Arctic Cooling Silentium T2

[ctrob]

Anyone know how much these live up to the hype?

They look interesting (from a noise point of view) and are cheap but I found two completing opposing views of them. Someone's written they're very quiet and he sleeps with it switche don by his bed. Someone else had to use one for a client and hated it.

Also, the whole range (Tn) appears to be the same basic case with different fascias. Is that also the case?

Thanks,

 

[pengwin]

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=319


they are not "bad" cases but for a pricce tag of about 110 bucks at newegg i'd pass it up for maybe the gigabyte poseidon, or an NZXT Lexa.

 

[ctrob]

Thanks for that link, it's an interesting review. I wonder how much has changed in a year?

The trouble is that I'm in the UK, and the prices of cases are all a bit skewed. I can get the Silentium with a power supply for less than most of the others without, which is important as I'm on a budget. In the uk it is a good deal, as it says in the review.

I'm also very interested in low noise and relatively low power. I'm thinking about the top single core athlon and a single GeForce 7600 card so power won't be an issue.

From my point of view I'm a little concerned about dust as there are no filters in the Silentium and my current PC needs periodic vacuum cleaning...

I can live with the single hd slot (well there is another that isn't damped).

The mention having probelms finding a system to fit it, although the only specific warning is about ensuring the floppy socket is on the top of the board. I've never seen a mobo with the socket on the underneath, is this at all common?

I'll look at the cases you mention.

Thanks

 

[pengwin]

how much can u get the case for in the UK?


also, the floppy "socket"

do u mean the IDE plug for the floppy disk?

on more boards in at the bottom on others it around where the 24 Pin power plug should be.


Also look at these cases too

CoolerMaster 531, 532, 534, 530

all good cases. Same body, different front bezel, i like the 532.

also how much are u willing to spend?

 

[ctrob]

The Silentium is £58, which includes the PSU.

The NZXT Lexa case looks nice but is £95 including vat, so with a PSU that would be over twice the price of the Silentium. I think I'd need to spend £40-50 on the PSU.

The CoolerMaster 532 is only £49, including a PSU! So it's cheaper, but it only comes with a single fan so I'd need to have a closer look at that one.

The dollar rate is about $1.88 to £1 at the moment, but we often don't get anything like that once things are shipped over here...

Regarding the floppy reference, the specific text in the review is:

Micro ATX / Full ATX (except for boards with downward facing floppy cable)

I'm not sure quite what they mean, but I've only used my FDD recently to transport files to my Atari Falcon and I just sold that on eBay... I think I'd buy a USB FDD if it came to it, but I can boot Win2k from CD so it's unlikely.

 

[goloso_b]

I built a rig with the T3 (all models are the same, only cosmetic changes) for a friend in Nov 2005 and she says she is very happy with it.
She was on a budget and looking for a silent computer and this was the best deal at the time.
The case feels solid and not cheap at all. It's also pretty small and the mobo is a tight fit, but with a bit of care everything is fine.
The rig was a 3700+ San Diego on an AsRock DualSataII and a passively cooled graphics card. With this, the only thing you could really hear was the stock fan on the processor. To stay on the cheap side I'd say an Arctic Cooling Silencer should do the trick nicely.

As for dust, well... if you want a solid, well ventilated, silent and filtered case I believe you should think about spending a bit more money, otherwise you'll have to live without a few of those features.

To sum up, the Silentium is a good case if it fits your needs. Reasonably quiet, well ventilated, solid and not very expensive for the features it offers. On the down side it's a bit small and it has a custom PSU, so if you want to replace it for a new one you'll probably have to mod it.

 

[chuckshissle]

Hmm...that's one interesting case. The way they design and place the psu is very peculiar and the hd isolation box is a good idea. I would get this case just because it's unique and may be have better thermal cooling than regular cases.

 

[pengwin]

i agree but the PSU isnt replaceable i dont think, and if it is it'll be a very tight fit.

thats where i wouldnt get it. if ur PSU restricts u then whats the point? u can only upgrade til 330w?

thats pointless.


ok since u in in UK, i googled up random UK etailers just to get a price in British pounds.

http://www.misco.co.uk/productinformation/~Q65582~/Antec%20Sonata%20II%20450W%20ATX2%20PSU%20ATX%20Black.htm

thats pretty good, also take a look and see if u can find an Antec P150.

 

[ctrob]

Oddly enough I also saw the Silentium case being sold with no power supply and elsewhere with a 450W supply.

There is a body of opinion that Seasonic are conservative with their ratings, quoting the sustained power output, which is equivalent to as much as a 500W generic supply.

As it is, I will not be limited by the power supply anyway - I want a quieter PC so I won't be stuffing it with overlcocked CPUs and the latest SLI combo. It looks like I could even end up with passively cooled VGA and CPU.

The FD connector issue is where it's on the edge of the board, pointing out - that's what it can't cope with.

I am pretty much decided on this, but I'm thinking about waiting until the consequences of the Conroe release. As If there's ever right time to upgrade lol.

 

[pengwin]

yes newegg sells a 450w version but they have mis labled it..
the Antec Sonata II is a very good and quiet case, google up some reivews.

 

[ctrob]

I eventually bought one the Silentium case, so I thought I should give some feedback about it.

It does look fairly cheaply made (plastic front panel) and the 'optional' front firewire must be a factory decision, as the connectors are missing from the front PCB, as well as the plastic blank. The other case-related problem is that they supplied me with a continental, not a UK power lead, which I believe may not be legal...

The case wasn't too tight a fit for my existing m/b, although it's quite true that you wouldn't be able to insert cables off the edge of the board by the PSU.

On the plus side, the brief time I had it running it was very quiet, even with the side off.

I say brief because there was a slight smell of burning so I had to turn it off again. After that, I removed all the cards/connectors from the m/b but it would only hold the power up for a brief moment.

I returned the m/b to the original case but with the same result... So I guess the m/b has gone. I'm confident nothing was shorting and I've been building my own PCs for years now. It is an old socket A m/b that I was trying to hold off upgrading (one way or the other) until conroe emerges.

I bought the m/b with a Ti4200 card but the m/b had to go back for a mod due to a faulty power regulation design before it would work then (well the 4200 would crash in 3d mode). The new card is just a passively controlled 6200, so I wouldn't have thought it have caused it problems.

Anyone had a similar experience with the motherabord half starting the PSU, but not keeping the power up (tho the m/b power led remained on)?