Seeking advice on a new gaming build

[caethan]

Hello, lovely people,

I came across this site in the way I imagine many did, after getting fed up with my little cubby-hole sounding like the inside of a jetliner whenever I play new triple-A games. I thought I'd be hunting for bits of info scattered across the Internet, shared by folks with similar frustrations but who probably wouldn't be doing much more than declaring "hardware brand X is always noisy" or "my new video card is so quiet." SPCR has been a very welcome surprise.

You have built something amazing here; I never would have guessed there'd be a community like this, with so much knowledge and such dedication to finding reliable solutions to this problem. And all this on a site that's not trying to make any money off of me against my best interest, that provides quality content and asks for donations instead of operating as a business that sells the visitor as its product. To my mind, this isn't just integrity, but also tremendous generosity.

Now that I've buttered you all up a bit... I'm going to be building a new gaming system and am looking for any advice or suggestions about the hardware. I've come up with a tentative list of parts, based largely on recommendations I've seen here, and will probably be purchasing everything during the upcoming holiday sales. I want something that can handle resource-intensive games on pretty settings, should hopefully last a while without any major upgrades, and that’s a decent value for the money so that I have a way to rationalize the expenditure to myself. Here's the current list:

Case: Fractal Design Define R5
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 550W, EVGA P2 650W, be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 550W, or SeaSonic PRIME 650W Titanium
CPU: i5 6600K, aiming for an overclock to 4.5GHz-ish
Cooler: Scythe Ninja 4
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 if a good sale comes up, otherwise something with a few less bells and whistles
Memory: 16GB, probably a 2x8GB kit around 2666MHz and CAS latency 15, again depending on sales
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Gaming X
Drive(s): Samsung 850 EVO 500GB that I already own. I also have a pair of WD 7200RPM drives that I'd like to throw in, but will leave out if the noise will drive me nuts

First off, are there any obvious build issues you folks see that I'm missing? Beyond that, I have a few specific questions that I'd greatly appreciate some expert opinions on, if you all would be willing to help: Do you think I'd get less noise and/or better airflow with a Define S instead of the R5, assuming I put in the disk drives? What if I leave them out (and pull the cages)? Is the sound dampening on either case really good enough to silence those stupid drives? And with this configuration, would a Kotetsu be fine for the heat level considering the overclock, or am I better off sticking with the Ninja?

I'm also wondering if I should prefer any specific power supply out of that list - it seems like all of those are pretty well recommended as far as noise output, if nothing stands out about any of them I figure I'll just pick up whichever I can get the best deal on. I’d love to hear any other general suggestions or thoughts as well, I don't have my heart set on anything and would welcome any recommendations.

And thank you, for taking the time to read this, and for everything else you all do for this community.

[CA_Steve]

Welcome to SPCR.

7200rpm drives....The drive cage for the R5 might be sturdier/less prone to transmit HDD vibrational noise than the Define S method of mounting vertically behind the mobo. There's also the new Define C and Mini C. There's also decoupling the HDDs by mounting/hanging with elastic bands.

Overclocking the i5: To get to 4.5GHz involves overvolting. That's where you use a lot more power/generate a lot more heat for very little gain...and where you'd want the Ninja over the Kotetsu.

mobo: While Gigabyte builds a great board, the fan controls are the worst. Look at Asus.

PSU: Any of the first three are fine (as is the be quiet! straight power 10 550CM), the Seasonic is great if you really want to spend that kind of money.

[quest_for_silence]

mobo: While Gigabyte builds a great board, the fan controls are the worst. Look at Asus.

I guess ASRock can be a nice option too.

PSU: Any of the first three are fine (as is the be quiet! straight power 10 550CM), the Seasonic is great if you really want to spend that kind of money.

I don't think the OP lives in in Europe, but in case there are also three Super Flowes (Golden Silent 430 & 500, Leadex Platinum 550) which are competitive (noise wise) with the quoted units.

[caethan]

Thank you both for your help.

7200rpm drives....The drive cage for the R5 might be sturdier/less prone to transmit HDD vibrational noise than the Define S method of mounting vertically behind the mobo. There's also the new Define C and Mini C. There's also decoupling the HDDs by mounting/hanging with elastic bands.

Oooh, I hadn't noticed the Define C, thank you for pointing that one out. I quite like the design, think I'll go with that one.

Overclocking the i5: To get to 4.5GHz involves overvolting. That's where you use a lot more power/generate a lot more heat for very little gain...and where you'd want the Ninja over the Kotetsu.

Good point... Might be a better idea to see what clock speeds are stable at base voltage or with only a minor increase, instead of aiming for a goal that would mean much higher energy use and heat output.

mobo: While Gigabyte builds a great board, the fan controls are the worst. Look at Asus.

I guess ASRock can be a nice option too.

Okay, thinking I'll pick up the Asus Pro Gaming or ASRock Fatal1ty K4, maybe a higher-end board from one of those brands but I imagine they're probably not worth the extra money.

PSU: Any of the first three are fine (as is the be quiet! straight power 10 550CM), the Seasonic is great if you really want to spend that kind of money.

I don't think the OP lives in in Europe, but in case there are also three Super Flowes (Golden Silent 430 & 500, Leadex Platinum 550) which are competitive (noise wise) with the quoted units.

Yeah, I'm in the U.S. I can see a few things that might have lead you to that conclusion, one of them being that I may have managed to sound like the kind of guy who wears shirts with bald eagles and American flags on them, and thinks that yelling things loudly enough makes them true, especially when dealing with store clerks... It is convenient to blame this personal failing on alcohol. I promise I'm not as big of a jerk IRL.

[CA_Steve]

If you haven't found it already, pcpartpicker.com is a useful tool for price comparisons and price history. They might not list every vendor, but it'll give you a feel for market prices.