Looking for: A decent configuration for a new workstation

[chaosgeisterchen]

Good night, dear Ubuntu community,

I am currently using a machine powered by an AMD Sempron 64 3300+ processor with 512 MB DDR-400 RAM and a GeForce 6200 PCIE graphics card. It's not too bad but I want to replace it in near future with a way better machine at a reasonable price. This is where you become important - I am in awful need of suggestions.

Question #1:

Is it worth waiting for the Core Quadro processors from Intel? Or should I go for the Core2Duos now?

Question #2:

What can I do to minimize the noise level of my machine at a reasonable price level? I am very annoyed by my awfully loud machine atm - whenever I am not playing music it keeps dizzying my head.

Question #3:

Suggestions for low-noise high-power hardware?

At the moment I want to build the system on the emphasis of a Core2Duo E6300, combined with 1 or 2 gigabyte of DDR2-800 RAM. Hard disk is not the most important thing, but high speed data transfer would be very nice, therefore a 120 GB hard disk at 10000 rpm with about 16 mb cache will do the job quite well. Concerning graphics cards I will stick to nVidia and would like to use a graphics card in the league of the 6800 or above - just to ensure that Beryl will run smoothly.

It is possible to get the proposed hardware at a price level of about 800 euro or even below that (I would love to get it for about 700 Euro)?

Or is it utopia what I am writing about?

Question #4:

Would Linux run well with the proposed pieces of hardware? If not, propose alternatives at a reasonable cost.

----------

Thanks for your participation in making my dream of a good new workstation slowly come true.

Greetings and another time thanks in advance

chaosgeisterchen

[John.Michael.Kane]

You could have a chat with these guys about silent pc hardware http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/

They helped with the build I did. Which was a low budget non gaming rig

[chaosgeisterchen]

You have come around a lot in the internet it seems :)

Thanks for the link, I'll have a look.

[Henry Rayker]

To quiet the system, you'll first need to figure out which components are causing the most noise. A larger fan should be quieter while moving the same amount of air, due to the larger blade size allowing it to spin slower. Other suggestions are the ultra-quiet fans and the like you can get. Those are removable and can be used in your next system as well.

As for waiting for the quadcore parts, I'm personally waiting for AMD's true quad-core to make a decision. I have heard some really nice things about those, in terms of proposed performance.

[chaosgeisterchen]

As for waiting for the quadcore parts, I'm personally waiting for AMD's true quad-core to make a decision. I have heard some really nice things about those, in terms of proposed performance.

I will merely do desktop work. Is there any real need to buy Quadcore for that?

[adam.tropics]

I am not so sure about waiting. It seems a bit like a recipe for perpetual dissappointment, in that the next 'latest thing' is always just around the corner. If you need the system now, then now is the best time to build it...in my opinion.

[chaosgeisterchen]

I am not so sure about waiting. It seems a bit like a recipe for perpetual dissappointment, in that the next 'latest thing' is always just around the corner. If you need the system now, then now is the best time to build it...in my opinion.

I am in rather urgent need for it, that's true. I have my notebook, though, but I encountered problems with my workstation.

Since using Kubuntu Dapper it's becoming more and more edgy. Edgy itself managed to break my whole harddisk twice and the root partition now the twelvth time within less than three weeks. I have no idea about what to do next and I am now waiting long enough to fulfil my dream of a really performant system. I guess that Core2Duo will give me enough power to compute until we have reached infinity as it provides lots of power.

[adam.tropics]

You know, Linux in general doesn't need a major power house to run well. How you decide to go depends largely on what you intend to be doing. I can see your points with regards to Nvidea and I agree there. Western Digital have the Raptor drives, that do 10,000rpm, but I am not sure on pricing, you would have to look into that. Other than that, I am sure your budget is fine, although you didn't mention monitors, and that may add a bit to the mix. Anyway, good luck.

[chaosgeisterchen]

Thanks. Concerning peripherals I do not need anything, I have a rather decent display (19" TFT, will be some day replaced by some 20,1" widescreen TFT) and everything else I need.

I am merely in search of a new workstation.

Concerning what I am intending to do with it:
Mainly programming as I want to do that in future to earn my daily wage.

[Virogenesis]

slowest part of a computer is the hard drives, remember that if you really do want performance go for a 10k rpm with a 16mb cache, that should speed things up a. Maybe aim for 2gb of ram that way you won't need a swap.
Silenx do the best fans in terms of reducing noise, aim for 120mm fans slowy rpm but more air flow.

[slimdog360]

you could always spend a little bit more and go for water cooling in your system.
Personally though, I put my pc from next to my monitor on my desk to underneath in a cupboard type thingy which is built into the desk. I also cut the back out for airflow. This dramatically cut down the noise for me.

Maybe you could do something similar. If you dont have something like this on your desk maybe you could hunt around for a new one, or go and purchase an old small cupboard which can be modified.

[kylevan]

as others have said, big, slow-moving fans will help quiet things down a lot. I have a large zalmann cooler on a p4c which keeps temps well in check and is quiet.

for graphics, you might as well step to the current generation of video cards with an nVidia 7600GT.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17947&vpn=BFGR76256GTOCE&manufacture=BFG%20Technologies

That price is in Canadian dollars, so I'm guessing about 130 euros or so for the video card.

[Dual Cortex]

7600GT = 115USD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010380048&Submit=ENE&Subcategory=48&Description=7600gt&Ntk=all

E6300 = 180USD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005

Gigabyte 965P-S3 = 116USD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128017

Raptor X 150GB 10k RPM = 199USD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136011

Corsair 2GB DDR2-675 = $208USD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145015
_________________________
818USD = 639 Euros
(S&H fees not included)
With the S&H fees, price might reach the 700 Euros mark.
You still need to buy a case and a PSU (If it were me, I only spend about 55 Euros on both)

That machine would be a beast, specially when OC'ed.


DISCLAIMER
These are prices after rebates, I do not know of any good retailers in Europe nor if prices in Europe match with prices in US.

[mips]

How quite do you want it to be. You can even go completely fanless.

[chaosgeisterchen]

How quite do you want it to be. You can even go completely fanless.

20 decibel I assume.

@Dual Cortex: Very nice! I still need a guide how to build up a PC by oneself as I do not know that :(

[mips]

Here is what did.

Antec case:
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15139

Accoustic insulation material:
http://www.acoustiproducts.com/en/acoustipack_antec_sonata_2.asp

Gigabyte Silent Pipe GFX card:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Default.aspx
or one of the XFX fanless models
http://www.xfxforce.com/web/home.jspa
http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product/listConfigurationDetails.jspa?productConfiguration Id=638442

Basically pick the gfx card that suites your needs, they all have different silent models.

CPU Cooler:
Read up a bit. Go for one of those 120mm lowspeed fans+heatsink.

Cables: For the none SATA stuff like stiffy & cd/DVD rom use the rounded cables to improve airflow.

Case fans:
If you want to add a fan to the Antec case choose 120mm low speed.

Some additional reading:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/index.html

Hope this helps.

PS also read somewhere there are Seagate drives faster than the WD raptors in real world test, dunno how true this is. I have WD but not the raptors. Maybe check places like Toms Hardware for reviews/shoot-outs. the new Raptors should be plenty fine though.

[chaosgeisterchen]

Good morning,

I already obtained case (Antec) and cooler (Scythe Ninja) and am now looking for an appropiate motherboard for the Core2Duo E6300 I am about to purchase.

I would be grateful to get some suggestions, the motherboard needn't provide WiFi or graphics, as I already have both (D-Link DWL-G520+ wifi-card and MSI NV6200-128TDI passively cooled graphics card) at my disposal. It just needs to have nice onboard sound and decent performance and quality.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions I will read here in future.

~cg

// edit:

What about Hitachi HDDs? They were the only ones with attached max. noise level in the shop I looked after hard disks. 28dB/A would be the noise level. I am not a expert, how much is it, is it that noisy?

[mips]

Maybe have a look at Intel MBs.

I would stick with Seagte/WD hard drives regardless of noise. My data is more important than 1dB

[chaosgeisterchen]

Yeah, quality above sound is clear to me. So you can recommend Seagate/WD - HDDs for their quality?

Thanks for the suggestion concerning Intel, I will have a look.

[Dual Cortex]

Well, I had mentioned the:
Gigabyte 965P-S3 = 116USD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128017

Building your own computer with a C2D and not OCing is insane!
Ok, maybe not... don't want to offend anyone ;).

What's your budget for the mobo?
The only reason I mentioned this one is because you wanted a computer at around 700 Euros and this is recommended for its price and overclockability.

[mips]

So you can recommend Seagate/WD - HDDs for their quality?


yes, I would recommend them. For 2.5" laptop drives i would however recommend Hitachi travelstar.

[chaosgeisterchen]

Thanks for the opinion on the hard disks. What about their sound level, are there any documented facts?

@Dual Cortex:

Seems nice. I will run my C2D E6300 at the original clock of 1,86GHz to save power. I do not want my parents to have a insanely high bill.

I am keen on saving costs, yeah. 120 is the highest I can afford.

[mips]

Thanks for the opinion on the hard disks. What about their sound level, are there any documented facts?


Sorry, i don't know. you will have to check the specs on the website or read reviews at places like silentpc etc.

[chaosgeisterchen]

I did some research..

Seagate Barracuda 160 GB (Model Number: ST3160811AS).

Drive acoustics, sound power (bels)
Idle**
2.7 (typical)
2.8 (max)
Seek
2.9 (typical)
3.1 (max)

Maximum of 31 dB, which is quite okay, I assume.

// edit

Questions are going to get further. I still need a decent DVD/RW-drive. The Gigabyte-Mobo is nice but I would tend to have something a bit cheaper. If there isn't something cheaper at reasonable quality I will go for the Gigabyte, though. I will go for the Seagate hard disk then.

Concerning RAM I will use Corsair XMS2 DDR2-667, 1024 MB now and another 1024 next year. So the only open question is the DVD/RW-drive. Can you give me suggestions (as it should be rather silent)?

[tomcat1965]

I agree,I installed edgy on a custom built pc a friend was building for a customer with a Raptor drive,AMD Athlon x2,2GB ram and oh my god it runs like lightning,Open office up and running in about 3 seconds,files that open before you've got you're finger off the mouse button,applications open like they were just minimised in the tray.....bit over the top for me though,I like my old pc,it runs Edgy with Beryl and is plenty fast enough for me.:mrgreen:

[mips]

... I still need a decent DVD/RW-drive. The Gigabyte-Mobo is nice but I would tend to have something a bit cheaper. If there isn't something cheaper at reasonable quality I will go for the Gigabyte, though. I will go for the Seagate hard disk then.


Plextor drives are supposedly very good but a bit on the expensive side. i also don't know if they have issues with linux or not. I generally stick to drives that use a lite-on mechanism. Lots of companies use rebranded lite-on drives. My current Sony uses a Lite-On mechanism.
http://www.cdrom-guide.com/ do some reading and scan the forums, pick a drive and then check linux compatibility.


Have a look at gigabyte as they have a big variety of MB's to fit different budgets. Which model were you looking at ?

[chaosgeisterchen]

Good evening.

I was looking at one of the cheaper models (GA-965P-S3 S775 FSB1066 ATX P965) at 107 Euro but it still seems to be quite expensive. Well, real C2D-mainboard seem to be a bit costy at the moment, but I think I can afford that if there is no cheaper solution.

Concerning hard disk:

I made my choice and took the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (250 GB, 16MB cache, 31 dB max. noise level), internal model number ST3250820AS.

Concerning memory:

At last I took Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 RAM, one module with 1024MB, which will be doubled next year.

[chaosgeisterchen]

Sorry for the double posting, but I have some last questions:

At the moment I have the choice between two DVD/RW-drives, which are at low cost and avaialbe at my local retailer's.

Lite-On SHM-164P6S (http://www.liteonit.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=67)

LG GSA-H22N (http://de.lge.com/prodmodeldetail.do?actType=search&page=1&modelCategoryId=040204&categoryId=040204&parentId=0402&modelCodeDisplay=GSA-H22N&model=NOTHING#)

The LG seems to be technically better but I do not know about the Linux compability.

Secondly I have no idea about building up the pc by myself. Do you know any guides how to properly do it as I do not want to destroy my hardware at once?

Thanks in advance.

cg

[chaosgeisterchen]

Good evening,

I just wanted to tell you that my new machine is standing right beside my feet. I had troubles building it up, fastening the cooler was quite complicated so I had to repeat the whole assembling process three times, but in the end it's ready.

It's no louder than whispering, I do not even notice it when running.

The final setup following:

Case
Antec P150 (plus built-in 430W power suppy and 120mm case fan)
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-965P-S3
CPU + cooling
Intel Core2Duo E6300, 1.86 GHz
Scythe Ninja PLUS Rev. B
Memory
2x Corsair XMS2-6400 DDR2-800 1024MB
Graphics
MSI NX6200 128TDI
Harddisk
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 7200 rpm 16 MB cache
Optical devices
Lite-On SHM-164P6S
Networking
D-Link DWL-G520+ wireless NIC

It's done and I am kinda proud and satisfied. Thanks for all the help, this thread was more than just a bunch of recommondations mashed together, it was of real help.

Thanks once again, guys.

Regards

cg

[Frak]

Sorry for the double posting, but I have some last questions:

At the moment I have the choice between two DVD/RW-drives, which are at low cost and avaialbe at my local retailer's.

Lite-On SHM-164P6S (http://www.liteonit.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=67)

LG GSA-H22N (http://de.lge.com/prodmodeldetail.do?actType=search&page=1&modelCategoryId=040204&categoryId=040204&parentId=0402&modelCodeDisplay=GSA-H22N&model=NOTHING#)

The LG seems to be technically better but I do not know about the Linux compability.

Secondly I have no idea about building up the pc by myself. Do you know any guides how to properly do it as I do not want to destroy my hardware at once?

Thanks in advance.

cg
I've had some problems with LG, but all Lite-On's are supported out of the box.

[chaosgeisterchen]

I've had some problems with LG, but all Lite-On's are supported out of the box.

Guess why I went for the LiteOn. It's solid quality but it's very noisy - so I avoid to use it more often than necessary.

[Frak]

Guess why I went for the LiteOn. It's solid quality but it's very noisy - so I avoid to use it more often than necessary.
True, mine sounds like its about to take-off at high altitude in no time flat.

[slimdog360]

I dont know if its already been mentioned (Im to lazy to read all the posts) but Ive found that putting the computer in a different spot can really effect the noise. I moved mine from right next to the montior to under the desk in a cupboard type thing. But it took some modding of the desk to make it fit. Glad I done it though, the noise was cut significantly.