Pondering what if anything to do with my pc.

bass_junkie83

bass_junkie83

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I love my pc, it's quick enough for most things and doesn't let me down. But every now and again there are a couple of things about it that I hate which get me thinking about possible changes, though I'm no computer expert so that's where I normally stop.

The things I hate size and noise.

I am running two quad core xeon 5400 processors. I don't know how these compare to current offerings, it's always seemed fast enough. But this is where the issue of noise comes in.
I am using the stock heatsinks which each have a 60mm fan iirc, which is the source of all of my fans, they are bloomin loud! But from what I can see, the 771 socket is not particuarly common so there is not much in the way of alternative cooling available. Those that I have seen tend to be a much bigger heatsink, but still with a teenie weenie fan.

I have been told in the past by the guy who built my computer that passive heatsinks and relying on the case fans wont be a good idea.

That brings me neatly onto the size issue. The motherboard I am using is a supermicro X7DBN, an extended ATX board, hence my case is mahoosive.
But again, due to the socket type it seems that regular ATX boards are not really available. And the other slight awkwardness is that the board only has x4 and x8 PCI slots, so getting a decent graphics card is tricky.

Everything seems to point towards a new mobo and processor(s). So what is out there that would give me similar performance, and what's it likely to cost? I don't have a budget set for this, more testing the water to see if it is going to be feasible.

Alternatively, any ideas on the noise side of things? If I could quieten it down, then I could learn to love Big Bertha's size.
This is a newer version of my case, but it's virtually the same. Lot's of nice big fans so really quiet when the cpu fans are unplugged!
http://www.ebuyer.com/222943-coolermaster-haf-x-hgh-airflow-full-tower-rc-942-kkn1
 
So a single i7 and a new mobo will improve on what I've got and be considerably smaller?
Hmm, I shall have to have a look around and see what's available.

Do motherboards matter much? My untrained eyes sees them as just the method of connecting all the important bits together, but I assume there is more to it than that?
 
From what you are saying about atx boards not readily available- getting a graphics tricky so forth and so on maybe it would be more economical to think about getting a new computer against trying to upgrade/alter your existing one.
 
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bass_junkie83 said:
So a single i7 and a new mobo will improve on what I've got and be considerably smaller?
Hmm, I shall have to have a look around and see what's available.

Do motherboards matter much? My untrained eyes sees them as just the method of connecting all the important bits together, but I assume there is more to it than that?
Click to expand...

you could run an i7 ITX board if you really wanted to go small :D

youd have much more options with coolers on the newer boards, as im sure you found a lot of socket 771 coolers have been discontinued.

regarding which motherboards, depends what you want it to do.. Z87 chipsets will let you overclock (with the correct K suffix CPU) etc.
 
If you look at just coolers, you can fit larger fans (may require adaptors). Alternatively, look at water cooling and similar.
 
i dont think the stock intel HSF can be adapted. w/c on this would be a total waste of time and money in my opinion just to solve a noise issue. plus again youre probably going to have issues sourcing water blocks for 771 socket.
 
Larger fans are a no go, adaptors would clash as the two processors are so close together, and as Neil says finding anything in that fitment is hard.

I think I'm going to have to put up for now and start squirreling some cash away for the day when it all gets too much. :lol:

Looking around, the i7 4770 seems like a good bet and should be able to get that and a mobo for around £400. Otherwise, just need a new case and maybe even treat myself to more ram.
 
if youre on a budget for the moment maybe just try replacing the case fans for better items, if the case is cooler the CPUs may run a little cooler so the intel fans generate less noise etc.

have a look at nocuta fans, theyre my choice at the moment.
 
bass_junkie83 said:
So a single i7 and a new mobo will improve on what I've got and be considerably smaller?
Click to expand...

I've got an i7-2600K (21 months old) and a dual E5420 system (quite a lot older). The i7 is a bit faster overall. The dual xeon system is quieter, but I suspect that's because it's a Dell and they tend to make a bit of an effort with reducing noise (IIRC the CPU coolers do not have fans on them, but the air is ducted in the case so the big, slowly turning exhaust fan draws air through them). The i7 was built with bits from Novatech and from memory the CPU cooler is standard and there's no clever ducting - I was in a hurry and I needed to buy bits that I could get over the counter to make something work straight.

If you went for a newer i7 than I'm running you could probably see a fair improvement in speed and have a good choice of coolers if fan noise is an important factor.
 
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