Upgrading and want to go quieter, what should I use?

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rygy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 19, 2003
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Current build is an i3 540 with stock cooler, Zotac H55ITX and Sapphire 6670 LP in an ISK300-150 with the stock power supply.

I purchased an Asus P8Z77-i Deluxe and an i3-3220T with the intention of putting it in the ISK300-150 adding a NH-L9i and a Sapphire 7750 LP. The original idea was to just get more performance with less power.

But now I'm considering going with a SG05-Lite (in white) so I can have more options for a video card.

To take the quietness even further I'm wondering what the most powerful passively cooled (or close to it) video card would be. The SG05 also means I could use a larger CPU cooler and either run it passively or with a very slow fan.

Could I go nearly silent if I pick the right CPU cooler, video card and power supply? What should I use for these three parts?

I do game with my current system but not looking for huge performance. Heat/noise are still very important. I would need the video card to have DisplayPort and give me acceptable performance on my 2560x1080 monitor though, at least better than my 6670.
 
Looks like the best option for a silent card with DisplayPort is a Radeon 7750.
 
Is there an inexpensive CPU cooler for the i3-3220T that I could run near silently inside the SG05? If I decide to just use the ISK300, would the Noctua NH-L9i be the best option?
 
rygy said:
Is there an inexpensive CPU cooler for the i3-3220T that I could run near silently inside the SG05? If I decide to just use the ISK300, would the Noctua NH-L9i be the best option?
Click to expand...

if you find it inexpensive, yes.
 
What I meant was the NH-L9i is really the only option for decreasing the noise from the stock cooler if I were to keep my current case.
But if I were to move to a SG05 what CPU cooler could I use that would give me even less noise? There is still a limit to the size of a cooler in the SG05 and was hoping to get a recommendation for maximizing that space to cool the CPU almost passively.
 
The SG05 is already the largest I want to go. I'm used to the ISK300.
 
Go with an NT06-PRO for the CPU cooler. It fits the SG05 perfectly! My motherboard is an Asus Z87I-Deluxe with an i7-4771 CPU. I replaced the 120mm x 20mm NT06-PRO fan with a 120mm x 25mm Noctua NF-S12A PWM.

For the power supply, I like the ST45SF-G as long as the fan is swapped with a Noiseblocker BlackSilentPro PC-P, which is a popular mod around here.
 
The ST45SF-G is crossfire and SLI-ready, I don't need to spend the extra $20 for that when I can only fit one card. Plus, I'm certain 450W is way overkill. 300W will be more than enough. Like I said, I would rather have a quiet and moderately powerful system rather than very powerful so the video card I pick is probably going to be a 7750 considering there are a few models that are passively cooled.

The NT06 looks good though. It's over $70 in CAD though.
 
I'm passively running a i5-4570S (lower base speed but turbo boost is same as normal 4570 speeds) using an old Enzo Technology Ultra-X CPU cooler in a SG05 with the 300W semi passive PSU.

I plan to fit a Promlimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 12 fan underneath the heatpipe fins blowing air upwards, ready for summer.

Can't remember what temperatures I've seen as Core Temp doesn't work well, so just been using Asus AI Suite that reads from a motherboard sensor. Will check temperatures when next game.

Front supplied case fan is set to quiet mode ranging 570 to 750rpm, and all side vents have DEMCiflex filters on them. So airflow is poor and restricted.

Have a Gigabyte 6850OC generating heat and noise.

EDIT
Temps after an hour and a half gaming.
  • AI Suite 3 showed CPU temperature at 61°C and chassis fan 978rpm.
  • Core Temp running ~65°C across cores while gaming (alt tab out to check), but had a min of 44-46°C across cores and max of 77-83°C across cores.
  • MSI afterburner 69°C, 92% usage, and custom fan speed related to temperature of 91% as max reached.

The case filters have definitely increased temperatures.
 
Last edited:
rygy said:
Current build is an i3 540 with stock cooler, Zotac H55ITX and Sapphire 6670 LP in an ISK300-150 with the stock power supply.

I purchased an Asus P8Z77-i Deluxe and an i3-3220T with the intention of putting it in the ISK300-150 adding a NH-L9i and a Sapphire 7750 LP. The original idea was to just get more performance with less power.

But now I'm considering going with a SG05-Lite (in white) so I can have more options for a video card.

To take the quietness even further I'm wondering what the most powerful passively cooled (or close to it) video card would be. The SG05 also means I could use a larger CPU cooler and either run it passively or with a very slow fan.

Could I go nearly silent if I pick the right CPU cooler, video card and power supply? What should I use for these three parts?

I do game with my current system but not looking for huge performance. Heat/noise are still very important. I would need the video card to have DisplayPort and give me acceptable performance on my 2560x1080 monitor though, at least better than my 6670.
Click to expand...

I had the ISK300-150. I ended up using a Samuel 17 w/ 120mmSlim Scythe SlipStream Fan, a 5570lp GPU and I scrapped the noisy power supply for a 160w Pico PSU. The system was virtually silent.

You should easily be able to upgrade to a Sugo 5 and have a very quiet system. You just need to decide what you want. You can stick with a very low power GPU and go Pico PSU or you could go with something like a passive 7950 and the Silverstone SFX 450W Gold PSU(although, I had to swap out the fan to get the psu noise down). There is a new Silverstone SFX PSU (600w) coming out that will have the fan not turning on until it reaches a certain internal temperature - but it remains to be seen how it will sound in normal usage.

Good Luck!
 
GBH2 said:
I had the ISK300-150. I ended up using a Samuel 17 w/ 120mmSlim Scythe SlipStream Fan, a 5570lp GPU and I scrapped the noisy power supply for a 160w Pico PSU. The system was virtually silent.
Click to expand...

I wonder about that. My ISK300-150 PSU is inaudible - I can't hear it over the included stock Tri Cool case fan set on low. However, I have read a few reports (not just you) of the PSU fan being noisy. My PSU fan is definitely spinning, but never "spins up" any faster. I wonder if there are different batches that behave differently?

:cool: I'm not just some deaf gamer with zillions of fans either. I used to be in the whole "quiet PC" stuff BITD, including running an entire computer on one 120mm fan undervolted to under 800RPM, with Scythe Ninja heatsinks running passive and even passive AC Accelero S1 on my graphics card.

I also used to have an Antec Phantom 350W passive PSU, but it died. Damn Fuhjyyu capacitors. :mad:

GBH2 said:
You should easily be able to upgrade to a Sugo 5 and have a very quiet system... There is a new Silverstone SFX PSU (600w) coming out that will have the fan not turning on until it reaches a certain internal temperature - but it remains to be seen how it will sound in normal usage.
Click to expand...

Also the new ST30SF is semi-fanless plus is available now for cheap. Nice choice for those not needing more watts.

jonnyGURU review

tl;dr
300W
80 Plus Bronze
made by FSP (like a couple other Silverstone SFX models)
8.6/10 score on jonnyGURU
rated to 50°C
fanless under 150W (when you're not gaming)

Looks legit to me.
 
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