This machine is going to be used for serious programming as well as games (windows games through wine). It's going to run Linux (Ubuntu 64 bit) and should be very quiet, since it will be standing in my bedroom (at least for the time being), so I'm planning lots of passive cooling. And with the way the sea levels are going, I wouldn't mind if it's very energy efficient.
Budget: EUR 1500, although I prefer to stay closer to EUR 1000. (Exactly how this translates to $ varies. EUR 1 is about $1.5 at the moment, but prices tend to be a bit higher in Netherland (where I live and will be ordering), especially considering 19% VAT.
I'm not particularly interested in overclocking since that increases energy consumption (I might consider undervolting, though), and this system should be good enough without overclocking. But if it's really easy to do, I might change my mind some day.
Anyway, I've done lots of research, and I've got most stuff figured out already. I still have a few decisions to make, but the only things I'm really not sure about yet are memory and the harddisk. And I'm open for suggestions about the optical drive.
Here's what I'm planning to buy and why:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Cuo E8400. These are fast, cool, efficient and affordable. Cooling will be a breeze. I'd also be perfectly happy with the E8200, but it's not even all that much cheaper than the E8400, so why not take the better one?
One problem with both of these processors: they're hard to find. The shop where I'm planning to order won't have them for the next 20 days.
Motherboard: GA-P35-DS3L. Recommended to me by renethx on this forum, and has pretty much everything I need. Except possibly builtin wifi, but I still have a fairly new wifi card in my old PC. Also, it has only 4 SATA connectors, which is enough for now, but doesn't leave a lot of room for growth.
And alternative is the GA-P35-DS3 which has 2 extra SATA connectors, as well as Dynamic Energy Saving. I'm not sure if DES works on Linux, however, and wit the already very efficient E8x00, it's questionable how much DES will really save. Still no wifi, but that's not a big problem.
Case: Antec Performance P182 or possibly the Antec Lifestyle Solo. They have the same excellent silence features, and probably cool equally well too. I kinda like the matte black of the P182, but it's much bigger than I probably need, whereas the Solo can get a bit cramped, and I'm not too fond of the shiny black.
Power: Seasonic S12II 330. Sounds small, but 330 Watt should be more than plenty for this machine. Seasonics are quiet and have excellent quality. The S12II 330 is 80+ certified (which means it's very energy efficient), cheap, and big enough for what I need.
A possible alternative would be the Corsair CMPSU-450VX but I don't think I need 450W.
CPU Cooling: Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B. The best passive cooler availlable, although I'm slightly nervous about some stories that it doesn't always fit 775 sockets perfectly. I'm not sure how worried I should be about that. I'm not sure what a good passive alternative would be either. I'd love to get a Scythe Ninja Copper which cools even better, but it's extremely heavy, more expensive, and impossible to find.
Video card: Peak VGA Radeon HD 3850 256 MB. Really, I'm happy with any Radeon HD3850, because they seem to occupy a nice sweet spot on the price/performance curve, and they idle at a much lower power consumption than any other video card I know of, which matters, because I won't be gaming non-stop on this machine, so I don't want some power hog drawing 70 Watts just for drawing a simple desktop.
So why the Peak? For some weird reason it's way cheaper than all the other 3850s. Like EUR 118, while the others are EUR 150. Apparently it has a problem with its cooler, but that doesn't matter to me, becaise I'm going to replace it with:
Video card cooling: Arctic Cooling Accelero S1, a huge monster of a passive cooler that's reputed to be better than many active coolers. If that's not good enough, you can still mount a really quiet 12 cm fan on it, but that shouldn't be necessary with my efficient 3850.
One problem: apparently the memory heatsinks occasionally fall off, so I guess the thermal glue isn't good enough. Any advice for better glue? I do see a lot of people happy with Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, but that sounds like paste, not glue.
Now for the hard parts:
Hard disk: 2 x Samsung SpinPoint T166 HD501LJ. Originally I wasn't sure if the 501LJ was as quiet as the 400LJ (which is the second quietest harddisk according to SPCR), but someone who owns both told me the 501LJ is actually slightly quieter, if there's any difference at all. I've decided to take the chance (also because the Antec Solo case with its rubber suspension probably quiets the harddisk quite a lot), because the 501LJ is quite a lot cheaper than the main alternative, the Western Digital Caviar GP WD5000AACS.
The reason for two hard disks: one for work, one for backup. Raid is a waste of money for any machine that's not supposed to be a high-performance file server, but a good backup solution is vital for any machine that contains data you care about. And regularly syncing with a second harddisk, while not as secure as off-site backup, is the easiest way to get a decent backup.
Memory: I truly don't know. 4 GB of something. I'm currently looking at the Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB (2x 1GB) DDR2, but the QVL for the motherboard only mentions the CM2X1024-8500C5 and CM2X1024-6400C4. According to some people it's really important to stick to the QVL, others say it doesn't matter. Perhaps I should take Kingston ValueRAM KVR800D2N5K2/2G 2GB (2x 1GB) DDR2 instead, which sounds very similar to the KVR800D2N5/1GB on the QVL, but still not quite the same.
Thing is, I actually want 4 GB, and I prefer to have it in 2 GB modules (which neither of the options above are), so I can easily upgrade to 8 GB whenever I run out of these 4 GB. And even if I go with 1 GB modules, it's apparently best (or so I've been told) to get them in a kit of 4 modules, so they work together better. Memory should be more stable and/or faster that way.
Which reminds me, fast memory never hurt anyone, so should I go for a CAS Latency of 4 instead of 5? Should I go for 1066 MHz instead of 800 MHz? Or is that a waste of money?
Optical drive: Pioneer DVR-212D, but I'm open to other suggestions. SPCR doesn't recommend any optical drives, since they're all noisy as hell, but that's exactly why I want one that's slightly less noisy than the others. According to the SPCR forums, the best way to silence them is to slow them down and the DVR-212 was the one that most people felt was perhaps not too noisy, so I might get that one if I can't find anything else. Or its successor the DVR-215, if I can find it anywhere.
So what do you think? Noise if obviously a factor for me, but apart from the optical drive, I'm fairly confident this machine is as quiet as I can afford. But what about performance? Did I mess up somewhere? Did I miss anything? Any advice on memory or harddisk?
(Edited: changed harddisk from Western Digital Caviar GP with lots of doubt to a more confident choice for Samsung Spinpoint T166 501LJ.)
Budget: EUR 1500, although I prefer to stay closer to EUR 1000. (Exactly how this translates to $ varies. EUR 1 is about $1.5 at the moment, but prices tend to be a bit higher in Netherland (where I live and will be ordering), especially considering 19% VAT.
I'm not particularly interested in overclocking since that increases energy consumption (I might consider undervolting, though), and this system should be good enough without overclocking. But if it's really easy to do, I might change my mind some day.
Anyway, I've done lots of research, and I've got most stuff figured out already. I still have a few decisions to make, but the only things I'm really not sure about yet are memory and the harddisk. And I'm open for suggestions about the optical drive.
Here's what I'm planning to buy and why:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Cuo E8400. These are fast, cool, efficient and affordable. Cooling will be a breeze. I'd also be perfectly happy with the E8200, but it's not even all that much cheaper than the E8400, so why not take the better one?
One problem with both of these processors: they're hard to find. The shop where I'm planning to order won't have them for the next 20 days.
Motherboard: GA-P35-DS3L. Recommended to me by renethx on this forum, and has pretty much everything I need. Except possibly builtin wifi, but I still have a fairly new wifi card in my old PC. Also, it has only 4 SATA connectors, which is enough for now, but doesn't leave a lot of room for growth.
And alternative is the GA-P35-DS3 which has 2 extra SATA connectors, as well as Dynamic Energy Saving. I'm not sure if DES works on Linux, however, and wit the already very efficient E8x00, it's questionable how much DES will really save. Still no wifi, but that's not a big problem.
Case: Antec Performance P182 or possibly the Antec Lifestyle Solo. They have the same excellent silence features, and probably cool equally well too. I kinda like the matte black of the P182, but it's much bigger than I probably need, whereas the Solo can get a bit cramped, and I'm not too fond of the shiny black.
Power: Seasonic S12II 330. Sounds small, but 330 Watt should be more than plenty for this machine. Seasonics are quiet and have excellent quality. The S12II 330 is 80+ certified (which means it's very energy efficient), cheap, and big enough for what I need.
A possible alternative would be the Corsair CMPSU-450VX but I don't think I need 450W.
CPU Cooling: Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B. The best passive cooler availlable, although I'm slightly nervous about some stories that it doesn't always fit 775 sockets perfectly. I'm not sure how worried I should be about that. I'm not sure what a good passive alternative would be either. I'd love to get a Scythe Ninja Copper which cools even better, but it's extremely heavy, more expensive, and impossible to find.
Video card: Peak VGA Radeon HD 3850 256 MB. Really, I'm happy with any Radeon HD3850, because they seem to occupy a nice sweet spot on the price/performance curve, and they idle at a much lower power consumption than any other video card I know of, which matters, because I won't be gaming non-stop on this machine, so I don't want some power hog drawing 70 Watts just for drawing a simple desktop.
So why the Peak? For some weird reason it's way cheaper than all the other 3850s. Like EUR 118, while the others are EUR 150. Apparently it has a problem with its cooler, but that doesn't matter to me, becaise I'm going to replace it with:
Video card cooling: Arctic Cooling Accelero S1, a huge monster of a passive cooler that's reputed to be better than many active coolers. If that's not good enough, you can still mount a really quiet 12 cm fan on it, but that shouldn't be necessary with my efficient 3850.
One problem: apparently the memory heatsinks occasionally fall off, so I guess the thermal glue isn't good enough. Any advice for better glue? I do see a lot of people happy with Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, but that sounds like paste, not glue.
Now for the hard parts:
Hard disk: 2 x Samsung SpinPoint T166 HD501LJ. Originally I wasn't sure if the 501LJ was as quiet as the 400LJ (which is the second quietest harddisk according to SPCR), but someone who owns both told me the 501LJ is actually slightly quieter, if there's any difference at all. I've decided to take the chance (also because the Antec Solo case with its rubber suspension probably quiets the harddisk quite a lot), because the 501LJ is quite a lot cheaper than the main alternative, the Western Digital Caviar GP WD5000AACS.
The reason for two hard disks: one for work, one for backup. Raid is a waste of money for any machine that's not supposed to be a high-performance file server, but a good backup solution is vital for any machine that contains data you care about. And regularly syncing with a second harddisk, while not as secure as off-site backup, is the easiest way to get a decent backup.
Memory: I truly don't know. 4 GB of something. I'm currently looking at the Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB (2x 1GB) DDR2, but the QVL for the motherboard only mentions the CM2X1024-8500C5 and CM2X1024-6400C4. According to some people it's really important to stick to the QVL, others say it doesn't matter. Perhaps I should take Kingston ValueRAM KVR800D2N5K2/2G 2GB (2x 1GB) DDR2 instead, which sounds very similar to the KVR800D2N5/1GB on the QVL, but still not quite the same.
Thing is, I actually want 4 GB, and I prefer to have it in 2 GB modules (which neither of the options above are), so I can easily upgrade to 8 GB whenever I run out of these 4 GB. And even if I go with 1 GB modules, it's apparently best (or so I've been told) to get them in a kit of 4 modules, so they work together better. Memory should be more stable and/or faster that way.
Which reminds me, fast memory never hurt anyone, so should I go for a CAS Latency of 4 instead of 5? Should I go for 1066 MHz instead of 800 MHz? Or is that a waste of money?
Optical drive: Pioneer DVR-212D, but I'm open to other suggestions. SPCR doesn't recommend any optical drives, since they're all noisy as hell, but that's exactly why I want one that's slightly less noisy than the others. According to the SPCR forums, the best way to silence them is to slow them down and the DVR-212 was the one that most people felt was perhaps not too noisy, so I might get that one if I can't find anything else. Or its successor the DVR-215, if I can find it anywhere.
So what do you think? Noise if obviously a factor for me, but apart from the optical drive, I'm fairly confident this machine is as quiet as I can afford. But what about performance? Did I mess up somewhere? Did I miss anything? Any advice on memory or harddisk?
(Edited: changed harddisk from Western Digital Caviar GP with lots of doubt to a more confident choice for Samsung Spinpoint T166 501LJ.)