homebuild pc enthusiasts

just got a new silent psu and a nzxt hush case for my old p4 board.

turns out it's not as quiet as i'd hoped, mainly due to the 9 year old zalman 'silent' fan which is all caked in hash oil and nicotine and shit.

looking for a rec for a decent silent fan... don't need the heatsink/fins etc, got a nice big zalman flower for that.

just the fan.

price is a big consideration.

any suggestions welcome.

there's a sticky thread at the top ^

edit. has disappeared

Noctua do some good stuff, can be pricey though http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=produkte&lng=en#fans

He's in the UK. ebuyer.com, scan.co.uk, aria.co.uk, ebay, google shopping after you know what you want.

Anyone I know who built their own PC always ended up regretting it. Cost more than a normal pc and wasnt worth the hassle.

  On 2/15/2010 at 10:27 PM, chassis said:

Anyone I know who built their own PC always ended up regretting it. Cost more than a normal pc and wasnt worth the hassle.

yeah but it's the 1337 factor that makes it so worthwhile.

  On 2/15/2010 at 10:27 PM, chassis said:

Anyone I know who built their own PC always ended up regretting it. Cost more than a normal pc and wasnt worth the hassle.

pshht.

i've built a few. fraction of the cost.

i've got an old workhorse that has been stable (touch wood) for about 8 years now, with various mods along the way.

clearly you just like the sight of your own typing.

  On 2/15/2010 at 10:27 PM, chassis said:

Anyone I know who built their own PC always ended up regretting it. Cost more than a normal pc and wasnt worth the hassle.

for low end systems, it's probably not worth the hassle. but if you're building something for gaming, the only way to get a good price/performance ratio is to build it yourself. it's easy to build something for under $1000 that will outperform a box that costs $1500-2000+ at dell or circuit city. especially if you already have drives and a case.

until something fries your motherboard, and you suddenly are faced with the obligation of replacing every component separately and completely rebuilding the computer.

  On 2/15/2010 at 11:06 PM, chaosmachine said:

  On 2/15/2010 at 10:27 PM, chassis said:

Anyone I know who built their own PC always ended up regretting it. Cost more than a normal pc and wasnt worth the hassle.

 

for low end systems, it's probably not worth the hassle. but if you're building something for gaming, the only way to get a good price/performance ratio is to build it yourself. it's easy to build something for $1000 that will outperform a box that costs $1500-2000 at dell or circuit city.

indeed, plus the moment you step away from shitty consumer standard sound or video cards, you may as well build your own.

  On 2/15/2010 at 11:10 PM, uptowndevil said:

until something fries your motherboard, and you suddenly are faced with the obligation of replacing every component separately and completely rebuilding the computer.

or finding a compatible mobo with identical chipset/socket layout and just reinstalling from a ghost file.

easy.

anyways, silent cpu fans... cheap ish...?

any suggestions.?

  On 2/15/2010 at 11:10 PM, uptowndevil said:

until something fries your motherboard, and you suddenly are faced with the obligation of replacing every component separately and completely rebuilding the computer.

true enough, but store bought systems blow up just as often (if not more, with their shitty power supplies).

there are steps you can take to minimize problems. invest in a top quality power supply and motherboard with overload protection, for one.

  On 2/15/2010 at 11:13 PM, loganfive said:

anyways, silent cpu fans... cheap ish...?

 

 

any suggestions.?

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

these are hsf reviews, but they do audio measurements of the fan noise, so you can probably get some good info from there.

true, but a lot of times the store bought computers can be replaced entirely as a whole unit when under warranty (i think). in my case, i came back from a spring break in college to find my motherboard, video card, processor and sound card all fried. i ended up just buying a laptop rather than hunt down all the warranty info and replace/rebuild. i did end up rebuilding it a few years after the fact, though.

If you get all your parts from one shop and your motherboard gets fried taking down a few other parts as well, it's easy to get a refund or replacement on all broken parts.

  On 2/15/2010 at 11:06 PM, loganfive said:

  On 2/15/2010 at 10:27 PM, chassis said:

Anyone I know who built their own PC always ended up regretting it. Cost more than a normal pc and wasnt worth the hassle.

pshht.

 

i've built a few. fraction of the cost.

 

i've got an old workhorse that has been stable (touch wood) for about 8 years now, with various mods along the way.

 

clearly you just like the sight of your own typing.

Jeez take a chill.

You started a thread asking for advice so I made a reasonable presumption that this was your 1st. If you've done it before then fair fucks.

if you get a nice enough heatsink you can try going passive (fanless), but then again you are running a P4 which is one of the hotter CPUs you could have. Just note the bigger the fan, the more CFM per RPM, which generally means less RPM = less noise.

Running fanless is a dodgey call.

  On 2/15/2010 at 11:45 PM, chassis said:

Running fanless is a dodgey call.

indeed.

got two 120mm case fans, but i still want a fan on the cpu. it is a p4 after all.

what cpu is it exactly ? 775/478 ? prescott ?

run this thing : http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

478

psu - seasonic

graphics card, 8400gs with only heatsink and no fan

cpu fan - intel stock (very quiet) with 5 dagree tolerance at 60c

hard drive, western digital that's fucking loud and annoying.

  On 2/15/2010 at 10:27 PM, chassis said:

Anyone I know who built their own PC always ended up regretting it. Cost more than a normal pc and wasnt worth the hassle.

I agree with chaos on this... it's not worth it to self-assemble a shit computer, but it is def. worth it to self-assemble a proper rig. I've put together my last few computers for MUCH less than they would have cost in stores. my current main computer would be something like 4 grand had i bought it from a chain---whereas i paid only 2500 with shipping included for the parts.

Also, you can hang around Tom's Hardware Guide and get advice on what parts would work best with what (and most importantly what DOESN'T work with what:)

for the OP. I would go to Tom's and check out their fan section.

well as long as it's not prescott it's not even important i think, even the stock cooler will do the job, inside your hush i doubt that you'll hear of it. i don't know what kind of a heatsink you have, maybe it'll only fit with some specific zalman fans, otherwise go for the cheapest there is.

actually its not a bad idea to check if it can work without a fan at all, just reapply the paste and watch the temps in bios and then under load if the bios temps are low enough, maybe your heatsink is good enough, you can't fry it with p4's and up so it's worth a try.

  On 2/16/2010 at 12:14 AM, Franklin said:

  On 2/15/2010 at 10:27 PM, chassis said:

Anyone I know who built their own PC always ended up regretting it. Cost more than a normal pc and wasnt worth the hassle.

 

 

I agree with chaos on this... it's not worth it to self-assemble a shit computer, but it is def. worth it to self-assemble a proper rig. I've put together my last few computers for MUCH less than they would have cost in stores. my current main computer would be something like 4 grand had i bought it from a chain---whereas i paid only 2500 with shipping included for the parts.

Also, you can hang around Tom's Hardware Guide and get advice on what parts would work best with what (and most importantly what DOESN'T work with what:)

 

for the OP. I would go to Tom's and check out their fan section.

Wow. Well Im thinking of getting a desktop soon. I was looking to spend somewhere between 900 and 1200 (euro) on a desktop. Would it be worth my while getting all the info and building it myself or for that budget should I just say fuck it and buy from dell.

Mate of mine who worked in dell said to always buy the 2nd latest model and upgrade it so its basicly their latest. Which I usually do anyway but probably doesnt save you that much.

again: passive cooling is a bad idea unless you have an intel atom or an ARM processor or something netbooky like that. passive cooling is especially a bad idea with a P4. the reason intel switched to core, and abandoned things like netburst, is because a couple of P4s can do a good job of heating a room, and are very power-hungry.

incidentally i saw centurix today on slashdot!