I'm looking at using a bunch of old gift cards I have to help build a silent pc. I'd appreciate feedback on the stability and silence of this setup. Below is what I'm looking at purchasing.

SilverStone Temjin TJ08-E
Noctua NH-D14
Core i7-2600K
GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3V
ASUS EN210 Silent/DI/512MD3/V2 (spare card already have)

I'd like to use the Noctua NH-D14 heat sync but am not sure if it will fit in the Temjin case. The 9.5 quiet rating is very promising. If that is too big to fit, what is the quietest heatsync for an i5 or i7 that will fit in the Temjin? Does this look like a good part list to build a quiet system?

Looks good to me with the exception of the heatsink you chose. That is extreme overkill unless you're planning on doing some major overclocking. Something like the NH-C12P SE14 or the NH-U12P SE2 would be more appropriate if you're looking for a Noctua cooler.

I would concern myself with how you're going to go about quieting the front fan in that case. It's super loud at 12v and only seems quiet on the 'Low' setting when also undervolted to 9v.

Also, what will you be using for storage? Non-green HDDs can contribute significantly to overall system noise and dampening/suspension would be in order if that's the case.

Hi, what are your apps? That'll help determine if you have a balanced build. Also, the HD4000 integrated GPU has more horsepower than the old Asus 210. No reason to plug in that card.

Thanks for your replies! Falkon, thanks for the heat sync advice. I'm still leaning toward the Noctua NH-D14 only because its only $10 more expensive than the other 2 mentioned, and most likely I'll hang on to the heat sync for future builds. I didn't know that about green drives, so I'll be sure to use one. Do you think any of the WD green drives will be sufficient? CA_Steve, I'm planning on using it for development of apps that use a lot of processor power. I'm planning on leaving it on 24/7 where during the daytime I code, then in the evenings it'll run and do the number crunching. Thanks for the advice on using the graphics card.

WD Green drives work great as mass storage/backup drives. They're quite slow if used as an OS/apps drive. If you're using either a SSD or 7200rpm+ HDD as a boot drive the WD Green will work well for mass storage duty. At current prices I'd recommend something like an Intel 330 series SSD over a 7200rpm drive to boot from.

It may not fit...depending on Gigabyte's CPU placement as compared to the Asus mobo in the Temjin review here. The D14 is 130mm deep without the fan. The U12P is 95mm. There was only 26mm clearance between the HDD and the cooler in SPCR's review. The NH-U12P SE gave decent temps with a similar TDP CPU.

Be sure to use low profile RAM, otherwise you will run into problems.

+1 for SSD on OS/apps and HDD for large data storage.

Why the i7-2600K and not the i7-3770K? Granted it's $50 cheaper. Are you planning to OC? Will your programs/compiler make use of hyperthreading?

1. The U12p is probably a safe choice. An even safer one is the NH-U9B SE2. It is small, quiet and can cool any current Intel CPU just fine, even if overclocked.

2. But Noctua does say that the NH-D14 is compatible with the GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3V. If you look at their compatibility list they do seem to be very thorough and even obsessivly detailed on their compatibility criteria.

http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=comp ... =34&lng=en

Gigabyte saying the cooler is compatible is just one part of the equation...it's also a matter of the socket placement on the mobo in relation to everything else in this small case.

Yes that is correct, they do not show compatibility with cases, just with motherboards. Though they do a remarkable job of testing compatibility with issues like memory and video cards.

I really didn't give much thought to the case, I assumed that if it fit the motherboard, that it would fit the case. I just did a quick lookup of the case, and it sure seems like it should fit.

I do agree with you though that the big noctua is a bit of an overkill. The U12p is a safer choice. An even safer one is the NH-U9B SE2. The best thing about all of them is that when Haswell and subsequent chips show up, Noctua will provide the new CPU mounting kits for free, as long as you save your receipts.