your playing games.

The Shuttle Fan is the weird one, at 100% its like a Jet Plane taking off, so everytime i reboot the fan goes to 100% and its abit annoying (will get to that in a sec)

Anyway i use a program called speed fan which controls the fan speed depending on Temperature of the components EG i tell it the CPU wants to be 50C so if the CPU is below 50C it puts the fan down to 20% which is extremely quiet and the whole PC can only be heard if you are in silent room and then its a slight hum, if the CPU goes above 50C it speeds the fan upto 50% which is not too bad and again cant be heard with TV on,

Now i was happy with this but the 100% fan on reboot was annoying me slightly so i have ordered a 92MM fan which is only 9DB (silent) i will be testing this on monday if the temps are ok with this fan then its gona be perfect as it will be quiet all the time i will let you know when it arrives what i think

As for the TV card should be plenty of room i use my PCI slot for a 108MB/S Wireless PCI card and it fits no probs with room to spare

In the end i added a Maxtor Diamond Max 10 300G hard drive and its great in fact i find it quieter than the 160GB Seagate hard drive i bought originally

I am so impressed with this shuttle its perfect!
 
Hi betamac.

Thanks for your detailed reply. You've got me craving for the Shuttle. I'm looking forward to your results with the 92mm fan.
 
Right i got my Silent X Fan today along with the final part of my shuttle the 3.5" memory card reader

The Total Spec Is

Shuttle SN95G5 (Added 92MM Silent X 9DB Fan)
Athlon 64 3500 CPU
1GB Corsair PC3200 Low Latency Memory
XFX Geforce 6800GT 256MB Gfx Card
Onboard Sound Via Coaxial Out
Pioneer 107 DVD Writer
Memory Card Reader in 3.5" Drive Bay

Obviously the performance is stunning no problems there,

With The Silent X Fan fitted its as quiet as the original fan was when running at about 30% but with the added advantage of not turning to 100% every time you restart windows where its really loud

So all in all its very quiet, not the quietest HCPC your ever gona build but you have to have a trade of between quietness and performance if you want the fastest one available its gona be slightly louder whatever you do, but theres no way you can hear it above the TV and thats what matters really as most the time the TV will be on,

The real test is people who dont know you have a PC in the living room not been able to hear it and thats what i have found when the TV has been on so all in all i am really happy with it, and should last for quite sometime :)
 

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