[Quiet] Gaming Rig advice

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ovidiu
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Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:03 am

[Quiet] Gaming Rig advice

Post by ovidiu » Sun Sep 22, 2013 9:03 am

Hello,

I'm new to the forums and I've been checking out the reviews on SPC for a few weeks now. I'm preparing to build a custom gaming PC that will have (hopefully) low noise under normal usage (I don't plan to overclock any of the components, at least not for a while). Budget wise I would like to keep it under 2000E, hence I did not go for the top GPU available on the market. My objective is not to build the best possible gaming rig, but to balance performance with low noise levels in a PC that can last me for a few years (maybe a bit optimistic :)

Here's what I have so far after combing SPC and several other sources:

Case : Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 (not released yet, but it's due in the coming weeks)
Power source : Seasonic X-series 650W
Motherboard : Asus Z87 Plus
Processor : Intel Haswell i7 4770 3.4Ghz
Cooler : Noctua NH-U14S
Video card : Gainward GeForce GTX 770 Phantom 4GB
Storage : SSD Samsung 250GB SATA-III 2.5 inch 840 EVO Series Basic
RAM : Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit

I'd love to get some input on this setup if anyone has experience with building quiet PCs. The last PC I built was close to 10 years ago, and back then silence was not a concern for me, so I'm very much a beginner at this. Any help would be really appreciated!

CA_Steve
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Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:13 am

Welcome to SPCR.

There's a couple of questions that will help tune your build:
- What's your monitor resolution?
- What games do you play?
- Do you want to max out a game's eye candy, or dial it back if it means the difference of a couple hundred euros?

Some games are gpu intensive, others are CPU intensive. Very few games make use of hyperthreading. Your monitor resolution, obviously, has a large impact on processing power required.

Some comments:
- Yow! That's a huge case.
- Unless you have a specific game that benefits from hyperthreading, save $100 and drop down to the i5.
- RAM: Step away from the tall heatspreaders. They add no value and can possibly get in the way of your cpu cooler. Also, Just get 8GB. Unless you do Photoshop or something. Games won't use it.
- Cooler: It's a great cooler. Might be a little overkill unless you plan to overclock.
- GPU: need answer b4 going further. If you game at 1080p, you don't need anything more than the GTX 760.
- mobo: I like the Plus. It's on my short list. Be sure to get the C2 stepping version (has a 5 on the end of the part number and not a 0).
- SSD: Good performance and Samsung has a good track record. Too new to tell if there are any infant mortality issues/bugs.

ovidiu
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Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by ovidiu » Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:26 am

Thanks for the welcome!

- I don't think I'll be gaming at higher than 1080p, the bigger monitors just seem too big for my taste.
- I mostly enjoy FPS games and some RTS from time to time
- I'm willing to dial down eye candy if it means by PC will be cooler (and thus less louder), I chose the 770 because I thought it's a good future-proof solution (but maybe it's overkill)

Abula
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Location: Guatemala

Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by Abula » Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:56 am

ovidiu wrote:Case : Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 (not released yet, but it's due in the coming weeks)
If you are into big cases go for it, personally i think Fractal Design Define R4 or Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 should be a better option.
ovidiu wrote:Power source : Seasonic X-series 650W
Solid choice
ovidiu wrote:Motherboard : Asus Z87 Plus
Here i have mix thoughts, i do recommend asus specially for the FanXpet2, but i personally went away from it out of having some issues with other things. While i love fanxpert i dislike it needs the full AI SUITE III for it to work, bunch of things there that i dont need and i have them loaded. I also dont like the way that asus concludes the CPU temp, not the same as cores nor cpu, its like formula they do with mulitple sensors, but no other software draws the same temp, this is very wierd, like for example on idle my cores are at 30C but on load 60C, but on AI SUITE the cpu displays 35C at idle and 40C at load. This made try to compensate on the temps, but at the same time it doesnt scale together with the cores, so i didnt like that. I believe fanXpet2 is a great piece of software and that asus should make a stand alone and use cores temps to regulate itself, that would make it perfect. For this, and other issues with realtek 1150 im now on MSI, wonderful BIOS and specially it has 2 true PWM headers, i can control them both independently from bios alone, i dont need extra software, its just a matter of chosing the right fans for it, also its restrictions on pure bios fan control 12.5% vs 40% on asus bios (on fanXpert you can drop to 0% if your fans allow). I'm going to do a post in the following days about it wiht more detail.

But im not trying to steer you away from asus, i still feel its a great choice, and less complicated than what i did.
ovidiu wrote:Processor : Intel Haswell i7 4770 3.4Ghz
Second steve suggestion, if you dont need hyperthreading then go for the cheaper i5 4670.
ovidiu wrote:Cooler : Noctua NH-U14S
Wonderful cooler, just expensive, the NF-A15 PWM will drop to 200rpm on FanXpert2. In the US we still dont have access to much of Scythe products, but since you are on EU, and if you were looking to save some, check Scythe Mugen 4 CPU Cooler: Scythe Strikes Back.
ovidiu wrote:Video card : Gainward GeForce GTX 770 Phantom 4GB
I would go with MSI Gaming N770 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 770 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card, good reviews on all the twin frozr cards on this gen, check TechPowerUp Review MSI GTX 770 TwinFrozr Gaming 2 GB
ovidiu wrote:Storage : SSD Samsung 250GB SATA-III 2.5 inch 840 EVO Series Basic
Nice one, very new and not much info into how reliable, but seems to be a great choice among value ssds.
ovidiu wrote:RAM : Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit
I would go with low profile low voltage, there is no need for tall heatsinks aside for looks, even memory overclcoking has very little real performance increase. I ran Crucial Ballistix Sport Very Low Profile 32GB Kit (8GBx4) DDR3-1600 1.35V UDIMM 240-Pin Memory Modules BLS4C8G3D1609ES2LX0 on a ASUS Maximus VI Gene and now running on a MSI Z87-GD65, no issues in both bios, recognized the XMP of 1600mhz and 1.35v, and booted with all 4 dims on both motherboards on the first time, really good memory, and stable, no bsods or anything, this kinda memory will allow you to use almost any cooler down the road, even twin towers shouldn't have a problem with it. I also used Crucial Ballistix Sport Very Low Profile 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3-1600 1.35V UDIMM 240-Pin Memory Modules BLS2C4G3D1609ES2LX0 on an build i did for a friend 4 months ago, with MSI Z77A-G43 also the same no issues recognizing the XMP, running at 1.35V fine, no BSODs, stable and great.

boost
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Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by boost » Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:03 am

ovidiu wrote:Case : Nanoxia Deep Silence 6 (not released yet, but it's due in the coming weeks)
Power source : Seasonic X-series 650W
Motherboard : Asus Z87 Plus
Processor : Intel Haswell i7 4770 3.4Ghz
Cooler : Noctua NH-U14S
Video card : Gainward GeForce GTX 770 Phantom 4GB
Storage : SSD Samsung 250GB SATA-III 2.5 inch 840 EVO Series Basic
RAM : Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit
The pupose of the Nanoxia case' size is internal watercooling. If you want to upgrade to watercooling it's a good choice. If you stick with watercooling there are smaller options. The Fractal Design R4 is often recommended.
I would recommend an Asus board, the Z87 chipset is necessary for overclocking the CPU. The Z87 Plus is great, if you want integrated WiFi the Z87-Pro is just 20€ more.
I don't know a game that benefits from a i7 CPU with Hyperthreading, only the latest games use more than 2 cores.
For overklocking you need a 4XXXK CPU. The 4670K has the best price/performance ratio.
The Noctua NH-U14S cooler is great, if you want to overclock in the future get the best cooler now: the Noctua NH-D14 costs the same and keeps an overclocked CPU cooler.
I would recommend the Asus Direct CU II coolers over the Gainward for noise, but Asus doesn't make a 770 4GB Direct CU II. The MSI Twin Frozr 770 4GB is only slighty louder than the Asus, and certainly quieter than the Gainward Phantom 770. And it's cheaper.
For gaming at 1920*1080 resolution you drop down to a 760.
The Samsung SSD is one of the fastet currently available at a good price.
You should buy the Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit. The heatspreaders on the Pro version could collide with the CPU cooler.

Abula
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Location: Guatemala

Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by Abula » Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:10 am

boost wrote:I would recommend the Asus Direct CU II coolers over the Gainward for noise, but Asus doesn't make a 770 4GB Direct CU II. The MSI Twin Frozr 770 4GB is only slighty louder than the Asus, and certainly quieter than the Gainward Phantom 770. And it's cheaper.
Im going to disagree, even though no reviews on SPCR on GPUs on this gen, to try to compare ill use the same site, from TechPowerUp reviews, MSI GTX 770 TwinFrozr Gaming 2 GB and ASUS GTX 770 DirectCU II OC 2 GB

Image

CA_Steve
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Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Sep 22, 2013 12:19 pm

To max out 1080p performance for everything but a handful of the most extreme games, go for the GTX 760. Specifically, the MSI Gaming edition. In the US, it's ~$260. The GTX 770 is $400 and won't provide a worthwhile bump in performance.

So, an i5 + GTX 760 and everything else is ~ 300W max stressed load. Likely gaming load is ~ 250W. You can easily drop down to a 550W class supply and not have audible fan ramp up during gaming. Seasonic is fine. Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro is another. Super Flower Golden King is another. Depending on what case you decide on, you could go fanless..

ggumdol
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Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by ggumdol » Sun Sep 22, 2013 12:55 pm

Hi,

A skeptic in me wants to leave a few comments. It is really nonsensical to spend that much amount money and simply opt for the stock VGA cooler at the same time. That is because the noise of the VGA (whether it is ASUS Direct CU II or MSI Frozr) will be easily dominating those of all the other components. Even in idle state, the fan noise of stock VGA coolers will be overwhelming all the other components in your suggested rig. In other words, it is wasteful to buy such expensive CPU cooler and Seasonic PSU along with stock VGA cooler.

I would rather consider downgraded versions of suggested components such as Seasonic X-series 560W and Noctua NH-U12S and i5-4430 and spend the saved money on an aftermarket VGA cooler, for instance:

1) Arctic Accelero Twin Turbo II
2) Arctic Accelero Xtreme III
3) Alpenföhn Peter plus 2x Noctua NF-S12A PWM 120mm

My two cents.

FWIW, I guess MSI Frozr will be quieter than ASUS Direct CU II partly due to its bigger fans.

Abula
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Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by Abula » Sun Sep 22, 2013 1:09 pm

ggumdol wrote:1) Arctic Accelero Twin Turbo II
2) Arctic Accelero Xtreme III
3) Alpenföhn Peter plus 2x Noctua NF-S12A PWM 120mm
While you are right into being an option, and probably will net better temps like Prolimatek MK26 that tears down everything, the problem for me personally is that i went this route and GTX780 has some weird way of managing PWM fans, and niether Accelero III with its AC fans nor MK-26 and Vortex 14 fans were controllable on PWM by gtx780, im now running my Accelero III on 7V addapter that was provided with the cooler for this kinda exeperiences per recomendation of Arctic cooling customer service.

What im trying to say is that there is a gamble into going aftermarket, that imo is not worth it unless there is no viable options, in this case i would go with MSI GTX770 or GTX760 as CA Steve suggested, and test the what so to be the quietest manufacturer none reference coooler is. If its still noisy then i would gamble with MK26, maybe none reference cooler cards like the MSI Gaming come with a different bios that could use it to control aftermarket fans, but imo there is no need.

ovidiu
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Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by ovidiu » Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:04 am

Great feedback so far, guys, it's really helping me shape my new rig!

- I think I'll go with MSI GeForce GTX 770 Twin Frozr 2GB DDR5 256-bit since it seems it's really silent during gaming which is a big concern for me.

- The i5 is a good suggestion and I may go for it, I'm not 100% convinced that an i7 won't serve me better though, I do tend to have a lot of running apps during gaming, and the price difference is not so big between an i5 and an i7 in my opinion

- As for RAM, thanks for pointing out that the Corsair Vengeance has a tall profile, I completely forgout about that aspect. Unfortunately all I could find on the online shops where I live that's close to your suggestions are:
-- Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit and
-- Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL10 Dual Channel Kit
- Of these two modules, which would you recommend? I'd think the lower timing would be better but I'm not really an expert on how it impacts gaming performance. Price wise they're identical, but not sure about reliability (I've never had Crucial modules before).

Pappnaas
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Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by Pappnaas » Mon Sep 23, 2013 3:38 am

The difference in ram timing doesn't lead to real world performance differences. You might be able to benchmark a difference. If wanting to OC you'd need probably faster RAM than the 1600 to begin with.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by quest_for_silence » Mon Sep 23, 2013 5:08 am

ggumdol wrote:FWIW, I guess MSI Frozr will be quieter than ASUS Direct CU II partly due to its bigger fans.

Just a note: I don't know about 7xx cards, but on load, paired with the 6xx Keplers, the MSI TF cooler is far more aggressive than the ASUS DC-II one.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by quest_for_silence » Mon Sep 23, 2013 5:14 am

ovidiu wrote:-- Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit and
-- Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL10 Dual Channel Kit
- Of these two modules, which would you recommend?

For CL9/CL10 timings, Kingston LoVo worth to mention: I guess it's also the choice of SPCR editorial staff.
About the two quoted, personally I'd probably opt for the Crucial pair (mostly as they manufacture memories, not just resell them as Corsair does).

Abula
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Re: Silent Gaming Rig advice

Post by Abula » Mon Sep 23, 2013 5:57 am

ovidiu wrote:- I think I'll go with MSI GeForce GTX 770 Twin Frozr 2GB DDR5 256-bit since it seems it's really silent during gaming which is a big concern for me.
Just as note, since in your initial post you wanted 4gb vram, MSI has the same card with 4gb (just has memory on the back of the card like the titan), MSI Gaming N770 TF 4GD5/OC GeForce GTX 770 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card. Personally i think its a waste of money unless you going for SLI or multiple monitors, or games like Skyrim that can use the extra vram for mods, aside from that reason, i would save the money and just get the 2gb version.
ovidiu wrote:- The i5 is a good suggestion and I may go for it, I'm not 100% convinced that an i7 won't serve me better though, I do tend to have a lot of running apps during gaming, and the price difference is not so big between an i5 and an i7 in my opinion
This is up to you, i also suggest the i5 unless you do use the hyperthreading, check if you apps/games do, if so go for it, else save some money.
ovidiu wrote:- As for RAM, thanks for pointing out that the Corsair Vengeance has a tall profile, I completely forgout about that aspect. Unfortunately all I could find on the online shops where I live that's close to your suggestions are:
-- Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit and
-- Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL10 Dual Channel Kit
- Of these two modules, which would you recommend? I'd think the lower timing would be better but I'm not really an expert on how it impacts gaming performance. Price wise they're identical, but not sure about reliability (I've never had Crucial modules before).
I would go crucial, but try to search for it with the models i posted above, they are low voltage and low height.

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