Which would you buy in a Thinkstation?

[HarryWild]

I looking at a new PC.

My current PC is a ThinkCentre 58P with a E8400 inside and full loaded: 8GB RAM, Radeon 6570 and Samsung 840 Pro SSD. I will be moving this and assigning it to be my home theater PC.

So I have come up with a couple of choices for my next PC and moving to the Thinkstation line of PCs:

1. C30 with e5-2609v2 inside
2. D30 with e5-2609v2 inside - big tower
3. P300 with a core 17 - 4790 inside or Xeon E3 equivalent
4. P300 SFF with a 4790 inside or Xeon E3 equivalent

I trying to find out which is "the quietest" of the above and which you think is a better deal and why?
*I am not sure if the e5 2600 v2 family can be upgrade to the e5 2600 v3 processors. Are the sockets compatiable?

Just looking for some feedback on my choices.

I know you probably want to know what I going to be doing with this PC. I basically going to be using it for internet - Youtube, Netflix, general surfing, "no" heavy graphics like gaming yet; or video editing; but I might want to later on.

I am trending towards a C30 however since it has 800 watt PS; lots of expansion options including PCIe X 4! But kind of big still.

 

[goombawaho]

I'm not sure why you're looking at noise vs. performance as the highest priority, but realize that you can fix a noisy PC by replacing the CPU fan and the case fan(s) with quieter ones and those are the main sources of noise from a PC, followed by the power supply which can also be replaced.

I don't know of any way to get a noise measurement off PCs as it's not a spec that is advertised.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[vacunita]

I'd have to agree with Goomb.

Go for the higher specs you can afford, and worry about the noise level afterwards.

There are many ways to keep the noise down on a PC which mostly comes from the fans. You can replace the fans with liquid cooling systems, or replace the PSU for a fan-less or silent one, if required. Also with SSd's even the low mechanical whirring of drives is a thing of the past.

Your loudest component outside of the fans is going to be the optical drive and even then its pretty low key.

So really sacrificing processor speed for noise level is not a good idea.



----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Web & Tech

 

[HarryWild]

Hi Goombawaha,

The reason for quiet is that I spend most of the reading stuff and do not like to be continuous hearing hit pitch noise while the PC is on. Sometime when I leave the AC off the PC step it up in noise that I open the cover to low it and the pitch to a medium tone. So that is the reason for quiet being number one priority!

 

[rclarke250]

If quiet is an issue, why are you looking at a Lenovo? They have to be some of the loudest machines made today. Once they are running they are ok, but upon startup, they sound like a jet getting ready for takeoff. This is because it spins up all fans in the system to max rpm, then quiets down once windows takes over, this will only be more evident in the workstation models over the home desktop models. They also tend to use a external thermal couple to detect ambient temperature in the case, it can go bad, or get dust build up on it, making it misread, and then the fans are on full bore, with no control. You haven't said what you use the computer for, if it is mainly reading documents, and email, web browsing and the like, opt for a book pc, as they usually have no fans, or only 1 really small one, but as stated you will be sacrificing a lot of horsepower, so if you do any kind of number crunching, or media manipulation, opt for a larger pc but look to the boutiques that can build a "quiet or silent" computer, it will cost more, but then special always does. Another option is to get a laptop, and a docking station to utilize it as a desktop, and still have the option to take it with you if you wanted to. Some of the newer I-7 laptops are very fast and act almost as a desktop would for most tasks.

 

[goombawaho]

I suppose the OP would have to state what he thinks is noisy, as in decibels, to get an understanding of what they think is "too loud". For sure, you're not going to find a decibel rating on general PCs (Dell, HP, Lenovo), but the individual components (case fans, cpu fans, power supplies) are going to give you ratings. That's why I suggested replacing parts after purchasing, but............. your going to spend more money and throw out new parts.

Maybe time to build your own machine OR buy one of these fanless types.
Link

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[HarryWild]

Okay, maybe I am to sensitive!

I may just wait a couple of years for the Boardwell M Core III to come out and it should be in desktop by then. But I kind of got computer fever right now and want to buy something! LOL! If I can hold off until Intel release it Boardwell-DT with the Iris Pro inside and six month later then will come out with SkyLake Processor which is a completely different setup which is suppose to be 75% faster and use less heat too! But I settle on buying the current Thinkstations P300 now price at $2,000; for $700 new when these new processor are release in the new Thinkstations. I don't want state of the art but I usually buy previous generation top of the line models. But Intel been super slow to releasing the desktop CPUs.

Okay, you guys talk me out of the sound level as top priority! I just go back to looks and speed! LOL! Thanks for all the replies!

 

[goombawaho]

Okay, maybe I am to sensitive!

That's NOT what I was trying to say, but it's also possible that you are. I actually LIKE the hum of my case fans. It's soothing to me.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[HarryWild]

Quote: I actually LIKE the hum of my case fans.

LOL!

 

[HarryWild]

Well, I ran a driver detective program online and went about trying to get the drivers one by one instead of paying $30; it took me about 5 hours to track down most of the drivers that Lenovo, Microsoft and Intel automatic updates somehow missed. It like 20 drivers that are kind of mysterious and you have to do some detective work to find them. Search only gets you to the general location of where it might be; but everything is tied to Intel and some to Microsoft other then the specific AMD Radeon R6570 video drivers! The AMD update driver ulility somehow missed the important update for this card. Now it rocks!

It vastly improve my ThinkCentre; everything improved! Videos on Youtube! run so clear and images are super sharp. My IE browser no longer is slow and laggie but it just pops! It like instantaneous! I am so happen now; that I will retain the info on Thinkstations and when Skylake come in the marketplace; my Thinkstation will be even cheaper; less competition too so I get it for even cheaper and with best top of the line models too! Sure it will be more obsolute then now; but I will just update all the drivers for my new - old Thinkstation and maybe paid for it this time around. LOL!

It been a lot of eye opening in improving my 58P! Have a great year! I sure I going too!

 

[goombawaho]

Well, I ran a driver detective program online and went about trying to get the drivers one by one instead of paying $30

Three comments:
1. You don't pay for updates EVER. You download them from Microsoft, the hardware manufacturer and/or the OEM web site.
2. Very dangerous to download some of those driver "detectives/identifiers/installers". Some of them are surely malware.
3. I'm having a hard time believing that driver updates, no matter what the source, are going to make more than a 5% improvement in your performance. But certainly not from blah to WOW.

Are you fooling around here or what?

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[HarryWild]

Works for me! I made the purchase on another driver finder program that I like more and I done already all my PCs except my brand new notebook!
Everything seem to be working "great"! It save me a lot of time since it only took about 10 minutes a computer instead of 5 or 6 hours!

You do it your way; and I will do it the fun and easy way! For $23 and it works on unlimited numbers that I know of at least 4! It a super bargain!

 

[goombawaho]

Why don't you provide the exact product for our scrutiny and enlightenment. It wouldn't take me more than 20 minutes per computer without the little helper.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[goombawaho]

Bottom line - whatever you choose, if you buy something: Make a backup and test it with a blank hard drive or can't have much confidence in A) how to do it when crunch time arrives and B) the validity of your backup.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[HarryWild]

After a few days with my P300 SFF with a i7 4790, 16GB and Intel 180 SSD; it was well worth the upgrade from my 58P. Not only is it quieter but is faster in webpage rendering; many are instantaneous now. With my 58P with Samsung 830 SSD and 8GB of RAM it was fast but there was a lag on some websites of 1/2 second which is a long time for me now! LOL! Plus, it looks nicer too! I now shopping for a 4K monitor and use the displayport 1.2 integrated Intel HD 4600 GPU. Of course Windows 8.1 Pro is much faster the Windows 7 Ultimate Pro; so that might account for the speed increase too!