900€/$ Ultra Silent 21:9 UHD Build

[Silencer56]

Planning to build this, PSU and GPU should be silent in idle and yet potent enough for gaming without risking a housefire. Will this work? Does someone has something similar?

MSI GTX 960 Gaming 2G
LG Electronics 25UM65-P, 25"
MSI H97M-E35
G.Skill Value DIMM Kit 8GB, DDR3-1600
SanDisk Ultra Plus Notebook SSD 128GB
Scythe Kotetsu
Corsair RM Series RM450 450W
Cherry MX-Board 3.0, MX-Brown
Intel Core i5-4460, 4x 3.20GHz
Fractal Design Define R5 Black

1073€ / $1107

Mouse / HDD not included.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/f7fYt6

The question is whether 2 case fans will be enough to keep the PSU and GPU cool enough to remain passive in non-demanding tasks.... any ideas if this could work?

[CA_Steve]

Welcome to SPCR.

The question is whether 2 case fans will be enough to keep the PSU and GPU cool enough to remain passive in non-demanding tasks.... any ideas if this could work?

Sure. There's not significant heat build up with 2 case fans at low speed for this system. Figure:
40-50W while streaming videos or other lightweight 2D tasks.
30-40W idle.

On the other end,
120W GPU, 84W CPU, 40W for everything else = 244W stress load.
~210W heavy gaming load.

I'd opt to spend the $30 for the i5-4690. Higher base clock speed is useful for games.

[Silencer56]

Sure. There's not significant heat build up with 2 case fans at low speed for this system. Figure:
40-50W while streaming videos or other lightweight 2D tasks.
30-40W idle.

On the other end,
120W GPU, 84W CPU, 40W for everything else = 244W stress load.
~210W heavy gaming load.

I'd opt to spend the $30 for the i5-4690. Higher base clock speed is useful for games.

Oh, I think if any, the GPU will bottleneck here, given the low VRAM and memory bus. I think about getting the MSI 4G 970 which should result in similar energy efficiency, because those 100€ more will make it more future proof.

The wattage given by Nvidia is >120W under load btw, the MSI model has a temperature target of 218W at max, still the 450W PSU should be able to handle that.

I am looking forward for the case fans of the R5, according to many reviews they are much comparable to Antec True Quiet 140 which would be really cool.

[quest_for_silence]

The question is whether 2 case fans will be enough to keep the PSU and GPU cool enough to remain passive in non-demanding tasks.... any ideas if this could work?

Where do you live?

[Silencer56]

The question is whether 2 case fans will be enough to keep the PSU and GPU cool enough to remain passive in non-demanding tasks.... any ideas if this could work?

Where do you live?

Germany, why?

[quest_for_silence]

The question is whether 2 case fans will be enough to keep the PSU and GPU cool enough to remain passive in non-demanding tasks.... any ideas if this could work?

Where do you live?

Germany, why?

In order to check your average ambient temperature in summer: it's one of the major factor in order to try to give you a somewhat educated answer. Can you check/supply your average summer temp?

Btw, as you live in Germany, personally I'd pick a different PSU, something like a BeQuiet! E10 500 or an Enermax Platimax 500: same silence, greater safety, and with reference to the Platimax a way better build quality.

[CA_Steve]

Oh, I think if any, the GPU will bottleneck here, given the low VRAM and memory bus. I think about getting the MSI 4G 970 which should result in similar energy efficiency, because those 100€ more will make it more future proof.

Your call. Depends on whether the games are cpu or gpu dependent. I find I replace my gfx card twice as often as I replace the CPU. Your 21:9 monitor has roughly 30% more pixels than a std 1080p monitor. 1440p has roughly 77% more pixels than the 1080p. So, figure your framerate in games is about halfway between 1080p and 1440p benchmarks.

+1 on Luca's PSU picks.

[Snow]

Planning to build this, PSU and GPU should be silent in idle and yet potent enough for gaming without risking a housefire. Will this work? Does someone has something similar?
MSI GTX 960 Gaming 2G
LG Electronics 25UM65-P, 25"
MSI H97M-E35
G.Skill Value DIMM Kit 8GB, DDR3-1600
SanDisk Ultra Plus Notebook SSD 128GB
Scythe Kotetsu
Corsair RM Series RM450 450W
Cherry MX-Board 3.0, MX-Brown
Intel Core i5-4460, 4x 3.20GHz
Fractal Design Define R5 Black

I suggest higher wattage on the PSU, you will barely make it if you upgrade (overclock) in the future. I also suggest going Seasonic, my current M12II-640W and previous S12-430W are dead silent (idle/load) and these are very high quality for low price.
If the cooling on the GTX 960 is the same as on my MSI Geforce GTX760 2GB Gaming (N760 TF 2GD5/OC) then yes it's dead silent idling. Since I don't game anymore I can't tell you how it sounds at load but I bet it's pretty silent too.
SSD Samsung all the way, the 850 Evo or Pro and if you can go 256GB instead of 128GB (future proof). SanDisk Notebook???
The R5 stock fans (Dynamic GP-14) are dead silent on low, very silent on med but very audible on high, also kind of difficult to switch to med setting.
A big surprise to me was not having to suspend the HDD's anymore in this R5 which to me says a lot about the built/damping of this case.
And remember, for gaming it's all about single core speed!

Also you might want to look into these: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Home ... i/13400621

Take care good luck with whatever you decide!

[quest_for_silence]

I suggest higher wattage on the PSU, you will barely make it if you upgrade (overclock) in the future.

Much more probably that not, he won't ever need more power, not even by mistake.

I also suggest going Seasonic, my current M12II-640W and previous S12-430W are dead silent (idle/load) and these are very high quality for low price.

Just a side note (for future readers): I don't think you may call those Seasonics neither "dead silent (idle/load)", nor "low price" (but maybe "rather quiet up to low loads", and "not too much expensive").

[Snow]

I suggest higher wattage on the PSU, you will barely make it if you upgrade (overclock) in the future.

Much more probably that not, he won't ever need more power, not even by mistake.

I also suggest going Seasonic, my current M12II-640W and previous S12-430W are dead silent (idle/load) and these are very high quality for low price.

Just a side note (for future readers): I don't think you may call those Seasonics neither "dead silent (idle/load)", nor "low price" (but maybe "rather quiet up to low loads", and "not too much expensive").

I am a musician and extremely picky about noise. The PSU is dead silent, it's not passive of course but it's indeed dead silent, far below ambient noise and almost passive to my ears. Maybe if you use the case back facing front and put your ear against it you might call it rather quiet. Idle is what he's after no? As far as I can remember heavy gaming on the S12-430 was very quiet too with the fan barely spinning up, the same will probably go for the M12II-640. When you game the sound from the game and other fans (GPU) are dominating anyway, hence people asking about idle noise. And I do feel the price is low for the quality/durability Seasonic provides.
If you think it is just rather quiet then you must be running completely passive because to me there is nothing in between passive and these Seasonics. I've always had airflow issues because of running my system too silent (passive GPU, suspended drives, 5V fans) I still do.
Weird vibes here on the forum, what gives?

[Silencer56]

Actually I got myself a Seasonic Platinum Fanless 460W, I'm going to try out whether I can keep temps low enough. If not, I'd go for a semi passive one.

Also considering an i3-4370 instead of the i5-4460 for higher single core performance at even lower TDP. I don't play that many CPU-dependent games anyway. I will test the new PSU in my old rig with a Phenom II X4 940 BE + GTS 250, both much more power hungry than the new parts.

[quest_for_silence]

I am a musician and extremely picky about noise.

I beg your pardon, but that does not matter.

The PSU is dead silent,

No, it is not, period. As you stated more correctly right after it is below ambient noise and that's all you can correctly say about.

Maybe if you use the case back facing front and put your ear against it you might call it rather quiet. Idle is what he's after no? As far as I can remember heavy gaming on the S12-430 was very quiet too with the fan barely spinning up, the same will probably go for the M12II-640.

First of all, I think you should correctly state which is the model you own (the 640 does not exist, it has to be either a 620 or a 650).
Said that, I actually know most of Seasonics, and more or less they are clearly audible (although not obtrusive) at idle, and with a rather conservative fan profile, so that particularly the 650W is rather loud under stress (you can even find a round-up at hardware.info with some noise measures about this latter). This is my honest experience with them.
These facts do not imply that in some scenarios and under some circumstances (PC placement, distance from ears, noise floor, personal expectations and behaviour, usage pattern, and so on) they can be not so much noticeable, of course, but surely they are not "dead silent".

When you game the sound from the game and other fans (GPU) are dominating anyway

I don't think so: did you read about the recent SPCR gaming reviews? http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1439-page4.html accounts for 14dB while gaming, a SPL that the quoted Seasonics are not able to match, not even at idle.

And I do feel the price is low for the quality/durability Seasonic provides.

I don't completely disagree, the Seasonic units are always decently built, with a usually high reliability, but their price is not that low: as you say, they sport a favourable price/quality ratio, often better than most of their competitors, and that's all you can fairly say about.

If you think it is just rather quiet then you must be running completely passive because to me there is nothing in between passive and these Seasonics.

Perhaps your one may be just a small lack of experience? As seen also on SPCR reviews, there are several fanned PSUs which can run quieter (and in my experience quieter than passive Seasonics).

Weird vibes here on the forum, what gives?

I don't understand what you mean: I just pointed out some incorrect information.
Even if you're perfectly satisfied by your PSU, the OP doesn't need any more power (450W DC is enough to run a two GTX 980 on 4.8GHz Core i7), those Seasonics are not "dead silent" (neither at idle, nor at load), and they are not low cost PSUs (an Antec VPF 650 may be defined as a low cost unit in that power range and it costs about 30% less here).

[Snow]

What if I was to say you are incorrect, where does that put us? Who has real life experience with these PSU's? I have an R5, been using Seasonic (first S12-430 and now M12II-620) for as long as I can remember and probably have the same GPU cooling as the OP, what is your experience with this hardware and how it sounds?
Are we forgetting the OP's request? Silence at Idle. As for current gamers tend to overclock so you better make sure your PSU is up for the task.

Is it the lack of having a "member of the silence club" badge that makes me incapable of reviewing and recommending hardware?
Still nitpicking on the "dead silent" I see, it is a figure of speech but I will use "silent" from now on if that gets you trough the day, but certainly not "rather quiet"

btw I looked up some reviews about the PSU:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/05/ ... Rpm-Vx4X6s

Read the part about noise. Now I suggest you go tell the author that he can't use the phrase "dead silent" ever again concerning these PSU's. If you're going to discuss the "almost" part then you need to find another way to kill your time my friend.

I will leave it at that. This board got me into silent modding and I am thankful for that but I am not going to let someone dictate me what I should and shouldn't say about hardware I have a lot of "real life" experience with. My quest for silence included suspending drives, runnings big fans at 5 or 7V, using passive CPU and GPU, been there done that.

Take care

[xan_user]

Weird vibes here on the forum, what gives?

on SPCR this is often just a language/cultural barrier. sometimes innuendo and intent get lost or muddled in translation.

[quest_for_silence]

What if I was to say you are incorrect, where does that put us?

Dude, I think you're just overreacting without a serious reason: I explicitly (and I think politely) pointed you out about what I don't agree with you, but if you then upset because of this, well, I can't help, definitely it's your problem, not mine.

Who has real life experience with these PSU's?

As I (probably not so clearly) said, I have an about ten-years long experience with modern Seasonic PSUs, from the S12 to the M12D, then to the X-series, the G-series and the Platinum (I used also some of their TFX and SFX units).
In my experience Seasonic units (although that brand is one of my favourite choices) have never been the quietest of the bunch, particularly under load, and that happened by design, it's how Seasonic build them to make them reliable but not "dead silent", no exception. Obviously as I already said, other factors may affect the final outcome: if you place the enclosure on a desk side by side with the screen, they will be easily noticeable, where you will put the enclosure in a bureau well under the desk there are many more chances it will be not; but a "dead silent" PSU is "dead silent" always, not only in some placement, and that's in the end what I told you saying they're not "dead silent".

Silence at Idle.

That's why I said Seasonics are not the best option: just for the record, any of the other quoted (by anyone) PSU is quieter than an M12 II 620 (at idle and load), how would you call them? If your Seasonic PSU were "dead silent", the other ones should be "ghost silent"? I'm just teasing, no intention to piss you off!

As for current gamers tend to overclock so you better make sure your PSU is up for the task.

I already provided you a comprehensive link to the HardOCP review: two GTX 980 overclocked to the max on a Core i7 oc'ed to 4.8GHz pulled 589W AC, so probably (given that PSU) around 520W DC, while gaming; that's why I said the OP won't ever need more power (with reference to any decent 450W PSU, and any GTX 960 or GTX 970 GPU).

Is it the lack of having a "member of the silence club" badge that makes me incapable of reviewing and recommending hardware?

DId I tell you that you're uncapable of something, or any similar expression? Have I asked you to show a badge? Apparently you took offense by the words "rather quiet"! I told you that in my own experience what you said is not true. So what's up if you apparently can't stand a contrarian statement? Again, I have no reason to upset you, and frankly I don't think to have written anything barely offensive, but definitely it's up to your call: in case I can't take care that much of such an overreaction.

Still nitpicking on the "dead silent" I see, it is a figure of speech but I will use "silent" from now on if that gets you trough the day, but certainly not "rather quiet"

If you just give a look to some, SPCR evaluation guides, just for instance the one about the recommended CPU coolers, you will find some statement like this: "The only criteria here are that they are... able to get down to at least 20 dBA @ 1m". Per SPCR criteria a 20dBA SPL is the upper limit to call an heatsink "quiet", not "dead silent", just enough "quiet" to be taken into account. How much is 20dBA? For instance it is the SPL of a 120mm fan running at around 1300rpm (do you call such a fan "dead silent"? Personally I don't). Well, here there's an M12 II 620 fan profile, recorded by the russians at Xbit Labs, on their bench at their typical 22°C ambient (while according to their methodology inside a case the typical ambient temp is often in the 28-33°C range):



Seasonic fan controllers are pretty conservative, and mostly temperature-driven (they react quickly to any intake temp increase), and that's consistent all across the board. Moreover Seasonic fans (ball bearing ADDA and Sanyo-Denki) are more noticeable than the best sleeve bearing and FDB ones by design: as a matter of fact you won't find a fanned Seasonic PSU with an idle noise below the 14-15dB in any case, with a relatively evident noise-signature. Both these aspects make them noticeable at idle, and rather noisy, if not plainly loud, at load: that's my honest, decennial experience with them. Well, turning back at those above quoted 20dB, whether the ADDA fan were average noise-wise (and it is not due to its ball bearing, in my experience), it won't be quiet at all around the 300W level, SPCR wouldn't call it quiet (and as a matter of fact that's also what the SPCR oldest testings stated), and it isn't anymore as quiet as at idle over the 120-150W mark.

Summarizing, if you rather that's just a matter of chart, not nitipicking: as I said above, whether an M12 II were "dead silent", how should you call a BeQuiet E10? Actually its fan spins around 190rpm at idle, and around 370rpm at about 320W DC (when the Seasonic one already spin over 1300rpm at 22°C ambient).

btw I looked up some reviews about the PSU:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/05/ ... Rpm-Vx4X6s

Read the part about noise. Now I suggest you go tell the author that he can't use the phrase "dead silent" ever again concerning these PSU's. If you're going to discuss the "almost" part then you need to find another way to kill your time my friend.

No, I already know some Spectre's typical expressions, like: "this unit would likely be a quiet enough unit for the vast majority of users under the vast majority of scenarios", and sometimes we already discussed similar aspects directly (Spectre is Paul Johnson, the author, he's one of the most respected my co-forumers on jonnyguru.com forum).
He simply doesn't care that much about noise, because (another his own typical expression) noise isn't an ATX spec: so his relevant findings are often worthless for SPCR readers, that's what I think about.

My quest for silence included suspending drives, runnings big fans at 5 or 7V, using passive CPU and GPU, been there done that.

Have a nice time, wherever you will go (but take into account to have a bit more patience, next time).