Silent Gaming PC

Elessar

1. What is your budget? €1500

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming (latest games)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Yes. Zalman copper heatsink, 2x2GB Corsair 1600MHz DDR3RAM. 120GB OCZ Vertex SSD.

5. Do you need a monitor? No.

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1920x1080, no.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] Wireless card needed, have keyboard, speakers, RAT7 Gaming mouse.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? No.

8. How can you pay? Credit Card, Bank Transfer.

9. When are you purchasing? Next week.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Don't need help.


Most importantly it has to be quiet. I'm using a Macbook Pro hooked up to my DELL 2407 monitor at the moment and it is dead quiet, so I'd like to keep it that way. Also since my xbox has got the RROD this will be a pure gaming build so a GTX680/HD7970 or better is paramount, as I prefer not to have to overclock.

Also preferably a small form factor, miniITX or micro ATX case and mobo, but from my research I didn't see any that were advertised as silent. But some boardsies probably know more than me!
Thanks.

ED E

Willing to water cool? That'd be a good option if you want high spec and quiet. Not sure if a WC setup and 680 will fit in that budget though, others will know better.

tuxy

Well you could put this on the cpu

http://www.quietpc.com/nof-cr-95c

I'm not sure what's the best option for the gpu though. You can probably find some non reference card with fairly quiet cooling.

Serephucus

Well now, let's see...

Something like this for the core components should work:

Item|Price
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Gehäuse - weiß, ohne Netzteil|€69.99
ASRock Z77E-ITX, Sockel 1155, ITX|€129.75
Seasonic G-450, 450 Watt, 80PLUS Gold|€79.53
EVGA GeForce GTX 670, 2048MB DDR5, PCI-Express|€345.68
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€205.99
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€849.93

And you should have enough to watercool the CPU and GPU.

Item|Price
Alphacool VPP655 / Laing D5 Single Edition Pump with Tacho Signal : VPP655SE|£56.99
EK Laing D5 X-Res Reservoir Top 100 CSQ : Acetal|£46.61
XSPC RayStorm CPU Waterblock for Intel : RayStorm Intel|£51.29
XSPC Razor GTX670 Full Cover Waterblock for Reference Design NVIDIA GTX 670 Graphics Card : Razor GTX670|£79.99
XSPC EX Series 240mm Dual Radiator : EX240|£40.00
Phobya Xtreme 200mm Radiator|£55.70
10 x 1/4" Thread Compression Fitting for 1/2" ID - 5/8" OD (13-16mm) Tubing : Black|£34.08
2 x ClearFlex 60 1/2" ID - 5/8" OD (13-16mm) Tubing : Clear|£5.98
2 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm Case Fan 500 RPM : D1225C12B1AP-11|£31.80
Shipping|£19.07
Total|£ 421.52 (~€510)

Then, add some noise dampening material (I use the same myself) to the inside of the case, and you'll have a very silent machine. It's almost exactly the same thing that I'm planning to do with my rig (currently in a 600T) if I can get someone to buy the components. I'm one of the resident noise freaks here, so trust me when I say it'll be quiet.

Elessar

Serephucus wrote: »

Well now, let's see...

Something like this for the core components should work:

Item|Price
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Gehäuse - weiß, ohne Netzteil|€69.99
ASRock Z77E-ITX, Sockel 1155, ITX|€129.75
Seasonic G-450, 450 Watt, 80PLUS Gold|€79.53
EVGA GeForce GTX 670, 2048MB DDR5, PCI-Express|€345.68
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€205.99
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€849.93

And you should have enough to watercool the CPU and GPU.

Item|Price
Alphacool VPP655 / Laing D5 Single Edition Pump with Tacho Signal : VPP655SE|£56.99
EK Laing D5 X-Res Reservoir Top 100 CSQ : Acetal|£46.61
XSPC RayStorm CPU Waterblock for Intel : RayStorm Intel|£51.29
XSPC Razor GTX670 Full Cover Waterblock for Reference Design NVIDIA GTX 670 Graphics Card : Razor GTX670|£79.99
XSPC EX Series 240mm Dual Radiator : EX240|£40.00
Phobya Xtreme 200mm Radiator|£55.70
10 x 1/4" Thread Compression Fitting for 1/2" ID - 5/8" OD (13-16mm) Tubing : Black|£34.08
2 x ClearFlex 60 1/2" ID - 5/8" OD (13-16mm) Tubing : Clear|£5.98
2 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm Case Fan 500 RPM : D1225C12B1AP-11|£31.80
Shipping|£19.07
Total|£ 421.52 (~€510)

Then, add some noise dampening material (I use the same myself) to the inside of the case, and you'll have a very silent machine. It's almost exactly the same thing that I'm planning to do with my rig (currently in a 600T) if I can get someone to buy the components. I'm one of the resident noise freaks here, so trust me when I say it'll be quiet.

Interesting build, but water cooling is completely new to me! I wouldn't have the first idea how to connect those up. Regarding the GPU I assume I would have to disassemble the heatsink first?

My budget is arbitrary so I would consider increasing it a bit if needed.

Serephucus

Yeah, you would. I can give you a hand with the watercooling if you like. It's not really that difficult, same as with stock components; watch a few Youtube videos and read up a bit and you'll be good to go.

It has huge benefits though. 50°C GPU load temps (when overclocked) and you should be able to get that 3570K to around 4.6 without too much trouble. All that while running fans at 600RPM.

Andy!!

Watercooling is going to be pretty tight... OP you sure you need a small PC? I don't find the prodigy to be that small anyways... you could probably get a more suitable case that is taller but narrower... Prodigys boxiness negates the small form factor it is shooting for...

Serephucus

Another option would be Nanoxia's Deep Silence 1, but that's quite a bit larger than the Prodigy (allbeit with more expansion options. Watercooling would basically be the same too, you'd just switch the Phobya 200 rad for another EX240.

Elessar

Andy!! wrote: »

Watercooling is going to be pretty tight... OP you sure you need a small PC? I don't find the prodigy to be that small anyways... you could probably get a more suitable case that is taller but narrower... Prodigys boxiness negates the small form factor it is shooting for...

I'm definitely not dead set on a small PC, though it would be nice. Another option would be to get a quiet ATX case like the Antec Solo II and the fanless CPU heatsink mentioned above. Only thing would be the GPU fans being noisy, unless the silent cases are better than I think.

ED E

New TTL video might be worth a watch:

Elessar

Can anyone recommend a good alternative build using the Nanoxia DS1 or Antec Solo II?

I'm not really all that familiar with mobos or desktop CPUs. I would need either a board with in-built Wifi and a good antenna or a separate wifi NIC (preferably a movable antenna as where the case will go is in a corner of a room which is bad for wifi from experience), extra ram and a good 250+GB SSD. Also Windows 7 or 8.

ED E

If you're going serious I would go for Homeplugs(good ones) instead of Wifi.

Tea_Bag

resident noise freak here. I approve of Serephucus's post :P

I've got a near identical rig and slowly building the water loop myself. (spec in sig) I would suggest to get the initial components, along with a few GT fans and see if it's quiet enough for your liking before dropping the cash on water. I say it cause honestly my PC is so damn quiet I'm finding it difficult to justify another €200 on water. that said, I've got a raystorm CPU block in the post

Elessar

Something I put together earlier.

I'm open to suggestions on the motherboard. I would prefer to have Wifi built in but otherwise would need a wifi card. Also this doesn't include a goodl quiet CPU cooler.

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€205.99
Nanoxia Deep Silence One White, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€109.09
ASUS P8Z77-V, Sockel 1155, ATX, DDR3|€159.00
ASUS HD7970-DC2-3GD5 , AMD Radeon HD 7970, 3GB, PCI-Express|€408.82
OCZ Vertex 4 256GB|€198.44
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (SB-Version)|€82.10
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9|€41.16
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1223.59

Serephucus

I'd switch to a Crucial M4 SSD. Slightly slower, but more reliable than the Vertex 4.

Is there any reason you want WiFi onboard? If you can at all, LAN is a better option. Failing that, homeplugs. Very few boards come with WiFi. You're restricting your choices a good bit.

Tea_Bag

asrock z77e-itx has WiFi onboard. I've no idea how good it is cause I use homeplugs.

Elessar

I don't have room for a direct Homeplug connection. My router is in a bedroom and my PC will be in the spare room. I have a 100Mbps connection, can I use Homeplugs on extension leads without affecting my download speeds?

Serephucus

How do you not have room for them? Homeplugs are devices that pass ethernet through electrical wiring. So it goes:

Router -> cable -> Homeplug -> wall (room X) | wall (room Y) -> Homeplug -> cable -> PC.

Elessar

I mean there is only one socket at each room and several plugs connecting to it i.e. I will have to use an extension lead.

Serephucus

Ah. Should be fine, AFAIK. It should work, I'm just not sure if there would be any interference from other devices, etc. I've never used them so I can't comment on specifics.

marco_polo

Serephucus wrote: »

I'd switch to a Crucial M4 SSD. Slightly slower, but more reliable than the Vertex 4.

Is there any reason you want WiFi onboard? If you can at all, LAN is a better option. Failing that, homeplugs. Very few boards come with WiFi. You're restricting your choices a good bit.

Hacen't really read up much on it since it was released is the vertex 4 developing a rep for unreliablity as well or is it more a case that it is unproven in the field so to speak?

J-blk

Serephucus wrote: »

Ah. Should be fine, AFAIK. It should work, I'm just not sure if there would be any interference from other devices, etc. I've never used them so I can't comment on specifics.

There could be though it's still usable - I have 200Mbps Homeplugs and when on an extension socket, I get 18-20Mbps (on a 30Mbps connection). When I use them in their own socket though, nothing else connected to same, I get the full 30Mbps so there is a hit when going through the extension socket.

You can get homeplugs with AC passthrough so you're not wasting a socket.

Serephucus

Deleted User wrote: »

You can get homeplugs with AC passthrough so you're not wasting a socket.

Excellent advice, right here.

Elessar

Ok final build below. I've used OCZ SSDs since they first came to market without issue so that's why I'm sticking to them. I'm gonna see how this fares out noise wise (should be pretty good if the reviews of case, CPU fan and GPU are anything to go by) and maybe upgrade to water cooling if needed down the road.

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€204.96
ASUS P8Z77-V, Sockel 1155, ATX, DDR3|€156.05
ASUS HD7970-DC2-3GD5 , AMD Radeon HD 7970, 3GB, PCI-Express|€404.86
OCZ Vertex 4 256GB|€199.00
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (SB-Version)|€82.32
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9|€42.50
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€28.68
LiteOn iHES112-115 bulk|€49.90
Nanoxia Deep Silence One Dark Anthracite, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€99.20
Seasonic X-650, 650 Watt, 80PLUS Gold|€124.98
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1411.44
(EDIT: included PSU)

Thoughts?

BloodBath

You really should be overclocking with those components.

If you aren't overclocking then there is no need for the 3570k or the z77 board. You could save some money by getting the non k version and a different board. You're paying extra for features you won't use.

Total saved from doing this would be about €80-100.

I'd also recommend getting the 7950 instead of the 7970. They are only 10% apart in performance at stock speeds and only 5% apart overclocked. You can save €120-130 by doing this.

Total saving of over €200 for the same performance.