SPCR

Hello helpful internet, Looking for any suggestions on this build from avadirect.

Would like some feedback on if I've chosen right especially for chipset/mobo/cpu/ram/hdd.

Here is the base configurator for the starting point for the quiet z77 chipset, I was overwhelmed with choices, but please take a look if you want to see the price differentials. If another chipset is recommended, have to go to a new configurator

http://www.avadirect.com/quiet-gam [...] PRID=24247

I've been out of this game way too long so getting the very cheapest thing isn't necessary, so lookjing for advice on any good value upgrades, but don't intend to do my own build.

I would like a relatively quiet PC, but it doesn't need to be silent. So I have chosen some parts to fit that requirement and don't plan on OC-ing.

Mainly going to be for just Diablo3 gaming for now.
I read the tomshw article on Diablo3 saying it won't require the latest and greatest so picked the relatively cheap and quiet Radeon 7750 @$145). If another killer game comes out in the future i can upgrade and jump a few graphics tiers at that point.

Anyway, here is my bucket of parts, wondering if there were any huge substitutions that should be made. I have a relatively new samsung 2TB data drive that I will install in for data storage afterwards.



QUIET GAMING PC Core™ i5 / i7 Z77 Low-Noise Custom Gaming System $1278.70 $1278.70

NZXT H2 Classic Silent Black Mid-Tower Case, ATX, No PSU, Plastic/Steel

SEASONIC X-660 Power Supply w/ Modular Cables, 80 PLUS® Gold, 660W, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, 4x 8/6-pin PCIe

ASUS P8Z77-V LK, LGA1155, Intel® Z77, DDR3-2400 (O.C.) 32GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI CF /1+1*, SATA 3Gb/s RAID 5 /4, 6Gb/s /2, DP + HDMI + DVI + VGA, USB 3.0 /6, HDA, GbLAN, ATX, Retail

INTEL Core™ i5-3450S Quad-Core 2.8 - 3.5GHz TB, HD Graphics 2500, LGA1155, 6MB L3 Cache, 22nm, 65W, EM64T EIST VT-x XD, Retail

SCYTHE Mugen 3 (SCMG-3100) CPU Cooler, Socket 2011/1155/1156/1366/AM3/AM2, Copper/Aluminum, Retail

ARCTIC SILVER Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, Polysynthetic Silver, Electrically Non-Conductive

CRUCIAL 8GB (2 x 4GB) Ballistix Sport PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL9 1.5V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC

SAPPHIRE Radeon™ Ultimate HD 7750 850MHz, 1GB GDDR5 4500MHz, PCIe x16 CrossFire, DVI + HDMI + DP, Retail

OCZ 128GB Vertex 4 SSD, MLC Indilinx Everest 2, 535/200 MB/s, 2.5-Inch, SATA 6 Gb/s, Retail
RAID No RAID, Independent HDD Drives

LITE-ON iHES112-04 Black 12x/16x/48x BD/DVD±RW/CD, Blu-ray Disk™ Combo Drive, SATA, OEM

MICROSOFT Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Edition w/ SP1, OEM

Hi and welcome to SPCR.

mobo: You might move up to the Asus P8Z77-V (no suffix). It has Fan Xpert2.

cpu: I wouldn't bother with the S part. Idle power will be the same across the i5's. Load power will be close to the same for similar compute needs. Finally, Blizzard games' fps scale with CPU speed.

psu: odd that their Seasonic pricing is best for the x660. It's a good psu. Overkill for your needs (<200W load). You might consider the x560 just because it'll be more efficient at idle/light loads.

cpu cooler: looks good.

case: nice, basic case. alternative is the silencio 550. The next step up is $70+ and more adder.

gpu: What's your monitor resolution? That'll drive the gpu selection. If it's 1920x1080, then the 7750 will be fine if you dial down the bells and whistles. If you want to max out, then step up to the 7770. I don't see the 7770 there...So, consider getting the PC built with just the IGP and adding the GPU yourself. While not passive, the ASUS HD7770-DC-1GD5-V2 is pretty quiet.

ssd: I'd opt for the Crucial m4 over the OCZ. Higher reliability.

Thanks for the feedback Steve,

Appreciate the tips.
I'm running a dell 2410 so it will be 1920x1200, the tomshw says anything over radeon 6670 will run d3 at high at that res.

SSD: I was somewhat entranced in by the ocz vertex4 since it's brand new and newest tech, but I suppose they are splitting hairs on performance at this point, and m4 will be about the same for less

Any comment on the coolers?
how does the sythe mugen3 for +$20 stack up over just the coolermaster 212 plus. (In other words, is the 212 plus really just mediocre in terms of noise)

Fair enough, the 7750 will probably be around the same or slightly better fps as the 5770/6770 for Diablo. I guess I like a little more reserve in case the next game needs more juice.

SSD: I shy away from newly released hardware, just because I know they ALWAYS have bios/firmware revisions for the first couple of months. SSDs are the worst, just because of the potential for catastophic data loss. Anyway, you nailed it - any SSD made in the last year+ is fast enough that you won't notice the difference with the average home use.

cooler: I don't have strong feelings for one over the other. You aren't overclocking or overvolting, so either cooler will keep the cpu cool. The slipstream fan on the mugen 3 will be quieter than the fan on the 212.

just wanted to give an update and i pulled the trigger on this build.

Turns out avadirect is flexible, so if an item isn't in their configurator, you can just add it to the cart from their parts section and they'll setup and build with that (unless it conflicts)

I took your advice and went for
mobo: Asus P8Z77-V for the fan controls
ssd: crucial m4
gpu: asus 7770

cpu cooler: hyper 212 evo
For cpu cooler, i found this review at frostytech which measured it pretty dang quiet:
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.c ... 655&page=3

One more change, I did decide to populate all the ram slots considering ram is so cheap these days. Going from 2x4gb to 4x4gb is only $50 more.
There's really no point in postponing this for "the future", as the potential savings are too slim. Getting it all now, should ensure a nice matched set.


Thanks again for the advice, can't wait for the 7-14 business days+shipping till i get this thing.

Enjoy your build

The extra RAM is overkill, though - unless you want to set up a RAM Disk or plan to do a lot of heavy Photoshop work, or similar high memory use app.