Quartz's quiet PC...now with pics

Quartz-1

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
May 20, 2011
Messages
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I suppose this counts as a mod because I've removed all the fans, but here's a teaser:

bitsfornewPC_zps2583c6b6.jpg


All inside a Silverstone FT02 with all the fans removed. (I'm a bit disappointed at the lack of USB ports on the FT02.) Apart from the 2.5" mobile rack which I didn't need and will re-task. And the USB DVD drive which is, of course, external.

I've yet to put in my Geforce 660 Ti GPU - and thus I've played no games - but with Prime 95, the CPU goes to the low 50s.

The only hardware issues I've encountered are that the back vent for the PSU doesn't match well with the PSU - I need to lower the PSU about an inch - and that removal of the top fan leaves a big hole as the screw-holes are too big for my plastic rivets so I can't put the grille back.

The only real software problem I've encountered so far is that WHS 2011 won't back up UEFI systems. This is a critical issue for me.

And somewhere I have a drum of more suitable cable ties...
 
I ran Prime95 on the pure CPU stress and CPU temp peaked at 61 degrees and settled at 60.
 
Put in the 660 Ti and the fans don't move in 2D mode. Played a game of C&C 3 with all settings maxxed and the CPU temp barely hit 40. Thanks to [H] for demonstrating that the PCIe3 x8 slot is sufficient.

Ran 3D Mark 11 (Performance):

SCORE
P8512 with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti(1x) and Intel Core i7-3770S Processor
Graphics Score 8810
Physics Score 8404
Combined Score 6900

I just wish the case wasn't so big and had more USB ports.
 
With tessellation disabled and 2xAA I get a score of 2009 and an average of 79 fps in Heaven at 1080p. CPU temperature does not exceed 41 degrees and the GPU fans are quiet. Normal tessellation drops the average to 63 but there's a drop to 10 fps at one point. Again, no extreme temperatures and not much noise from the GPU.
 
Right. Let's start with a wider view of the components:

Components-widerview_zps2a7349b0.jpg


Now for some fit tests:

Top view:

fittest-verticalview_zps44cbd01c.jpg


Close up:

Fittest_zps62521fe8.jpg


Wider view:

fittest-widerview_zpsf82c46fd.jpg


RAM clearance:

ramclearance_zps69d4d79c.jpg
 
Here's the motherboard fitted inside the case. Guess what I did wrong?

motherboardscrewedin_zps571c2c46.jpg


This pic from later on shows that the hole for the CPU backplate isn't big enough.

backview-noGPU_zps5edc2fd4.jpg


I had to dismount the motherboard to fit the backplate:

motherboardwithramandbackplatefitted_zpsaffb2520.jpg
 
Here's the heatsink fully fitted:

Workingsysteminteriorview-noGPU_zpsb96ec589.jpg


And a wider view:

workingsystemwiderview-noGPU_zpsd7eb059c.jpg


See, no fans!
 
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At this point I installed Windows 7 x64 Ultimate and ran some basic tests including Prime 95. Having a WSUS server really helped.

After that I installed my 660 Ti:

NoroomforSLI_zps6d3a9081.jpg


You can see that while the prime x16 slot is visible, there's actually not enough room for the 660 TI so I've put it in the secondary slot. There's no room for SLI here! With a 460W PSU I have enough horsepower for a 690...
 
Earlier this year, in this thread I asked about motherboards with the prime x16 slot the third slot in. You can now see why. Thanks to [H] I'm confident there's no performance drop from using the x8 slot for the GPU.

To help with PhysX gaming, I think a PCIe x1 GPU might be a good idea. Any suggestions?

This case is huge and well beyond my requirements. It could be 6" smaller - the whole of the LHS just has one SSD. I'm disappointed at the lack of USB ports on the case too. Only two is a poor show. The motherboard has one unused USB 3 header and two unused USB 2 headers. I'll have to see about backplate outs. It's difficult to see but the PSU is slightly too high.

I would have got Nofan's custom FT03, but it was hugely expensive and the PSU was placed directly under the CPU cooler - completely stupid.

I'm also disappointed that neither the motherboard nor the case came with a piezoelectric speaker. I pulled one off another system.

But really, I'm very happy overall. So far. In 2D mode, it's prime use, it's utterly silent. It idles at 1 degree C above room temperature. Even running 3Dmark and Heaven, the noise from the GPU was slight.
 
i'll be interested to see how that fanless cpu heatsink does. looks neat...

In Prime 95 it settled at 60C, maxxing at 61C. In Heaven it got to 41C. Playing CnC3 with all settings maxxed, the temperature got to 40C.

The real gaming test will come in an hour or so when I play BL2
 
It seems to. Just had a stint of BL2 - at which I suck - playing ab initio and CPU temperature was in the mid 30s C playing at 1080p getting frame rates in the 60s according to Fraps. I'd turned a few things down - AO was off, PhysX Medium, AF reduced a bit, 2xAA rather than 4x.

It's very early days, of course.
 
A couple of things to bear in mind: I'm using a lower-power CPU, not overclocked or anything. This is not a performance PC. I chose the case so that heat rising from the CPU would not affect the PSU, and vice versa. Heat rises up and away from all components. I removed the fans to improve the natural airflow.
 
Cool build. I would suggest putting a few 500-700rpm 120mm fans down there, the scythe slipstreams can be had for only $5ish each (in the 500,800rpm range or fan control the 1200rpm), you won't hear it over your video card, trust me. But if you're happy with passive that's awesome too, i just find 1-2 500rpm fans helps a lot without adding any perceivable noise (I have the silverstone and am anal about noise as well).
 
The video card is silent outside games. I don't want to hear a fan just because MSSE or Flash or whatever is spiking a CPU core when the Nofan can cope admirably on its own.
 
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