Budget of £600 for self-build

[quietlife]

Hi, I want to build my own quiet desktop PC for gaming.

I thought of buying a system from arbico uk and it would probably cost me about £700:

PC Case: EZ Cool H550 Black - Included
Case Fan: 2 x 120mm Zalman Quiet Fans
Case Fan Controller: Not Included
Power Supply: Xilence 580W 2 x PCI-E
Processor: AMD Phenom X6 1055T, 2.80GHz Quad Core, 9MB Cache
Heatsink & CPU Fan: Quiet Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro With 92mm Fan
Motherboard: Asus M2N68-AM SE2, Micro-ATX - Included
Memory: 4GB Crucial PC6400 800MHz DDR2 - Included
PCI-E Graphics: ATI HD5550 1GB
Sound Card: Integrated 5.1 Channel - Included
Primary Hard Drive: 500GB SATA II - Included

Main Optical Drive: 22x Dual Layer DVD +/- Rewriter - Included

Warranty: 2 Years Return To Base (1st Yr. Parts & Labour, 2nd Yr. Labour) - Included

This seems like a pretty good spec. However, I'm wondering if I can do it better myself, and for less.

P.S. the processor on the above system ranks highly on the CPU comparison site.

[wouterr5]

the Phenom is a good choice - too bad they pair a ATI 5550 with it, that card really isn't powerful at all...

Oh and they probably hard-mounted the HDD in that case - which makes every hard drive noisy. All in all, you're probably better off with a DIY pc, if the prices in UK are anywhere near EU prices anyway.

[Big Pimp Daddy]

In my opinion you would be much better off with a self-build. Also, I would go in the opposite direction CPU-wise, few fast cores is better than many slow cores for games. I would recommend a dual core i5 and the best graphics card you can afford. And gaming on that 5550 would be painful.

A rough idea for a self-build:

Case + PSU: Antec NSK-6582 Midi Tower Case (430W PSU) - Black/Silver
CPU: Intel Core i5 660 3.33Ghz
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H
RAM: OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit
Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB

That comes in at roughly 550 (used Aria for quick price checking - am not affiliated with them and you may be able to get cheaper at other shops), leaving you 150 change compared to the pre-built one, which you can spend on CPU cooler of your choice, Hard drive, and Optical drive. If you can salvage these from your previous build then you can just pocket the change!

The rig I posted will quite literally blow that pre-built out of the water.

[Mats]

Six cores is overkill and won't help you in games unless you have one of the best graphics cards. Pick a real AM3 board and DDR3 RAM, go for a cheaper Athlon X3 together with an ATI 5770 and you're done.
The AM3 will work with the next generation CPU's and if you pick the right board you've got SATA 3, the 1156 platform doesn't give you any of that.


Antec NSK-6582 with 430 W PSU
AMD Athlon X3 440
MSI 880GMA-E45 µATX SATA 3 USB 3
OCZ 4GB
ATI 5770

£375 for these parts.

[quietlife]

Great, cheers for the tips, guys.

This is what I'd probably choose:

Antec NSK-6582 Midi Tower Case (430W PSU) - Black/Silver £ 44.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 125W C3 £ 93.99
MSI 880GMA-E45 AMD® 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 PCI-Express Micro-ATX Motherboard #40761 £ 67.99
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit #37540 £ 49.99
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card + Assasin's Creed Game This product is not available at the counter £ 99.99
Sony AD-5260S-0B 24x Internal DVD±R/RW Drive - £ 11.99

Comes to £450, which is a considerable saving on the arbico.

However, seeing as the purpose of this system is to be as quiet as possible, is it worth stretching to the next case: Antec Sonata III Silent Super Midi Tower Case (500W PSU) Black £76.36
Also, what about fans? Obviously, the PSU will have one, which is the main concern in terms of noise, but what about the rest of the system - will the mobo need one? Thx.

I forgot about the HDD and the OS, and so if anyone has any tips on those that'd be appreciated: minimum 500GB with 7200 RPM. Presumably I should be able to find a cheap XP on ebay.

[SebRad]

Hi, I strongly suggest the Antec Solo as the case for an easy build. The built in HDD suspension is very worthwhile and the rest of the case is well built and simple but classy.
[My tip is half put screws in back HDD holes then zip-ties round screw and bungy to stop sliding out, also winding bungy couple turns to make tight can help too.]

My suggestion (from first post - see you've revised a bit)

Ebuyer: X6 1055T + Asus M4A77 + Corsair CX 400w + Kingston DDR3 2x2GB kit, Samsung F3 1TB (£44!) Samsung DVDRW + HIS HD 5750 "iCooler" (hopefully quiet ish) and Xilence Red Wing 120mm fan (only £5, 3pin and 4pin molex, used in a Solo build I did that was impressively quiet for a "stock" build) £503 with free Shipping.

Scan: Solo £70.50 + Xigmatek HDT-S1283 £20 so £100 with shipping

Total £603 for Hex Core, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, HD5750 and quiet

Deliberately chosen motherboard without latest fancy onboard graphics as using separate card and to help keep cost down. If you have specific RAID / Slot / USB3 needs you might chose others.

Think that covers it, PSU "should" be quiet, replacement case fan I know to be good, CPU cooler is older but still very good and will handle the X6 fine. SPCR review put is pretty much on par with the Ultra-120 Extreme, and the bundled PWM fan is OK and spins down to 800rpm which should be fairly quiet. If want quieter I currently like Arctic Cooling PWM fans, my F12 120mm CPU fan currently 18% = 550rpm. Quiet PC - £5.10
Video card is unknown, probably can manipulate the idle fan speed down with software tools to make very quiet at idle at least.

For the OS you can no doubt get XP cheaply on eBay (or PM me and I'll sort you out with "something" )
Also I just saw Windows 7 Ultimate on eBay, looks like "should" be proper retail pack with license key. Buy it now £75 or best offer and I just had £60 accepted! If it's what it should be that great saving over the £150 for OEM copy from retailers (Home Premium is ~£75)

Regards, Seb

[Mats]

Deliberately chosen motherboard without latest fancy onboard graphics as using separate card and to help keep cost down.

You picked a DDR2 board and DDR3 RAM, that's a pretty bad recommendation!

I can't see the point in excluding SATA 3 and USB 3, especially when recommending an expensive 1055T.
I guess this is a person who probably won't upgrade anytime soon,
and those features might come in handy in the future if he ever wants to add a fast SSD or use USB 3 in say 1-2 years from now.

An Asus M4A87TD EVO will give him DDR3, SATA 3, powered eSATA, USB 3, and support for upcoming 32 nm CPU's, for £19 more. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/206151

The Corsair CX400W is noisy.

[quietlife]

Hi, I've come down to these two options for a system. Aria seem to be the cheapest store I've found here in the UK. Arbico are obviously known for their silent builds. Anyways, I'd like to hear your opinions, and, also whether there is anything I've forgotten about with the Aria parts i.e. is a CPU cooler necessary? More case fans? I've added an extra £50 to the Aria for stuff I've forgotten. Thx.

ARBICO:
PC Case: Coolermaster Elite 330 - Included
Case Fan: 2 x 120mm Zalman Quiet Fans
Power Supply: Quiet Antec 500W Earthwatts 1 x PCI-E
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T, 2.8GHz, 9MB Cache - Included
Heatsink & CPU Fan: Quiet Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro With 92mm Fan
Motherboard: Asus M4N68T-M - Included
Memory: 4GB Crucial PC10600 1333MHz DDR3 - Included
PCI-E Graphics: ATI HD5750 1GB - req. PSU w. PCI-E
Sound Card: Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio - Included
1st Hard Drive: 500GB SATA II - Included
Main Optical Drive: 22x Dual Layer DVD +/- Rewriter - Included
USB Ports 3.0: Not Included
Firewire: Not Included
Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit Version)
Warranty: 2 Years Return To Base
Total £750.11

ARIA:
Antec Sonata III Silent Super Midi Tower Case (500W PSU) - Black £64.99
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 125W C3 £ 93.99
Asus M4A87TD/USB3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 PCI-Express MOBO £64.99
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit #37540 £ 58.99
VTX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Exp Graphics Card £ 89.99
Sony AD-5260S-0B 24x Internal DVD±R/RW Drive £ 11.99
Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 3.5" Hard Drive £ 35.99

Total £510.48 (+£50)

So, as far as I can see, this is how it works out:

Arbico:

Pros: Prebuilt, 2 yr warranty, Powerful Processor, Heatsink+CPU fan, OS.
Cons: Pricier, no USB 3(future proofed?).

Aria:
Pros: Quieter PSU?, USB 3, HDD size.
Cons: Time to build, no OS.

All things considered, I'd be best advised to go for the Aria, right?

[SebRad]

Ref motherboard – Opps. My bad not checking carefully, as was looking at AM3 boards, which will be DDR3. But this one isn’t, listed wrongly.
You may have a point about the SATA3 and USB 3. USB 3 easy enough to add a card later but SATA3 probably better built in to the chipset. On the CPU front I was probably going way over-kill, a X4 635 would likely give very acceptable performance for years to come for half the cost!
Ref PSU, maybe OCZ Stealth Xstream 400w is cheap enough at £30 but unknown for noise. Scan have Seasonic S12II 330, that I know to be pretty quiet and solid, for £38.

Regards, Seb

[speedkar9]

Antec Sonata III Silent Super Midi Tower Case (500W PSU) - Black £64.99

Stay away... its not a "silent case" as Antec markets it. Airflow is serverly limited by its perpendicular hard drive bays, and its small size affects acceptable graphic card lengths (for future upgrades). I second the SOLO instead.

Get a PSU with a 120mm fan for quieter operation (EA-500 = 80mm). For a system this powerful (X4 or X6 + 5770) look for 450W+ (how about Corsair VX450?) so the PSU doesn't need to ramp up to keep cool.

I agree with Mats at this price point USB3 and SATA3 and DDR3 are must haves. However a Quad Core CPU is unnecessary for a gaming system, perhaps a faster clocked Phenom II X2 or X3 (w/6MB cache) will do better in gaming for the time being. It will run cooler (and thus quieter) too.

CPU cooler: Scythe Mugen or Ninja, (or even Katana 3 if your on a tight budget). The AC Freezer needs to operate at 1000+ RPM for it to cool properly, at which point noise may become an issue.

[bonestonne]

I just want to put out there that I own a Corsair CX400W, and it is silent. Sure, there are bad batches of everything, but I wouldn't say that the power supply is downright noisy by testing a single unit in a single review.

Own it, use it, judge it.

[nutball]

Own it, use it, judge it.

RMA it if it's noisy? RMA it again if the replacement is noisy?

That's assuming the retailer will accept the RMA on the basis of it being noisy which, in the UK rather than the US, they tend not to do.

Owned it. Used it. Judged it. Got rid of it. Corsair CX400W isn't worth the risk in this country, unless you've got a deaf relative or friend who you can palm it off on if your sample turns out to be a duffer.

[judge56988]

Get a PSU with a 120mm fan for quieter operation (EA-500 = 80mm). For a system this powerful (X4 or X6 + 5770) look for 450W+ (how about Corsair VX450?) so the PSU doesn't need to ramp up to keep cool.

Go bigger if you want quiet. The Corsair VX450 powering an Athlon II X4 635 and sapphire 5750 was too loud for me. I'd say go up to a Seasonic M12II 520, £74from Scan.

As for the case, there's a Silverstone FT01 on ebay right now that you could probably get for £50 or so. If you undervolt the fans in it you can barely hear them. You'd probably want to take out the two hdd cages to get better air flow and suspend your SpinPoint.

Quad core Athlon seems like a good choice but I would choose a cooler with a 120mm fan rather than the 92mm you mentioned - a Scythe Mugen II would be good.

[quietlife]

CoolerMaster Elite 340 Micro-ATX Tower Case - Black/Silver #38847 £ 24.79
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 125W C3 (Socket AM3) £ 93.99
G.SKILL RipJaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz £ 69.49
Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3 AMD 880 (Socket AM3) DDR3 PCI - £ 68.99
Sony AD-5260S-0B 24x Internal DVD±R/RW Drive - £ 11.99
Zalman ZM600-ST 600W Two-Forward Switching Power Supply #39461 £ 53.45
VTX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £ 89.99
Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 3.5" Hard Drive £ 35.99

Tot: £539.97 incl VAT+del.

OK, I’ve agonised long and hard again and I’ve come with this spec which I think is an improvement on my previous one. Once again, if anyone thinks I’ve chosen poorly or there’s anything I’ve missed, please shout. Thx.

Also, do I need a CPU cooler and extra fans?

[judge56988]

CoolerMaster Elite 340 Micro-ATX Tower Case - Black/Silver #38847 £ 24.79


Also, do I need a CPU cooler and extra fans?

Don't mean to be rude, but, the fact that you've asked that question suggests that you've not done enough research on this site about how to make a quiet computer. Not only that but if you look at the description and technical details of the case you intend to buy off the Aria web site, you'll see that it clearly states that no fans are included - in fact a couple of quiet fans will cost you almost as much as this particular case. You will need at least one fan acting as an exhaust; better would be two, giving you an intake as well. That motherboard will allow you to control the fans speed with "Fan expert" utility, which I find works pretty well on mine.

The CPU will come with a stock cooler but if you want quiet then you'll need to buy a better one. Plenty of recommendations here for both fans and coolers, including my own favourite, Scythe Mugen II which, unlike many tower coolers, is suited to AMD CPU's because it allows the fan to be installed blowing towards the rear case exhaust, not up into the CPU. More info on why that's not good can also be found on this site.

From a quick Google of the VTX 5770 graphics card it seems it's the cheapest version out there - doesn't bode well for it's quietness. I don't know much about graphics cards myself, not being a gamer, but from what I've seen, the Sapphire Vapor X version of the 5770 is about the quietest available but at a cost - £145 inc. VAT.

If you're serious about getting a quiet computer you need to up your budget or reduce your speed/framerate expectations. I don't see what resolution monitor you're getting/got - maybe you could get away with a 5750 graphics card and an Athlon II X4 640 and put the money saved towards the CPU cooler and case fans?

Happy reading.

Edit: I just saw you live in London - the background noise there is so high you probably won't notice your stock cooler and cheap graphics card.

[quietlife]

OK, well I had to ask...given the overwhelming number of options, it's difficult to know exactly what to go for: i.e. case with PSU + fans, case+fans then separate PSU, or separates of all 3, which cases have good airflow, which don't, which cases have good sound damping, which don't, if I choose a case with fans, will those fans cool the CPU...

The monitor has a 1280 x 1024 resolution (max 75mhz frame rate)

As for living in London, yes, it's very noisy and people everywhere, but the rest of the UK is hardly an oil painting is it...Slough, Wigan, Hull, Bradford, Newcastle, Glasgow...

[judge56988]

The monitor has a 1280 x 1024 resolution (max 75mhz frame rate)

At that resolution you should be fine with a 5750.

With regard to the complexity of choosing the components for a system; there are lists of recommended components on this site that make a good starting point.
I built a system for my daughter earlier this year that came in at £600 (not including 1920 x 1080 monitor) based on the following components:

Lian li PC7+ case bought second hand on ebay (virtually new) 2nd choice was Antec 300
Corsair VX 450 PSU
Athlon II X4 630 CPU with Mugen II cooler
4 GB ordinary 1066 MHz RAM
Asus M4A785TD-V EVO Motherboard
Sapphire Vapor X 5750
Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F3
Pioneer DVD burner
Acoustifeet, silicone fan gaskets, bungee cord.

It's by no means silent but it is very, very quiet just watching a movie or surfing the net and reasonably quiet when working hard - the PSU is the loudest component but that was a budget compromise. You would have to do a few minor mods like removing fan grilles, soft mounting fans and suspending the hard drive but none of that is what you'd call difficult. The two included case fans are pretty quiet and I use Speedfan to control the exhaust - it never goes above about 800rpm. The intake is undervolted to 5v.
It is doable on your budget, especially with that size monitor - but you will have to make a few compromises and do a bit of tinkering.
Hope that helps - BTW I spent ages pondering the choices too.

Sorry about the dig about London - I moved away from there 15 years ago to the middle of nowhere. Best move I ever made!

[quietlife]

Is it necessary for the DDR to have a heatsink or is there one on the mobo?

[666cornholio666]

Hey everyone, I saw this thread and I'm planning on building my own PC, with following components. Will they fit together??
(OS will be Windows Seven 64-bit by the way)

Coolermaster Elite 330 Case
MSI 770-C45 Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Quad Core Processor
NVIDIA GTS 450 (or 250, not sure which is better yet) Graphics Card
4 GB of DDR3 RAM Memory
1 TB SATA Harddrive
Samsung DVD-RW 24X Disc Drive
Noctua NH-D14 Quiet Processor Cooler - Dual Fans - NH-D14

Thanks for advice!

[MikeC]

Both of the posters looking for system advice should know this:

1) The sturdiness of the case and its airflow design are critical to quiet PC. The Coolermaster Elite case is flimsy. Needs care to get it running quietly, especially with hot components like you are choosing. Go for a better case! Check the Recommended Cases on SPCR!

2) Definitely need a non-stock CPu cooler, maybe a VGA cooler too depending on your choice. Check in the Recommended Heatsinks.