Coffee Lake Silent Gaming Build

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Gudako
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:26 pm

Coffee Lake Silent Gaming Build

Post by Gudako » Tue Jan 30, 2018 10:03 pm

Hi I’m looking to build a silent PC for gaming, photoshop and a little video rendering.

Here’s what I’m thinking:

Case: Fractal Design Define R6 (closed panel not TG)
PSU: Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium 1000W
Ram: 32 GB Corsair Dominator
CPU: Intel 8700k
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 1080 Reference
CPU Cooler: NH-D15 Noctua with included fans
Case Fan Intake: 2 x Noctua NF-A14 PWM
Case Fan Exhaust 1 x Noctua NF-A14 PWM
SSD Storage: 1 NVE m.2 (need to look around) + 2 SSDs
HD Storage: 1 10 TB Seagate Pro + 1 6 TB Seagate Enteprise Capacity
Motherboard: MSI Z370 GODLIKE GAMING

I'm reusing the 1080 graphics card. I might update (maybe a lower noise gpu) once the new iteration of cards hits since the 1080Ti came out March 2017.

Looking for some advice to tweak this build and get it as silent as possible.
I know some of these listed components are definitely a little overkill but if these components are silent and perform well - that's fine I don't mind paying for it.
I'm mostly just looking to get this as silent as I can.
I'm open to any ideas and grateful for any help!

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

Re: Coffee Lake Silent Gaming Build

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:41 pm

Welcome to SPCR.

Some comments:
- the reference gfx cooler will be your dominant noise. I wouldn't bother mucking around with replacement case fans if you keep the reference gfx cooler. The stock fans on the R6 are ok.
- 1000W PSU in context: your likely load power is ~275W with stock CPU (stress load is ~325W). You could easily go with a 500 to 650W class PSU and still have slow speed/inaudible fans.
- Tall heatspreaders on RAM are useless and often in the way of the CPU cooler.
- CPU cooler: Are you planning to overclock/overvolt the CPU? There is also the NH-D15S.
- Samsung 960 Evo is a decent NVME SSD. 850 Evo for 2.5" drives.
- HDDs: I don't have a good feel for the noise level of these two drives...other than they are 7200rpm and will be noisier than their 5400rpm counterparts.

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

Re: Coffee Lake Silent Gaming Build

Post by Abula » Wed Jan 31, 2018 6:51 pm

First thing, welcome to SPCR =P
Case: Fractal Design Define R6 (closed panel not TG)
Very nice case overall, im thinking on getting one soon.
PSU: Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium 1000W
Way overkill for you planned setup, you are waisting a lot of money on a PSU with such high capacity, for your hardware you will be fine with any of the Titanium series, i do have a small recommendation, i own the 650 and 750, and i recommend the 750 mainly for having single 6+2 PCIe connectors, i hate the 6+2 + 6+2 cables. Now there is a 550W version on the Ultra Titanium that will be worth a look.
Ram: 32 GB Corsair Dominator
Chose first the motherboard and then go by the QVL List of the motherboard to minimize issues with it.
CPU: Intel 8700k
Great CPU overall, hard to cool if you load it though.
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 1080 Reference
This by far will be noisiest component on your pc, i would suggest to change as soon as you can.
CPU Cooler: NH-D15 Noctua with included fans
I would recommend something like Thermalrigth Macho RevB or Scythe Mugen 5.
Case Fan Intake: 2 x Noctua NF-A14 PWM
Case Fan Exhaust 1 x Noctua NF-A14 PWM
I wouldn't recommend NF-A14 PWM, go with BeQuiet SilentWing3 140mm PWM BL067.
SSD Storage: 1 NVE m.2 (need to look around) + 2 SSDs
Samsung 960 Pro/Evo are atm top of the line NVME drives, for other 2 ssds not sure what you are going to do with them, but Samsung 850Pro have very decent endurance in case you are editing on them.
HD Storage: 1 10 TB Seagate Pro + 1 6 TB Seagate Enteprise Capacity
If you chose carefully the above, this will be the noisiest components on your pc. If you find it too noisy, i would recommend to get a external NAS like Synology or QNAP, and place it far away where you cant hear it and access them through the network.
Motherboard: MSI Z370 GODLIKE GAMING
A very nice motherboard imo, probably among the top of the line on Z370, but personally i find it to be an overkill, dual realtek cards and triple killer networks... i dont think its worth the premium pricing on it, i would prefer a $200 mobo + external USB DAC.

A word of caution on Z370, i have had the worst experience building on it. Im a big fan of AsRock mobos, until now they been perfect for me, i usually avoid mobos with last PCIe 16x, so i never go very high end, as i like to use Omega eClaro sound card, i always have had issues with realtek in the past, and the quality is very low imo. I recently bought a AsRock Z370 Killer SLI/AC, really nice looking value mobo, and good reviews on newegg, but i have had a ton of issues with it, first i tried the Omega eClaro and it has some issues with the last PCIe x1, it probably something power related that makes the card buzz, i tried into 2 other mobos and its fine there, just on this mobo has issues, so fine.... lets give shot to realtek again, with no good outcome, the card has noise when i move the mouse, i tried lot of things with no success, from drivers to disabling things one by one... no luck, so decided maybe i got a lemon.... lets spend more on AsRock and got a Z370 Taichi, wonderful looking mobo, great fan control (the best that i have seen till today), wonderful easy to navigate bios, recognize xmp of my gskill 3200 instantly, all went wondeful until i formated, i also have the noise with mouse movement.... and ignoring that, it has huge delays on latency, to the point that audio from youtube/twitch de syncs in 5minutes... really the worst thing for me. Now i have MSI Z370 Gaming M5 coming tomorrow to see if can avoid the issues that i have had with AsRock this gen, personally i think z370 was rushed, i feel like it was coming fine until ryzen steer the market, i think 6 core was planned in time not because ryzen but was on the roadmap, but mobos.... i think they were rushed to try to minimized what ryzen did. As a last comment i have also build on AsRock X399 Taichi, and its perfect, no audio delays no huge latency... seems a more mature design mobo than what i got from z370 (i know steve is saying i told you so, early adopters end up as beta testers, and he is right just this time i got it to rough for my liking).

Gudako
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:26 pm

Re: Coffee Lake Silent Gaming Build

Post by Gudako » Fri Feb 02, 2018 9:59 pm

Thanks guys!
A few follow up questions and ramblings.

Re: PSU
Is there any difference noise-wise from a higher end PSU (Corsair AX1600i / Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium 1000W ) vs a regular psu (Corsair RMi)?

Here's one thing I'm not very clear about.
I see on higher capacity PSUs that the fan doesn't spin until it reaches a certain load.
For example if you see the AX1600i curve. http://cwsmgmt.corsair.com/newscripts/l ... _noise.png
If you take into account my build's projected load - the fan would never spin up for me? Is this realistic behavior or would the fan eventually need to spin to cool the psu?

On a separate note, I was tempted to get the PRIME 600 Titanium Fanless but I read PSU shrouds inhibit the ability to dissipate heat.

Re: Aircooling
Why do you recommend the Thermalrigth Macho RevB or Scythe Mugen 5 over the NH-D15 Noctua?

Fans/Case:
It's kind of tempting to go with the DarkBase 700 since it includes BeQuiet SilentWing3. Although I don't really want a tempered glass case.

Re: HD
A NAS sounds really great. No spinning drives :D

Graphics card:
I do want to upgrade but I feel like buying a graphics card right now before a March-April 2018 release cycle is just a waste.

Thanks!

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

Re: Coffee Lake Silent Gaming Build

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Feb 03, 2018 9:07 am

Yeah, people sometimes want to fall into the "I know, I'll get a monster PSU and it'll never turn on!" rathole. Take a look at your use cases:

1) idle/low power use applications (browsing, MS Office, streaming video, etc): 50-80W.
2) gaming: ~200-275W.
3) photoshop / video rendering: mostly high CPU...although photoshop and some video rendering apps will also make use of GPU for acceleration: ~150 to 275W.

Now, compare some monster PSU, like the AXi1600 to the RM650x..and remember that at lower power levels, the AXi will have lower efficiency (more waste heat, higher power used at wall) than the RMx.
1) fan off for both.
2) fan off for both.
3) fan off for both.

lodestar
Posts: 1683
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2005 3:29 am
Location: UK

Re: Coffee Lake Silent Gaming Build

Post by lodestar » Sat Feb 03, 2018 11:10 am

CA_Steve wrote:...Now, compare some monster PSU, like the AXi1600 to the RM650x..and remember that at lower power levels, the AXi will have lower efficiency (more waste heat, higher power used at wall) than the RMx.
Well, no actually. The Axi1600 is a Titanium unit and as such will be at least as good as the Gold RM650X at lower power levels, and will be more efficient and cooler at higher power draws. But to me the Axi1600 is still overkill in this particular scenario, its size might be a problem and then there's the cost. If the objective is no fan noise at any cost might I suggest the Seasonic Prime 600 Watt Fanless Titanium SSR-600TL. No fan, Titanium levels of efficiency and from my local computer hardware store here in the UK costs around £200. There is a review of this unit here. Incidentally, from the same supplier the Corsair AXi1600 is £450. The Seasonic still costs a lot more than the RM650X, priced at £88 from the same supplier. The price reflects I suspect the highly competitive pricing of units around that particular capacity in the local market here.

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

Re: Coffee Lake Silent Gaming Build

Post by Abula » Sat Feb 03, 2018 3:56 pm

Gudako wrote:Here's one thing I'm not very clear about.
I see on higher capacity PSUs that the fan doesn't spin until it reaches a certain load.
For example if you see the AX1600i curve. http://cwsmgmt.corsair.com/newscripts/l ... _noise.png
If you take into account my build's projected load - the fan would never spin up for me? Is this realistic behavior or would the fan eventually need to spin to cool the psu?
Not all PSU are controlled on load, some on temperature some on load, now Titanium does have a thing over other certifications as its the 10% load to 89% efficiency, so even higher wattage tianium psu will sustain a good effeciency on lower loads, that said a 1600W its 10W would be 160W, on idle or doing day to day stuff you wont hit that number, you might opperate in a region where the PSU is very inefficient, personally i like to go twice as my load, so for example if i expect 300W i like to be around 600W PSU, other things come into account like the cables or size, etc, but thats my rule. Now a 600W titanum at 10% would be 60W, its very likely that you will be around that on idle, so thats what i would recommend, or close, reason why i suggested the new Seasonic 550W Titanium Ultra, or you could go 750W if you wish, not going to be a huge deal, but it will be more expensive.
Gudako wrote:Re: Aircooling
Why do you recommend the Thermalrigth Macho RevB or Scythe Mugen 5 over the NH-D15 Noctua?
Well was more a value suggestion, Usually this coolers are around $50, where you do get a good and capable cooler, twin tower coolers are good, but they restrict memory size or even if you go low profile memory (or standard) then the frontal fan sometimes can not be mounted, the NH-D15 is a great cooler none the less, just more expensive and has its restrictions. Personally i find the sonic signature of the Thermalright TY147A better than NF-A15 or A14s, but thats just my personal preference, for example on my X399 build i went with Noctua NH-U14S TR4 because its the best air cooler for threadripper with the massive plate, but i exchange the fans to Thermalright TY147B.
Gudako wrote: Fans/Case:
It's kind of tempting to go with the DarkBase 700 since it includes BeQuiet SilentWing3. Although I don't really want a tempered glass case.
I'm also considering it, but to me its turn offs is the very restricted front, i would end up probably using with out the frontal cover defeating the damping of the nosie. I also havent decedied yet if ill be using 8hdds for a raid6 setup on it, the R6 can hold it but dont come with enough hdd mounts (i would need to contact fractal for 2 extras) and the Darkbase700 i think can only hold 7 or 6, but i havent decided yet what im going to do, so im still open, but im more incline on R6 + a ton of Bequiet BL067 =P.
Gudako wrote:Re: HD
A NAS sounds really great. No spinning drives :D
This is something you can do later on once you test your setup, not all are bothered in the same way on hdd noise, even then not all hdd emit the same noises or signature, and even then.... some cases help somewhat with the noise, so its best to test it with yuor current setup already running and decide from there, but again probably once you change your gpu, the 7200rpm drives will be very likely the noisiest component on your setup.

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