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Silent gaming and dev pc build

M

MrCrispy

2[H]4U
Joined
May 14, 2007
Messages
4,001
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
This pc will be for gaming as well as a workstation for development (Visual Studio etc)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$500 incl tax/ship (this is flexible a bit)

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Bay area, USA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case, cpu, mobo, ram, maybe hsf, video card

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
psu - Corsair HX520W modular
Corsair H50 HSF
Liteon sata 16x dvd
Intel 80GB X25-G2 ssd
2 hard drives (500gb, 1tb)

6) Will you be overclocking?
yes, mild oc, nothing extreme

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
24", 1680x1050

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Asap

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
Do need - USB 3.0 (front panel preferred), SATA III, eSata
Don't need - Crossfire/SLI, Raid

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Win 7 x64

With that out of the way, I want to build a silent pc which can play most games, but I am willing to sacrifice game quality at the expense of cost/noise.

Case - I want to use a case built for silence. After doing a lot of reading at sites like SPCR, reviews etc, I've listed 3 possibles -
CM Silencio 550
Fractal Design R3
NZXT H2

I don't like the fact that there's no support for onboard Usb 3.0 header in the H2 and it uses a cable all the way to the back instead. 2 of these (Silencio and H2) include a hdd cage/dock which I like. But Silencio fans are only 800rpm and I'm not sure they will be enough for my needs. To keep costs down, I'd prefer to use the included case fans if they are enough.

CPU/Mobo - I plan to purchase the Microcenter 2500K + Z68 combo. I don't know much about Z68 boards, but I do want UEFI, and from what I've read, Gigabyte doesn't have it, but both Asus and ASRock do. I'm not sure if I should go for a 2600K instead. I know for games it won't make much difference, but is it worth the extra for dev work?

Ram - any 8GB (4x2) will do.

PSU - I think my Corsair should be enough since it has 18A on both 12V rails, right?

Cooling - Is H50 enough? I read that the H60 is better and quieter.

The pc needs to be completely inaudible at idle, watching movies etc (for which it should use the onboard SB video using Virtu tech. That works, right?)
 
Last edited:
MrCrispy said:
24", 1680x1050
Click to expand...
Huh? Is that a CRT or something? You sure that's the correct resolution and/or monitor size?

Case: I'd go with the Fractal Design R3 as it's right in the center of the two cases that you listed: It has decent cooling like the Silencio and unlike the H2 and fits the middle ground of silence between the two cases.

CPU If your dev work requires a lot of multi-threaded programming or program usage, then yes, go for he 2600K.

Mobo: I do not recommend AsRock at all due to their short warranty of 1-2 years. Since you want to use the onboard SB video and want to OC, go with any Asus or MSI Z68 mobo that fits within your budget.

RAM: I recommend this RAM:
$40 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

PSU: Your current PSU will be fine. Do note that it actually has 40A on the +12V rail. Long story short: the multiple rails you see on the Corsair 520HX's PSU label is false and was a marketing mistake.

Cooling: Go with the H60 as it is supposedly quieter.

GPU wise, can't comment since I'm waiting for your answer about the resolution.

As for the Virtu tech, you should probably read up on it:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/05/11/asus_p8z68v_pro_z68_chipset_motherboard_review/7
 
MrCrispy said:
Sorry, I'm an idiot. The monitor is this one - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3971933&CatId=3774 - 26" 1920x1200

Is there a big difference between the Silencio and R3? The only place I see the R3 is Newegg, and with tax/ship its >$140, while the CM is $99. Is there a need to replace or add fans with these cases?
Click to expand...

Yes there is a big difference: the R3 has greater airflow, better build quality, and the fans don't need to be replaced right away. You can manually undervolt the fans in the R3 to get quiet performance and good cooling.

However considering that you're in California (totally missed that fact earlier) and the fact that the cost of the R3 case has risen, I recommend getting any of these other cases instead from Amazon.com:
$140 - Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case

Reviews of above the cases:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/antec-p183
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Silverstone_Raven_Two

For comparison, reviews of the Fractal Design and Silencio:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/fractal-r3
http://www.silentpcreview.com/cm-silencio550

Also speaking of Amazon.com: Try to get as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com as they do not charge tax to CA residents. So go with this RAM instead of the RAM I recommended earlier:
$39 - Kingston Hyper KHX1333C9D3B1K2/8G 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

In terms of GPU performance, you should be looking at the GTX 560 TI at a minimum (no more than $240 shipped and taxed or it's a poor buy) but perferably the HD 6950 1GB or HD 6950 2GB. You're gonna have to do a little bit of legwork on your own to find a quiet GTX 560 TI, HD 6950 1GB, or HD 6950 2GB.
 
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MC no longer had the 2600k combo deal. I bought the 2500k and biostar tz68 mobo since it has great reviews and is cheap.
 
Looked at the cases - the Raven is simply too huge. I like the R3 but I don't like the non-removable drive cages, and the review on Anandtech said they are flimsy. I'm tempted by the P183 v3 for $139 on Amazon, but have a couple of reservations -

1) I'm just not a big fan of Antec's 3-chamber design, which they seem to have done away with in the new P280
2) Not a big fan either of the TriCool fans, esp the hard mounted top one that SPCR says adds 5db. I have 2 of them in my pc now and they are definitely audible.
 
You could take that top fan off in the P183 I think.
 
I think I'l get the R3, thanks Danny. Saw a few reviews on youtube and it looks very high quality. Questions about fan setup -

- should I replace the included case fan with the one in H60, as Corsair recommends? (and move it to the front/top). Or is it better to use the included fan? Or should I use both in a push/pull config? (with goal of being silent in normal use). Please remember I also want to OC to ~4.5Ghz
 
Ok, BF is delivering so far! Bought the following at Newegg -

16GB DDR3 G.Skill Ripjaws X - $60
Seasonic X750 PSU - $109

No MIR, free ship.
 
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