New quiet but budget PC for Diablo III

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

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

New quiet but budget PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:33 am

Hello all! I would ask you for a suggestion. A friend of mine wants to buy a new PC for playing Diablo III. EDIT 1: his budget is about $400 and he has:

CPU: Sempron 145
Mobo: Asus M4N68T LE V2
RAM: one Kingston ddr3, 4 Gb, 1333 MHz
PSU: Corsair CX430
Case: Unknown. It's an almost completely closed box. It has one 80mm fan on one side and space for one more 80mm fan on the back, under the PSU. It can support ATX and uATX


I would recommend him an AMD APU, but all the benchmarks I've found tells me the integrated GPUs are not enough for the game. I also checked game-debate.com setting a 1280x1024 resolution. EDIT 2: After some posts, I'm inclined to this configuration, give me you thoughts about:

CPU: Intel G3420
CPU fan: (if cpu will get hot) Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
MB: Asus H81M-PLUS
Graphic card: XFX FX-777A-ZDF4
Case fan(s): (if case will get hot) 1x ARCTIC F14 PWM
Case: the old one (?)


So my idea is to recommend him a passive graphic card, with an optional future cpu upgrade (and maybe also MB + RAM). My choice is an XFX Radeon R7 250 Passive with 1gb GDDR5. My questions are: 1. is there not a cheaper graphic card for Diablo III that is silent anyway? 2. a Radeon R7 250 is really needed for Diablo III? APU's integrated graphic is really not enough for a decent gaming experience at 1280x1024 resolution? Thank you in advance :)
Last edited by Lucas Malor on Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:19 am, edited 22 times in total.

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Mar 17, 2014 12:58 pm

Welcome to SPCR.

You could get away with playing Diablo III @ 1280x1024 with the A8-7600. You won't see 60fps, but it should be 20-30fps. The good news is Blizzard games aren't incredibly GPU heavy - they prefer 2 fast CPU cores. The downside is if he wants to run other stuff in the background (tunes, chat, etc) or if the next game requires a lot more horsepower. Yeah, you can always plop a discrete gfx card in there, but the CPU side of the A8 and A10 are inferior to any Intel CPU.

So, if it's a short term cheapest path - go for the A8 or maybe the A10. See if the fps is good enough. If not, then even a passive R7 250 will max out Diablo at that resolution.

If it's a build he wants to keep for 3 years, then consider going with a Haswell i3 and the HD card if you want passive.

In the Techspot benchmark - just substitute R7 250 for the 7750.

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Mon Mar 17, 2014 3:08 pm

Thank you for the reply! HD 7750 seems a good card, thank you for the hint :)

If my friend opt for a pure cpu, what about an upgrade to an AMD Athlon II X3 455, or an Athlon X4 740 and new MB and RAM?

About passive graphic card, since his fan case is disabled because too noisy, is it safe to use the passive card and just use a temperature monitor tool?

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Mar 18, 2014 7:16 am

Maybe you could list all of the current components and his budget.

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:16 pm

Well, his budget is low: he has ~ $400 (300 €) to spend

Now he has:
CPU: Sempron 145
mb: Asus M4N68T LE V2
ram: 4 Gb
PSU: If I remember well it should be a Corsair CX430

IMHO his options are:
1. upgrade the CPU to an AMD Athlon II X3 455 (TDP 95W) and buy a Radeon HD 7750 (power 43W) as graphic card as you suggested. Total: ~150 €
pros: very cheap
cons: missing the opportunity to upgrade the mobo, with sata3, usb3, bells and whistles (ok, this is a questionable pro)

2. buy HD 7750, Athlon X4 740 (65W) or Opteron 4226 (95W) and a new mobo and ram compatibles with it. Total: ~ 250 - 300 €
pros: decent cpu and graphic card, new mobo
cons: not one for now

3. buy an A10-7700K (95W), mobo and ram. Total: ~300 €
pros: only one fan for cpu and gpu, and new mobo
cons: it seems to me more weak than configuration in option 2

What do you think about it?

I must say I do not listed Intel since IMHO their quality / price ratio is not good for the low-end.

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Mar 18, 2014 5:55 pm

Yowsa, that's an ancient mobo. I really can't recommend spending money on a CPU to stick in there for many of the same reasons you list...plus it's just really old. Who knows when it's going to croak? BTW, here's the CPU support page for it. I didn't see the X3 455 on the list..

A couple more unanswered questions:
- what's the case?
- What's the memory? Is it DDR3? How much?
I wouldn't focus on removing fans, but more on how you can provide a quiet gaming PC. Low rpm case fans can be inaudible. Same with some fanned discrete gfx cards.

The AMD Kaveri APU are an interesting niche - and it would probably do fine for Diablo III @ 1280 x 1024. Not much benefit for getting the A10 over the A8-7600. Take a look at this WoW benchmark at 1920x1080. Figure Diablo II will run the same or faster. At his screen rez, he should be able to get 50fps min easy. Granted, at "Good" quality. The A10-7700 just pops the cpu clock up a little bit. Take a look at the A10-7850K in this same benchmark - very little movement. So, the cheapest AMD path is the A8-7600 (when it comes out) and a mobo (and RAM?). There is a possible cheap upgrade by trying Hybrid Crossfire. This plus the R7 250 (~$90) could work.

If he wants to go with a discrete gfx card instead of an integrated gpu, I'd recommend the Intel Pentium G3420 over any of the AMD solutions. Similarly priced for CPU+mobo and much better performance for games. Plus an upgrade path to a quad core. Something like this plus a video card and RAM (if needed).

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:30 pm

RAM is one ddr3, 4 Gb, 1333 MHz: RAM is not needed if he chooses to get the G3420.
Case is a mid-tower, model unknown.

About case fan, my idea was that he have to monitor pc temperature, and if it's too high while he plays at Diablo, he have to re-add its case fan, cleaned and oiled. If it's too loud yet, I think he have to buy a new one, but I know nothing about silent case fans.

About cpu fan, could ARCTIC Alpine 11 Plus be a cheaper alternative?

PS: if you're impressed about the old age of this PC, you should take a look to mine...

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Mar 20, 2014 7:45 pm

You are going to want at least one working case fan. A decent fan is only around $10-15. If you can come up with the case mfgr and model number, we can recommend a fan.

Arctic Cooling cooler - maybe someone familiar with the cooler can speak for it. Hardware Secretsshows it to be a little cooler but louder than the stock fan.

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:01 am

Lucas Malor wrote:he has ~ $400 (300 €) to spend


So you're in EU?

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Fri Mar 21, 2014 2:06 am

@CA_Steve: ok, I have to check again. I can assure you there's no model on the case - it's a cheap the-hell-knows-who-made-it case. The best I can do is to measure the fan dimensions.
That's why I'm tempted to suggest him a passive graphic card, but I'm also sceptic about his case cooling.
About cpu fan, your suggestion is approved ^^

mobo: I see that Asus B85M-G supports pci-e 3.0 as well and it's cheaper. Do you think it's good enough?
quest_for_silence wrote:So you're in EU?
Well, since I'm Italian as you, it's true for now; we have to wait and see... :D

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Mar 21, 2014 2:58 am

Lucas Malor wrote:I see that Asus B85M-G supports pci-e 3.0 as well and it's cheaper. Do you think it's good enough?


IMO PCI 3.0 is useless for a midrange graphic (and for an hi-end one too: maybe with two or three of them it could be different...).
Dig into the forum for some user report about the mobo, usually business-oriented one may have crippled bios.

Lucas Malor wrote:Well, since I'm Italian as you, it's true for now; we have to wait and see... :D

Sorry, I'm not interested into that debate. :wink: Do you have any favourite shop here?

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:17 am

quest_for_silence wrote:IMO PCI 3.0 is useless for a midrange graphic (and for an hi-end one too: maybe with two or three of them it could be different...)
I thought that pci-e 2.0 slots are incompatible with 3.0 cards. Should I suppose that an Asus H81M-E is enough? ^^
Lucas Malor wrote:Do you have any favourite shop here?
No more a physical one. I surf mainly on eprice and e-key. If I have time I check also amazon, trovaprezzi and google. Sometimes I use ebay too.

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Mar 21, 2014 4:58 am

Lucas Malor wrote:I thought that pci-e 2.0 slots are incompatible with 3.0 cards. Should I suppose that an Asus H81M-E is enough? ^^


PCI Express 3.0 is backward compatible: about the mobo, I don't know it. Why you're asking for advice on SPCR? Has that rig to be silent or at least quiet?

Lucas Malor wrote:No more a physical one. I surf mainly on eprice and e-key. If I have time I check also amazon, trovaprezzi and google. Sometimes I use ebay too.


Well, I didn't mean a phyical one: should the allotted budget include any shipping charge?

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Fri Mar 21, 2014 7:52 am

quest_for_silence wrote:Has that rig to be silent or at least quiet?

At least quiet. Maybe I have to change the title? ^^
quest_for_silence wrote:Well, I didn't mean a phyical one: should the allotted budget include any shipping charge?
I think we can ignore it :)

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:25 am

Too bad about the case - if we knew the make and model, then other questions could be answered, like:
- Does the case have standoff positions for mATX and mini-ITX or just ATX? I threw the Asus H87M-E Micro ATX as a possible mobo out there without knowing whether it'll fit in the case. There's also some interesting mini-ITX mobos that have decent reviews and reasonable pricing.

As Luca mentioned, PCIe 3.0 just doesn't matter for this build...or really any single gfx card build.

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Mar 21, 2014 10:00 am

Lucas Malor wrote:
quest_for_silence wrote:Has that rig to be silent or at least quiet?

At least quiet. Maybe I have to change the title? ^^


No, but in a quiet rig, you know, how the mobo fan control (BIOS) works, how quiet are the case & PSU fans, how quiet is the heatsinks are what that matter. So you have to address, along with the hw upgrade, mainly those aspects, and they cost: but the overall budget is relatively low.

I would add that AFAIK here we have two "big" unknown factors, the case and the PSU which affect some of the hardware requirements.

As I'm not aware of any fanned 7750/R7 250 which is really quiet, at first glance going for a passive XFX or Sapphire look like a good idea: but they require either a good case cooling, or a big&slow fan strapped on the cooler with some zip ties.
This latter option is the cheaper one, so I will go for it: therefore you may think to spend on a passive videocard and a 120mm fan not less than 90 euros (while not less than 120 euros for a relatively good case and the passive videocard).

Set aside the current enclosure, at any rate I don't think that the original rig sports a silent PSU, so *I*M*H*O* you have to think to a relatively quiet one: this need takes you away about 40-60 euros (so now the total amoung come from 130 up to 180 euros, at least).

Then you need a CPU heatsink: a low end quiet cooler cannot be the Alpine 11, you may need either a 92mm or 120mm tower (if they can fit inside the unknown case), as top-down good coolers would probably cost a bit more.
With reference to money, you need 20-25 euros for a 92mm cooler, 30-35 euros for a 120mm heatsink (grand total going from 150 to 215 euros).

Eventually there's the central unit: CPU, mobo, RAM. An Intel G3220 should account for 47-52 euros, a G3420 for 54-60 euros (so the total amount now is 197 to 275)
A dual channell DDR3 kit from a reliable brand should cost not less than 35/40 euros for 4Gb, and not less than 60/65 euros for 8Gb (so total is 232 - 340). A single channell piece should cost about 5 euros less, but I wouldn't recommend it on an Intel build.

Last but not least comes the mobo: as said, it should have a relatively good BIOS, possibly compatible with SpeedFan, and so you have to look into official sites, forums and web reviews to find out the right one.
Perhaps an ASRock Pro4, or an ASUS Plus might be some valuable options, but I would avoid any 2 DIMMs-only ones, as probably that isn't the only simplification made on them.
Just to name, I think you may find the ASRock H87M Pro4 for 62-65 euros, and I guess it's among the more economical ones around, as an ASUS H87M Plus should go for 76-80 at least.

Doing the math, the new rig total ranges from 294 to 420 euros (net of any miscalculation), and if the actual limit is 300 euros, then the actual options are very limited, so that, for a dual channel 8Gb rig, you might have:

mobo: ASRock H87M Pro4
CPU: Intel Pentium G3220
CPU heatsink: Arctic Cooling Freezer 13
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 2 x 4Gb
VGA: XFX R7 250 (R7-250A-ZLH4)
VGA fan: Scythe Slip Stream 800 rpm (SY1225SL12L)
PSU: BeQuiet L8-300W

for not less than 320 euros EXCLUDING the shipping charges, which could be probably another 10-15%, or even more (and you might need another quiet fan to swap the exhaust on the original case).

With a single channel 4Gb rig (not recommended, from a performance standpoint), you should spare no more than 27-28 euros (so 292-293 total).

As I said, the budget is a tad low for a wannabe quiet rig.

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:23 pm

CA_Steve wrote:- Does the case have standoff positions for mATX and mini-ITX or just ATX?
I replaced his mobo the last time and it seems to me it was a uATX. So yes, it should fit, but I have to ask him to be sure.
quest_for_silence wrote:here we have two "big" unknown factors, the case and the PSU
PSU is a Corsair CX430.
quest_for_silence wrote:they require either a good case cooling, or a big&slow fan strapped on the cooler with some zip ties. This latter option is the cheaper one
As an alernative, is it worth to try and buy a case fan and, if it does not work, buy a new case?
quest_for_silence wrote:Last but not least comes the mobo: as said, it should have a relatively good BIOS, possibly compatible with SpeedFan
What about Open Hardware Monitor or Aida64 Extreme? The last one seems to support H81M-E.

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:41 pm

quest_for_silence wrote:I would avoid any 2 DIMMs-only ones, as probably that isn't the only simplification made on them.
I missed that. What do you mean exactly?

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Mar 21, 2014 8:27 pm

Yeah - figure out the case fan dimensions - measure the hole to hole spacing. Does this case just have one exhaust fan and no intake fans/space for fans?

Also, you could try the stock cooler if you want to save a few bucks. It might be good enough for your friend's needs. If it's too noisy or runs too hot, a replacement cooler is just a couple of internet clicks away.

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:39 pm

Lucas Malor wrote:
quest_for_silence wrote:here we have two "big" unknown factors, the case and the PSU
PSU is a Corsair CX430.


Despite its brand, the so-called Builder-series is crap: that cheap unit made by CWT is not meant to be quiet, neither to be very reliable, it's just the first step above what on italian tech forums people usually call "a doorstop", but with a popular brand on it, so that people will pay it ten times the real cost.

I don't know whether you may (or you want to) persuade your friend (or yourself) about swapping "a mighty Corsair PSU" but, with that PSU, IMO/IME that PC cannot be enough quiet, even at the expected load power level (I guess about or even less than 100W).

As it should be an "almost reliable" unit, you may think about a "fan swap" in order to lower the total cost (you could spare about 20-25 euros): just unscrew the old fan, and try to replace it with a new, slower one (we need the original fan data, even if I think it's an high speed YL rated 0.30A or more), maybe an Enermax Magma Advanced fan could be a good bet for it. You may need an adapter, like this one (it's an example).

Lucas Malor wrote:
quest_for_silence wrote:they require either a good case cooling, or a big&slow fan strapped on the cooler with some zip ties. This latter option is the cheaper one

As an alernative, is it worth to try and buy a case fan and, if it does not work, buy a new case?


Maybe I expressed myself badly: I don't know which is the enclosure and its cooling prowess.

But I know that a passive card require either a good case cooling or a dedicated fan (so that it's no more fanless). Sometimes even both.

As you are on a tight budget I would advise to put a slow running fan on the card (like an 800rpm Slipstream L), providing there's room to do that.

Besides, advising for a thorough case fans swap seems totally meaningless, providing that I don't know the specific case, how many fans there are, which fans are them, which are their ratings, how many headers you will have on the new mobo, whether or not those headers are easily controllable, and so on...

Eventually, a brand-new case equipped with a pair of good sounding 120mm or 140mm fans could be helpful (if it were a right one): but I don't think it could cost less than 40-50 euros, probably something more (even if I suspect that you're more willing to spend on a new enclosure, than on a new PSU).

To be fair, it's advisable to wait a moment to buy those fans, or a new enclosure: if I were you, I would put the passive VGA into the old case, and then run into a couple of test (namely, Unigine and FurMark) while monitoring the graphics temperature. I'm almost sure temps will be very high, but a clue isn't an evidence, so you have to try.

Lucas Malor wrote:
quest_for_silence wrote:Last but not least comes the mobo: as said, it should have a relatively good BIOS, possibly compatible with SpeedFan
What about Open Hardware Monitor or Aida64 Extreme? The last one seems to support H81M-E.


Currently I'm not familiar with Aida Extreme (I used Everest, and I still use it for some testing, but I never upgraded to AIDA), or Open Hardware Monitor (once it wasn't able to modify fan speeds, as its paid cousin "HW Monitor Pro" did), so I don't know how good they could be at varying the fan speeds.

SPCR "gold standard" is SpeedFan (an italian software, if you mind), you can read a detailled article here, but there are some manufacturer utilities which work good, such as ASUS FanXpert 2, or the very latest Gigabyte EasyTune.

What it is unusual, however, is going to have three independently and software controllable fan headers on the cheapest mATX boards: but that's the foundation of quiet computing, if you can't eliminate the fans (or any other moving part), then you have to tame them, and a BIOS with a powerful HW monitor section is a good tool to have.

This is why I've asked to do some homework digging into official manual and web reviews about valuable motherboards.

Lucas Malor wrote:
quest_for_silence wrote:I would avoid any 2 DIMMs-only ones, as probably that isn't the only simplification made on them.


I missed that. What do you mean exactly?

As I said just above, in a quiet rig you may need at least two - but it's advisable they are three: one for CPU heatsink, one for system hot air exhaust, one for VGA fresh air intake - independent and controllable fan headers on the motherboards, either in case you will control them by the BIOS, or by a convenient utility (like SpeedFan).

Usually any mATX motherboard with just two DIMM sockets is a "lighter" version of something better, and usually the missing two DIMM sockets are just one of all the features stripped down to save on cost, so that the fan headers and BIOS controls are very often stripped down as well.

That's why at first glance I would avoid to look at those motherboards: but if you have to do so, please check carefully their online manual/datasheet.

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Sat Mar 22, 2014 1:58 am

I think it's time to describe the case a little: it's an almost completely closed box... and it has only one fan on one side and no space for more fans. I suppose it is used as an exhaust fan.
Today I have some time, so I'll get info about case fan and uATX support.
CA_Steve wrote:you could try the stock cooler [...] If it's too noisy or runs too hot, a replacement cooler is just a couple of internet clicks away.
quest_for_silence wrote:To be fair, it's advisable to wait a moment to buy those fans, or a new enclosure: if I were you, I would put the passive VGA into the old case, and then run into a couple of test
Indeed this is what I would suggest to him: wait and try :) If cpu is too hot, change its fan. If GPU is too hot, change case fan. If it's too hot yet, change case.
quest_for_silence wrote:in a quiet rig [...] it's advisable they are three [DIMM sockets]
Ok, I thought you were talking about RAM slots. I understand what you mean, 2 case fans are good because one takes and one expels the air (or one is on the GPU), and their speed will be both controlled by BIOS.
The problem is only that H87M-E costs about the double of H81M-E... it's hard for me to convince him, since this is a cost that he must do immediately, while fans and case are future upgrades.
quest_for_silence wrote:Despite its brand, the so-called Builder-series is crap: that cheap unit made by CWT is not meant to be quiet, neither to be very reliable
Well, that PSU was suggested to me in the forum of your italian cousin, pcsilenzioso.it, and I suggested it to all my friends since then :mrgreen: I discovered your site thanks to it.
I can't speak about reliability, but IMHO it's quite quiet. I have to say I'm not a gamer, but since there are gamers that are satisfied with stock PSUs, it's a good PSU to recommend to them ^^

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

Re: New silent PC for Diablo III

Post by quest_for_silence » Sat Mar 22, 2014 5:23 am

Lucas Malor wrote:I think it's time to describe the case a little: it's an almost completely closed box... and it has only one fan on one side and no space for more fans. I suppose it is used as an exhaust fan.


If it were so, well, in my opinion it shouldn't handle a passive R7 at acceptable thermal levels.

Lucas Malor wrote:Indeed this is what I would suggest to him: wait and try :) If cpu is too hot, change its fan. If GPU is too hot, change case fan. If it's too hot yet, change case.


The main issue is the passive R7 temp, and not the CPU one: I would expect the VGA is thermally throttled in such an environment.
A Pentium G3220 may run loud in such an enclosure, but it shouldn't run too hot, even with the crappy stock heatsink.
That's why I asked you whether or not that rig should be quiet.

Lucas Malor wrote:The problem is only that H87M-E costs about the double of H81M-E... it's hard for me to convince him, since this is a cost that he must do immediately, while fans and case are future upgrades.


Sorry man, I can't help: if you ask to us how to build a *quiet* low cost gaming rig, that's the way to do it.
You can try workarounds, or various strategies, but they may work or not, and it would not be the straight path to a quiet rig.

A passive VGA setup requires an intake fan and an exhaust fan to run that card within comfortable thermal limits: if it has to be quiet, those fans should not always run at 12V (full speed), so they require two controllable motherboard headers (another controllable mobo fan header is required by the CPU heatsink, so the total is three), so eventually you need a good µATX mobo, and not a too basic one.

Talking of workarounds, you might use a Y-splitter to connect more fans when you lack fan headers: in order to not overload a voltage controlled fan header - usually all the ones marked as case_fan, cha_fan, sys_fan, while pwr_fan is usually unmanaged - it's preferable a PWM splitter, like the - relatively common in Italy - Akasa-branded ones (another little cost, mind), and then you have to careful choose only 4-pin PWM fans (usually case fan are not PWM, so you can't re-utilize the original one, even if I think it may be also noisy and uneffective), loosing at the same time some flexibility in thermal management. Or you may take the overload risk using voltage 3-pin fans, but I would advise to not exceed a total of 0.4A/0.5A for each header (any fan has its nominal input current printed on its hub label, you have to sum them).

If you dont' want to pick up a Y-splitter, you may also think of accepting some noise penalty, strapping with zip ties a 12V fan on the passive R7: doing so you can get rid of the intake but you will loose any form of control on VGA noise, so the choosed fan has to be a quiet one, so a slow one (less than 1000rpm, preferably less than 800rpm), and the bigger, the better.
Even if it's a sub-optimal setup, can that be enough? I can't help: your friend will find out in a hot summer day, when playing at Diablo with his mates. To be safe, a faster fan can be used that way, but your system surely won't be quiet.

It's also possible to combine those two workarounds, strapping a faster PWM fan on the card, but connecting it to the CPU fan header through a PWM splitter: that way the fan will spin up accordingly to the CPU temp, not the VGA temp, but you may think that usually under gaming the CPU temp goes up together with VGA one. Can that be enough? Same answer as above: your friend will find out in a hot summer day, when playing at Diablo with his mates.
As an alternative you may use a 3-pin splitter, instead that a PWM one: in that case, providing you won't overload the header, the VGA fan will react accordingly to the motherboard or system temp, which should vary very slowly, compared to the CPU one, unless you will tie with a BIOS/sw utility the allotted fan header to the VGA temp.

At any rate, as I told you ASRock boards are more economical than their ASUS cousins (as you know, ASROck and ASUS belong to the same group, Pegatron), and I think it's not mandatory to pick a more expensive brand: check online the manual of an ASRock B85M Pro4 or of an H87M Pro4, in order to see whether they can work for you.

Lucas Malor wrote:
quest_for_silence wrote:Despite its brand, the so-called Builder-series is crap: that cheap unit made by CWT is not meant to be quiet, neither to be very reliable
Well, that PSU was suggested to me in the forum of your italian cousin, pcsilenzioso.it, and I suggested it to all my friends since then :mrgreen: I discovered your site thanks to it.
I can't speak about reliability, but IMHO it's quite quiet. I have to say I'm not a gamer, but since there are gamers that are satisfied with stock PSUs, it's a good PSU to recommend to them ^^


I know that italian site/forum (in case, greet for me the moderator frupoli), and I think that the community recommendations are often more perfomance and/or affordability oriented (not to mention Corsair is very popular in Italy, so that anything they do looks nice).

So, if you tell me that it doesn't scream at idle/low load, I can agree, but it's not quiet according to the usual SPCR community expectations; as said above, if you ask to us how to build a *quiet* low cost gaming rig, there are better option the Corsair Builder-series: just as an example, the proposed BeQuiet L8-300 is noticeably quieter, the similarly priced beQuiet BN-140 even more (but it's more rare to find in Italy than the L8), and so it goes for the slight more expensive Seasonic G-360; therefore, even if now the CX430 seems to have an acceptable noise level for you, we still don't call it quiet, at all.

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

Re: New quiet but budget PC for Diablo III

Post by quest_for_silence » Sat Mar 22, 2014 6:03 am

Lucas Malor wrote:After some posts, I'm inclined to this configuration, give me you thoughts about:

CPU: Intel G6320
CPU fan: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
MB: Asus H81M-E or H87M-E
Graphic card: Asus Radeon HD7750-DCSL-1GD5
Case fan(s): to be determined
Case: to be determined[/color]

I would recommend to you to do not edit the OP, as we may not always be aware of those changes, and possibly I would ask you to do not use "red", as it may look like a moderating action.

I think there's a typo for the CPU: the G6320 doesn't exist, the G620 is a Pentium but for a 1155 socket, while the ASUS is an 1150 mobo. I think you're stick with the G3220.

About the MB: check an ASRock B85M, against the economical H81M-E.
About the "CPU fan" (in english I mean the right expression is either CPU heatsink, or CPU cooler, as "fan" is just "ventola"), it's relatively tall, so be careful with the relevant case clearing measure. It's a good cooler with a mediocre fan (noise-wise), more probably that not an overkill for a Pentium, but I think it can work well if you will pay about 27 euros including shipping. :wink:
About the graphic card: it would seem inferior and more expensive than either the passive XFX R7, or the Sapphire R7 Ultimate, so that option is not clearly understandable.

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New quiet but budget PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Sun Mar 23, 2014 7:31 am

Ok, I have the other infos and an errata: the case has one 80mm fan on the side and space for one more 100mm fan on the rear, under the PSU. It does support uATX, so there's no problem with mobos.

My friend agrees to buy a mobo with two fan sockets. I'm reluctant to suggest to buy something different from Asus, since I know it's a reliable brand and I personally always bought Asus mobos, even if low-end ones. For what I know AsRock is part of the same company, but products are of inferior quality.

@quest_for_silence: well, XFX R7-250A-ZLH4 was my first choice; cpu fan and graphic card were suggested to me by CA_Steve. They seems to be good, according to Hardware Secrets and Passmark, even if I'm a bit sceptic about passmark-like benchs.
Thank you for your remarks :) I'll correct the first post.

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

Re: New quiet but budget PC for Diablo III

Post by quest_for_silence » Sun Mar 23, 2014 8:12 am

Lucas Malor wrote:the case has one 80mm fan on the side and space for one more 100mm fan on the rear


That would be an odd measure, there are no standard fan 100mm wide: more probably that not the screw holes are for a 92mm one, while the small side fan is probably a TAC 2.0 intake for top-down coolers like the boxed CPUs stock ones.

In my opinion a couple of such small fans (actually just one) can't be useful at cooling quietly and effectively a passive videocard, and besides they'd look like a bit far from it: perhaps you'd better summon your lucky stars.

Lucas Malor wrote:My friend agrees to buy a mobo with two fan sockets.


Just for terminology: they are (called) headers, and not sockets, as socket means "presa", while they look like more as a plug, "spina".
At any rate: you've been warned in details on fan controls and methods, so that's all.

Lucas Malor wrote:I'm reluctant to suggest to buy something different from Asus, since I know it's a reliable brand and I personally always bought Asus mobos, even if low-end ones. For what I know AsRock is part of the same company, but products are of inferior quality.


Sorry, I can't help: I think it's just foolish to act like that, but I know that typical italian attitude to buy "Corsair" or "ASUS" just because of the brand, and not for the real qualities of the specific item (actually the ASRock Pro4 is of higher quality than ASUS H81-E), or onto the actual needs basis (quiet computing).
On the other hand, money is your, so I hope you don't have to blame on you in case.

Lucas Malor wrote:@quest_for_silence: well, XFX R7-250A-ZLH4 was my first choice; cpu fan and graphic card were suggested to me by CA_Steve. They seems to be good, according to Hardware Secrets and Passmark, even if I'm a bit sceptic about passmark-like benchs.

Still I don't understand where that ASUS came from: anyway, the R7 250 is sort of a 7750 update, so do your math on graphics, I just add that Sapphire is probably more experienced on passive Radeons than Pine/XFX.

About the CPU cooler, I don't understand your reference to any CA_Steve advice, but it doesn't matter at all.

Have a good luck with your build.

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

Re: New quiet but budget PC for Diablo III

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Mar 23, 2014 10:09 am

I recommended the Coolermaster Evo 212+ in a pcpartpicker link. Cheap, cools well, reasonably quiet. I didn't recommend a specific gfx card other than to say the R7 250 / HD 7750 will max out fps for Diablo III at the 1280x1024 resolution. The R7 is a rebadged 7750.

case: Please re-measure the hole spacings for the "100 mm" fan. 100mm isn't that common.

Given the poor case ventilation, chances are good that you'll need to tie a low rpm fan to the passive gfx card to prevent high temps. Try gaming with it first and monitor the temps. You can always add the fan later.

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New quiet but budget PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Sun Mar 23, 2014 10:45 am

Yes, I chose the Asus model because is passive. Probably it's not so convenient to get an HD 7750 at $120.

Probably it also was an 80mm, sorry, we measured it quickly.

What about a case adjustment? We are discussing this today, he's quite able with this kind of works. In this case, what kind of fans do you suggest?

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

Re: New quiet but budget PC for Diablo III

Post by quest_for_silence » Sun Mar 23, 2014 12:13 pm

Lucas Malor wrote:What about a case adjustment?


Did you mean to "modify" the case?

Lucas Malor wrote:In this case, what kind of fans do you suggest?


Any SPCR recommended 120/140mm fan: check whether you want a PWM one or not.
There are chance you can't install on rear, and maybe also on front.

Lucas Malor
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:10 am
Contact:

Re: New quiet but budget PC for Diablo III

Post by Lucas Malor » Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:13 pm

Something like this?
quest_for_silence wrote:There are chance you can't install on rear, and maybe also on front.
Why?
(Anyway I have not to install the fans... luckily :D)

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

Re: New quiet but budget PC for Diablo III

Post by quest_for_silence » Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:53 pm

CA_Steve wrote:Given the poor case ventilation, chances are good that you'll need to tie a low rpm fan to the passive gfx card to prevent high temps. Try gaming with it first and monitor the temps. You can always add the fan later.


I think I've told him so three days ago, but I felt that in case they would rather buying another enclosure (necessarily too cheap, so likely wrong).

Lucas Malor wrote:Something like this?


Perhaps hard-of-hearing? :wink: I clearly wrote: any of the SPCR recommended ones.

Lucas Malor wrote:
quest_for_silence wrote:There are chance you can't install on rear, and maybe also on front.
Why?


Because a 120mm fan occupies an area of about 170% the one of an 92mm fan, and 225% the area of an 80mm one.
So, on the back of the case, usually the available area is the one above the mobo I/O shield, but usually that's calibrated onto the exhaust fan (and if it actually were an 80mm one, there's not much to do to improve cooling).

On the other hand, on the front there isn't the I/O shield, so your mileage may vary (and as a matter of fact it's a mod often seen on some Antec case, like the Solo I, or the NSK-3480): but then you need some intake vents, which I don't know if they exist in that misterious case (brand, model or even a photo will help a lot).

Post Reply