I've decided to build an i5 system to use with my Radeon 5770. I'd like to know if any of my components should be swapped, if I'm getting the best deal, if any of the components are noisy. My aim is for a very quiet pc, but not necessarily silent.

My primary concern right now is which CPU heatsink/fan should I get for the i5 750? I feel like I'm near the end of my budget, so I'd prefer not paying $60 for a heatsink and fan.

As I'm from Canada, the availability of products is limited. Here are the three primary online Canadian retailers that I'm aware of: NCIX, Tigerdirect.ca and NewEgg.ca.

LG GH22NS50 Black 22X SATA DVD Writer OEM $29.92
Scythe Mugen 2 REV.B. HeatPipes CPU Heatsink LGA1366 1156 775 AM3 AM2+ AM2 754 939 940 120MM Fan $45.99
Western Digital Caviar Green 500GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive -Bare Drive $59.99
Cooler Master Elite 335 Black ATX Mid Tower Case 4X5.25 1X3.25 6X3.25INT Front USB Audio No PSU $48.02
GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory $110.49
Intel Core i5-750 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor $208.99
Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W Continuous Power ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail $49.99
Total: $703.38

Thanks

With that budgetary constraint, how about http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=47758&vpn=SCMG%2D2100&manufacture=Scythe. The Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B includes the fan, which is PWM so will be very quiet at idle, and automatically speed up with load.

Thanks, I'll probably get that. How does that compare against the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus?

Is there a meaningful difference between the Thermaltake V3 and Cooler Master Elite 330/335 cases?

Is 400W fine or should I get 520W for the future? I know that power efficiency changes with load, but I don't know the actual curve. The outervision calculator seems to think that a Radeon 5770 on max load only uses 47 Watts...

I recased an Intel 775 system into a Cooler Master Elite 335, and thought it was good value for money. A quietish 120mm exhaust fan is included, and for a budget gaming system I would say it's perfectly OK.



Good point. It's more a question of what the actual maximum power consumption of your system might be. Allowing for overclocking (see later) you could be looking at 275-300w. A 400w PSU could do this, but it would not be quiet. So I would say 600w at least. In fact moving from 400w to 620w on the same make and model of PSU would only cost you $30, see http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031&cm_re=Antec_NEO_ECO-_-17-371-031-_-Product.

I would suggest that you substitute an Intel i3 530 such as http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115222&cm_re=intel_530-_-19-115-222-_-Product for the 750 - this would save you around $80. Reason - the difference in speed between the 530 and 750 while gaming will not be much, and will only really show at resolutions of 1680x1050 or below. Given the CPU cooler and PSU that is being suggested, you could always overclock if need be. The 530 will overclock readily to 3.8 or 4.0 Ghz from its standard 2.93, and if you really push it, to 4.4 Ghz.

Because overclocking is a possibility, I think you need to consider revising the cooling arrangements for the Cooler Master 335. What I would do is buy another Scythe PWM fan of the same spec as the one fitted to your CPU cooler such as http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185049&cm_re=pwm_fan-_-35-185-049-_-Product which would cost $9, and a PWM splitter cable such as http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812123298&cm_re=pwm_fan-_-12-123-298-_-Product for $7. Replace the existing Cooler Master exhaust fan with the second Scythe PWM fan, and plug both it and the CPU Scythe PWM fan into the motherboard PWM CPU socket using the the splitter cable.

The displaced Cooler Master exhaust fan could be redeployed as an intake fan. It runs at 1200 rpm, which could be reduced with a 3 pin fan controller such as this one http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118217&cm_re=zalman-_-35-118-217-_-Product to around 600-700 rpm. The controller costs $5, which brings the cost of improved cooling to $21. The intake fan is only there to give a degree of cooling to the hard drive, which it will do at fairly low revs and without contributing significantly to system noise.

The 530, even when overclocked, will by default downclock to 1.2Ghz and undervolt slightly at idle. The PWM fans respond to CPU core temperature, so at idle they will drop down to maybe 400 rpm or so, which give you a very quiet PC. Under load, that is gaming, as the CPU heats up so the PWM fans will automatically speed up. This system of two linked PWM fans was used on the Cooler Master 335 recase that I did, and it works very well. It is an extremely common gaming case setup.

Thanks for the info. If I have no desire to overclock, is a chassis/front fan necessary? I did end up buying an i5 750 because I didn't want to pass up on the performance vs. cost value, and it doesn't use much more power when idle compared to the i3 or i5s, despite the TDP.

I've read the Scythe Mugen 2 review on the website and am wondering if I should bother with another fan to has a push-pull cooler.

I have yet to assemble the system -still waiting on 2 packages. So I guess I'll assemble first before considering an aftermarket GPU cooler for my 5770 (Sapphire) -it was a little noisy in my last case while idle.

Unfortunately the Scythe fan is discontinued and there aren't any 4 pin Scythe fans left that are similar :/ And I'm afraid that an uneven spilt of power between the fans may have undesirable results.

did you but the Neo Eco 400c or another one? is it quiet at full load for your system??

I ended up purchasing the Neo Eco 520C. I rarely use the computer at full load, however it does seem pretty quiet when I do.

thanks,
s there any threshold in load where you can say that the noise of your PSU increases significantly or is it gradual?