Choosing a computer

[gagquin]

Hi Friends !

I need you to help me choosing my new machine.

My main concern is the noise because I can´t stand the bloody noise of my cpu . So I decided to research for more silent systems.

So far I´ve put my research into 3 categories :

Mac Mini :

APPLE MB139LL / A - MAC MINI - INTEL® CORE 2 DUO

It´s like a dream for me. But, even though not being a game player I wouldn´t expect

less than a 128 mb graphic card not shared memory. Also upgrades can be limited.

Notebooks:

The ideal silent computer in my opinion. But to reach the same performances of a cpu

it would cost me tree times as much as I can afford to.

Building my

own Desktop:

A 3rd option was to find silent hardwares and build my own machine, less noisy but allowing

better upgrades in the future.

my present configuration for this machine :

- Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 Ghz 1.333 mhz 4 mb cache LGA 775

- motherboard Asus P5K De Luxe WiFi

- graphic card Zogis GeForce 8500 GT 256mb

- Sound Blaster XFI

So I decided to ask your help because of the so many considerations one has to do when buying a machine. In the course of my researches I´ve found this interesting Silent pc site that you may find useful. Also there is this great post http://www.nsaneforums.com/index.php?showtopic=8976 by Zeus, that I´ll give it a try .

so, please tell me your opinion and suggestions once you´ve ever been fed up with cpus noises .

I´d appreciate a lot , thanks.

[Lite]

If its something you don't want to move about a desktop PC is the way to go. You can get almost silent fans or even invest in water cooling. You get much more for your money in the desktop PC market.

[Samurai]

I'd also recommend building your own, should you feel capable of doing so. There really is nothing better than seeing your work of art come together exactly how you want it to. There's also the benefit of only purchasing parts when you have the money, so if you can't afford the CPU one month, then next month will still come around.

Depending on how quiet you want your rig to be, there is always water cooling as Lite mentioned above. It's a little more expensive than normal cooling methods but pricing has dropped significantly so is always worth thinking about. Many PSU's are also going the silent route.

If you do decide to go down this road, I would love to see images if/when you do decide to do this.

[Bolt_Gundam510]

yea water colling systems are getting cheaper but they don't keep your computer that cool oh they do better than other fans that i do know of, i was reading something the name of a good cooling fan that fits right ontop of the heating elements i think is called artic blast. i do know they said that it's the top of the line cooling fan ever made i do know that much.

[dock98]

yea water colling systems are getting cheaper but they don't keep your computer that cool oh they do better than other fans that i do know of, i was reading something the name of a good cooling fan that fits right ontop of the heating elements i think is called artic blast. i do know they said that it's the top of the line cooling fan ever made i do know that much.

i have one of these. i purchased it because my machine was running hot(living in the desert).it reduced the temerature to where i was not getting any more warnings.

i also purchase many other items, for building my computers, from them..they do not ship outside of usa though.

(newegg)Website

[3NIGM4]

Yeah newegg is the best online computer part dealer for USA, if you live in Canada Gagquin i suggest you use tigerdirect.ca, the best online dealer for Canada.

Also take note that making your computer fan less noisy may let you hear other computer noise ie: poor sound cards noise, HD seeking, dvd spinning. At least fans have steady sounds unlike the others.

[dock98]

you never mentioned how much ram you had or wanted. ram is a very cheap upgrade if u get your noise straightened out.

[gagquin]

Let me tell you what I've been doing.

after all the information and advice I got - thank you for you help -I decided not to build my own machine for a while.

Things are changing very fast and it seems to me it's worth awaiting some time in order to see what's coming in the

near future.

I had two more options, so I went shopping. MacMini or Notebook ? It was difficult for me to decide but in the end I got

a HP Pavilion dv2240 intel duo core 1.73 Ghz windows vista basic. Nice to the eyes but after two days I brought it back to

the store. There couldn't be slower machine ! You probably know this, but I didn't - Windows Vista has a hardware analyzer

that gives them notes and decides that the general level of that machine is regulated by the hardware with lower note. So,

the general level of HP Pavilion dv2240 is 2.0, due to the video card Intel GMA 950. But the processor got 4.9 note in the

same analazing process. i.e. forced to work with 40% of its capacity !!! I may be mistaken, which is not difficult but for me

they transformed an Intel core duo 1.73 into a Celeron 700 with no Core at all !!! Maybe they wanted to prove to be possible

running windows vista on a Celeron 700 ! Which they didn't, 'cause I've never seen a slower machine.

I changed this machine by a macMini 1.83 and a LCD monitor ! and 1gb DDR2 666 memory with 2gb upgrade. I'm very happy !

The difference of noise between my pc and the mac is amazing! So I could solve my main problem for now , with a nice

machine , having contact with OS Tiger and I can wait a litle more to build better a new one !

Of course I will learn as well the problems that macusers have been facing.

Right now I'm concerned with connecting the two machines via USB. I found a mac to pc USB USB

Networking cable but it is expensive here - 100 bucks ! Do you know any other way of doing this connection ?

[JunkInternetMail]

CROSSOVER LAN CABLE works in MACS and PCs. Should be about $10.00.