Building a new, quiet PC

[enthusiast1917]

Hey guys, in building a new PC, and here are the parts ive chosen so far

CPU: Q6600
MOBO : Asus P5K
RAM : 4gb (2x2gb) supertalent
GFX: Leadtek 8800gt 512mb
Sound card : Audigy 2 ZS 5.1
HDD: WD 500GB
O/S: Win XP pro 64bit
PSU: Zippy 500W

Not really into overclocking, but I may overclock the q6600 to 3ghz later on.
stumped about my case decision, but im thinking of getting an antec p180, i want a really quiet case so i can leave the pc on overnight (my pc is in my bedroom). Any suggestions/changes to my setup? I'm also open to tips/tricks/things i can do to quieten my rig down. Many thanks.

 

[Poemaster]

one of the great advantages to the Q6600 is the awesome overclockability you cant get speeds you would normally have to spend hundreds to get stock. for example my Q6600 went to 3.6Ghz on air with ease been running cool and stable I highly suggest overclocking the Q6600 a lil (hah also make sure you get the g0 stepping)

 

[Vaanish]

Change the Hard drive to a Samsung 500GB

Get XP Pro 32bit instead

Get a PC Power and Cooling 610 W PSU.

Yes, the P182 is an excellent choice for a quiet case.

 

[enthusiast1917]

to poemaster
haha thanks for that bit of advice, could i ask what 'gostepping' is, and if my rig above will support such a thing?

to vaanish
thanks for ur response, in fact, i have a 160gig samsung hdd at the moment, and i chose western digital as i wanted to try another brand. why would you recommend samsung over WD?
i was planning on getting windows 64bit so it could support all my 4gigs of ram, could there be major problems with xp 64bit that i should be aware about?
ill look into the psu you have suggested, it sounds like an excellent option for my needs. thanks!.

 

[Oreo]

geta seagate 32mb cahce 750GB hard drive there good.

Nice build, and yes you can easily get your Q6600 up to 3.5Ghz +. Make sure you get atleast PC-6400 ram or 800Mhz + frequency. PC-8000 is reccomended. You will want some good air cooling, try and get either a Artic Freezer 7 Pro, Tuniq Tower 120, Thermaltake Big Typhoon VX (people say its rubbish but on many charts it does have the superior cooling)

 

[enthusiast1917]

to KMAN

great advice, i think 750gb is out of my budget though , im barely scraping along as it is haha
for the air cooling, i was planning on using my stock cooler for now, after i get some more $$ and decide to squeeze more life out of my CPU thru overclocking ill get one of those coolers you mentioned above
the supertalent ram im getting are pc 6400, 800mhz, i hope they suffice. i was originally planning on getting the corsair brand, but super talent are much cheaper, and the specs are the same. thanks!

 

[Vaanish]

Well if you want it to be a quiet system, then I would strongly advise against the stock cooler. If you use that, it would have to be pretty loud to keep the Q6600 running cool.

 

[enthusiast1917]

good point. would be a wise investment as it will serve a double purpose, to cool my cpu for when i overclock, and to keep my pc quiet. cheers

 

[gurusan]

If you want to overclock the quad to 3+ghz and still have a quiet system then the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme is really your only option short of going for watercooling.

Even the g0 quads make a fair amount of heat, so any cooler will be working hard to keep it cool.

 

[enthusiast1917]

to gurusan

is the thermalright ultra 120 extreme the one without the fan? because i did a quick search of that at my local pc hardware website and it comes up as a cooler without a fan. cheers