Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

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twitch
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Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by twitch » Sat May 28, 2016 8:26 am

Now that asus strix gtx 1080 is coming out next week, here is the build I'm about to purchase, just wanted to see what the community thought. I could use some help particularly with the motherboard and perhaps CPU cooler. I've been buying items as they go on sale. The CPU/mobo I could get from my local microcenter as the core i5-6600K is $209 (sometimes down to $199) and another $20-30 off if you buy the mobo as well. I am most excited about the potential to drive two case fans via the http://i.imgur.com/xD4wKRb.jpg GPU 2x4pin headers as the link shows.

PC partpicker does not have the new asus strix in their system so I have evga as a placeholder. Also I have a few different types of ram/cpu coolers that I am tracking primarily to see which one goes on sale when I hit the buy button.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Kotetsu 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen MAX 97.2 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.36 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 TH ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($184.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($69.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($316.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($316.54 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Superclocked Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $84.99)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $115.00)
Case Fan: Fractal Design GP14-WT 68.4 CFM 140mm Fan ($9.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Samsung U32D970Q 60Hz 31.5" Monitor (Purchased For $650.00)
Keyboard: Logitech K800 Wireless Slim Keyboard (Purchased For $63.99)
Mouse: Logitech Performance Wireless Laser Mouse (Purchased For $49.99)
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 505W 5.1ch Speakers
External Storage: Seagate Backup Plus 8TB External Hard Drive (Purchased For $199.99)
Total: $2537.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-28 12:13 EDT-0400

CA_Steve
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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by CA_Steve » Sat May 28, 2016 10:37 am

Nice build. Here's some comments:

- cooler: Mugan Max will be overkill unless you plan to overvolt the CPU

- mobo: if you want to use BIOS for fan control - Gigabyte is the worst, while Asus, Asrock and MSI are the best. If you plan to use windows s/w for fan control Gigabyte is fine. Decent power efficiency. Only mfgr with Thunderbolt...but, I kinda hope Kaby Lake will have native USB 3.1 Gen 2 will proliferate Type C connectors on mobo's and cases.

- RAM: I'd stay away from the Ripjaws just for CPU cooler compatibility.

- SSD: Incredibly little benefit of 950 Pro over 850 Evo for a gaming built. Like 3% faster load times. That's it. Also, NVME M.2 drives may boot much slower than SATA depending on BIOS optimizations.. Also, heavily loaded M.2 drives can throttle...unlikely for your use case, though.

- Video card: we are all waiting for the aftermarket reviews!

- PSU: nice price.

- 3rd case fan: Hold off. See if you like the stock fans and then decide what to keep/add/replace.

- monitor: another nice price :)

twitch
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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by twitch » Sat May 28, 2016 11:38 am

Thanks for the feedback CA_Steve.

Here is preliminary look at the new asus strix (non-oc) with custom cooling: https://youtu.be/qv_B-zc0kcE

A few followup questions:

- mobo: I don't have or plan to get any thunderbolt peripherals. I would like USB 3.1 type A & C, but I suspect they are gen 1, not gen 2. In terms of fan control, the two case fans of R5 fractal will be controlled by the asus strix since it has 2 x 4 pin fan headers. The only fan that would need a profile would be the cpu fan. I had heard good things about gigabyte UD5 (wrt good thermals). I will be using windows 10 but would prefer to have the sole cpu fan under (?some sort of) bios control. Any other particular mobo you would recommend? I need barebones other than USB 3.1 A&C.

Sound: I understand alc1150 > 898. Have a really old hdav xonar 1.3, though not sure that would still work for listening to music. Would be using headphones / 5.1 logitech speakers which can take toslink.

Ram: what min height should I look for to clear the cpu cooler? I imagine I will be going with scythe kotetsu based on the feedback.

ssd: agreed. Will likely go with 1tb evo 850 (I have the 512 gb evo 850 in my htpc and it's decent).

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by quest_for_silence » Sat May 28, 2016 1:42 pm

twitch wrote:the two case fans of R5 fractal will be controlled by the asus strix since it has 2 x 4 pin fan headers.

Are you sure that the Strix can control 3 pin fans?

Abula
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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by Abula » Sat May 28, 2016 2:19 pm

Get an Asus mobo not gigbyte, tons of options that should work well,

Cheap ASUS Z170-A ATX DDR4 Motherboards
Middle ASUS SABERTOOTH Z170 S
Expensive ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO

What ill be doing with a new build im helping a friend is, he wanted a cheap mobo, but wanted i7 6700K, even though he wont overclock, he just wants high base clocks, a very nice mobo is the ASUS H170 PRO GAMING, the mobo is very well design, not a bad pick imo, just cant SLI, but overall for $110 to me its a very nice deal.

For pure bios, i would recommend AsRock, well priced and their bios fan control is pretty good, once you understand that the two autodetect headers are the only that can control PWM or DC fans, the rest are PWM headers, but overall the setup on the bios is to me very well done, there is pratically no restrictions, its up to the user how to set them up.
ASRock Fatal1ty Gaming Z170 - If you want killer lan and Realtek 1150
ASRock Z170 Pro4 - If you want Intel lan and Realtek 892
Last edited by Abula on Sat May 28, 2016 2:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

CA_Steve
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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by CA_Steve » Sat May 28, 2016 2:24 pm

twitch wrote:Here is preliminary look at the new asus strix (non-oc) with custom cooling:
Wow, that's a lot of height above the case bracket...that'll be a problem for some cases..
twitch wrote:- mobo: I don't have or plan to get any thunderbolt peripherals. I would like USB 3.1 type A & C, but I suspect they are gen 1, not gen 2. In terms of fan control, the two case fans of R5 fractal will be controlled by the asus strix since it has 2 x 4 pin fan headers. The only fan that would need a profile would be the cpu fan. I had heard good things about gigabyte UD5 (wrt good thermals). I will be using windows 10 but would prefer to have the sole cpu fan under (?some sort of) bios control. Any other particular mobo you would recommend? I need barebones other than USB 3.1 A&C.
I'll be interested to see how well the gfx card can control case fans....and whether they have to be PWM or not...as an aside, this was one of the the discussion points Mike C made with Asus - having the gpu temp sensor available for case fan control. :)

I was going to ask if you plan to OC the CPU, but there's another reason to go with a Z170 board - faster RAM speed support. For grins, here's 1 board ea from Asrock, MSI and Asus based on: at least 2 USB 3.1, ALC 1150, Intel NIC, 4 star+ customer feedback, optical port. Not a massive amount of customer reviews..and probably looking at Amazon for crowdsourced ratings as well. It's a start :)
twitch wrote:Sound: I understand alc1150 > 898. Have a really old hdav xonar 1.3, though not sure that would still work for listening to music. Would be using headphones / 5.1 logitech speakers which can take toslink.

Xonar > any mobo sound and 1150 > earlier series. However, this Xonar also supports video services so might suck a bit of power, might not support >Win 7 so better check that out.
twitch wrote:Ram: what min height should I look for to clear the cpu cooler? I imagine I will be going with scythe kotetsu based on the feedback.
If you go with the Kotetsu, it clears all the RAM slots, so it doesn't matter. That said, there's no benefit to anything more than a RAM heatsink that just wraps around the circuit board like the Vengeance LPX.

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by Abula » Sat May 28, 2016 3:43 pm

twitch wrote:Here is preliminary look at the new asus strix (non-oc) with custom cooling: https://youtu.be/qv_B-zc0kcE
The card looks amazing, cutom asus pcb design, i even like the cooler design with direct contact of the VRM, but also will be the main reason i wont go with it, i plan on going with the MK26 and this will create the need for using the heatsinks for cooling the vrms. I like a more the design of MSI, in terms of using a single frontal plate to cool the moemory and vrms, this plays really nice upgrading on the mk26, that said, im eager to see some reviews, hope Techpowerup reviews the Asus and MSI.

twitch
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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by twitch » Sat May 28, 2016 8:15 pm

The fractal design R5 case has a GP14 fan which is only 3 pins - does that mean it cannot work as a PWM fan? The fan case connectors on the new gtx 1080 are 4 pins - does that matter?

BTW, thanks for the suggestion on keeping the xonar. I found a modded unified driver that I will use for it here: http://maxedtech.com/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/

When gaming @ 4k, I would need a small OC to get 60fps on some games. At other times, I would like a near silent profile.

As the case is fractal design R5, I am thinking of an atx sized mobo with the following features:
network - intel lan; no killer lan
audio - incase the xonar hdav doesn't work, it'd be nice to have 1152, otherwise I'll have to buy a sound card.
usb 3.1 - type a & c (I'm guessing only Gen 1 usb 3.1 is available and also no power delivery profile or display port profiles supported)
thunderbolt - not needed
memory - ddr 4 likely with 3000 or 3600 support. Not going 4000+ since the price - performance benefit isn't there.

Otherwise just barebones mobo. Don't need the fancy gaming lights, etc.

Hoping for a good memorial day sale for around $150 for the mobo.

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by Abula » Sat May 28, 2016 9:06 pm

twitch wrote:The fractal design R5 case has a GP14 fan which is only 3 pins - does that mean it cannot work as a PWM fan? The fan case connectors on the new gtx 1080 are 4 pins - does that matter?
3pin usually have 3 cables (current, ground, rpms signal), PWM fans are usually 4pin (current, ground, rpm signal and pwm signal), so a 3pin cannot work as PWM, its missing the PWM signal cable, and the motor is differnt also, PWM fans always run at 12V (unless you also undervolt them, but its not recommended), they regulate the motor via the PWM signal.

Personally i think you should control the case fans with the motherboard, its much easier. Now if your intention is to have one of the case fan to be controlled by the GPU because you want one fan to speed up with the rpms of your gpu, and since the GTX1080 Strix has dual 4pin (GPU header), you will need Gelid CA-PWM-02 PWM Fan Adapter + a PWM fan, i would recommend you Noctua NF-P14s redux-1200 PWM, it should even stop when the strix is on 0% pwm. I would probably use the bottom fan slot for this, the 2x frontal i would still leave it controlled by an Asus motherboard.

Also to use the bottom fan slot on the R5, i would recommend you go with 160mm PSU, Corsair RM550X or RM650X would be ideal.
twitch wrote:When gaming @ 4k, I would need a small OC to get 60fps on some games. At other times, I would like a near silent profile.
OCing GPUs will end up on extra heat, and thus more noise, i would recommend first see how the GPUs are working out, MSI GTX1080 might be a better pick (depending on how is the design), as it can move toward a MK26 fairly easy.
twitch wrote:As the case is fractal design R5, I am thinking of an atx sized mobo with the following features:
network - intel lan; no killer lan
audio - incase the xonar hdav doesn't work, it'd be nice to have 1152, otherwise I'll have to buy a sound card.
usb 3.1 - type a & c (I'm guessing only Gen 1 usb 3.1 is available and also no power delivery profile or display port profiles supported)
thunderbolt - not needed

Otherwise just barebones mobo. Don't need the fancy gaming lights, etc.

Hoping for a good memorial day sale for around $150 for the mobo.
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z170 S comes with Intel I219-V lan and audio Realtek 1150. Also comes with 1 x USB 3.1 (teal blue) Type-A and 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C. Aside it has FanXpert3 that will allow you to setup the fan control extremly easy, also the bios fan control is pretty good, not as good as AsRock but its decent. Also Asus mobos can switch all their headers from PWM to DC (voltage control) in the bios, so that alone gives you a lot of flexibility, you can try the included fans on the R5 or swap them for PWM or 3pin and still have full control of the fans.
twitch wrote:memory - ddr 4 likely with 3000 or 3600 support. Not going 4000+ since the price - performance benefit isn't there.
Read SPCR Skylake Memory Scaling with Kingston Predator DDR4-3000, then decide weather you still think its worth it for your planned setup.

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by CA_Steve » Sun May 29, 2016 9:44 am

Abula wrote:
twitch wrote:Read SPCR Skylake Memory Scaling with Kingston Predator DDR4-3000, then decide weather you still think its worth it for your planned setup.
Maybe yes, maybe no. Oh, this is a discussion for another thread. :)

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by twitch » Sun May 29, 2016 10:38 am

Thanks for suggesting asus sabretooth z170s. I will go for it. I had it in my cart @ newegg brand new for $169.99 but for some reason the price went back upto $189.99. There is an open box for $161 @ newegg but they don't say what all is missing.

As it relates to higher memory timing, I was under the same impression until I read this article: http://www.techspot.com/article/1171-dd ... rformance/ Again not a huge performance increase but notable nevertheless particularly when the prices of the higher clocked sticks have been falling.

PURCHASED BUILD

So I bought some of these from jet.com since I have $10 off $50 on three amex cards and can stack the 15% coupon for upto $30 off each order:

CPU: Core I5-6600K $242.21 --> $202.21
MOBO: Asus Sabertooth z170s $196.13 --> $156.71
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 16gb 2x8gb DDR 3200 16-16-16-36 $84.97 --> $53.72
CPU COOLER: Scythe Kotetsu $46.99 --> $39.94 (no additional $10 amex off)

SSD: 850 evo 1tb $276.05 - $72.08 gift card --> $203.97 (used on amazon + 5% cashback with citi forward)
CASE FAN: Phantek PH-F140HP_WT2 White $14.99 (amazon)
CASE: Fractal Design R5 Black $89.99 (newegg bought previously 3% cashback with citi)
PSU: Corsair Hx750i $114.99 (bought previously from newegg includes $20MIR, 3% cashback with citi)

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by CA_Steve » Sun May 29, 2016 11:56 am

Yeah - never buy open box motherboards. You have no idea how it's been handled / whether the original owner and returns people followed ESD guidelines or not.

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by Abula » Sun May 29, 2016 12:11 pm

twitch wrote:Thanks for suggesting asus sabretooth z170s. I will go for it. I had it in my cart @ newegg brand new for $169.99 but for some reason the price went back upto $189.99. There is an open box for $161 @ newegg but they don't say what all is missing.
Its back at 169.99 =)

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by twitch » Sun May 29, 2016 12:36 pm

Abula wrote:
twitch wrote:Thanks for suggesting asus sabretooth z170s. I will go for it. I had it in my cart @ newegg brand new for $169.99 but for some reason the price went back upto $189.99. There is an open box for $161 @ newegg but they don't say what all is missing.
Its back at 169.99 =)
That's what it showed me. After adding to cart and going to pay, it ups it back to $189.99. I got sick of it and just ordered from jet with the discount and it was $156.71 brand new.

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by twitch » Sun May 29, 2016 9:16 pm

is there no autotune on the z170s sabertooth to do one click overclock?

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by Abula » Sun May 29, 2016 9:20 pm

twitch wrote:is there no autotune on the z170s sabertooth to do one click overclock?
I think there is the 5 way optimization that has an EZ overclocking, but most of the time it will overvolt more than its needed, as its a more safe for most CPUs, so it will generate more heat than it should, personally i dont use it, but try it out, maybe its what you are looking.

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by CA_Steve » Mon May 30, 2016 4:52 am

Abula wrote:
twitch wrote:is there no autotune on the z170s sabertooth to do one click overclock?
I think there is the 5 way optimization that has an EZ overclocking, but most of the time it will overvolt more than its needed, as its a more safe for most CPUs, so it will generate more heat than it should, personally i dont use it, but try it out, maybe its what you are looking.
Many of the auto-tunings overvolt..even at stock clock*. Avoid if you can, monitor the CPU voltage if you do try it.

* Leading to a lot of with "why is my CPU running so hot?" threads :)

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by twitch » Mon May 30, 2016 8:08 am

So the additional case fan (phantek pwm) I purchased, was planning to place that inline with the GPU and let the GPU control that one case fan. The rest (the two that come with R5, on exhaust one intake at front) to be controlled by the mobo. Oddly enough the mb can also control the GPU fans as they will be both asus - wonder what that will do to the cooling.

I like how you can setup different profiles for silent / std /turbo etc. However, I'd prefer a more automatic approach where it stays at silent when on low load and automatically ramps up the fans as needed. Guess I have to do a manual fan profile for that - perhaps this is where the GPU controlled fan will come handy blowing more air directly to the gpu?

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by Abula » Mon May 30, 2016 8:52 am

twitch wrote:Oddly enough the mb can also control the GPU fans as they will be both asus - wonder what that will do to the cooling.
While i dont find it impossible, it should have had something to be able to comunicate the temperature of the GPU, i know there are certain high end asus mobos that come with temp probes that can be used to setup fan control, but this would require placing the probe.... now without this.... you will need that the motherboard will somehow read the temperature of the gpu, probably in fanxpert3, although i havent seen any place where you can do that, that said Speedfan con do it, so i would think that maybe asus could.... idk really, im just rambling.
twitch wrote:So the additional case fan (phantek pwm) I purchased, was planning to place that inline with the GPU and let the GPU control that one case fan.
Remember 4pin GPU headers are not the same as 4pin fan headers, they are slimmer and the connectors dont match, you need to buy the Gelid cable i posted before if you really want to try this, you will probably might need to dissemble the cooler to reach where the extra heder is, not too difficult, but its important to understand its not something that its plug and play.

Now about the phantek, its a 140mm fan on 120mm frame, on my R4 i had issues fitting TY141 on the front because of how the fan frame was designed, so idk how this is going to work out. I still woudl have recommended to go with 2 in the front controlled by the motherboard, another fractal would been fine, and i would have placed the Phantek on the bottom in direct line of the video card. That said, this is just recommendations and suggestions, up to you to test what works better for you.
twitch wrote:I like how you can setup different profiles for silent / std /turbo etc. However, I'd prefer a more automatic approach where it stays at silent when on low load and automatically ramps up the fans as needed.
You have multiple ways of going with the fan control, but first enter the bios go into monitoring and go into fan control, check each header where you connected it, and now match it in the bios if its PWM or DC, this is important as it will net different outcomes depending on the settings of each fan.

1) Pure Bios,
Go again to the monitoring, and search for QTunning, this will test all your fans and set a suggested curve, you can change this to your own liking.

2) Software
Install Asus AI Suite, this will have FanXpert3 inside, open it and serach for Qfan Tunning, this will test all your fans, override whatever bios restrictions each fan has and give you a suggested fan curve, this you can modify to your liking. Now here there is another trick, after the tuning has finished, you still have profiles, usually you end up with the "standard", but there is a silent profile, where it will stop all fans except the CPU_FAN header until certain temp is met.
twitch wrote:Guess I have to do a manual fan profile for that - perhaps this is where the GPU controlled fan will come handy blowing more air directly to the gpu?
No need for manual, all can be setup on Bios/Software, and can ramp as you wish, as long as the fans are able to do what you want.

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Re: Silent 4k Gaming PC with asus strix gtx 1080

Post by twitch » Mon May 30, 2016 10:53 am

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