Noise and power efficiency...

[Elassar]

Lets start at the beginning.

First of all I am going to buy a gaming rig up to date, but have to keep the budget just below unacceptable (for my wife ).

What I am thinking of at this time:

Case: Antec 193 (but can't fit a Megahalem or a Noctua U12 in it)
PSU: Antec Quatro or Corsair HX
Motherboard: Asus Rampage II Extreme
CPU: i7 920
Heatsink: Megahalem or Noctua U12 (not sure about the fan)
Memory: 6 Gb DDR3 1600
GPU: ATI HD5870 or HD5970 (Santas decision)
HDD: W.D. Black Caviar 500 Gb or higher

That should be all for the noisy parts. The DVD burner will probably be an old pioneer for the beginning, but as it is not taking part in the "continuous" noise level I'll live with it for a time.

What I would like to know is if you have any comments on the noisiness of this combination, If you have noise level improvements to suggest that wouldn't deteriorate performance I'll be all ears. Of course I'll also take care of comments regarding the balance of this rig.

[hybrid2d4x4]

If you're sticking with a single video card and don't care about the upcoming hexacores (and extreme overclocking), and want some more performance at a lower cost/thermal envelope, swap the i7 920 for a 860. Performance comparison here: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/sh ... i=3641&p=7

[lm]

It seems you have not addressed the noise in any way. CPUs don't make noise, it's the fans on the coolers that do, for example.

Also I don't really see how that combination goes with "under unacceptable budget"... It looks more like a performance system to me. Much above those specs would be just waste of money for marginal increases in fps.

[Ksanderash]

What I would like to know is if you have any comments on the noisiness of this combination

You should be prepared to higer noise level if you go for a top level hardware. That's axiom. Powerful hardware needs good cooling.

CPU fan, PSU fan, videocard fan -- the main sources of noise in your configuration. Look through the forum about each component and you are ready to pay for ) No any particular word of advice can be given here -- it's up to you.

[vonbosch]

I recently bought a P193. It is a lovely case, I am sure all Antec cases are a huge step of from the generic rubbish I was using before.

But it is HUGE. My build is working out differently than I intended and I regret buying such a big case. Its big advantage over a P183 is the side fan (that's why I bought it and 'cos there was a deal which made it only 10 euros more expensive). The space for drives and extra top exhaust fan aren't going to help you for this build as far as I can tell.

From what I read, you aren't going to get the benefit of the side fan unless you remove the stock, shrouded heatsink and replace it with something more open (say an S1 or a GT-03). I think that otherwise a 120 mm front intake fan is just as useful and potentially quieter. Replacing the stock cooler on the graphics card is something you will probably want to do for quietness in any case. Might be tricky for the 5970, but the Thermalright VGA heatsink page had a method for 4870 X2, maybe there will be a similar solution for the 5970.

Having the Antec Big Boy 200mm side fan thermally controlled and blowing air down on to a 5970 or equally powerful graphics setup would be great, I plan to do it when I have the time/money, but otherwise the P193 is overkill. Unless you like the awesome size and 'distinctive' side fan sticking out (actually I kinda do).

[Elassar]

Right, I sure have some more details to give about my choices.

Under unacceptable budget.

As you noticed I am going for a power config, but kept the first step investment as low as I thought possible. Changing for an i7 860 would not spare enough money to think about giving up any chance to go for a high end i7 or even an Gulftown hexacore (i9?). The GPU being the same as one HD5870 could be Xfired later on.

Of course I know I am more sensible to performance than pure stealth, but, unlike I did before, I do not want to hear that hair dryer noise anymore.

I do also know I have not addressed any noise problem, because at this time I do not have one with a new rig I didn't even buy yet. What I want is to get a propper start, and improve later on what can be improved. Aspecially the fans, maybe a sound deadening material or what ever...

Another thing is the case. Mfirst choice would have been a sonata III, but it is a bit small and I know from experience that the smaller the case, the bigger the head/fan noise problem. The I switched to the Antec 193 (still wishfull thinking), but it turns out you can't put a huge heat sink in it, just because ther is this (nice lookig I admit) fan extension. So I had to think about an 183.

To conclude my long story, I am keeping mycomputers quite a long time, and I need to make a decision that leaves me some chance to evolve...

[lm]

These recommendations are because it seems like in the end you are not THAT concerned about the price:

I'd go for the best cpu heatsink that has been reviewed by SPCR (the main page does not load for me atm so can't see what it is nowadays). Shouldn't take a case that can't fit it.

I'd also take the new Seasonic X series PSU reviewed by SPCR. A bit pricey, but in a case with a separate thermal zone for the PSU like the P183, it will be passive until about 300W so the fan would not be even running when you are not playing.

However I think you will have trouble making the HD5970 quiet under load... The noise levels in reviews for that one have been quite high, as it puts out a massive amount of heat under full load.

How large resolutions you are going to use? That beast can drive several massive monitors simultaneously in games. I fully expect you to have more resolution than me, and I got 2560x1600 with a slower GPU running most games just fine.

You might want to consider a SSD drive for system and programs, then a regular hard drive for media storage. This way the storage drive could spend most of the time spun down. Also it would make game loading times better.

[JamieG]

For the graphics card, instead of the 5970, have you considered the Sapphire 5870 Vapor-X?

I'm looking at building a similar system (tossing up between P55 or X58 in this thread) in my existing P182.

With a reasonable CPU heatsink and fan combination, the graphics card is likely to be the loudest part of your rig.

[Elassar]

Thanks for comments.

At this time I am considering a 5870. At first thought I'd buy an ASUS one, because I think (maybe I'm completely wrong) that Asus Graphics fit better with asus Mobo...

But the Sapphire sounds just great. I just do not like the present habit of buying an card an putting up a sticker... At least Sapphire tries or pretends to think about improve what others have created and that is worth more.

At this time I have an old high IIYAMA 21 inch CRT monitor, but this will be changed later on. In fact I must admit I have no clue about what I really need, but I know I can not even play Everquest II full options anymore which is far less demanding as the upcoming DX11 games...

Regarding the price, I am not regarding, my whife is. So I hope to get through it with a bit less than 2000 € including software. That will be fair enough to buy good upgradable stuff but not t build a power house.

For the PSU I was thinking about the CP series from Antec that have an interestign design and seem to have been created thinking about the 183 case. Seasonic X series would be great too, but It is difficult to me to make a choice and as for graphics/Mobo I'd thk Case/PSU should also be from the same brand. Aspecially as Antec seem serious about building good and quite ones.

SSD would be great too, but teh Price per giga ratio is terrible. Maybe I could give it a try with a 64 Gb SSD and my old 120 IBM HDD...

[loimlo]

Frankly speaking, there's no ASUS-made 5870 at this moment as all 5870s are coming from AMD directly.

If you stuck with 5870, I guess Seasonic X650 is more or less the same with CP850 because 5870's fan would be louder than both of two anyway.

[Elassar]

I have no doubt that the graphics card will be the loudest element...

That's right I found no 5870 on the ASUS site... I could swear that I sow one befre. Strange...

[Tephras]

I could swear that I sow one befre. Strange...

Maybe it was this? Still, loimlo is correct, this card comes from AMD, but ASUS contributed with software and stickers.

[Elassar]

Wow this morning I got a shock. I was abotu to order some parts I am sure about...

The HD5870 is going for at least 600 €, and seemingly no HD5970 available! Damn Santa...

[lm]

I think (maybe I'm completely wrong) that Asus Graphics fit better with asus Mobo...

I'd thk Case/PSU should also be from the same brand.

You are making things harder than necessary for yourself with such misguided thoughts. Don't limit your purchase options based that.

There's hardly any difference between the same model of GPUs coming from different brands, because the chips that matter come from ATI or NVidia and then Asus and friends just slap them on a circuit board and throw in things like memory, power delivery circuitry, and the cooler.

There are some quality differences between those brands, but it does not mean you need to get exactly the same as your mobo. For example, I have a Gigabyte mobo and an Asus GPU. As long as both are quality stuff, it's fine.

SSD would be great too, but teh Price per giga ratio is terrible. Maybe I could give it a try with a 64 Gb SSD and my old 120 IBM HDD...

You aren't supposed to evaluate an SSD by price/capacity. It's not a STORAGE drive. For that you get a cheap massive regular hard drive in addition. It's just something to put only your OS and programs on and makes your system very snappy.