[Carbide 400Q vs] Define S Silent Gaming Build

Got a shopping cart of parts that you want opinions on? Get advice from members on your planned or existing system (or upgrade).

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
Saulot
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:49 pm

[Carbide 400Q vs] Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by Saulot » Sun May 01, 2016 3:25 am

Hello everybody,

after my old rig served me well for eight years, I am going to build a new one in the next two weeks and this site was a great help to me. I already decided on all components, except for the case and PSU:

CPU: Core i7-6700
Cooler: Scythe Kotetsu
MB: Gigabyte GA-H170-D3HP
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB Kit DDR4-2133
GPU: MSI GTX 960 Gaming 4G
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Z
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 500GB

As you can see, there will be no optical drives and HDDs. Also, I am not interested in OC or water cooling. What I am looking for is a top silent case for a reasonable price, since I am already over budget.

The Fractal Design Define S is as far I understand a "light" version of the R5, which is considered a top case in all respects. The Corsair Carbide 400Q is the little brother of the 600Q, which also received a great review, so I would guess it should perform well too. But since there is no professional review available for the 400Q here and out there in the internet I find mixed reviews to it silence quality, I am a bit sceptical. So, every feedback from the more knowledgable users here, would be very appreciated.

Kind regards
Last edited by Saulot on Sun May 01, 2016 2:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: Corsair Carbide 400Q vs Fractal Design Define S

Post by Abula » Sun May 01, 2016 7:46 am

Saulot welcome to SPCR!!!

The Define S is a case more minimalistic than Define R5, but has its pro and cons over it, i would chose it if you have low needs for storage and dont need 5.25 bays, its more flexible if you are into watercooling down the road.

Personally i like more Fractal than Corsair in cases, but i like more laid back and less flashy cases, and its more a personal preference, i think you can build a quiet setup with either case.
CPU: Core i7-6700
Cooler: Scythe Kotetsu
MB: Gigabyte GA-H170-D3HP
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB Kit DDR4-2133
GPU: MSI GTX 960 Gaming 4G
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Z
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 500GB
I like all the choices you made, except one, the gigabyte motherboard, if you like the brand go for it and disregard my following comments. There are better options for motherboard in terms of fan control out there that will not be that expensive.

ASUS H170 PRO GAMING
If you are fine with Software control this board with FanXpert3 is really good, it will let you control whatever fans you have, no matter if they are PWM (4pin) or DC (3pin), you can switch them on the bios and FanXpert3 thru the tuning will stablish the min max for each fan and give you suggested graph for each, you can even later turn silent mode on on fanXpert3 and it will allow you turn of fans if certain temps are not reached (depends if the fan can be turned off by design). You can also customize your own graph of each graph to your liking, as long as you are fine with software controlling the fans, this is a great option, its the easiest of all, its piratically connect the fans to each header, enter the bios and set weather they are 3pin or 4pin, enter windwos install AI suite, open FanXpert3, run the tuning and you are set with a very quiet setup.

ASRock H170 PRO4
This is a brand that i have overlooked over the years, recently since the departure of intel in consumer motherboards i have seen very good results on consumption and their bios fan control seems to be one of the best, i cant tell you much here because i havent tested personally one of thier Skylake mobos, but from what i seen seems the brand that ill be moving soon. Their CPU_FAN header has 1% increments on 1C variations, to what i know only works on PWM (not switchable like asus), and the cha_fans are voltage controlled. In the past they had presets on their CHA_FAN heaeders but it seems they change it in skylake, and this is what i do want to test, i have B150 Pro4 on my way to finally do some test, but still a couple of weeks from reaching to me. But from what i have reserach this is the kind of fan control i want for my setups. And also for $90 seems like a great board, with intel lan and realtek 892 (i have had issues with 1150 but not iwth 892).

MSI Gaming H170 Gaming M3
I have done a build with it, and to me its a very good motherboard. I have used MSI for at least 5 builds from haswell and one in Skylake, and all have worked great. Now their bios fan control was upgraded from my current Z87-GD65, now you have multiple breakpoints (3 if i remember correctly) that allow you to setup a graph into how you fans will behave, this is true for CPU_FAN1 and CPU_FAN2, where they changed something over mine that i didn't liked was on the SYS_FANs headers, they seem to have done something that doesn't allow the voltage controlled fans to be done dynamically, what i mean by this is you can still do 40% to 100% (in 10% increments), so you can undervolt a fan no problem, but in the past i could use a graph like with CPU_FAN headers, this time if i enable the graph the fans go into 12V or full speed, so i ended up having a steady undervoltage on the fans, my theory is that when you change it to smart they become PWM heders as PWM fans always operate on 12V, but i had very few time to finish the build so didnt bother connecting a PWM to test this. Still even with what i said, if you go full PWM, like the kotetsu for the CPU_FAN1 and leave the CPU_FAN2 for the case fans (this means you will need to upgrade the fans to PWM), and you add a PWM splitter, you will be able to control the fan dynamically on the bios. I still think its a very good option as long you understand how the motherboard fan headers work.

Saulot
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:49 pm

Fractal Design Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by Saulot » Sun May 01, 2016 2:17 pm

Abula wrote:Saulot welcome to SPCR!!!

The Define S is a case more minimalistic than Define R5, but has its pro and cons over it, i would chose it if you have low needs for storage and dont need 5.25 bays, its more flexible if you are into watercooling down the road.

Personally i like more Fractal than Corsair in cases, but i like more laid back and less flashy cases, and its more a personal preference, i think you can build a quiet setup with either case.
Thanks for the welcome and the quick and thorough reply. I actually have the same preferences and after some more research on the site, I decided to play it safe and ordered the Fractal.
ASUS H170 PRO GAMING
If you are fine with Software control this board with FanXpert3 is really good, it will let you control whatever fans you have, no matter if they are PWM (4pin) or DC (3pin), you can switch them on the bios and FanXpert3 thru the tuning will stablish the min max for each fan and give you suggested graph for each, you can even later turn silent mode on on fanXpert3 and it will allow you turn of fans if certain temps are not reached (depends if the fan can be turned off by design). You can also customize your own graph of each graph to your liking, as long as you are fine with software controlling the fans, this is a great option, its the easiest of all, its piratically connect the fans to each header, enter the bios and set weather they are 3pin or 4pin, enter windwos install AI suite, open FanXpert3, run the tuning and you are set with a very quiet setup.
The description actually sounds, like this is THE solution for fan controlling. But as a matter of fact, I am not really a "fan" of software solutions. I remember installing the AI Suite for my current ASUS mainboard (P5K Pro) and uninstalled the same day. Tried it again after one or two years with the same result. The ASUS software (probably the same for other manufacturers) was totally bloated with stuff I don't really had a use for, was annoying to navigate and needlessly sucking up resources in the meantime. Maybe I am just to petty about this, but usually I just try to get what I really need and use very lighweight and streamlined software, like HWInfo64 for monitoring etc.

But of course, these experiences are from many years ago (down to 2008) and maybe the software today is great and a must have. I will go with your recommendation on this one.
ASRock H170 PRO4
This is a brand that i have overlooked over the years, recently since the departure of intel in consumer motherboards i have seen very good results on consumption and their bios fan control seems to be one of the best, i cant tell you much here because i havent tested personally one of thier Skylake mobos, but from what i seen seems the brand that ill be moving soon. Their CPU_FAN header has 1% increments on 1C variations, to what i know only works on PWM (not switchable like asus), and the cha_fans are voltage controlled. In the past they had presets on their CHA_FAN heaeders but it seems they change it in skylake, and this is what i do want to test, i have B150 Pro4 on my way to finally do some test, but still a couple of weeks from reaching to me. But from what i have reserach this is the kind of fan control i want for my setups. And also for $90 seems like a great board, with intel lan and realtek 892 (i have had issues with 1150 but not iwth 892).
Indeed, I remember that we never thought much of ASRock in the past and considered it just as "cheap", in a negative sense. I think to know that they were especially present in OEM builds from the shelf. But the last few years, I only read very good reviews. They obviously stepped up their game and incredibly still keeping their low prices.

This sounds like a great solution and if this is the kind of fan control you want for your setups, then it can't be wrong for me, no? :)
I don't want too much hassle with my fans. Just set them up efficiently and be done with it, while they hopefully do a good job and not get my attention any further, in a positive sense.
MSI Gaming H170 Gaming M3
I have done a build with it, and to me its a very good motherboard. I have used MSI for at least 5 builds from haswell and one in Skylake, and all have worked great. Now their bios fan control was upgraded from my current Z87-GD65, now you have multiple breakpoints (3 if i remember correctly) that allow you to setup a graph into how you fans will behave, this is true for CPU_FAN1 and CPU_FAN2, where they changed something over mine that i didn't liked was on the SYS_FANs headers, they seem to have done something that doesn't allow the voltage controlled fans to be done dynamically, what i mean by this is you can still do 40% to 100% (in 10% increments), so you can undervolt a fan no problem, but in the past i could use a graph like with CPU_FAN headers, this time if i enable the graph the fans go into 12V or full speed, so i ended up having a steady undervoltage on the fans, my theory is that when you change it to smart they become PWM heders as PWM fans always operate on 12V, but i had very few time to finish the build so didnt bother connecting a PWM to test this. Still even with what i said, if you go full PWM, like the kotetsu for the CPU_FAN1 and leave the CPU_FAN2 for the case fans (this means you will need to upgrade the fans to PWM), and you add a PWM splitter, you will be able to control the fan dynamically on the bios. I still think its a very good option as long you understand how the motherboard fan headers work.
It is a long time since I last took a detailed look into my rig, apart from the yearly dedusting and I think that is way I set up my case fans. By the way, that rig is a Lian-Li A-07 (DYI dampening) and a Noctua NH U12P for the CPU on the aforementioned ASUS P5K Pro.

All in all, I don't see any advantage from the MSI, unless I am overlooking something.

So, it is the ASUS or ASRock then. I would go with your recommendations on this one. I checked prices here in Germany: The ASUS costs 130 EUR (~150 USD) and the ASRock 105 EUR (~120 USD). You think the ASUS is worth the 25 EUR (~30 USD) difference for my requirements?
Last edited by Saulot on Mon May 02, 2016 10:37 am, edited 4 times in total.

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: [Carbide 400Q vs] Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by CA_Steve » Sun May 01, 2016 3:21 pm

You think the ASUS is worth the 25 EUR (~30 USD) for my requirements?
Nope. If you are going to use the BIOS (or 3rd party s/w) for fan control and have a sound card, then it negates the primary advantages.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: [Carbide 400Q vs] Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by Abula » Sun May 01, 2016 4:30 pm

All in all, I don't see any advantage from the MSI, unless I am overlooking something.
Well in theory you are right, AsRock seems better on bios fan control and Asus seems better on Software fan control. But as i said, i haven't played around with AsRock to say for sure how it is, im just telling you by what i have research and seen in other builds, i also posted a thread on AsRock forums where they were very friendly showing pics, so this is what made me want to buy a AsRock B150 Pro4 to test (that hasn't arrived yet). Since im havent played around with AsRock to know for sure how it works fully, is the only reason im recommending MSI, since i do know what to expect from that exact mobo, not saying its the best choice, just that i do know what will happen, specially if you go the PWM route (fans and splitter), it should be a very good choice, just requieres you to spend more money, and probably others solutions will give you this without spending it extra.
The description actually sounds, like this is THE solution for fan controlling. But as a matter of fact, I am not really a "fan" of software solutions. I remember installing the AI Suite for my current ASUS mainboard (P5K Pro) and uninstalled the same day. Tried it again after one or two years with the same result. The ASUS software (probably the same for other manufacturers) was totally bloated with stuff I don't really had a use for, was annoying to navigate and needlessly sucking up resources in the meantime. Maybe I am just to petty about this, but usually I just try to get what I really need and use very lighweight and streamlined software, like HWInfo64 for monitoring etc.
Well you sound like me, in terms that i also dislike software fan control, im more a minimimalist and like to set it on the bios and never worry again, its safer and not dependant on anything. Asus still has AI suite very bloated with tons of things that imo are not needed, but this doesn't take away from what they have achieved on FanXpert3, really good, just you do need to load AI Suite with a ton of crap to have it running. My experience in 2 other Asus mobos weren't that great with AI Suite, they were on the early days, and measure the temps their own way, with an algorithm that caculated, according to the representatives, a more accurate way to measure temps, that didn't match coretemp, nor realtemp, nor HWmonitor.... thus to me rendering completely useless. So this is the main reason why atm im with MSI on my main PC and 2 others more.
This sounds like a great solution and if this is the kind of fan control you want for your setups, then it can't be wrong for me, no? :)
I don't want too much hassle with my fans. Just set them up efficiently and be done with it, while they hopefully do a good job and not get my attention any further, in a positive sense.
Well with AsRock all seems great, but i havent tested first hand to say for sure, in the past (pre skylake) they had very good BIOS fan control, specially on the CPU_FAN where you had 1% PWM over 1C increments, this is by far the most tweakable i have seen on any bios fan control, where it didnt convice me was on the CHA_FAN bios settings, you didnt had a graph, it was based on presets (Silent, normal, turbo), so you couldnt really do what you wanted but what was preset, seems they have change on Skylake (if you read the thread i posted before), but again i cant say for certain, until i try the AsRock B150 Pro4.

I still think either of the 3 mobos, its better choice than Gigabyte, but i cant tell you which will end up better for you scenario.

To make MSI work, i would say you need to commit to PWM fans all around and use only the CPU_FAN1 and CPU_FAN2 (one for the cpu and one for the case fans with splitter). If you don't want to change the fans, you can still do fine the Fractal fans on SYS_FAN headers but at a steady voltage, for example you could run them 40/50% and ran like you are undevolting, but it wont dynamic only the CPU_FAN will be.

To make Asus work, you will need to use AI Suite with FanXpert3, their bios fan control is great on paper, but very buggy atm, contrary to their software which is to me the best in the market, just gotta put with the bloatware that comes with AI Suite.

To make AsRock work, i think you could try with the included fans, and test the bios fan control, im just not certain yet what will you encounter, but as i said before, this seems to fit exactly what i want in terms of bios fan control, i just want to try it fully before i can it for sure. There are things like min/max restrictions over each header that i want to test, and what is PWM and what is voltage control, Asus can switch headers at will, msi and asrock dont.

Im sorry i cant give you a more definitive suggestion, but i try to point my experiences and you decide what will work better for you, in a month or so ill do a comparation between all 3 mobos in fan control so users can get an idea into each brand, but i gotta wait to test AsRock first.

ggumdol
Posts: 154
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:01 pm
Location: Scandinavia

Re: Fractal Design Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by ggumdol » Mon May 02, 2016 7:45 am

I'm a long-time ardent customer of Asrock motherboards and, as far as I recall, I have used two Asus motherboards so far including a relatively recent one, Asus H97M-E, which is a part of my main rig. It's really hard to compare them objectively because I'm neither a professional tester nor benchmarker with lots of apparatus for measurement and data collection.

Having said that, I would probably go for Asrock motherboards for a Skylake i7 build because I'm really picky about fan noise and the Asrock BIOS fan control is absolutely splendid in terms of PWM granularity and flexibility. More importantly, as compared with Asus motherboards which are known to have "weird" CPU temperature sensor, Asrock motherboards indeed adopt proper CPU temperature sensors identical to tempearature readings in CoreTemp ot Speedfan or whatever monitoring software, which is a huge relief for people who are excessively obsessed with all things related to silence computing and sanity of their rigs.

On the other hand, if I were to build a Skylake i5 build, I would simply go for Asus motherboards because, as far as my experience goes, I had front USB header problems with a few Asrock motherboards. Precisely speaking, it seemed to me that the front USB headers in Asrock motherboards are not powered sufficiently. Also, based on my really subjective experience, I have the impression that Asus motherboards have slightly superior headphone or audio outputs. At least, they sounded better than those of Asrock motherboards. In the meantime, as far as another experience of mine goes, Asrock tends to provide much more flexible BIOS functionalities, not to mention the fine granularity of their fan control. For example, I had a couple of issues regarding the memory compatibility or the lack thereof with my Asus H97M-E motherboard but I can't recall such a problem with any Asrock motherboard. Lastly, Asus motherboards indeed look better in aesthetical terms than Asrock motherboards but I do not really care about asthetics of motherboards while I strongly prefer classy and nice-looking chasses or cases.

In short, I would probably go for Asrock motherboards for i7 Skylake because I speculate that the fan noise of i7 builds are typically far more apparent than that of i5 builds.

On second thought, I suspect the sound outputs of Asrock motherboards are probably comparable to those of Asus motherboards but I cannot come to terms with their malfunctioning front USB headers.
Saulot wrote:
Abula wrote:ASRock H170 PRO4
This is a brand that i have overlooked over the years, recently since the departure of intel in consumer motherboards i have seen very good results on consumption and their bios fan control seems to be one of the best, i cant tell you much here because i havent tested personally one of thier Skylake mobos, but from what i seen seems the brand that ill be moving soon. Their CPU_FAN header has 1% increments on 1C variations, to what i know only works on PWM (not switchable like asus), and the cha_fans are voltage controlled. In the past they had presets on their CHA_FAN heaeders but it seems they change it in skylake, and this is what i do want to test, i have B150 Pro4 on my way to finally do some test, but still a couple of weeks from reaching to me. But from what i have reserach this is the kind of fan control i want for my setups. And also for $90 seems like a great board, with intel lan and realtek 892 (i have had issues with 1150 but not iwth 892).
Indeed, I remember that we never thought much of ASRock in the past and considered it just as "cheap", in a negative sense. I think to know that they were especially present in OEM builds from the shelf. But the last few years, I only read very good reviews. They obviously stepped up their game and incredibly still keeping their low prices.

This sounds like a great solution and if this is the kind of fan control you want for your setups, then it can't be wrong for me, no? :)
I don't want too much hassle with my fans. Just set them up efficiently and be done with it, while they hopefully do a good job and not get my attention any further, in a positive sense.

Saulot
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:49 pm

Re: [Carbide 400Q vs] Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by Saulot » Mon May 02, 2016 10:24 am

Abula wrote:To make Asus work, you will need to use AI Suite with FanXpert3, their bios fan control is great on paper, but very buggy atm, contrary to their software which is to me the best in the market, just gotta put with the bloatware that comes with AI Suite.

To make AsRock work, i think you could try with the included fans, and test the bios fan control, im just not certain yet what will you encounter, but as i said before, this seems to fit exactly what i want in terms of bios fan control, i just want to try it fully before i can it for sure. There are things like min/max restrictions over each header that i want to test, and what is PWM and what is voltage control, Asus can switch headers at will, msi and asrock dont.

Im sorry i cant give you a more definitive suggestion, but i try to point my experiences and you decide what will work better for you, in a month or so ill do a comparation between all 3 mobos in fan control so users can get an idea into each brand, but i gotta wait to test AsRock first.
Your suggestions are great and an invaluable help.

I thought about the ASUS some more last night and its ease-of-use is very intriguing. I watched some reviews and FanXpert 3 for instance also changes the rotation direction of the fans from time to time, to dust them off. Details like this make it really look as great as advertised. The core functionality of FanXpert 3 should also be available in the BIOS, which would be THE perfect solution. But as you already stated and I read in the ASUS topic, its quite bugged. Usually that shouldn't be a problem, after all the Skylake systems are pretty new and updates can fix these problems over time.

But I don't want to bet on this. My current mainboard has an issue that everytime I change an option in the fans/monitoring tab, the BIOS freezes for up to 20 seconds and it also has problems reading the temperatures. After I bought it, ASUS released two or three updates in its lifetime, but nothing was fixed or improved, as far as I can tell. And those very informative update notes that always just read "Improve system stability" are no help either. :x

The general consensus on ASRock is that they are very good boards. Question is of course, how good this model actually will be, but I am ready to go for it. There are actually six variants of the H170 Pro4, but I narrowed it down to the standard model H170 Pro4 and the newest H170 Pro4/Hyper. The only added functionality on the latter one, are the Hyper BCLK Engine (for OC of non K-model CPUs), something I don't need. Also both have "3 x Chassis Fan Connectors (2 x 4-pin, 1 x 3-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)" but with the Hyper additionally CPU_FAN1 and CHA_FAN1 can auto detect if 3-pin or 4-pin fan is in use. The price difference is just 9 EUR (~10 USD).



Another topic I forgot to ask about is the PSU, if you don't mind:

I narrowed it down to the be quiet! Straight Power 10 CM 500W. My first choice was the be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 550W that according to specs should be even more silent. But I honestly doubt that I will hear an actual difference in my "case". Also I initially played with the thought to connect my fans to the PSU, but discarded this after looking at the new mainboard choices. I think the Dark Power is more useful for people who want to OC their systems, use Dual-GPU setups and got more fans to connect, than the two I have.

So, whats your take on this one, any better recommendations?
Last edited by Saulot on Tue May 03, 2016 6:55 am, edited 4 times in total.

Saulot
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:49 pm

Re: Fractal Design Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by Saulot » Mon May 02, 2016 10:35 am

ggumdol wrote:I'm a long-time ardent customer of Asrock motherboards and, as far as I recall, I have used two Asus motherboards so far including a relatively recent one, Asus H97M-E, which is a part of my main rig. It's really hard to compare them objectively because I'm neither a professional tester nor benchmarker with lots of apparatus for measurement and data collection.
It seems we are in the very same boat, mate. :)
Having said that, I would probably go for Asrock motherboards for a Skylake i7 build because I'm really picky about fan noise and the Asrock BIOS fan control is absolutely splendid in terms of PWM granularity and flexibility. More importantly, as compared with Asus motherboards which are known to have "weird" CPU temperature sensor, Asrock motherboards indeed adopt proper CPU temperature sensors identical to tempearature readings in CoreTemp ot Speedfan or whatever monitoring software, which is a huge relief for people who are excessively obsessed with all things related to silence computing and sanity of their rigs.
Your feedback is very appreciated. Essentially you are confirming Abula and my own experience, which makes it easier to go forth with ASRock.
Also, based on my really subjective experience, I have the impression that Asus motherboards have slightly superior headphone or audio outputs. At least, they sounded better than those of Asrock motherboards.
As CA_Steve has correctly stated, since I am using a dedicated soundcard I can't care less about the onboard sound. So, all those fancy wiz-bang audio solutions from ASUS would be wasted anyway, along with some money.
Lastly, Asus motherboards indeed look better in aesthetical terms than Asrock motherboards but I do not really care about asthetics of motherboards while I strongly prefer classy and nice-looking chasses or cases.
Well, I am not using a windowed case and usually open it only once a year before summer to dedust it probably, so looks are irrelevant to me. But personally, with all these shiny elements, gaming mainboards look, more or less, all the same to me.


With all this criticism against ASUS, I have to say that they are building superb hardware, hands down! Therefore it is even more of a shame that they can't get their software right or simply don't care.
Last edited by Saulot on Mon May 02, 2016 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: [Carbide 400Q vs] Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by CA_Steve » Mon May 02, 2016 11:58 am

PSUs: They use the same fan, just have different profiles at higher loads - which won't matter with your use case as you won't see the higher loads :). The SP10 500's fan profile is flat through 180W load and then has a fairly gentle ramp with ~400rpm at 300W. The DPP11 550's fan profile starts a slow ramp earlier, but is still below 400rpm for your use case and beyond.

The DPP 11 is a little more efficient, but is 180mm long vs the SP 10's 160mm (only matters if you pick a short dimensioned case).

Kobold
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:28 am
Location: Europe

Re: [Carbide 400Q vs] Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by Kobold » Tue May 03, 2016 12:24 pm

As someone who just bought a Corsair Carbide 400Q I can attest that it should be definitely possible to build a silent case with that system. I did not have much chance to play around with it yet, but there are now two noise sources in this case,which I have to eliminate: The Noctua 140 mm fan at high speed and the airborne noise from the HDD. Else no noise and I also have the Be Quiet 500W Straight Power, btw.

See viewtopic.php?f=23&t=69094&start=30

It will be some time until I do a full "review" in this thread, though, as I am rather busy right now. I already did some short burn in test using Prime95 and Furmark: I think GPU went to 70 °C and the CPU (i5-6500) to 55 °C (Have to check that again?)?

Some small things: Whoever thought, that the "non-removable" thumbscrews on the side panels were a great idea should be kicked in the ****. It is a pain in the ass to screw them back in. Secondly, I'd rather not have the magnetically attached top, as at least for my case the holding power at one edge is dubious at best.

I anyway ordered some silicone mat to block of a few unnecessary intakes and exit points of air using some magnets to attach these, maybe I will totally block the top vent with that.

And basically it is rather large for not putting anything in, but there was just no smaller case which really made sense to me airflow-wise. Airflow is definitely not a problem IMO for the corsair.

Best

Kobold

Saulot
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:49 pm

Re: [Carbide 400Q vs] Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by Saulot » Wed May 04, 2016 1:17 pm

CA_Steve wrote:PSUs: They use the same fan, just have different profiles at higher loads - which won't matter with your use case as you won't see the higher loads :). The SP10 500's fan profile is flat through 180W load and then has a fairly gentle ramp with ~400rpm at 300W. The DPP11 550's fan profile starts a slow ramp earlier, but is still below 400rpm for your use case and beyond.

The DPP 11 is a little more efficient, but is 180mm long vs the SP 10's 160mm (only matters if you pick a short dimensioned case).
Thank you for the clear explanation! I am relieved that this decision was resolved quite quickly.
Kobold wrote:As someone who just bought a Corsair Carbide 400Q I can attest that it should be definitely possible to build a silent case with that system. I did not have much chance to play around with it yet, but there are now two noise sources in this case,which I have to eliminate: The Noctua 140 mm fan at high speed and the airborne noise from the HDD. Else no noise and I also have the Be Quiet 500W Straight Power, btw.

See viewtopic.php?f=23&t=69094&start=30

It will be some time until I do a full "review" in this thread, though, as I am rather busy right now. I already did some short burn in test using Prime95 and Furmark: I think GPU went to 70 °C and the CPU (i5-6500) to 55 °C (Have to check that again?)?

Some small things: Whoever thought, that the "non-removable" thumbscrews on the side panels were a great idea should be kicked in the ****. It is a pain in the ass to screw them back in. Secondly, I'd rather not have the magnetically attached top, as at least for my case the holding power at one edge is dubious at best.

I anyway ordered some silicone mat to block of a few unnecessary intakes and exit points of air using some magnets to attach these, maybe I will totally block the top vent with that.

And basically it is rather large for not putting anything in, but there was just no smaller case which really made sense to me airflow-wise. Airflow is definitely not a problem IMO for the corsair.

Best

Kobold
Hi and thanks for your input. So case fans are a general problem with Corsair and not just with the 600Q? Anyway, our builds are actually quite similar, I am looking forward to your final results and hope you get happy with your build.

Saulot
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:49 pm

Re: [Carbide 400Q vs] Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by Saulot » Wed May 04, 2016 1:41 pm

So, I ordered all parts meanwhile. Again, a very big thanks to all of you for your help! For your time and sharing your experience and feedback!

Here now the final list:

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700
Cooler: Scythe Kotetsu
MB: ASRock H170 Pro4/Hyper
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB Kit DDR4-2133
GPU: MSI GTX 960 Gaming 4G
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Z
SSD: 2x Samsung 850 EVO 500GB
Case: Fractal Design Define S
PSU: be quiet! Straight Power 10 CM 500W


For comparison my old build:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz @3.00GHz
Cooler: Noctua NH-U12P
MB: ASUS P5K Pro
RAM: Kingston HyperX 4GB Kit DDR2-1066
GPU: Gainward Phantom² GTX 560 Ti 2GB VRAM (formerly GeForce 9800GTX @9800GTX+ with Arctic Cooling Accelero S2 + Turbo Module)
Sound: Creative Soundblaser X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB + WD Green 3TB (formerly 2x Samsung HD SpinPoint F1 500GB RAID 0)
Case: Lian-Li A07 with insulation mats
PSU: SilverStone Strider Silent ST56F 560W


With best regards
Last edited by Saulot on Thu May 05, 2016 12:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

quest_for_silence
Posts: 5275
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:12 am
Location: ITALY

Re: [Carbide 400Q vs] Define S Silent Gaming Build

Post by quest_for_silence » Wed May 04, 2016 1:53 pm

<deleted>

Post Reply