New silent build - Advice / recommendations?

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developer1
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2014 11:38 pm

New silent build - Advice / recommendations?

Post by developer1 » Tue Jun 21, 2016 7:56 pm

Hello there! I'm willing to build a new silent rig for general purposes, working/programming + loading heavy projects.

Movie watching is also on the list. I guess I'm good with the integrated Intel HD530?

I'm very sensitive to sound.

I'm buying on Amazon.es and will ship it abroad.


What I would buy up to now:

CPU: Intel i7 6700 3.4Ghz
Motherboard: ASUS H170 Pro Gaming
Ram: Corsair Vengeance LPX - 16 GB (DDR4, 2400 MHz, 288-pin DIMM, CL16, 2 x 8 GB) <-- same price as 2133Mhz module


What I have from my pc:

CPU Cooler: Scythe Kotetsu
PSU: be quiet! Straight Power10 600W
SSD: Intel 530Series 240GB
HD: WD Black 500GB
Case: Fractal R5
1080p monitor
Fans:
1x Noctua NF-F12
1x Noctua NF-A14 FLX <- Being used as 2nd intake fan
1x Noctua NS-12A FLX

I have an Ati Radeon HD4870 1GB graphic card, which I believe that would be the loudest component among with the hdd WD Black. First, I will try how well the integrated Intel HD530 does.


Summarizing, It would end up as:

CPU:
Intel i7 6700 3.4Ghz
CPU Cooler: Scythe Kotetsu
Motherboard: ASUS H170 Pro Gaming
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX - 16 GB (DDR4, 2400 MHz, 288-pin DIMM, CL16, 2 x 8 GB)
Storage: Intel 530Series 240GB + WD Black 500GB
PSU: be quiet! Straight Power10 600W
Case: Fractal R5 + 1x Noctua NF-A14 FLX as 2nd intake


My questions:

1) I am not sure about the motherboard. I have an asus Xonar DG PCI soundcard which I will not be able to use anymore, but I I'm OK with the SupremeFX audio chip (in reality Realtek ALC1150). But as long as it's a good mobo in terms of fan controlling i'm fine with it.

2) Ram. Any better alternative?

3) Am I going to be able to configure fan curves on Linux/Ubuntu ?

Any suggestion? Thanks :)

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

Re: New silent build - Advice / recommendations?

Post by Abula » Tue Jun 21, 2016 10:44 pm

developer1 wrote:1) I am not sure about the motherboard. I have an asus Xonar DG PCI soundcard which I will not be able to use anymore, but I I'm OK with the SupremeFX audio chip (in reality Realtek ALC1150). But as long as it's a good mobo in terms of fan controlling i'm fine with it.
Its up to you, i own one and i like it a lot, i recently did a build for a friend and its working perfect. But if you want to use your Xonar there are other options out there that will have PCI slot.
developer1 wrote:2) Ram. Any better alternative?
Ram go with the brand you prefer, suggested you check the QVList of the motherbaord you end up buying, as you can find what memory has been already tested on it, so you know it will work for sure.
developer1 wrote:3) Am I going to be able to configure fan curves on Linux/Ubuntu ?
Well depends, this question is tricky because my experience was not perfect on Asus bios fan control. Asus biggest strength controlling fans is FanXpert but will only run on Windows, so your choices go into Asus bios fan control, that its not bad, just i had some issues when i certain fans were not registering as low as they could, and when they did, the settings didnt stick, and when they stick and i played around wiht the bios, i had resets on certain headers. That said i did a build for a friend this weekend on that exact motherboard, and all went well with pure bios fan control, but he used other fans.
developer1 wrote:Any suggestion?
For a Linux build, i would recommend to with AsRock, specially because its bios fan control is to me the best in the market, there are no restrictions, you can go as low as you want (given that the fan can), Asus on the other hand requieres you to run the QTunning and you depend on it to stablish the min max, if it doesnt read them right, you are cant drop them that low, as the bios will restrict it, AsRock in other hand allows any % and C, so you practically can tweak it as you wish.

But not all is good on AsRock, Asus is a very easy mobo to work with, for example the the QTuning is a one click setup for your fans, on AsRock you have to do the graph (move little dots to create the behavior graph), which is not bad, just requeires more from the end user than asus, again this are good things for me, i like to be in control of what i want my setup to do, and not depend on a pre defined setup. One thing important to know on AsRock is the way motherboard fan headers work, usually on most AsRock motherboard you have 2x autodect headers (CPU_FAN and CHA_FAN1) this headers can control 4pin PWM fan as they can a 3pin DC controlled fan, but the rest of the fans are PWM fans, so CHA_FAN2, 3, 4 are PWM fans, so understanding this is very important to chose the correct fans for each header. Much easier with AsRock is to think that all are PWM headers, that way you buy only PWM fans, and use a PWM splitter to run more than 3 fans.

If you do consider AsRock, i would suggest you change the following fans on your list,

1x Noctua NF-F12 ---> no need for 120mm, use the Scythe Kotetsu Glidestream PWM, its a good fan, connect it to the CPU_FAN header.
1x Noctua NF-A14 FLX <- I would go with 3x Noctua NF-P14S 1200PWM REDUX (two in the front and one in the back) connect all of them to a PWM fan splitter and the fan splitter to CHA_FAN1 header.
1x Noctua NS-12A FLX ---> no need for 120mm fans, but if you do, NF-S12B 1200PWM REDUX are pretty good.

One last suggestion, if you go with AsRock and if you feel comfortable with big heatsinks, i like more the Thermalright Macho RevB, the fan on it can drop lower than the Glidestream, and i like more the mounting on the thermalright, while the back screw is harder, once you understand how to do it its pretty easy.

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