Silence

[Josh M.]

Alright, Im looking to build a powerful but near silent desktop. I will be using it for gaming, and money isnt really an issue. Can you guys give me some ideas on componets...my only preferences are the Antec P-160 and a AMD 64 CPU, and I already have RAM and GFX card.

[Yawgm0th]

Take a look at this thread:

http://forums.tweaktown.com/viewtopic.php?t=18273

We designed a system there based on a $4000 budget, so that should be good for you. You should use the hardware there, but you might want to change some of the cooling to make it quieter.

[Josh M.]

Well I was thinking of the Antec 550W, but I was wondering if more power equaled more noise

[Darthtanion]

Usually not, but if you are creating a performance rig (sounds like it), I would go with the Thermaltake 480w Butterfly model. I've tested the Antec brand and many others and that Tt unit has given me the most consistant and stable power levels to date across every voltage rail.

[Yawgm0th]

Yeah, the Thermaltake is good. But you are probably going to want at least 550W with a system as powerful as this.

[Darthtanion]

I would challenge you to build a system using currently available components that will break any decent PSU rated at 450 or above. Even servers running RAID won't kill it. The 480 will do fine, even for a performance system. ;)

[Yawgm0th]

Probably, but I like overkill. :D
Besides, did you look at that system? It might come close. Well, probably not. But still

And I could easily make a server that could top that. Dual Opterons and sixteen gigabytes of RAM along with a good eight or so SCSI drives in RAID would be a start. :D

[Josh M.]

Would the Tt be just as quiet as the Antec?

[Darthtanion]

Both offer manual fan speed adjustments so the noise levels will be whatever you want them to be.