Advice on My Shopping Cart Build

[suzaku]

Hey guys I need advice on this shopping cart build:

1)Case - Fractal R5
2)GPU - Asus Strix GTX 980
3)MotherBoard - Asus Z97 pro
4)Processor - i5-4690k
5)CPU heatsink - noctua NH-D15
6)SSD - Samsung Evo 500gb
7) PSU - ??
8)corsair ram 2x8gb ram

I know PSU plays an important role in noise level but I'm not sure which to pick at the moment. Without the PSU, will these parts be quiet under idle and at maximum load? I will also overclock the processor to around 4.4ghz.

[CA_Steve]

Welcome to SPCR.

Assuming you aren't OC'ing the gfx card, Your stressed load is in the 310W range. Heavy gaming load is closer to 270W range. So, you could go with a passive PSU, or a semi-passive PSU that only starts the fan at say 30% load and is still quiet at your gaming load, or just get a PSU with a quiet fan profile at your loads. The gfx card needs a 6-pin and 8-pin PEG connector.

So, fanless, there is the Seasonic Platinum 460W. For semi-passive, the Corsair RM 550 comes to mind. For always on fan, the bequiet! Dark Power 10 550.

Your component selection is good. A couple of comments as I don't know your applications:
- only reason for 16GB RAM is for stuff other than gaming (photo editing, 4k video editing, scientific apps).
- The GTX 980 is useful for gaming >> 1080p. If you are gaming at 1080p, save the $'s and look at the GTX 960.

[suzaku]

Thank you for your insight. I'll be doing quite a bit of gaming and I think I'll follow through with your advice about the rams, and just use a total of 8gb. Can you suggest a brand of gtx 960 thats good in silent performance?

[Abula]

For PSU, i would consider Rosewill 550W 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply Tachyon-550, its OEM is Superflower, so its basically very similar to the SPCR Kingwin Lazer Platinum 550W Power Supply, Or if you want fanless, Rosewill SilentNight Series 500W 80 Plus Platinum Certified Modular Design ATX12V/EPS12V Power Supply SilentNight-500, also reviewed by SPCR Rosewill Silent Night 500 Platinum 80 Plus.

I would suggest to add an extra fan to the intake, specially if you go with fanless PSU, because with a one fan in and one out, but the in behind a filter, it will have negative preassure in the case, so inlets like PCIe holes or the passive PSU might become intakes where its not filtered, that will increase the dust inside the case, adding one fan to the front should help with this.

[CA_Steve]

Asus Strix and MSI Gaming look good.

[suzaku]

Which fan do you guys suggest to put in the front of the Fractal R5? I would like to have 2 fans to increase air flow since I'm going to be overclocking the gpu as well.

[CA_Steve]

You could go with a third Fractal GP14 fan or put the two Fractal fans in front and put an Antec True Quiet 140 in the back.

[tedw]

I just bought a Fractal R5 and ASUS STRIX GTX 960 - the R5 does come with the one fan in front, and it's super quiet.

I haven't had a chance to do heavy-intensive gaming on the 960 yet - for day-to-day use the card's fans are completely off, or extremely low so it's also silent or quiet.

-Ted