DIY desktop help

[nightpiper]

if u can up ur budget, get a 64bit Intel/AMD, a PCI express ATi based card, 1GB of RAM, 2xHDD SATA, NEC DVD burner. guarantee no regrets. :devil:

 

[user111]

1.P4 3.2GHZ enuff? - yes
2.mainboard brand? - any mid range will do
3.at least 1GB RAM - yes
4.HDD brand? 2x160MB or 1x300MB better? as 2 HDD cost slightly less than 1 big HDD - western digital. dont store everything in one lone hdd
5.VGA card brand? - ati radeon
6.DVD RW brand? - TDK dual layer writer . +RW is more stable than -RW
7.casing and cooler? - trivial

 

[lhjz]

need some pro advice again!!

i just got a Antec Sonata casing, Antec 380w PSU(bundled), a Intel P4 3.0GHz 2MB Cache, MSI 915 Neo2, Cooler master Hyper 48.

Ask the shop to setup for me, after bringing home to run it, i find that the coolermaster 48 is very noisy. the rear fan of the casing is a silencer compare to the CM-48... can't feel its presence at all.

since you guys were strongly recommending the CM-48 fan. i suppose it shld be quite a quiet fan right?
wats level of noise shld i expect actually? right now i can hear the fan even when i close my room's door.

What could be wrong? bad alignment of the fan? faulty fan? or am i just too paranoid? :dunno: :cry:

 

[kahheng]

need some pro advice again!!

i just got a Antec Sonata casing, Antec 380w PSU(bundled), a Intel P4 3.0GHz 2MB Cache, MSI 915 Neo2, Cooler master Hyper 48.

Ask the shop to setup for me, after bringing home to run it, i find that the coolermaster 48 is very noisy. the rear fan of the casing is a silencer compare to the CM-48... can't feel its presence at all.

since you guys were strongly recommending the CM-48 fan. i suppose it shld be quite a quiet fan right?
wats level of noise shld i expect actually? right now i can hear the fan even when i close my room's door.

What could be wrong? bad alignment of the fan? faulty fan? or am i just too paranoid? :dunno: :cry:

I don't believe that it's ever going to be totally silent. You would still be able to hear the fan. The issue is whether the sound is at an irritating pitch and volume. Well, it seems that it's irritating you.

I suggest you simply drop the voltage a notch to under 12V and you should be a lot happier. It usually doesn't take much reduction if the fan is a good one and that Delta on the CM48 is reportedly a very good one.

My Zalman 7000 CU, an old timer that's reputed to be fairly quiet, is not totally silent either.

If I was building a new system now I'd personally have gone with the new Gigabyte G-Power Pro myself but the CM48 you bought is already a very very solid heatsink.

 

[lhjz]

I don't believe that it's ever going to be totally silent. You would still be able to hear the fan. The issue is whether the sound is at an irritating pitch and volume. Well, it seems that it's irritating you.

I suggest you simply drop the voltage a notch to under 12V and you should be a lot happier. It usually doesn't take much reduction if the fan is a good one and that Delta on the CM48 is reportedly a very good one.

My Zalman 7000 CU, an old timer that's reputed to be fairly quiet, is not totally silent either.

If I was building a new system now I'd personally have gone with the new Gigabyte G-Power Pro myself but the CM48 you bought is already a very very solid heatsink.

i don't expect it to be totally silent actually
but the noise it is generating is greater than my old PIII 733, which is something worrying for me.

its just normal fan movement sound but just too loud compare to my old system which uses intel fan.
can even hear it when i close my room's door. :sweat:

 

[Firefox]

Just realised you have a MSI 915 board.. I think you need to go to your BIOS and set the hardware monitor for the fan speed. The 915 boards allow control of the fan because of the 4-pin connector. You need to set it lower.. I believe it's at maximum speed now.. Hence, the noise levels. It should be auto or lower..

 

[Josephteo548]

Yes, firefox is correct. You would need to access your bios and set the fan speed.

One option would be auto
Another would be by temp, meaning if the temperature go pass the value you set(let say 55C)then the fan would start to spin faster.
The last one i know of is by fan rpm.

If not, your fan speed is set to max by bios default.

 

[lhjz]

oh.... icic.... let me try it out.... thx guys .. will update once i tried it out...

 

[NMSS_2]

should try out zalman products for silent pc operations.

 

[lhjz]

here's my fan, confirm its a CM hyper48

bad news..... the bios can't set the speed...
it can only control the fan via temp...

the default is 50degrees
i tried using the highest temp at 70.... the fan did sound slightly softer but still its really not much of an improvement.
and i don't think its sensible to control the temp at 70degrees

disabling the temp control doesn't help at all, its still sounded like the 50degrees.

will the shop listen to my complain? or will they just say its normal for PC to sound like this?
anyone still have any ways to solve this ?
i am still up at 5am shows that the noise is definitely not tolerable for its standard.... :cry: :cry:

 

[Big Kahuna]

thx guys


glenn: its this combi ok?
1.intel D865GBF i865G/VGA/sound/800mhz FSB/SATA/ATX/HT ~ $159
2.intel P4 3.2 LGA775 800/1MB ~ $388

thinking of getting
3. kingston 512M PC2-4200 DDR2 533 ~ 2x$119
4. seagate 160GB 7200rpm IDE ~ 2x$153 (5yrs warranty hehe )
(wats the diff between SATA and IDE HDD? any diff in speed?)
5. GEcube 9600pro 256M TD ~ $185
(anyone graphics guru can comfirm whether if this is ok for photo editing?)
6. BenQ DW1620Pro 16X DVD±RW ~ $99

these 2 seems very exp leh.... din know casing and fan cost that much :bigeyes:
7. OCZ PowerStream 520W ~ $249
8. Coolermaster Praetorian ~ $198

Hm...since you are buying new system, why buy 865 chip? Get 915 or 925 unless you have budget concern. But beware on MSI 915 combo, I have problem with the audio auto detect feature, it just run non stop at the start up during the first boot....I have to remove the startup job from registry....after that the system is running sweet....the intel CPU is bit louder but not as bad as my the other 478pins 3GHz

This is what I will choose if I am going to build a PC today

1. Shuttle SB83G5C....today Ban Leong promo--$859
(http://global.shuttle.com/Product/Barebone/SB83G5M.asp)
2. 2 x patriot 512MB PC3200 at $88 each -- $176
Any general CL2.5 PC3200 ram is good enought if you do not overclock, but make sure it is warranty lifetime by good distributor, Kingston is another good choice and make sure it's from Convegent
3. Western Digital JB Raptor 74GB -- $329

The onboard graphic is good enought for general editing, if you want gaming, can always slab in a PCI-E card...it should be cheaper in another few mths time...not point spending so much on a AGP nowadays.

4. For DVD RW, TDK is good choice, it's fast and quiet....I have the Sony 720 DL in my office...it is supper loud and vibrate a lot....kind of irritating you know

5. Lastly, not to forget match this beauty with a good LCD, keyboard and mouse and nice pair of speaker

 

[Big Kahuna]

Aiyo...just noticed you just got the system liao...and it was the MSI 915G :lovegrin:

Hm....if your system is loud, try install the core center and use custom mode and adjust the fan speed to 6/8 :think:

 

[Jellyfish]

Kingston although lifetime warranty, but when the RAM failed (high rate also) u r replaced with another RMA RAM & this RAM also not lasting.

U 100% sure about that? are u working in kingston or have encountered such exchange b4? just wan to verfy this issue.

since you guys were strongly recommending the CM-48 fan. i suppose it shld be quite a quiet fan right?
wats level of noise shld i expect actually? right now i can hear the fan even when i close my room's door.

IF wan noiseless cooling......use liquid cooling loh. and its very cool even u many huge applications at the same time.

 

[NMSS_2]

try setting at 60c or 65c.

 

[lhjz]

try setting at 60c or 65c.

i tried 70 degrees, slight improvement only.
dun think 60 or 65 will help leh.
the noise is still not acceptable compare to my cheapo intel fan of my P3. you can hear the difference straight.

i did install the core center (MSI utility) but it only allows warning at certain temp/fan speed, not literally set the fan speed.

 

[meng]

there's no way you can compare the noise of this fan to your old "cheapo intel fan of my P3". unless you are comparing the stock intel fan of P3 and now the stock intel fan of your present new one. if you are really particular about noise, then i would suggest to "coat" the interior of your casing with some sound absorbent material or simply change to a lower speed fan.

i tried 70 degrees, slight improvement only.
dun think 60 or 65 will help leh.
the noise is still not acceptable compare to my cheapo intel fan of my P3. you can hear the difference straight.

i did install the core center (MSI utility) but it only allows warning at certain temp/fan speed, not literally set the fan speed.

 

[lhjz]

there's no way you can compare the noise of this fan to your old "cheapo intel fan of my P3". unless you are comparing the stock intel fan of P3 and now the stock intel fan of your present new one. if you are really particular about noise, then i would suggest to "coat" the interior of your casing with some sound absorbent material or simply change to a lower speed fan.

i hope i am not paying extra $$ to get 'extra' noise leh

actually i am writing all these not becos i am a perfectionist or a techno freak that requires absolute silent.

i am just trying to find out if the shop has done a bad installation for me... cos they were meddling with my system for 3hrs and can't bring it to boot properly. the guy in charge was definitely a new staff as he needs to seek advice from his boss when he can't set up the system... i was really sweating when i look while he work.

really have to thank everyone for their kind inputs, i learned a lot here hahaha
its sad that i still can't enjoy my new system.
hopefully i can clear all possiblities b4 i bring it down to the shop for a chk.
fear that i might make a wasted trip... taking bus/mrt and carrying the 10KG++ CPU is no joke man

 

[Drudkh]

I would have taken a cab back home.

 

[Drudkh]

and for the noise, you should get a better heatsink and a silent fan.

 

[lhjz]

I would have taken a cab back home.

take cab down and take cab home.... wat if they simply say its normal.... waste 30bucks cab fare leh...

i paid $30 for installation, now another $30. heart break leh... the fan is $68 ..
if its the fan problem, it means i will hv to dismantle the whole motherboard and install all over again. whos paying me $30 .... :cry: :cry:
seems like a costly and painful lesson for me ah.