Finishing my first quiet PC - please advise

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adrianz
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Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 11:39 pm

Finishing my first quiet PC - please advise

Post by adrianz » Sat Feb 08, 2014 12:38 am

Hi!

It's my first post here, so please forgive me any faux pas :wink:

I'm putting together my first quiet (or at least not very loud) build and I'd like to ask for your opinion. It will be a general purpose PC, mainly for my programming work and all the "Internet stuff", but I'm going to use it also as a HTPC (my HDTV will be connected as a second display) and for some light gaming from time to time (like Diablo III@1080p).

I already have:
* CPU: Intel Pentium G3240 (Haswell dual-core 3,2 GHz)
* Motherboard: ASRock B85M Pro4
* RAM: 2 x 4GB DDR3-1600 (I'll add the second pair later)
* SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
* HDD: Old Samsung 500GB
* CPU cooler: Prolimatech Samuel17
* DVD burner (I don't remember the last time I used it, but hey, why should it be gathering dust on a shelf)

I still need to buy:
* Case: I'm thinking about Fractal Design Define Mini - really like the design, I can get a decent price on it and it supposed to be pretty quiet
* GPU: Asus R7 260X DirectCU II OC - from what I've heard the DirectCU II cooling is relatively low-noise, is that true? Any quiter alternatives? I don't want to spend more than the price of R7 260X but would like to play Blizzard games, Portal 2, Counter Strike, etc. at 1080p on decent quality settings and at 1440p if possible (I'm thinking about upgrading my monitor to 27" 2560x1440 later this year). Although they do have some negative reviews on Newegg and Amazon. Mayby I should wait a bit for GTX 750 Ti?
* PSU: Seasonic Fanless Platinium but I'm not sure which one - it looks like 400W should be enough, right? But I want to be sure because AMD and Asus say I need at least 450W PSU for R7 260X
* HDD: 1TB for storage that is cheap, quiet and doesn't vibrate, because my old one drives me crazy with it
* Fans: already have Noctua 120mm PWM (don't remember the exact model now) for CPU but I'm still wondering about case fans. How much do I need for this setup in this case? Are those fans bundled with the case pretty decent noise-wise? I'm not going to OC, I just want a quiet rig.

Thanks for any advice :-)

CA_Steve
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Re: Finishing my first quiet PC - please advise

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Feb 08, 2014 8:39 am

The Nvidia cards come out on Feb 18 if you want to wait and compare. WoW is probably the most gpu intensive of the three games. The R7 260X is fine for 1080p. I wouldn't expect 60fps in WoW at 1440p without dialing down the eye candy.

CPU: My previous rig used an e8400 dual core @ 3.3GHz and an HD 5770. I found multitasked (music, stream video on second monitor, skype, etc) gaming in WoW at 1080p to max out the CPU. Obviously, Haswell Pentium has a lot more oomph (~30-40%) at similar speed than the e8400, so you would have more headroom. Higher horsepower gpu might eat it up...In summary, probably no issues at 1080p, might be at 1440p. WoW only uses 2 cores, btw.

Your stressed load power is in the 220W range, so 400W fanless is fine. The only thing to consider is if you later upgrade to a bigger card and need additional PCIe graphics connectors. The x460 has two.

Fractal Define Mini is a good case.

HD: WD Red or Green.

fans: Try the Fractal fans and see.

adrianz
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 11:39 pm

Re: Finishing my first quiet PC - please advise

Post by adrianz » Sat Feb 08, 2014 2:07 pm

CA_Steve wrote:The Nvidia cards come out on Feb 18 if you want to wait and compare. WoW is probably the most gpu intensive of the three games. The R7 260X is fine for 1080p. I wouldn't expect 60fps in WoW at 1440p without dialing down the eye candy.
Yeah, I'll probably wait but I'm guessing it won't matter much whether I choose R7 260X or GTX 750 Ti, at least when it comes to performance (I don't care about 3-4 difference in fps). But I really do want quiet GPU so I'm wondering which manufacturer/card series/cooling solution has the best record when it comes to this.
CPU: My previous rig used an e8400 dual core @ 3.3GHz and an HD 5770. I found multitasked (music, stream video on second monitor, skype, etc) gaming in WoW at 1080p to max out the CPU. Obviously, Haswell Pentium has a lot more oomph (~30-40%) at similar speed than the e8400, so you would have more headroom. Higher horsepower gpu might eat it up...In summary, probably no issues at 1080p, might be at 1440p. WoW only uses 2 cores, btw.

Your stressed load power is in the 220W range, so 400W fanless is fine. The only thing to consider is if you later upgrade to a bigger card and need additional PCIe graphics connectors. The x460 has two.
I'm not an hardcore gamer, so I'm not planning to buy anything more powerful. If I ever do that it won't be for this PC. Additionally, given what you've said about my PC's power needs, I think I'll stick with my current Enermax 380W PSU for a little longer and switch to Seasonic after my next paycheck :-)

Anyway, thanks for your help!!!

boost
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Re: Finishing my first quiet PC - please advise

Post by boost » Sun Feb 09, 2014 4:35 am

The PowerColor SCS3 R9 270 is hte fastest passive graphics card available. It's ~30% faster than the 260X and has a single 6-Pin power connector. Running it without a fan is probably not a good idea, though. With a single 120mm Noctua fan with the ULN adapter it should be the most silent you can get in it's power and price bracket.

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