Parts check for rebuild
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 12:14 pm
I've had it with the noise from my system, I will be reusing:
AMD Phenom II X3
RAM
ASUS GT640-DCSL-2GD3 (passively cooled NVIDIA GT640, 65W TDP)
SSD: 64 GB Crucial M4
HDD: 500 GB Western Digital Caviar Black
Front runners:
Case: Fractal Design Define R4
CPU heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
(optional) heatsink fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 PWM, Noctua NF-P12 PWM or Cougar CF-V12HP PWM
(optional) rear fan: Phanteks PH-F140TS
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-D3P
Power supply: Corsair RM650
Comments/alternatives:
Case: I considered the Corsair 550D (almost as good as the R4, but just a bit noisier and airflow a bit worse) and the NZXT H2 (airflow doesn't seem as good as the R4)
CPU heatsink: I considered going passive with the Silverstone Heligon HE02, but the sheer size and weight worries me, and although it will cool a 95 W CPU like my Phenom, it just doesn't cool it well. I'd rather use one more fan than slowly cook my CPU.
Heatsink fan: the one included with the Cooler Master 212 isn't great, I was considering these alternatives. CA_Steve advised that I should probably listen first.
Rear fan: I saw this on sale and seeing as it was rated so highly I now have one. Depending on system noise and temperature, I may or may not use it.
Motherboard: I would have preferred the ASUS M5A97 R2.0 but it looks like ASUS removed the core unlocking feature from all their R2.0 boards, and I will not be giving up a perfectly-unlockable CPU core just to go with ASUS. Too bad too - the ASUS board has three system fan headers, the Gigabyte board has only two.
Power supply: I was also considering the bequiet! Dark Power Pro 10 but it's not a hybrid design and there's a report or two of coil whine. The Corsair RM power supplies are hybrid designs and would probably run fanless for most idle loads for me, plus there are efforts to control coil whine with these. I also considered a fanless Seasonic X-series, but there are way too many reports of coil whine for me to be comfortable with it.
If it would make a big change, I'd consider downgrading the video card to one of two other passively-cooled cards I have: an NVIDIA GT520 (29W TDP) or even a passively-cooled NVIDIA 9400 GT (50W TDP). To be honest, I'm not really using the GT640 to its full capacity anyway.
Nothing has been bought yet so I'm wondering what everyone thinks!
Thank you.
AMD Phenom II X3
RAM
ASUS GT640-DCSL-2GD3 (passively cooled NVIDIA GT640, 65W TDP)
SSD: 64 GB Crucial M4
HDD: 500 GB Western Digital Caviar Black
Front runners:
Case: Fractal Design Define R4
CPU heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
(optional) heatsink fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 PWM, Noctua NF-P12 PWM or Cougar CF-V12HP PWM
(optional) rear fan: Phanteks PH-F140TS
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-D3P
Power supply: Corsair RM650
Comments/alternatives:
Case: I considered the Corsair 550D (almost as good as the R4, but just a bit noisier and airflow a bit worse) and the NZXT H2 (airflow doesn't seem as good as the R4)
CPU heatsink: I considered going passive with the Silverstone Heligon HE02, but the sheer size and weight worries me, and although it will cool a 95 W CPU like my Phenom, it just doesn't cool it well. I'd rather use one more fan than slowly cook my CPU.
Heatsink fan: the one included with the Cooler Master 212 isn't great, I was considering these alternatives. CA_Steve advised that I should probably listen first.
Rear fan: I saw this on sale and seeing as it was rated so highly I now have one. Depending on system noise and temperature, I may or may not use it.
Motherboard: I would have preferred the ASUS M5A97 R2.0 but it looks like ASUS removed the core unlocking feature from all their R2.0 boards, and I will not be giving up a perfectly-unlockable CPU core just to go with ASUS. Too bad too - the ASUS board has three system fan headers, the Gigabyte board has only two.
Power supply: I was also considering the bequiet! Dark Power Pro 10 but it's not a hybrid design and there's a report or two of coil whine. The Corsair RM power supplies are hybrid designs and would probably run fanless for most idle loads for me, plus there are efforts to control coil whine with these. I also considered a fanless Seasonic X-series, but there are way too many reports of coil whine for me to be comfortable with it.
If it would make a big change, I'd consider downgrading the video card to one of two other passively-cooled cards I have: an NVIDIA GT520 (29W TDP) or even a passively-cooled NVIDIA 9400 GT (50W TDP). To be honest, I'm not really using the GT640 to its full capacity anyway.
Nothing has been bought yet so I'm wondering what everyone thinks!
Thank you.