need help with i7-2600k/6950 2GB based multipurpose computer

[Conchis]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here at silentpcreview, having lurked about on and off through the years. I'm hoping to get opinions on how well you think this general use computer will work out acoustics-wise. Most of its use will not involve load on the graphics card, and when it does, sound is not too much of a concern.

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600k
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 Pro
Graphics: MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II
Power Supply: Seasonic M12II 620 Bronze
HD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB
Case: Corsair 600T

I intend to use stock cooling for CPU and case, and get it quiet through aggressive fan management and the case. From all I've read, the 600T is a nice quiet case, with preinstalled damping material and no side vent. I also read on this board that the MSI afterburner software lets you effectively throttle the Frozr II's fan to near silent under idle. In a perfect world I'd add an SSD and upgrade the CPU cooler and case fans, but can't afford that now. The Caviar Green is supposed to be pretty quiet though.

As it is, and assuming careful cable management, do you guys think this will be a quiet system, or are there better choices in the same performance/cost bracket as these parts that I should consider? Thanks.

[Conchis]

By the time my first post was approved, I had already done more research, discovered some mistakes in my first choice, and more or less decided on a new case, power supply and graphics card. I somehow got confused about the 600T case - it doesn't have sound dampening panels at all - and the P183 is just much more of a known quantity and safe choice, with tons of user experience and knowledge to fall back on in working with it. I changed the power supply to the Antec CP-850 because I like the idea of perfectly matching it with the case. The new graphics card is $50 cheaper, offers near silence at idle with software tweaking.

Here's what I have now:

Case: Antec P183
Power Supply: Antec CP-1000 (the 850 is out of stock at newegg and the 1000 only $15 more)
Graphics: MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 560

In addition, I'm thinking about splurging some more on some cooling upgrades. Here I'm basically copying Puget System's Serenity setup:

CPU Fan: Gelid Tranqilio
3 Case Fans: Scythe SY1225SL12M Slipstream fan

My plan is to replace the rear fan and cpu fan with two of the slipstreams, and then add the third to the middle hard drive cage so it blows air over the video card, as in this pic from serenity review at silentpcreview shows:



Any qualms with the cooler or fan choices? As far as I can tell, these are exactly what Puget uses, and they seem to have their act together. And is my fan model the best one? There are three different slipstream models at newegg, and I think I chose the one that is the consensus leader.

[bonestonne]

Why such a powerful "general use" computer? Why not opt for an i3 and integrated graphics, or lower end ATI graphics rather than the 2600k, which is really more for overclockers/gamers/workstations?

It's almost like a gamer told you what you should get because it's good hardware, not because it's what you really need.

Define "general use" and you'll get much better, more budget friendly suggestions from users here.

[Conchis]

I'm sorry, was too careless with my description of "general use". I should have said multi-purpose. Things I will do with this computer include:
-watch dvd's, blu-rays and occasionally netflix streaming, hooked up to my home theater (1080pHDTV and 5.1 receiver/speaker setup - I have a PS3 that I may ditch if the computer works out well enough in this regard)
-stream music to my stereo through squeezebox
-encode audio/video files
-some gaming, most likely through my HDTV

For even this type of use, the CPU is probably more than I need, but I want a system that I won't need to mess with for awhile, apart from maybe getting an SSD in the future. Also, I suppose that I just flat out have an irrational desire for a relatively high-spec system with quality parts.

[ces]

Define "general use" and you'll get much better, more budget friendly suggestions from users here.

Agreed.

Stock Cooling, MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II, and Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB seems like an unusual, and perhaps contradictory, mix.

My personal philosophy is to remove noise at its source with good components.

Trying to cover up noise once it comes into existence seems to be like attempting to bet against the house. You always need some kind of ventilation and with that comes the noise. If the air can get out, the noise can as well.

[FartingBob]

If you are spending that money, why not get a decent CPU cooler (check the recommended list), and maybe some better fans for the case? It wont add that much to the overall system cost, but make things far more pleasent to your ears.
I suggest if you are not intending to use the PC for things like media encoding then you dont need such a fast CPU. Even stepping down to the 2500 will save a fair bit of money. No point buying a expensive overclocking CPU when 95% of the time your just on the internet or listening to music etc.

[faustus]

I agree with previous comments that for "general use", which I consider to be email and browsing, your system is overkill.

The only "home use" areas I know of that can use that kind of CPU and graphics power is gaming, video transcoding and distributed computing projects like Folding@home and BOINC.

But I'm planning a similar build (2600K and Radeon 6950) and hoping to get it reasonably quiet. (Don't know yet whether it's actually doable, I can say more in a couple of weeks.)
I think it's a safe bet that the noisiest parts will be the graphics and the stock cooler.

On individual parts:
* Intel Core i7-2600k: Can be almost inaudible at full throttle, but only if you replace the stock heatsink, which is not even remotely quiet.

* Asus P8P67 Pro: Makes no noise, pick whichever model you prefer. Although the Z68 models cost almost the same, and let you switch between discrete and integrated graphics, which may (or may not) help reduce graphics card noise at low loads.

* MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II: High performance graphics is traditionally the noisiest part of a system. You may not care about noise levels when it is in use, but I suppose you care about the noise at idle. According to this review the Asus DirectCU II model is around 5dB less noisy than the Twin Frozr, although it is more expensive. (And three slots wide vs. two.)

* Seasonic M12II 620 Bronze: Sounds decent from this review:

the M12II-620Bronze sticks to Seasonic's roots of being almost dead silent. Sure it is not actually silent like the X-750 through 25% load but it easily matches all other Seasonic units we have seen to date in our perceived general noise output levels

Any PSU noise will probably be drowned out by the noise from the graphics and stock cooler anyway

* Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB: Very quiet, I can't actually hear it working. But if you are aiming for performance (as suggested by your other components) I would add a small fast disk or SSD, demoting the WD Green to secondary storage.

I think the most noise reduction bang for the buck (muffle for the buck?) comes from
* replacing the stock cooler
* researching quiet graphics options (stock card plus custom VGA cooler or quiet models)

[sagebeard]

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600k
beastly processor adn way overpowered for almost anyone. get a i5 2500(K) instead of the i7, you're never ever gonna pull full load on both when using it for normal tasks.
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 Pro
good, a bit more than what you probaly need.
Graphics: MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II
okay, but why not spend a bit more and get a asus DCII version? that one's a bit coolar AND quiet~er. you are using a single card setup, so a huge three slots card shouldnt be a problem.
personally i'd spend 30 euros/dollars extra for a 2Gb 6950 DCII and unlock the extra shaders for (near) 6970 performance under the 300 dollar mark
Power Supply: Seasonic M12II 620 Bronze
no comment
HD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB
no reason to get a green here, assuming that you are going to game, that HDD is probaly going to bottleneck the hell out of your system. go Black
Case: Corsair 600T
nice solid case, but maybe you should look at other, more quiet cases like the P183



but really, we need more details on what you are going to use this system for.

[Conchis]

Thanks for all the replies. My posts are taking 12-24 hours to be approved by the moderated, and in the meanwhile I've been doing tons of reading up and changing my system parts. Already listed the exact sorts of things I plan to do with the computer in a prior post, which should justify a little more the high specs of the system.

Last night I bit the bullet and ordered a parts setup from newegg that is substantially different from the one referenced in the title and first post of this thread. Here's what I ended up with (too lazy to insert hyperlinks but parts are pretty well known). Budget ended up going way over, as I basically decided to incorporate all the items I would eventually upgrade to over the next year. This should be a kick-ass system:

CPU: i5-2500k
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 Pro
Memory: 8gb RAM
Graphics: MSI Twin Frozr II 560TX
HD1: Crucial C300 128GB SSD
HD2: WD Caviar Green 2TB
Case: Antec P183
PS: Seasonic X-650
CPU Cooler: Gelid Tranqillo
Fans: 3 Slipstream SY1225SL12SH fans
Fan Controller: Scythe Kaze Q

I'm thinking that I'll set up a fan configuration much like the Puget Serenity system for now - intake fan clipped to the middle hard drive cage roughly aligned height-wise with the video card, and then a push-pull set up with the CPU fan and rear exhaust. The only difference is they use an Antec CP power supply with a horizontally oriented fan. With my fan controller I can undervolt the three slipstream fans for near silent nongaming use, and the MSI afterburner software should help me get the graphics card to near silent as well. The Seasonic X-650 probably won't make a sound at low load.

When playing games I think upping the voltage on the fan controller for the CPU, intake and exhaust fans should be enough, especially with the huge fan cooler on the graphics card. And when playing games, don't really care about sound. Do you think this is enough cooling? Or should I have gotten an additional slipstream to put at top of the case too?

[matchu]

When playing games I think upping the voltage on the fan controller for the CPU, intake and exhaust fans should be enough, especially with the huge fan cooler on the graphics card. And when playing games, don't really care about sound. Do you think this is enough cooling? Or should I have gotten an additional slipstream to put at top of the case too?

My setup is an i5 2500k @ 4.4GHz with a Radeon 6850 + Gelid Icy Vision.

Fans = 3 Scythe Slip streams (2 on the cpu cooler, 1 as exhaust) + 2 fans on the GPU cooler (ie the Gelid)

All of my fans spin at 700-800rpm

On prime95, CPU temps hover around 65
With Furmark, GPU hovers at 60

So to answer your question, you're probably okay with fewer fans!

[Conchis]

Thanks for the info about your P183 fan setup. That's great to hear!

My parts are shipping today, so looking forward to assembling later this week or weekend.