Either I'm crazy or stupid, building the bossman a machine... (975 BadAxe + Conroe..)

[Starbuck3733T]

Render me a little jealous, though, as I don't have to support it (Which I'll be getting in writing). Currently I'm thinking of doing the following:

Intel 975X BadAxe Mobo (newer rev as not to have to mod the hardware)
T6700 Conroe
GeFarce 7950GX2 (boss has too much $)
2x500GB Seagate 16MB Cache in mirror on mobo (Boss requests mirror)
2x1GB Corsair DDR2 (Whatever speed I need...)

Case/Cooling... boss man says case doesn't matter but would like it quiet. I'm not ready or crazy about throwing even a saavy user to the wolves yet when it comes to watercooling. Although a well maintained aquacomputer system can run for years w\o a coolant swap, I'd still be more comfortable with him on air.

I'm thinking mnpctech's thermaltake VA3000 supersilent would fit the bill... I'm just not up for modding stock cases for silence anymore... it's lost its appeal so although I could get something from silverstone and mod it. I'd love to get an old Coolermaster ATC-410 or ATC-4000 (EATX version of the same) but the dual 80mms in the back kill it. The antec P180 is looking like a real winner at the moment. I've seen it in person and the layout is good...

As for a PSU there is no doubt - Seasonic Super Silencer 600W. HAAAWWT.

Opticals? I don't really care - DVD-rom and DVD-RW. I hear lite-on is fairly good these days. Floppy? don't care.

So... the starbuck posts a build thread... using *gasp* mostly stock stuff... help a cracker out.

[fivecheebs]

I just built a system with the P180. Its not a bad case at all, pretty quiet with aqll the fans turned down, plus an additional thermal fan in the roof, plus a Tagan 480 modular PSU. The CPU cooling was taken care of with the 92mm copper zalman job, the number escapes me right now... the 120 version woudl fit int he case no probs, but it wouldnt clear the memory sticks on the motherboard i was using.

I had 3 drives in the rack at the front, a 150gb Raptor, and 2 250 16mb seagates and i found the lower section to be a little tight in terms of space. I had to move the fan to the other side of the partition to fit the PSU in, then the SATA cables were very close to the fans. Right angled cables would have been better. The funny duct thing inside that feeds the GPU with fresh air from an installed 80mm fan wouldnt fit in with the 7900 GTX and its heatpipe cooler, also the plastic panel at the bottom of the motherboard section was a pain in the arse to use, so that got binned too.

Overall i liked the case and cooling solution, easily quiet enough for my boss' needs.

[dutchcedar]

Matt... as an alternative, I'd highly recommend considering a LianLi V-1100 case. It really does help keep things quiet, the way its so well insulated, is great to work in and when its done, it just looks great.

We're putting it in our front room in the coming weeks and I have to say, I'd rather look at that case every day than any other.

[Pug]

I'm steering away from Lite-On for opticals tbh. It's not like he's on a budget...
NEC or Plex, maybe?

[CandyKid]

FWIW, my LG drives have lasted me forever while my Plextor drive died a quick, unseemly death... without ever burning a single DVD. :(

Also, don't forget those PCP&P Silencer 610/7xx are comming out... :D

PLUR
CK

[Pug]

FWIW, my LG drives have lasted me forever while my Plextor drive died a quick, unseemly death... without ever burning a single DVD. :(

Also, don't forget those PCP&P Silencer 610/7xx are comming out... :D

PLUR
CK
I was hesitant about naming Plex, as I've had one die too (as well as a Lite-On <_<).
My most recent purchase in this field was an LG (make that three, in fact... one for me and two for other people) but budget was a consideration there too and I haven't fully put it through its paces yet either. :shrug:

[CandyKid]

All of my LG drives have burned hundreds of CD's (I don't have an LG DVD writer... yet) and played countless games, including living through Starforce protected games... which is why I think my Plex died, but it wasn't supposed to!

PLUR
CK

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

We use LG's at work and failures are pretty rare.

[Marquee]

Talk about a monster machine. It seems the boss has some money to throw away, so why not get a FireGL ATi card made to render stuff. The best FireGL card has 1GB ram.

[CandyKid]

He probably doesn't need the rendering power of a FireGL V7350 (http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18147&vpn=100-505143&manufacture=ATI&nocookie=1&membership=0) or a Quadro FX 4500G (http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18060&vpn=VCQFX4500G-PCIE-PB&manufacture=PNY%20Technologies%20Inc)... especially not for the price tags on them.

PLUR
CK

[GigantoR]

My NEC DVD burner is loud as hell for some reason. So I might steer away from that, but it could just be mine.

[Fibbles]

My NEC DVD burner is loud as hell for some reason. So I might steer away from that, but it could just be mine.

Mine was too! It was LOUD when seeking, writing, sometimes idling, so I got a Samsung with Lightscribe (for label making) and I can't be happier.

What I absolutely love about it, as I've mentioned before, is that it's a pretty small drive around 5" long. It also reads and writes to DVDRAM 5x, should you need it.

For cases, skip the P180 and get the P180B: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129017

Ooh, it's black!!!


Matt... as an alternative, I'd highly recommend considering a LianLi V-1100 case. It really does help keep things quiet, the way its so well insulated, is great to work in and when its done, it just looks great.

We're putting it in our front room in the coming weeks and I have to say, I'd rather look at that case every day than any other.

That's how I felt when I saw the Enermax CS-5190AL-061B (the ones with the slanted front, they came out in 2002 in red, black and silver, but had a phycho price of $399 and are limited to a single 80/92mm up front with dual 60's in the rear!). Luckily I didn't pay that much for mine, but I still have to put a lot of work into it (that I've been putting off) to spiffen it up.