Quiet pc upgrade 2021

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JayBeeke
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Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2021 1:09 am

Quiet pc upgrade 2021

Post by JayBeeke » Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:02 am

Hi all,

Planning an upgrade once the parts shortages come to an end... The goal is to achieve a *long* lasting system, whereby exchanging the graphics card and expanding RAM would be the only foreseen changes. I am currently still on a 10 year old Core i5 2500K / 16GB RAM / Intel X25M G2 160GB based machine, to give you an idea of how long this new build would ideally last. Over the years I've added and changed a few components, tho. This is what I have in mind for the 2020s, after limited research:

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
+ reused Noctua NH-D15 (with the extra mounting kit)
ASUS TUF Gaming B550-Plus
HyperX Fury Black 16GB 3600
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Super TBD, ideally a card with "active fan" technology
Samsung 980 Pro 500GB or Corsair MP600 500GB
+ reused WD 2TB SSD
+ reused Seasonic Platinum 520 Fanless
+ reused Fractal Design Define R5
+ 2 reused Scythe case fans

I mainly use this system for moderate gaming (hardly any brand new real high end graphics titles), occasional video (and audio) editing, office work and streaming video and audio. It will be coupled to my 24" Dell HD monitor.

Thanks!
JB

CA_Steve
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Re: Quiet pc upgrade 2021

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Jan 25, 2021 6:26 am

Welcome to SPCR.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X: It's going to be a while before AMD builds up enough inventory to cause prices to get back to MSRP level...maybe March to June. If AMD releases the non-X version, you might consider that. I'd expect a slight clock rate drop (100-200Mhz?), but it'll use less power and run cooler.

+ reused Noctua NH-D15 (with the extra mounting kit): ok

ASUS TUF Gaming B550-Plus: Import tariffs have caused price increases for mobo's, graphics card, etc. The Strix Series starts about $30 higher and has an Intel NIC and a better audio if it matters. Note that with the B550 boards, you get one 16 lane PCIe slot courtesy of the CPU. If you plan to have a PCIe 4.0 SSD, then it relegates your gfx card to a PCIe 3.0 slot. That said, you won't need PCIe 40 for a low-mid range gfx card for a long time.

HyperX Fury Black 16GB 3600: ok

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Super TBD, ideally a card with "active fan" technology: if, by active fan you mean passive with 2D and low 3D loads, then sure. How much card you need really depends on the specific games you play at 1080p and at what quality level.

Samsung 980 Pro 500GB or Corsair MP600 500GB: I'm assuming this is used for the OS/apps. The performance benefit of a high end SSD is negligible for day to day tasks and gaming. It can speed up video editing..but not a lot. Also, the 500GB parts don't use enough memory chips to fill all the controller channels, so you take a big hit on write speeds for the Corsair and a lesser hit on sequential write and random read speeds for the Samsung. Consider bumping up to 1TB and/or going with a mid-priced PCIe SSD.

Japanese Capacitor
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Location: Warszawa, Poland

Re: Quiet pc upgrade 2021

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:14 am

Few advices of what I would consider in your place:

Future-proofing gaming pc is buying strongest CPU you can afford with higher than enough for now core/thread count. The stronger the cores, the stronger GPU your CPU will be able to utilize in the same resolution (the lower the resoultion, the harder it will be for CPU). But games also get more and more core/thread hungry with newer titles. 4/8 and 6/6 started being not enough year or two ago, 6/12 is sweet spot now. The same sweet spot as 4/4 6600K was in 2016 and in 2018 started lacking additonal threads 6700K offered. Higher c/t count is also better, if you like to multitask.

Future-proofing is also buying more ram than enough for now. Ram is nicely cheap now, so I would go for it. 8GB of ram was completely enough in 2016, but in 2018 it started being not enough... Generally buying ,,enough" rather always is more expensive in longer perspective.

1650S is not a beast, but I assume, that you know, how it plays modern games. Active fan means fan working all the time. Didn't you mean semi-passive (starting spinning by higher temperature)? With Define R5 you shouldn't bother about it. I have Define 7 (no window), so we can say the same case after visual lifting. And I can't tell the difference between GPU's three fans off and running their minimum 1000 rpm. I keep them active, because I don't like, how they circle with turning on and off during low load games (they turn on loudly for one-two secounds and then start to run with speed from the curve).

Are you satisfied with your Scythe fans? If they are some older ones, maybe it's possible to get stronger and quieter both.

Abula
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Re: Quiet pc upgrade 2021

Post by Abula » Mon Jan 25, 2021 10:27 am

JayBeeke wrote:
Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:02 am
+ reused WD 2TB SSD
+ reused Seasonic Platinum 520 Fanless
+ reused Fractal Design Define R5
+ 2 reused Scythe case fans
As long as you are happy with the performance all seem fine.
JayBeeke wrote:
Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:02 am
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X + reused Noctua NH-D15 (with the extra mounting kit)
Really good combo, im cooling a 5900x with it and its really good cooler for it, you shuold have a very good margin for lowerign the rpms more to end up with a quieter setup. But recommended you go with Standard Height ram so you can use the frontal fan on the NH-D15.
JayBeeke wrote:
Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:02 am
ASUS TUF Gaming B550-Plus
I just tested a Asus B550M TUF Gaming, and the bios fan control is still restrictive, if you plan on using Asus FanXpert / AI Suite / Armor Crate then you should be fine.
JayBeeke wrote:
Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:02 am
HyperX Fury Black 16GB 3600
Fine, but crosscheck the QVL to make sure it will work.
JayBeeke wrote:
Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:02 am
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Super TBD, ideally a card with "active fan" technology
I just built a pc for my nephew, with a MSI GTX 1650 SUPER GAMING X, and work out really well, passive/silent on idle and extremly quiet on load.

Be careful with 5600x and any GPU atm, its really hard to get a hold on, try to get the GPU as soon as you can to avoid the price increase due to the Tariffs.

Olle P
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Location: Sweden

Re: Quiet pc upgrade 2021

Post by Olle P » Wed Jan 27, 2021 6:25 am

Japanese Capacitor wrote:
Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:14 am
Future-proofing gaming pc is buying strongest CPU you can afford with higher than enough for now core/thread count. ...
I mostly agree with this, just compare the current performance difference between Core-i5 2500K and i7 2600K, the latter being not totally off yet. Also taking current availability in consideration I'd suggest taking a second look at the R7 5800X, which is both way easier to find in stock (than the R5 5600X) and will likely have the topography and performance required to last you a decade.

Japanese Capacitor
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Location: Warszawa, Poland

Re: Quiet pc upgrade 2021

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Wed Jan 27, 2021 7:47 am

Olle P wrote:
Wed Jan 27, 2021 6:25 am
I mostly agree with this, just compare the current performance difference between Core-i5 2500K and i7 2600K, the latter being not totally off yet. Also taking current availability in consideration I'd suggest taking a second look at the R7 5800X, which is both way easier to find in stock (than the R5 5600X) and will likely have the topography and performance required to last you a decade.
Hope I quoted correctly... Kinda 2005 and I don't remember, how I was doing it then ;) 2600K aged definitely better than i5, but I wouldn't use it as a expample. Mostly because they come from the specific times of Intel's 4-cores-neverending-story mixed with weak CPUs in consoles back then. Now it's different and rather will be. I wouldn't even dream about any CPU serving me nicely more than 5 years of AAA gaming. It seemed to start going faster with three years old 8600K and 8700K. 8600 lacks additonal threads in some games for like year or two, so it can't always provide as smooth gameplay as 8700K. 8700K does just fine and I would give it like two years doing the same. But buying today 6/12 isn't anywhere near future-proofing. i5 10400, maybe 10600K for some great price, because of low budget and without expectations of it serving more than two, maybe three years or for playing low spec games only? Completely fine. 5800X should be the best choice from new Ryzens with having in mind JB's pc purpose and some future-proofing.

Abula
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Re: Quiet pc upgrade 2021

Post by Abula » Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:09 am

Personally i dont see the 5800x so hot, with the 5600x/5800x/5950x you get $50 per core on MSRP (thats if you can find one at that price), while the 5900x around $45 per core, as long as you can use the cores this is best buy of this gen, i would even say that its a better investment for someone that doesn't change their pc in years, again if he can use the cores, because the average user can get by with a celeron/athlon fine.

CA_Steve
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Re: Quiet pc upgrade 2021

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:15 am

Gaming CPU needs really aren't that dire. For most, there's an insignificant difference in fps and frame times between an R5/i5 and an R7/i7. There is a significant difference in price though. If the OP isn't going to play any CPU-crazy intensive games, there's no need for more than the i5/R5. Also note the OP is gaming at 1080p.

Japanese Capacitor
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Re: Quiet pc upgrade 2021

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Wed Jan 27, 2021 9:38 am

I personally don't find a good deal any Zen 3 even for MSRP. Prices even increased by poor availability, so my feeling also. 5600X is sometimes stronger, three years old 8700K for similar money - to me it's just awful. 5800X is great CPU, but terribly priced. It has imo accurately more c/t for fexibility and reasonable future-proofing. 5900X best deal, but risky - I guess it being useless for gaming, before games start to utilize it's additional cores and threads. I mean it will make a difference compared to lower c/t count CPUs. So I find 5600X awful as it can be and definitely not future-proof, 5800X as good, but not a good deal and 5900X best deal, but not for sure... I don't like any of these CPUs. They are almost as bad as Intel's 9th gen I have pleasure to use. But (if there's no option to wait for upcoming Intels) I would go with them for working PCie 4.0, which can make a difference with next generations GPUs. Maybe 4.0 drives will make a difference in games or any JB's future activities too (with games, we will see in two years - after dropping PS5/XSX only pc conversions).
CA_Steve wrote:
Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:15 am
Gaming CPU needs really aren't that dire. For most, there's an insignificant difference in fps and frame times between an R5/i5 and an R7/i7. There is a significant difference in price though. If the OP isn't going to play any CPU-crazy intensive games, there's no need for more than the i5/R5. Also note the OP is gaming at 1080p.
Your point is right, but from my point of view mostly right. I always look at worse possible scenarios (most CPU demanding games, unoptimized, taxing all GPUs games), because these exceptions show standard of near future. And this near future is one, two years.

Generally my point is go cheap with expectations of 3 years from now AAA gaming/World of Warships type of games for few years longer or pay premium for trying to futureproof it somehow, but only future will show, if it was worth it. That's the brutal reality of computers.

CA_Steve
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Re: Quiet pc upgrade 2021

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Jan 27, 2021 9:47 am

Japanese Capacitor wrote:
Wed Jan 27, 2021 9:38 am
I always look at worse possible scenarios (most CPU demanding games, unoptimized, taxing all GPUs games), because these exceptions show standard of near future. And this near future is one, two years.
If that were true, we'd all be building to meet the demands of Star Citizen. ;)

Japanese Capacitor
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Location: Warszawa, Poland

Re: Quiet pc upgrade 2021

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Wed Jan 27, 2021 10:14 am

CA_Steve wrote:
Wed Jan 27, 2021 9:47 am
If that were true, we'd all be building to meet the demands of Star Citizen. ;)
I'm not interested in SC, so can't comment it ;) But there's also one general rule of pc games - new consoles's only game drop, requirements go up painfully. According to Sony and MS it will happen two years from now. That's why I give two years every 6/12, 16 RAM, 60-70 card pc. I don't count people, who wil be satisfied with stuttering, generally low framerate and low details, because these rigs will do well providing that kind of gaming experience. The same will be with usually not demanding as AAA online games. They used to play Tanks, LoL, Rocket League and then CoD Warzone entered the chat. And that reasonably priced pc from three years didn't handle. So they don't play or buy just another pc. And it will be more expensive, than buying today better. Plus we should add that, buying today better, you buy better experience from today and increase the chances for satisfying longevity.

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