Introduction

As in almost all aspects of computing you have spoilt for choice as consumers also looking after a matching complete computer. Discount stores offer PCs dumping, specialist stores advertise with sonorous compilations and the online set of computers of different performance and price categories seems unmanageable. And despite intense preparation and employment with the material one chooses finally completely overwhelmed often a compromise calculator, which is able to meet the own requirements but not completely the bottom line. For the first time, the evil awakening comes then mostly: the PC turns out to be as loud Rumpelkiste, or low-quality components that maximum were to be found in the glossy brochures in a small, slow the performance of the overall design and otherwise the Pyrrhic computing servant would not like to really.

Who wants to escape this poverty, creates mostly even hand or commissioned, if this is not in question, an experienced professional as the Oldenburg company better quietly. Computer base tested a complete PC of’s small forge end 2005 already and attested the company consistently positive. To please powerful, harmoniously adapted and especially super quiet – so knew of the PC. Today a Besser-Leise PC focus to stand with the Intel Ultimo again, declared on the basis of its performance data as luxury and gaming PC. The well-known ergonomically, we test the flagship of the company.

Scope of delivery

The enormously heavy with 24 kilograms Ultimo is packaged safely by GLS up to the door delivered. Partnership work with the further transport to the place of destination is advisable due to the weight and size. Please find all descriptions and guides of installed items and all driver CD and tools, you would have received also on the acquisition of the individual components. In addition, there are two DVI adapter, a USB extension cable to use the installed card reader module on other hosts and two cold device power cord as well as the IR remote control including matching batteries, which can conveniently control the PC.

PC configuration

BESSER-Leise-PC comes ready to use. The below proposed compilation proposal is considered and can be adapted by arrangement with the Oldenburg company in detail to the own wishes and ideas – this is for the hardware, as well as for the corresponding range of the software or the operating system. In our case, we have a clean Windows XP installation. Apropos clean: As quite properly and conscientiously also the cabling and the installation of the insulation material can be described in addition to the development of the components.

Components are briefly presented

The better quietly Intel Ultimo wraps suitably stylish aluminium. The used housing, the Silverstone TJ07, offers with its lush dimensions (220 x 560 x 565 mm (W, H, T)) plenty of room for the integrated hardware, an excellent level of quality and represents an excellent platform for a good, quiet air cooling of the components thanks to the numerous 120 mm ventilation options. It has amenities a Mainboardschlittens, thumb screw closures and a double power supply consumption. Two separate component chambers provide optimized structure and thermal. Seven 5.25 “drive bays (externally and internally) are available, where at the end of the period already all with appropriate components (two disks, two burner, a time floppy, a card reader, a multi media display) fitted and therefore limit extension wishes.”

The front is whether the material and Farbmixes of many different components despite careful vote slightly fissured. The built-in two-line M-play display of VL system shows at most. Both hardware and software system information, and any created logos can be displayed with this multimedia Kit. Thanks to remote control the PC with its multimedia programs can be controlled (iTunes, Media Player, Windows Media Center etc. are supported pre-programmed) comfortably as a HTPC from your sofa. The integrated 50-in-1-ICY-box-card reader, which is also to take out and use externally via USB port, is also a functional interface for all possible external flash media.

Infrastructure based on the Intel represents the ASUS P5WDG2 WS professional Ultimo. The motherboard with Intel’s still-current high-end chipset i975X provides superior stability and performance, as well as an excellent equipment sets (dual-PCI-Express, 800/1066 MHz FSB, extensive Übertaktungsoptionen and many more). In addition, has the Board despite the brisk chipset voltage transformer cooler a purely passive cooling layout including and is therefore predestined for use in a quiet luxury PC.

As a driving force behind Intel’s core 2 built better quietly duo X 6800 with 2.93 double Gigahertz, 1066 MHz Frontsidebus and four MB of L2 cache. The CPU spearheading the current desktop processor number of semiconductor riesens in terms of speed and should be accordingly no wishes open. However, the purchase price of this extremes processor is enormously high, which is obviously affecting the total cost of the system. Here one should move when available, as soon as possible on the coming E6850, whose performance is similar when a quarter of the price.

By default, when memory, the Oldenburg company relies on a two-gigabyte kit of Kingston hyper-X-series. The 800-MHz-DDR2 modules equipped with blue Heatspreaders listen to the numbers KHX6400D2LL and provide the Serienspezifikationen with CL4-4-4-12. From case to case, these two gigabytes are likely to be somewhat limited – scaling up to four gigabytes of memory are required for a computer of this claim actually.

For the 3D-Zauber, a graphics card of the hotel provides the Gainward GeForce 8800 GTS (computer base test). The card with 640 MB GDDR3 (800 MHz memory and 500 MHz core clock), it is sufficient the current pixel and Vertexshader-4.0 specifications, a very good and quiet series cooling and sufficient power reserves features for playing current and future titles. For the a or it could be others but still somewhat too tame. SLI retrofitting is feasible due to the Mainboardoptionen possible, in the context of the temperature and volume claims but practically difficult.

The sound must you be satisfied with the performance of onboard, but gets with the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme music very good PCI Board for the clear, audiophile 24-bit sound in the game, film or music in the House. Unfortunately detriment the diversity of the connection, so that among other things, the front connectors on the body does not have the creative card are controlled can. Computer base already extensively tested the card which is why we want to refer to the report at this point.

The other components you see with the better quietly Intel Ultimo twice: two 500-Watt power supplies surprising at first glance, appear but not unclever at closer consideration. The two models (S12-500 SS-500HT) by the specialist for quiet power supplies from SEASONIC together have a kilowatt performance and so eerie headroom for future upgrades. This, they have a significantly higher efficiency than the individual models in this class, so release less heat and act as a whole significantly quieter. Since the enclosure also supports the use of two power supplies, so there are no problems in this respect. The configuration is designed so that a power supply works as electricity supplier for the graphics card, while the other power supply feeds the other components.

With the optical drives one focuses on models of Sony NEC Optiarc. Here it has become quietly at better, instead of setting the standard combination of a DVD-RW and a DVD-R on two identical burner. Thus, it loses some special read drives read features while in individual cases, has but overall installed two potent read and write media due to the small price difference. This allow the models used for current series writing speed (manufacturer link for further specification collection), are connected via SATA and work fairly quietly.

Final still storage space should be mentioned: two silent 500-gigabyte-Samsung SpinPoint SATA-II hard drives combine up to one terabyte and thus keep sufficient disk volume for each type of data. Are as RAID 0 array are configured, what the speed of the entire system comes to very good.

Component cooling

For some users can be the terms quiet, powerful and well chilled with a conventional air cooling. That it is yet, would like to demonstrate better quietly with his PC and manufactures the picking machines mostly on air cooling base. The used Silverstonegehäuse TJ07 offers in addition to its lush dimensions certain facilities.

First of all, it has two relatively well separate chambers: the lower of the two power supplies including their unused harnesses and upper for the other hardware. So are both areas regarding the flow of air, barely in contact, so that no additional cooling effect, as we know it from the standard ATX cases her, can be expected by the power supply air. This eliminates the thermal additional load for the temperature-controlled power supply fan, in this way so that fresh air ansaugend by the lattice structure of the side walls, absolutely safe temperature with low-speed (~ 900 RPM) can operate.

In the upper Chamber, the air flow along the ordinary temperature gradients is pulled Meanwhile absolutely consistently with built-up fan technology. On the back, verzichtend optional 92-mm fan coachroof of the case, two ausblasende Scythe-SFLEX-120-mm fan at constant 850 RPM Potter under the also partially perforated cover A third was kept safely via cable tie the CPU cooler, while the last fan in the system to the large series of GeForce 8800 GTS graphics card cooler cooler unit is of 70-mm radial type and workload referred to in the test with about 1420 until 1660 RPM works.

The ASUS motherboard is cooled passively by default and has a spur connected by heat-pipe to the VTS in addition to the chip set block. On the CPU, the Thermalright considered already of computer base in individual tests is Ultra 120 used. The Beary hybrid Tower cooler of the far eastern stainless radiator forge is mounted verschraubend – an important aspect of safety by shipping PC, which disqualified the other potential candidates of à la Scythe infinity with its push-pin methodologies. Final even be mentioned installed hard drives in the 5, 25 inch shaft, whose mounting each realized over Zalmans HDD heatpipe ZM-2HC2. The popular Zalman unit belongs but despite the lush heatpipe use rather to the noise abatement, because the really effective cooling elements of the PC.

Temperature measurements

First, we give an overview of the temperature conditions in the Interior on the basis of the surface temperatures measured with an infrared thermometer of better quietly Ultimo after fünfstündigem 3DMark05-Dauerlastbetrieb. The maximum values of the corresponding zones have been documented by us in the following graphic. The room temperature was 22 ° C during the tests consistently.

Therefore, special hot-spots on the Grafikkarten-and the Mainboardoberfläche can be identified. Specifically the passively cooled, hardly in draught chipset penetrates already with just under 60 ° C in considerable areas. Because of the expanded, until about the converters passive heatpipe cooler creates little workaround. Also the Kingston-DDR2 memory is relatively warm despite moderate clock rates, while other important components such as processor, hard drives and power supplies reach at least superficially maximum body temperature.

Parallel to this representation of interest and of course still the internal measurement diodes of various components, which were read out and recorded during the above mode ‘ with the extensive diagnostics and benchmark tool Everest.

Overall, you can the better quietly Ultimo award a good component cooling. For a quiet, insulation mats covered PC based air cooling, the sensitive hardware remains consistently in the reasonable, reserve-based. A good cables, which does not impede the air flow, a generous case with many possibilities and the partial perforated sheet metal equipment, as well as the handle to the appropriate active and passive cooling elements are the key to success.

Volume sensation

The acoustics of the total construction is one of the domain of the Besser-Leise computer company philosophy according to. The Intel it has basically not simply Ultimo as a powerful symbol of the company, finally the installed components are sometimes considered very hungry for power and strong heat produzierend, so that described the use of the fan may be not too short. Accordingly, a nearly silent configuration is hardly to be expected.

Nevertheless it has made it so harmoniously to choose the eight rotating components (six fans and two disks) and match that the Ultimo is able to attract through the fan and occasionally delicate scratching when accessing the hard disk during operation not unpleasant attention background sums up to a gentle and can be described as absolute quiet. Especially the three Scythe S-FLEX-SFF21D-120-mm fan known as silent guarantor of better quietly as housing and CPU fan installed, impressive work almost output without hardly any handling noise and constant exerting minimum (~ 850 RPM).

It is somewhat surprising that better quietly at the cooler the Gainward model leaves and replaced not by a more efficient Retailpendant. After all some there – was just the series cooling of the pixel accelerator in the past sometimes the optimization potential with regard to volume and cooling performance seemed sometimes huge. As already in the individual tests to the GeForce 8800 GTS emerged, is the current generation of cooler but quite usable and easily Marmalade level between 1420 and 1660 RPM depending on the load with the 70 mm-radial cooling fans on pleasant.

The fan equipment the two SEASONIC PSU is also without prejudice to hardware changes. Ideally we would have seen here like two Scythe S-FLEX, but also the SEASONIC Serienaustattung with ADDA 120 setup of mm is one of the very quiet guard, which moves slightly zischelnd at something under 1000 rpm through the daily life and gaining only minimally even under load.

ZM-2HC2 responds the the already very quiet Samsung magnetic memory disk sounds better quietly for years with Zalmans HDD heatpipe effectively. The stable construction decouples the two HDDs through its rubberized suspension of the case and prevents so transferring vibrations of solids. Thus the running as well as the access sounds to minimize subjectively less meaningful, without the hard drives in one from thermal considerations, to Heartland completed box. No disk-related rotation noise are also on sensitive inspection can be heard, only reads and writes penetrate a dull, good-natured scratching to the outside.

To alleviate last structure-borne noise and vibration noise, the Silverstone package with Noiseblocker Platinium dawning dresses from better quietly. Consisting of the four-layer Combi mats knew to like in the former insulation mats comparison test of a high-frequency abschirmenden Microfleeceauflage, an air schalldämpfenden acoustic foam layer, a layer of heavy bitumen resonance reducing and an aluminium Thermostabilisatorfolie. Ultimo remains them only the fine work in the already very quiet Intel.

Volume measurements

In addition to these subjective sensations, of course, also the metrological underlay the sound impressions must not be missed. To do this we use the Voltcraft-320-sound level meter, which emits the adjoining sound pressure in a range of 30 to 130 decibels after the famous A-rating curves as usual. As the measurements under laboratory conditions in a normal working area – its basic sound volume which blew dB(A) at subjectively felt silence at 30.4 – results obtained can be used only as a approximate Guide. Centre of tolerance of 30.4 dB(A) are fundamental as to refer to perceptible. Depending on the personal feelings one can speak loud dB(A) to 35 of (very) quiet, up to 40 DB(A) of medium sound and beyond from uncomfortable to extreme.

The measurements be taken in a work typical distance of half a meter from the PC in a M above sea level. The gauge is mounted on a tripod.

The recorded measured values better quietly certify the end an excellent noise characteristic narrowly above the basic level that measuring area (comparison with the Dell XPS 700). This remains a relatively constant noise to observe. Also under load conditions, there is no rude awakening, since only Grafikkarten-and power supply fan set to minimal speed.

Nothing in the way is also a proper DVD-evening with the end of the period. The reading and writing sounds of installed drives are acceptable and disturbing – if not a silent film is to be played – hardly. The “boat”maximum is considered Meanwhile only about a second, in which the graphics card fan is operated for a short time maximum.

Power consumption

To overcome the issue to the economic and environmental impact of Besser-Leise construction, a measurement for the power consumption of the overall computer should not be missed. To do this we turn a Voltcraft energy check 3000 between power distribution and the two cold device power cables of the Besser-Leise PC and read out the values in the specified situations. The last values taken during a 3DMark05-Durchlaufs, in which both the CPU and the graphics very high are claimed, while the optical drives safely tap not their maximum performance in this mode.

The silent Ultimo no savings Fox, is better in terms of electricity which already announced itself by using the two 500-Watt power supplies. The power consumption of below 300 Watts maximum generated by us seems rechtfertigend but only due for the dual power supply array. According to of better quietly, that not clear to verify in the sampling test were not always easily the Ultimo starts with only one power supply, which is why on the double Assembly back resorted was. The reserves are on this way certainly immense, disproportionately expensive without the use of and sheer power supplies with 700 watts and more. For this you must accept despite the very efficient SEASONIC PSU with high losses, if the PC in standby mode remains or is turned off. So that the latter not too much on the purse gnawing and pressure on the environment, a disconnect power strip is advisable in any case. (Values for the power consumption of complete systems)

System performance

After we us the most important cornerstones of the ergonomics of better quietly Intel Ultimo led to heart, to drop our last look something on the performance data of the power PC. Thus, we limit ourselves to a small set of benchmarks as the performance of the complete computer according to the installed components turns out. If you are also interested comparative tests of individual components, will surely find in our extensive test articles in each category. Comparison of Dell XPS 700 from January of this year can be found here.

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The performance of computing knechtes is as expected very high. Specifically, the performance of the raid group and the CPU stand out. A or GTX-or SLI demanding, nothing more, despite the used GeForce, appears reasonable to other 8800 GTS (unit test). In view of the price performance this is an excellent choice in our opinion but, although for the total system price with a view to the 3D performance certainly significantly more systems create can.

Conclusion

Better with the silent Intel Ultimo 07 is one far away from the usual problems of the complete computer world and receives a harmoniously coordinated high-performance PC, which should meet all common standards a multi-talent. Its particular strength is in a remarkable ratio of performance and volume, which is far above the finished-PC standard. The components are carefully chosen and matched, the processing and configuration standesgemäß and cooling at vanishing noise absolutely sufficient.

Points can be found so little on the technical implementation. When the proud price 3000 euros could expect but also a GTX, ultra, or even an SLI array rather than the slightly trimmed-down single-GTS graphics card, to the demands of a luxury PC to skimp on knowing not with technical gun to meet. Meanwhile you could save the price difference for the CPU: the X 6800 as Intel’s current fastest desktop processor will lose rank in the near future on the E6850 – the latter will cost only a good quarter of the extreme CPU installed in the end. However, seem to limit so you ultimately chose to a GTS specially in the use of the thermal and noise-side factors. Still four GByte the Ultimo just for storage-based applications were good memory standard equipment to face – the price overhead in current RAM prices would be marginal. There are the Speicherplus only further surcharge.

Nevertheless sets better quietly with the end an excellent appearance on the stage. The points of criticism are few and far between and are subject to the individual notions of an optimal computer compilation and configuration in detail. The better silent Intel Ultimo 07 is in the version shown here to a handsome price of 3100 euros directly via the website of the company’s online be ordered and receives our recommendation.