[Tech] Upgrade time...

[DocBot]

Right, so I need to upgrade. I'm completely out of the loop when it comes to hardware these days, so I thought I'd ask for advice. There are two conditions that apply:

1) Current rig is way too noisy, I need it to be quiet after the upgrade. It's sitting under our loft bed and we can't sleep when it's on.

2) the new stuff can't be _too_ expensive, we're saving up for a holiday in december. This is a secondary condition, because I can always wait with buying the stuff... it would be good to have a plan on what to buy, however.

So, the current rig then:

In-Win C720 Midi Tower ATX
Asus P5K
Intel Core2 Duo E6750 @ 2.67 GHz
2 x 1 GB ram of no special quality
XFX geforce 8600 GTS / 256 mb ram
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB SATA
Seasonic S12 psu 430W, 120mm

oh, and the monitor: Samsun 2443 BW, 24". Nice and all, but when it's run on 1920x1200 it's limited to 60Hz (I haven't tried it in lower resolutions but I think I can run it on a higher freq then)

So, the most likely culprits for the noise is, I'm guessing, the graphics card and the processor? the psu is quiet, at least according to a few reviews I've read. Should I get a new case for it?


So then, any suggestions on what to get? I don't need or even want top of the line stuff, I want decent gear to a decent price. And, once again, sound level is a factor.

 

[PsiSoldier]

What's your budget?

 

[DocBot]

No budget as such. As cheap as possible while still being decent and quiet. No need for quadruple gpus and liquid helium-cooled processors or a 1.21 JIGGAWATTS psu or anything super-new and extraordinarily expensive, really.

edit: "no budget" =/= "no money".

 

[Iron_fist]

i can vouch for the s12 being near silent, though mine has developed the whine so will soon have to be chucked

the E6750 is still a reasonable CPU so maybe have a look for one of the aftermarket coolers mentioned in Nanors thread over the weekend.

the 8600 shouldn't be too noisy, however in the graphics front is is starting to get a little old. something like a 9600 or a 4770 should be reasonably, cheap and powerful and in the case of both i have used reasonably quiet. there are also several aftermarket coolers you could look at, but with both the cards above you would be about 1/3 of the way to just buying a new card so that one is up to you

if memory serves you built your machine about 2 1/2 years ago so depending on the case fans you may be starting to get bearing noise so replacing the case fans may make a difference. Using larger fans helps reduce the noise and running them below 75% power reduces it even further. 120s will be very quiet at 70% and almost inaudible at 50%

finally fan control. your motherboard should be able to handle it so look at dropping the fan speeds when the machine is idle, you don't need to be sitting at 24C idle somewhere around 40 is fine as the CPUs were designed to be heat tolerant. so using things like speedfan and rivatuner to control temperatures can also help drastically reduce the noise from your case

just a few ideas but hopefully enough to get you started on the track to quietening your machine

 

[Haven]

To keep sound in check you'll need a decent case that is aluminium or steel, as little plastic covering as possible and at least 3 120mm fan holes (front, top and rear is pretty normal). The bigger the case is the more airflow there is but if you carefully cable tidy then mid sized cases are just fine as long as they are well organised. Invest in some cable ties at the least The case is going to be the biggest factor is keeping your system quiet so choose carefully.

Fans, big and slow (120mm 5400rpm) are better for quietness and airflow. Again pick a case that takes 120mm fans over 80mm if possible for noise and cooling. Use rubber grommets on fans when fitting to reduce noise even further.

CPU cooler, get something chunky that again takes a larger fan if possible. It'll have to work less hard if its a large heatsink so again you can get away with a slower fan on it. I'm a big fan of copper but some people like heat pipes and aluminium. Your call as both are good options.

Graphics card. Go for a second gen model with 1GB RAM. Texture processing is very limiting for games at the moment. The more RAM for buffer you have the better. Second gen will usually give you a chip size stepping drop i.e. 65 to 45nm chips which are cooler and lower power.

If you can be bothered then you can replace the card cooling solution but I'd wait and see how loud it is before bothering.

Memory, buy an extra 2GB RAM - you lose nothing and gain much, most people will be looking at windows 7 64 bit for the future so finally we can use over 3.25GB of RAM when gaming (if the game has 64bit support at least).

CPU, Motherboard and PSU look fine (its a little low power but probably ok), no need to upgrade if you don't want to but its your call on what performance you want to pay for.

Likewise the monitor looks fine, most LCD's are 60Hz. We'll have to wait a little while for 100 and 200Hz LCD's (not researched this though outside of tellies). Most people would still be happy on a 24" monitor for some time to come.

 

[DocBot]

The problem with the PSU is that it won't do for the newer graphics cards, will it?

Anyway, I've looked around a bit, and I think I'll be aiming for something along these lines (but this will be done over a few months' time... it's a little expensive. If anyone has any ideas / recommendations on what of these choices would be replaceable, and with what, feel free):

Antec P183 Advanced Super Midi Tower (ergh, expensive case)

EVGA GeForce GTS 250 512MB PhysX CUDA - It'll do for a year or so - and after that the ten year factory warranty makes it good for a pure physics card

Corsair HX 750W ATX Modular - the above graphics card is, I think, demanding a little more power. Also, it'll work fine if I ever go SLI. And it's probably quieter than the one I have now. But it's so damn expensive! gah.

Noctua NH-U12P heatsink - again, somewhat expensive but if I'm going to get a new heatsink I might as well get one that will let me overclock a little while being quiet...

and finally, I'll get a Corsair Twin2x 6400 kit with 2x2 gig, cl5 @800 MHz.

edit: I should perhaps go with the 1 gig version of that GPU...

 

[thatbloke]

edit: I should perhaps go with the 1 gig version of that GPU...

Yes you should

 

[Haven]

PSU should be fine as long as it has the right connectors for the graphics card. You shouldn't be pulling anything near 430 Watts with your current rig (I estimate 200Watts at most). Anything over 500Watts makes me think you really should be re-evaluating your components if you really want quiet

Case looks nice, not so pricey if it works as intended.

Graphics card, meh I'd consider a 1GB GS over the 512MB GTS but thats just my preference on texture heavy gaming these days.

 

[Nanor]

DocBot; I'd recommend checking out my thread about my upgrades. I got a very nice case with a 360mm fan and space for two others for a total of about £40.

 

[DocBot]

Does indeed sound nice; how silent is it?

 

[Nanor]

I'm not sure as I haven't got it yet, but I'll let you know when I do.

EDIT: I should also mention that there are space for two 120mm fans and not two 360mm fans.