Building New Computer

[InFloW]

I'm really looking for advice on this one I can't really be bothered waiting for the newer AMD or Intel CPU's coming out in a few months thats just too far from now.

Right now I'm on the following
Athlon XP 2500+ OC'ed to 3200+
512mb ram
80GB PATA
x800 xt pe


Here's what I'm looking to Build (Note I'm from Canada so CDN prices) I'm also avoiding parting out things like my CD drives and what not if you're wondering why I got them listed


AMD® Opteron™ Dual Core 165 (Socket 939) [CDBOX] E6 Revision Retail Box w/ Heatsink and Fan $394.99
OCZ 2Gb PC3200 DDR EL Dual Channel Platinum XTC Edition (OCZP4002GK) $279.99
BFG Tech GeForce™ 7900 GT OC™ - GeForce™ 7900 GPU w/256Mb GDDR3 & PCI Express x16 Retail Box $399.99
250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATAII-300 7200RPM 16Mb OEM $119.99
Sony 16X DVD-ROM Drive OEM $24.99

Now here's where it gets tough I've been back and forth on whether or not to go SFF or not. My system right now is in a Xaser II case which is pretty big and somewhat loud so that is a big reason I was looking SFF. Although I hear the newer AMD's Cool N Quiet is pretty nice to keep things not as loud when the computer isnt doing much of anything.

So I'll first do the SFF config
Shuttle® SN25P Athlon64™ Socket 939 Barebones System, Black $459.99

The real downsides I see is the onboard sound basically. I've read about peopel OCing in this case with the Opteron 165 so I'm not to worried about doing that myself as well.

Or I could go the way of a normal case+psu+mobo

Asus® A8N-SLi, Socket 939, NVIDIA® nForce™4 SLi Chipset w/ PCI Express x16 (ATX)$124.99

I'm going with the asus board since thats the brand I used for my current computer. Although I'm open to suggestions

Now I'm totally unsure on the type of case+psu I should be looking at. I'd love to see some nice cooling but I don't want to go overboard and have it being Super Loud either. I also don't want to be spending some ridiculous amount on the case either just have the mobo+pus+case comparable price to the shuttle or less be nice since then I could probably get away with getting a soundblaster x-fi card along with the other parts.

For anyone who is curious I've been specing the parts from http://www.pccanada.com I've purchased from them in the past so I used their site for reference.

Soo comments and suggestions will be much appreciated.

 

[hegulator]

Going SFF just for noise reduction doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. If you're looking for quiet, just get a case that's not a rattle cage and some decent fans (120mm preferably). If you're super worried about noise, I think vantec sells some gaskets for your fans and PSU's to keep them from rattling against your case.

Plus a SFF will generally run hotter, giving you less OCing room without cranking up the air flow, which leads to more noise.

The bigger the tower you get, the bigger fans you can put in, and the less of them you'll need. So if you really want quiet, i'd say get a nice, big case that has 120mm's for intake and exhaust and you'll be good to go.

Hope that helps.

 

[jcll2002]

oh, its canadian prices. thank god

 

[InFloW]

Quiet isn't entirely what I'm going for I think at least in my opinion my xaser II case is just a giant. I'm just wondering if I don't go with the SFF way is there a reasonbly sized case so maybe not as small as a SFF but not crazy size like my current case. So maybe some inbetween that doesn't make a ton of noise. I was looking at the Antec P160W or maybe the Antec Super Lanboy although they don't look to small persay they are much more reasonable and from what I've read quiet compared to what I got right now.