Need help building new system

Hello everyone,

First, sorry about this post being more general than specificly cpu-oriented.

Now, I’ve been lurking around for a couple of months while trying to put my new computer together. Now I don’t think Ill get any further without help, so if you have a couple of minutes, I’d greatly appreciate it! This post is somewhat long, but I’m slightly obsessive-compulsive, so please bear with me=)

This rig will be used for gaming so performance is my top priority. Second priority is keeping it somewhat silent. Not quiet, but silent. I might do some slight overclocking, but nothing drastic (I’m a coward, I know). My budget is somewhat flexible, but the total cost can’t be very much higher than it is based on the parts below. So far my system would look like this:

Chassi: Antec P160W (no PSU) http://www.antec.com/us/productDet [...] dID=81600#

PSU: Antec TruePower II 480W
http://www.antec.com/us/productDet [...] odID=22480

Motherboard: Abit An8 Fatality Nforce4 Ultra
http://www2.abit.com.tw/page/se/mo [...] Socket+939

CPU: A64 Venice 3500+ or
A64 Venice 3800+ or
A64 San Diego 3700+ or
(I doubt anyone needs reference charts for these…)

CPU cooling: Zalman 7000B ALCU
http://www.quietpc.com/uk/amdcooling.php#7000b

RAM: This confuses me. I’m currently thinking 2x512 Mb of Twinmos Speed premium BS5.
http://www.twinmos.com/dram/dram_p_sp_ddr400.htm

Graphics card: This also has me confused. I do want to go Nvidia and I’m thinking of either a 6800GT or a 6800Ultra, depending on the price when I order. However, I don’t know which brand to choose. I live in Sweden so I can’t buy Evga org BFG cards, I’m right now thinking Leadtek, Gainward or MSI, what do you think? Performance and silence (well, slightly less noise…) are issues here.

HDD: 1 Maxtor Dmax 10, 300 Gb, 16 Mb cache.
http://www.datorbutiken.com/se/def [...] XDM10-300S
and
1 WD Raptor, either 36 or 72 Gb?
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/p [...] DriveID=65

And some small things like DVD-burner, extra 120 mm case fan and so on.

/Walrus
Now, what do you think of this? Advice and opinions are much appreciated, I’ve never built a computer before…

The 74GB Raptor is faster than the 36GB. Both of these drives will be louder than a 7200RPM HDD. It will be difficult to make a silent PC with one of these babies in the system. Take a look at some <A HREF="http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/scan/st=db/co=yes/rf=*/fi=products/sf=category/op=eq/se=Case Insulation.html?id=EizbbBCu" target="_new">sound dampening material</A> for the case.

Look at the XP-90C with a medium rated, 92mm Panaflo for a really good and quiet HSF.

If you're looking at doing a little OCing, then you can go with a name brand Value series of RAM for a mild OC (~5-10%). Based on that recent Anand article <A HREF="http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227213" target="_new">OCZ Value VX Model OCZ4001024WV3DC-K</A> has the best OC potential and is really inexpensive. The DFI board previously listed and this RAM can really rock for high-end OCs if you get the urge to push it a little further.

Here is a guide on how to make a silent PC from <A HREF="http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-118-1.htm" target="_new">Hardcoreware</A>. Here is another <A HREF="http://www.buildsilentpc.com/" target="_new">guide</A>.

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If you are going to throw a Raptor in there, I wouldn't worry too much about the sound of the mobo.

Huh? That it's got more fans on it? :|

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