Can I do this for €500?

eman66

I need a machine for two jobs.

1. Entry level music recording. There will be singing involved so the machine has to be quiet.

2. Gaming. Nothing spectacular needed I think, a "good enough" video card.

I have two sata hard disks that I want to stripe for the system drive, and a large IDE for data.. Also have DVD drives, monitor and OS. Need everything else.

Will probably do dual-boot.

So I need,
Quiet case
CPU
Memory
GPU
Board with SATA RAID and IDE channels.

It's the board and compatibilitinessness of everything that I need most help with.

Thanks.

Solitaire

What size/resolution monitor? And do you need additonal hardware for the sound recording?

eman66

Sorry, actually have a monitor, dvd drives and OS. I'm going to stick with them to cut down the cost. I have a usb sound card and bundled software.

Inquitus

You'll probably need a new PSU, if your old one is dated much.

uberpixie

eman66 wrote: »

I need a machine for two jobs.

1. Entry level music recording. There will be singing involved so the machine has to be quiet.

2. Gaming. Nothing spectacular needed I think, a "good enough" video card.

I have two sata hard disks that I want to stripe for the system drive, and a large IDE for data.. Also have DVD drives, monitor and OS. Need everything else.

Will probably do dual-boot.

So I need,
Quiet case
CPU
Memory
GPU
Board with SATA RAID and IDE channels.

It's the board and compatibilitinessness of everything that I need most help with.

Thanks.

I would advise to double your budget.

case: antec p182 (€130)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=341841

PSU: corsair 650W €90 (more than enough power and should last you to your next build, you can go lower say 550W but you are only saving €10)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=340676

Plough the money into the case and the PSU. The above parts are very quiet. The case has fantastic airflow and very thick cladding on the side panels which greatly reduces the overall noise you pc will make. The PSU is almost silent.

You want the least amount of noise: these are the first two parts you get.

CPU Cooler: Thermalright ultra extreme (€55) Strap a quiet fan on this and you have an extremely quiet cooler with the option to go completely passive cooling.
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=338777

Case fans: Scythe flex 120mm 1200 RPM fans. €15+ each (some of the quietest fans going with fantastic airflow)
http://www.quietpc.com/ie-en-eur/products/casefans/s-flex1201200

Yes they are expensive fans but the results are magic.

GFX card: anything low to mid range and passive
example: sapphire 4670 512mb DDR3 with passive heat sink €74
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=426718

It would be a fine card for low resolution gaming.

After all that see what money you have left for the CPU, motherboard and memory.

Chances are you will be going Intel for the performance, there are some very cheap AMD dual cores if you are on a very tight budget.

Memory will be very cheap, 4 gigs for less than €100 DDR 2 or 3.

Slutmonkey57b

uberpixie wrote: »

I would advise to double your budget.

case: antec p182 (€130)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=341841

Good choice.

PSU: corsair 650W €90 (more than enough power and should last you to your next build, you can go lower say 550W but you are only saving €10)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=340676

Unless you're sli'ing the thing, you don't need more than 450w, IF that. Save yourself ~30 and get the 450w version.

CPU Cooler: Thermalright ultra extreme (€55) Strap a quiet fan on this and you have an extremely quiet cooler with the option to go completely passive cooling.
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=338777

a: Why buy from Komplett at higher prices when
b: you can get the Scythe Mugen II with free scythe slipstream for ~40?

Case fans: Scythe flex 120mm 1200 RPM fans. €15+ each (some of the quietest fans going with fantastic airflow)
http://www.quietpc.com/ie-en-eur/products/casefans/s-flex1201200

The P182 already comes with 3 very quiet fans. You don't add quietness by adding fans. If you're not overclocking you might as well switch off the case fans in all honesty. Ignore this.

GFX card: anything low to mid range and passive
example: sapphire 4670 512mb DDR3 with passive heat sink €74
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=426718

Drop into Peats and get an Arctic Cooling Accellero S1 V2 which will fit all modern graphics cards and passively cool even a 4870 for ~20 (a rare bargain at peats, only €5 more expensive than it should be!)

Memory will be very cheap, 4 gigs for less than €100 DDR 2 or
3.

4 Gigs of DDR2 for €100? Where are you shopping? Anything over €40 and you're splurging.

You don't need to double your budget, but you might have to go over by ~60-100 or so if you want the p182 and a quad core. Drop down to a lower grade case and a dual core and you should be able to come in under 500 no problem.

hpm-computer.de do the best range of cheap cooling gear I've seen - a little more expensive than HWV for the rest but not much. I specced
Antec P182 case
Intel Q8200
Mugen II
Accelero S1v2
2x 4Gigs DDR2
Asus P5Q SE
Sapphire 4830
Corsair vx450w PSU

For €650.
You can easily drop that by ~90 if you change down the case and processor.

Eoin Madsen

I've found www.pcsilent.de to be a useful site for fans, CPU coolers, power supplies etc. I have one of these PSUs in a computer in my studio. It's very quiet.

You can probably always do better than stock case fans. But getting a case (and layout) with quiet airflow is the single most important thing for keeping the background computer noise down.

uberpixie

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Good choice.
Unless you're sli'ing the thing, you don't need more than 450w, IF that. Save yourself ~30 and get the 450w version.

You are 100% right regarding the power requirements. He would only need a 450W, however when I spec a machine I usually get a PSU that is a little more than required as you can pass this onto the next build. 550W is the next step up from 450W and there is only a €10 difference Vs the 650W. So I would look at a 650W personally.

If he is really stuck on the tight budget then yes a 450W Corsair would be perfect.

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

The P182 already comes with 3 very quiet fans. You don't add quietness by adding fans. If you're not overclocking you might as well switch off the case fans in all honesty. Ignore this.

The fans on the Antec P180/182 don't push a lot of air when dialed down. The Scythe Flexes push much more air that the default Antec Fans and are quieter. Replaced all my fans in my P180 for scythe flex fans and it has made a big difference to airflow, overall coolling and noise levels. You def reduce noise levels swapping out the default Antec fans!

TerrorFirmer

I would go for something like this for under 500 including delivery. Fast, quiet and cheap. I have that same case and with 2 80mm fans, a passive video card and even the stock intel cooler, the machine is very quiet. Not silent but for 500 euro I don't think you're going to build a machine that's got fantastic performance in silence.

eman66

Thanks all. Ye definitely know your stuff. I'll spend a bit of time looking at your suggestions and options.

lucernarian

Regarding the Thermaltake Blue Orb cooler in the suggested build above, would that even fit on a m-atx board??

And are m-atx boards able to handle the heat and power demands of a high-performance cards?? I assume that 4670 wouldn't be a problem, but what about the likes of ATI 4870 cards etc?

Inquitus

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

and even the stock intel cooler, the machine is very quiet.

Depends on a mans idea of quiet!

Also whats the point in going mATX? I'd only consider that for HTPC or for a Carry to LAN PC, not really much point getting a small case with whiney 80mm fans and not the best airflow just for the sake of it, if he has room for a proper sized case and ATX mobo, might aswell buy one imo.

Also, adverts is your friend, if you want to save some money or snag a bargain, and you can afford to be patient, you can buy parts for your rig 2nd hand and save alot or get a more powerful rig out of the same budget. I have bought plenty of rigs worth of gear off of adverts and never had a problem with any of it.

http://www.adverts.ie/showcat.php?cat=8

Inq

TerrorFirmer

mAtx is nice and tidy, that's why I have one...I found my full size 900 case just a bit too cumbersome.

Of course matx boards handle anything, I have an mAtx board and I had a 1GB 4870 and an E8600 in it. My mAtx build does nothing but play games. I have the same case as the one I suggested above, with 2 fans its excellent I find...

He said quiet, not deathly silent, with a good cpu cooler and a passive card it'd be very quiet - though with a passive card you would definitely want the 2 80mm's, that's why I recommended them. No point spending big bucks on a big case, expensive fans, expensive coolers at the expense of the actual build components themselves, is there? For a lot of people heat is only a concern as far as functionality goes, for example on plenty of occasions I've had full builds crammed into tiny cases with relatively poor cooling, but never once did the temperatures go into the danger zones, so as far as I was concerned the machine performaned well, looked well, and was extremely quiet - heat and temperatures never bothered me much at all as long as they were safe levels, whereas some people demand the lowest possible temps. On a budget of 500 it's totally unrealistic to recommend expensive cases, expensive fans, etc because at the end of the day you'd be trading off performance....

ATM my build is the M1 above, with an 8800GTS OC, an E8600@3.8Ghz on stock cooler, and no fans whatsoever. Machine can run games for hours on end and not reach remotely near anything considered dangerous....and is reasonably quiet. With a better CPU cooler and a passive GPU it'd be almost inaudible....with 2 quiet fans it'd be almost silent and well cooled....on a budget of 500 quid I don't think you could ask for much more really.

Joeface

small point ,,Blue ORB II cooler .......not as quite as i taught it was going to be be when i installed ......

you did mention the need for it to be quite

Solitaire

... I think eman would like "quiet" but actually needs "deathly silent" under certain circumstances.

And flower coolers are old-skool and are surprisingly noisy compared to most decent tower coolers. A decent tower cooler could cool a quad pretty well with a fan dialed down to minimum speed which is almost always silent.

And eman I didn't mean you needed a monitor I was asking about the specs for the one you already have

Anyway if the HD4670 isn't enough for your choice of games (and/or your current monitor has a highish resolution) keep an eye out for the Sapphire Value HD4830/4850. They have different p-states to other ATi cards and are effectively passive under light load (160/500MHz vs. 500/1500MHz for most ATi cards) - we're talking something like 0-7% fan speed tops on a warm day Of course they're as obnoxious as any modded HD4850 (ie. still much quieter than any stock cooler, and that's before you take the P182 into the equation ) under a full 3D load (ie. games) but I doubt you'll be simultaneously gaming and recording