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Quiet Gamer PC < $1,000

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: by next weekend BUDGET RANGE: < 1,000 After Rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming (mainly COD2 @ the moment), watching movies

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard (USB), mouse (Kensington K64325), monitor (HP L2245W), speakers (Bose), OS (grub: WinXPX64/FC12), HDD

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: tigerdirect.com, newegg.com, amazon.com COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD CPU Phenom II 945, case that can handle sound foam, low-power states on all parts for non-gaming times, liquid cooling for CPU if that's quieter, noise reducing spacers and such, quiet fans, mobo should be able to run with AMD Phenom II e-versions

OVERCLOCKING: No SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080&1680x1050

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I would like a quiet PC (I couldn't find a recent post with quiet as a focus), the computer needs to be able to run in minimal-power mode when not gaming

The reason I am looking for a new setup is really because of limitations (unknown bottleneck) when playing COD2: I only get 22-30 FPS when others say they run @ 150-250 FPS (same ping) and it could be the monitor. Maybe there's something in the current setup that will boost my system's responsiveness - Xeon, GTX-260 GPU, PSU?

Current setup: Asus P5L-VM 1394, P4 2.93 GHz, NVidia GeForce 6600 GT, 4GB DDR2(?), WD1600JD-22HBB0, WD800JD-60LSA5, HIPRO HP-P3087F3 (300W), Gateway 420GR case

I am havingtrouble deciding what to go with: New/Upgrade/Monitor. The only thing that I have been looking at so far is either replacing CPU, GPU, Monitor, PSU, building new, or going with Alienware Aurora (not AMD & pricy)

Considerations:
GPU (new/upgrade)
If there are no ATI driver issues for linux: XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon $409.99 ( $7.56 shipping)
Otherwise, GTX 260 (don't have a good link)


CPU
Upgrade to current system:
Intel e6850 (not sure where I'll find one)
New system:
AMD CPU comparisons
AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz (HDX945FBGIBOX)
but would rather have:
Phenom II X4 910E AM3 2.6G (HD910EOCK4DGM) - don't know anything about this retailer though

More about : quiet gamer 000

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Add a 5770 to the above build ... Enjoy Hybrid Graphics.

ASUS has passive heat-pipe chipset cooling on the above board.

This is primarily an HTPC board that will make a good gamer, with a decent GPU and 4GB system ram.

Go for a Dual Channel kit of G.Skill RipJaws (CAS7)DDR3 2x2GB

. . . I'm gonna see if egg has any passive sinks for that "hot" chip.

= Alvin =
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Alvin Smith said:
Add a 5770 to the above build ... Enjoy Hybrid Graphics.

ASUS has passive heat-pipe chipset cooling on the above board.

This is primarily an HTPC board that will make a good gamer, with a decent GPU and 4GB system ram.

Go for a Dual Channel kit of G.Skill RipJaws (CAS7)DDR3 2x2GB

. . . I'm gonna see if egg has any passive sinks for that "hot" chip.



I'm going to have to look up what you mean by hybrid graphics.

Any CPU nowadays can be cooled by a giant cooler. i use an passive orochi 1000 in a c2d at 3.8Ghz and it doesnt reach 50 degrees celcius... Maybe a new i5 dual core or quad like a 750 will do the job just fine. I had preference for passive GPU's and i've owned a few. Gigabyte has some. I now run a 5850 also form gigabyte with the ATI design and its quiet so i dont see the need for any quieter. Your PSU should be a quiet one like a corsair hx520. as for the rest i've been running samsung f1 and f3 drives and they are quiet. i use dampning in them so they dont click.

After looking around a little more (now that I had such good reference points), I found that this will most likely fit me the best for a quiet solution.


PSU: Nexus NX-5000 ($99.99: newegg.com) silentpcreview.com
Actual Purchase: Nexus NX-6000 ($119.99: newegg.com) - 630W gives a little more room for CPU hogs
Case: Antec P183 Black Aluminum / Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($149.99: newegg.com)
Actual Purchase: (combo) Antec Performance One P180 Silver cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower + XFX GS250XZDFU GeForce GTS 250 1GB ($214.98: newegg.com) silentpcreview.com
CPU: AMD Phenom II 910e ($190.86: provantage.com)
AMD Phenom II 9150e ($122.91: provantage.com) - the 910e actually has the early core(?) that might have issues and require a BIOS patch
HeatSink: Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B CPU Cooler ($64.99: newegg.com) silentpcreview.com
Actual Purchase: Noctua NH-U12P ($64.95+free shipping: amazon.com) silentpcreview.com
GPU: POWERCOLOR AX5850 1GBD5-PPDHG Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX ($319.99: newegg.com) silentpcreview.com
went with the tower combo instead because I should be able to SLI that card with my current card
MOBO: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ($149.99: newegg.com)
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) ($109.99: newegg.com)

TOTAL: $1,085.80 $1,027.85
Shipping: $35.53

This is over the budget by more than $100.00, though. Any recommendations on a cheaper GPU?

Also, does anyone know what to look for in order to make sure that the motherboard will actually fit the case?

Minor why would you go for that setup when the setup I suggested is loads better?

The power supply is crap, Processor is slower and much more expensive. Case isn't all that great (But that's a preference)

If your over budget by $100 and you really need a passive HSF then take off the HSF I suggested and add the one you selected and your total will come to.

$1010.

whitefang said:
Minor why would you go for that setup when the setup I suggested is loads better?

The power supply is crap, Processor is slower and much more expensive. Case isn't all that great (But that's a preference)

If your over budget by $100 and you really need a passive HSF then take off the HSF I suggested and add the one you selected and your total will come to.

$1010.


My Reasoning

PSU: silentpcreview.com suggested this as a solid and extremely quiet PSU. I shouldn't need any more than 500W for the system I'm building (no super-GPU, no RAID, no multi-CPU). The only thing I'm concerned about is the number of connections for case fans not matching the case.
Case: silentpcreview.com suggested it as a good entry-level quiet case that has good internals
CPU: I stated in my first post that I would prefer the e-version from AMD. I don't really care that it's slower when it saves that much energy. Besides, I don't think it's the CPU that's going to be the bottle neck (@ least not till I get a second GPU)
HSF: slientpcreview.com suggested this as the quietest and best HSF
Mobo: the only real diff is that it's got 6gb/s ratings on all SATA connectors (not just 2). Well, it's also got the TURBO! :) 

Your quote, I noticed, also had a lot of things in it that I already have.

I'm actually planning on purchasing the case and PSU first to see if that does anything for my current system (could be that I just don't have enough juice to run the GPU 100%).

I ended up purchasing the Nexus NX-6000 (630W) instead. A little pricier, but it allows me to see if the extra wattage improves anything for my current setup prior to plunging into the more expensive items.

newegg.com $119.99 (+9.65 shipping)

I picked Nexus over other brands because they are WEEE and RoHS compliant - go responsible practices!
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