lafleche wrote:I'm ready to order but unfortunately im discovering that the macho isnt available here and I couldnt find a review of all the cpu fans on silentpcreview (if you have one i'd appreciate it)
Well since the macho isnt available, Noctua do make really good coolers, so does phantek and prolimatech. Do you access to scythe? like the Mugen 3 or 4?
lafleche wrote:what other thing do you suggest ? I'm going for silence before everything.
Get quiet components, cases will help some, but the key for quiet setup is not to intoduce anything that makes much noise. Get an SSD for your OS/Programs and quiet mechanical hdd for your storage (or if you have the money and get by with 1tb there are bigger ssds today like Curcial M500 or Samsung 840EVO). Fans that have a very wide range of operation imo are key also, not all fans like to be undervolted or drop down to inaudible levels, asides from hdds fans are the biggest source of noise, so i would chose careful the fans.
lafleche wrote:by the way i should go for a PWM fan right ?
This is a tricky question, being PWM doesn't make the fan better, just a different way of control. There are good 3pin fans so there are good 4pin pwm fans. Now in here it really depends on the motherboard and case. Asus FanXpert2 imo is a wonderful tool if you are seeking silence, it will test your fans and run them at the lowest or you can predefine your own ramping conditions based on temperatures, its very flexible and very neat, not perfect but imo for someone looking for quiet setup.
The problem with asus (at least on my personal experience) is that the only true PWM header is the CPU_FAN (and the OPT_FAN but this is a mirror of the CPU_FAN not controllable but it will be the same rpm), the rest of the headers CHASSIS_FAN 1, 2, 3 are only voltage controlled, so placing PWM fans on them will not contol them via PWM but via voltage, this isn't so bad, but in some cases it the fans wont drop as low as they can on PWM. Again depends on the case and how you plan to connect the fans, for example atm im planning going back to ATX for my gaming rig, with a Fractal design define R4 and will test also Arc MIDI2, both of them use 140mm case fans (i think you can use 120), the choices on 140 is limited, specially PWM. I have two things that i do want to test,
1) Pure bios fan control
Im chosing Noctua NF-14A PWM fans for being 140 and PWM, im going to connect all fans to the CPU_FAN header via
Akasa Flexa FP5 PWM 5-Way Splitter - Smart Fan Cable (AK-CBFA03-45), this is safe as it draws power from the 4pin molex connector and only uses the motherboard rpm and pwm signal for controlling the pwm fans. This way all fans will run at the same rpms and all will ramp up depending on the temps on cpu, but in here is key chosing the same fan as some might not be able to drop as low others. Here im also undecided between ASUS or MSI motherboard, on my GENE IV i coudlnt control below 900rpm my Noiseblocker 120mm PLPS fans, but this is not a problem of asus but of noiseblocker, their design of pwm implementation of the fan is very unusual, the fans are controllable from 0% (660rpm) to 100% (1760rpms), this was tested on FANXPERT2 on GENE VI, so the bios on the GENE IV has a limitation of 20% for CPU fan header, at 20% the noiseblocker runs at 960 rpm, so while i though was the problem of the motherboard was a problem of the fan design, so i want to re test bios fan control, for this im chosing fan that have a good range of operation, noctua NF-a14 are rated 300-1500 on PWM fan control, so thats why chose those. The reason of choosing the Akasa splitter and all ran pwm, is that on most bios the restrictions of going lower are lower on CPU_FAN header (20%) and on the CHASIS_FAN (60%), so if i use anything but the CPU_FAN header i will not be able to drop them low, ill be restricted by the bios values.
2) FANXPERT2
As i said before, still think its by far the best software implementation fan control. My initial plan was just to adapt into how Asus design their motherboard (the PWM is CPU and the rest of the headers are voltage controlled), so for case fans i was choosing
Antec True Quiet 140mm, this fans can be drop extremely low around 200rpm, according to SPCR review (click the link before) it has very good tonal quality, and its range is perfect 200 to 700rpms, i dont need anything above 700rpm as for me on any fan i have tested higher than 800rpm starts to get noticeable, so this is the plan if i fail on PWM control on pure bios. Personally i prefer not to have extra software consuming resources so my aim is not to use fanXpert2, but to what i seen doesn't take much resources either, i idle 1-3% of the cpu, but well worth it imo, it will quiet down your setup almost instantly as long as you chose the correct fans for each header. Asus FanXpert2 does have an advantage though, it overwrites the bios restriciton in all headers, my CPU_FAN has a restriction of 20% on bios, but with fanXpert2 i can drop it to 0% on Noiseblockers PLPS (as long as the fan can drop that low fanxpert2 can), on Chasis_fan headers bios has 60% restriction, again it took my Silverstone to 24%, this imo makes fanXpert very versatile.
So my suggestion for you is
1) Chose the case that you like that will fit all your hardware.
2) Chose an Asus motherboard that has FanXpert2, if you go with another brand research their bios fan control or their compatibility with speedfan.
3) Test the included fans and if you wish chose fans that will work well with how you plan on controlling the fans
4) Chose a good CPU cooler that will fit your case, preferable that has a good pwm fan on it, but you can always change it later.
5) If you go with mechanical hdd storge, be sure to research into a quiet one, WD greens seem to be the favorite here and now WD reds also getting good rep. But do get an ssd for your os n programs.