Quietest possible SFF Gaming System

[JMSellars1]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to build a new gaming PC within the next few months in time for Fallout 4. My budget is quite flexible but I'd like to spent the least amount of money needed to get the job done.

I want a small aluminium case and for the PC to be as quiet as possible. I'm looking for absolutely inaudible at idle and as quiet as possible under load (I'm willing to pay premiums for better fans etc.) I'm looking to play Fallout 4 on high/very high settings. I don't mind if in future I'll have to turn the settings down a bit or upgrade so I don't need high end performance but it needs to be a major upgrade from my current build. Current build is:

i5-760 2.8 Ghz / Noctua NH-D14 / 4Gb Corsair Vengeance LP 1600Mhz / ASRock P55 Deluxe / Crucial M4 128GB / 500GB Seagate Barracuda 3.5'' / Palt GTX 460 1GB / Seasonic X-560 560W / Fractal Design R3

I'm not absolutely 100% set on the case yet but I do really like the RAIJINTEK Metis (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprod ... catid=2850). I think realistically I will only be re-using the SSD and possibly the PSU depending on which GPU I choose. That case fits GPU's up to 170mm if I use an ATX PSU or 250mm with a SFX PSU.

So I'm looking for advice on which components to use and also how to arrange the cooling to make it as quiet as possible. The current plan is:

CPU - i3-4160 or i5-4440 (I'm just looking for bang for my buck, not sure whether the i5 is worth the extra.)
CPU Cooler - I'm thinking the TX3 Evo. Cheap, quiet and small. A tower cooler means it will be blowing directly towards an exhaust fan too.
RAM - 2x4GB (I'm sure 8GB will be plenty for now, I'll go for whichever reputable brand is cheapest)
MOBO - ASRock B85M-ITX (I've always had good experiences with ASRock and this has good features for the price.)
HDD - I'll probably re-use my Crucial M4 128GB
PSU - I'll probably go for a Silverstone SFX, either the 300W or the gold 450W. They have semi fanless mode which is great for quietness. If I have a short graphics card I could consider reusing my Seasonic.
CASE - I'll probably go for the Raijintek I mentioned.

GPU - With the GPU I'm not sure. With the case I'm choosing, the GPU cooling is terrible. The GPU is up against the top of the case and is starved for air. I think anything more hungry than ~70-80W will require me to drill some vents in the top of the case if I want to keep it quiet. (Or does anyone else have any other suggestions on how to improve the GPU cooling?

In terms of which card to choose, I'm considering either the GTX 750TI, GTX 960 or GTX 970. Nvidia seem to be giving more performance per watt at the moment. I'm struggling to decide which one and which type of cooler to go for, again I'm just after bang for my buck. I don't mind if I have to turn settings down a bit in future.

A 'blower' type cooler would be very efficient as the GPU is crammed against the top of the case so if I drill the vents the GPU's airflow will be completely separate from the rest of the case, it will just take air directly from outside the top of the case and dump hot air out of the back. The only issues with these coolers is that they tend to be relatively loud when idling and also very long.

An open cooler is the other option. Some of these are 0DB when idling which is great but I'm going to be dumping 100W+ of heat into an already cramped case and I don't know whether it could handle it as the most efficient way to cool the case seems to be to intake through the back, through a tower CPU cooler and exhaust through the PSU.


So any suggestions on:

- Which CPU to use?
- Which GPU to use?
- Which CPU/GPU cooler to go for? (A semi-passive <250mm blower cooler would be ideal but I don't think they exist)
- How to arrange the airflow in the case to be inaudible at idle and as quiet as possible under load.


Thanks in advance for any help and for reading through my incredibly long post

[CA_Steve]

Fallout 4 intro's on Nov 10. Nobody knows what it's going to need in terms of CPU/GPU horsepower as it's a different graphics engine from that used in earlier editions. I'd wait to build until there were some early benchmarks. What's your monitor resolution?

Another reason to wait - Intel's Skylake series intro's in Aug/Sept. Figure a few months for the bugs to appear/bios and driver updates to settle down and November is a great time for a new build.

[Abula]

If your aim is to keep it as cheap as possible, then keep more than what you are considering atm.

My budget is quite flexible but I'd like to spent the least amount of money needed to get the job done.

i5-760 2.8 Ghz / Noctua NH-D14 / 4Gb Corsair Vengeance LP 1600Mhz / ASRock P55 Deluxe / Crucial M4 128GB / 500GB Seagate Barracuda 3.5'' / Palt GTX 460 1GB / Seasonic X-560 560W / Fractal Design R3

Things that i would keep from the build that imo are still good and there is no need to spend money on are,

Fractal Design Define R3 - Still a great case, i would probably change the fans as it might be worth it considering the time of use.
Seasonic X560 - Imo one of the best PSU for the money, still today i would recommend it if they didn't discontinued it.
Crucial M4 - really a good ssd, if you don't need more space than 128gb i would keep it, else consider Crucial MX200 or BX100.
Noctua NH-D14 - Still today among the best twin towers, they are slightly better options today, but not worth investing owning it already.

Personally i think an i5 is worth it, its a better investment than to swap the case or PSU. Even though most games are still optimized for dual cores, there are some that are starting to take the advantage of 4 cores, and it will be mainstream soon, thinking that you kept your build for more than 4 years, i think its good that you move on into i5 quad core.

GPU - i would invest the most you can on it that ca move Fallout4 at your desired resolution, not knowing the specs or how it will run its hard to suggest what gpu will be the best for the money for it. i would consider the GTX960/970/980/980Ti, again depends on how demanding the game will be.

I share Steve opinion, into building really close to the release of Fallout, i would buy all stuff in October early to build on late October, probably a Skylake i5 + H170 motherboard would be the best bet + GPU of your choice.

[JMSellars1]

Thanks for the input guys.

Didn't realise Skylake was so soon. Might just add a GTX 960 or 970 to my current system soon then consider upgrading the rest of the system in Oct/Nov.

The upgrade wasn't just for the performance really, I'd love a tiny PC as well. I will be changing the case but I think I might keep the PSU and just buy a short graphics card. Gigabyte do a 170mm long GTX 960 that looks pretty good.