How would you build this PC?

[AFCommando]

Hi everyone,

New SPCR reader here. I've been reading a lot of the reviews and articles on the website and forums. I only have a rudamentary understanding of how to make a PC silent, and would really appreciate your help.

I'm building a new PC. This PC will mostly be used to run my research experiments, but will also serve as my gaming machine when I want some R&R. I've only purchased a few components thus far from sales I've found, but the remaining components are mostly up in the air.

Components I current have are:
Intel i7 2600K
Gigabyte Z68X-U3DH-B3

Components I'm planning on or leaning towards:
DDR3 16GB
SSD (60/64 GB)
AMD HD Radeon 6850 or 6870 (best price to performance for my price range, according to Tom's Hardware)
Seasonic SS-560KM (this is still part of the X series I believe, correct me if I'm wrong)

I plan to only moderately overclock my CPU to get a little more computational power out of it (4Ghz at most). I will not be doing SLI/Crossfire or overclocking the GPU. I also live in Southern California, so it can get fairly warm in the summers and the machine may be on crunching numbers for days at a time continuously.

So now my question is if you guys can recommend to me the remaining components I'm missing. The Noctua NH-U12P looked interesting to me, but the reason why I didn't put it on the "leaning towards" list, is because I'm not sure it'd fit in the case you guys might recommend to me. I don't know how difficult it will be to get silence, good airflow, and component temperature all in one.

Also a note about the motherboard, afaict it unfortunately only has 1 PWM port for the CPU. So perhaps I need fans that always run at full power but have low noise or a case with a fan controller.

Thanks in advance for all and any help. Please let me know if there is anything I can clarify as well.

[N7SC]

Hi, and welcome to SPCR.

It looks like the loudest, or potentially loudest, component you will have is the video card. The fan in the video card can get pretty loud when the card heats up, such as during game play. You might want to see if there is a passively cooled version of the graphics card you like, then it will be silent.

If you click on the links, at left (of the SPCR home page), for the SPCR Articles, you will find reviews, which focus on noise level, for some CPU coolers.

For cases, I like Lian-Li. Some say that it is difficult to silence an aluminum case, but if you are diligent and determined it can be done. And it is much easier than most people think. I don't recommend any of the Lian-Li models that SPCR has reviewed. The effort needed varies from model to model, but is worth it to me for the very high quality build, and, in some cases (pun not intended), the dramatic and clean aesthetics. Antec is also a top quality case manufacturer, and they pioneered quiet cases. Some of the Antec cases are also pretty darn nice to look at too.

My Gigabyte motherboard also has only one PWM connector. Because I wanted total fan control for all my fans, and for the water pump in my water cooled system, I did not use the motherboard controller. I have found the Aquacomputer Aquaero LT to be a VERY useful tool in wringing the last bit of quiet from my system. It costs about $75, and can control several fans, including PWM and non-PWM types, pumps, relays for switching other things, and leds. It comes with four temperature sensors, can support up to eight, including in-line water temp. sensors for water cooling systems, flow rate meters, and level meters for water level. Granted, it goes all out for water cooling systems, but it can be very useful for air cooling too.

Be sure to check back here and get some opinions from other members too. Some have much more experience in building quiet computers than I do. Also check out the SPCR Certified Silent PCs (link at left of the SPCR home page), near top of screen). Even if you don't want to buy a Puget Computers system, you can learn a lot from reading about them.

Good luck with your build, and have fun researching everything. It looks like you are on the right track already.

[boost]

Take a look at the recommended lists for the missing parts.
What kind of case, tower, desktop?
Desktop (htpc) cases limit CPU cooler height, wider towers don't. Most coolers come with PWM fans, and their speed can be managed through the mainboard when connected to the PWM fan header. And you can always buy a replacement PWM fan, if the cooler's fan isn't to your liking.
The SS-560KM is X-sereis and the best and quietest PSUs.
With a good CPU cooler and non-noisy hard drives, the graphic card cooler will be the loudest component. Do you want to replace the stock cooler or do you want the card that's best with the stock cooler. An easier mod is to buy a card with a decent heatsink and replace only the fan(s). The price of the Radeon 7770 has just gone down and the card uses less power than the 6850 at about the same speed, which makes it easier to cool.

[AFCommando]

Hi, and welcome to SPCR.

It looks like the loudest, or potentially loudest, component you will have is the video card. The fan in the video card can get pretty loud when the card heats up, such as during game play. You might want to see if there is a passively cooled version of the graphics card you like, then it will be silent.

If you click on the links, at left (of the SPCR home page), for the SPCR Articles, you will find reviews, which focus on noise level, for some CPU coolers.

For cases, I like Lian-Li. Some say that it is difficult to silence an aluminum case, but if you are diligent and determined it can be done. And it is much easier than most people think. I don't recommend any of the Lian-Li models that SPCR has reviewed. The effort needed varies from model to model, but is worth it to me for the very high quality build, and, in some cases (pun not intended), the dramatic and clean aesthetics. Antec is also a top quality case manufacturer, and they pioneered quiet cases. Some of the Antec cases are also pretty darn nice to look at too.

My Gigabyte motherboard also has only one PWM connector. Because I wanted total fan control for all my fans, and for the water pump in my water cooled system, I did not use the motherboard controller. I have found the Aquacomputer Aquaero LT to be a VERY useful tool in wringing the last bit of quiet from my system. It costs about $75, and can control several fans, including PWM and non-PWM types, pumps, relays for switching other things, and leds. It comes with four temperature sensors, can support up to eight, including in-line water temp. sensors for water cooling systems, flow rate meters, and level meters for water level. Granted, it goes all out for water cooling systems, but it can be very useful for air cooling too.

Be sure to check back here and get some opinions from other members too. Some have much more experience in building quiet computers than I do. Also check out the SPCR Certified Silent PCs (link at left of the SPCR home page), near top of screen). Even if you don't want to buy a Puget Computers system, you can learn a lot from reading about them.

Good luck with your build, and have fun researching everything. It looks like you are on the right track already.

Thanks for the welcome. I was looking at silent cases that had been reviewed by SPCR, so originally I was leaning towards Fractal Design R3 or Antec P183 V3. But now that you mention Lian-Li, I'll take a look at some of their newer offerings and to see if there's anything that piques my interest.

I was going over some motherboards and am currently thinking of returning the GA-Z68X-UD3H and picking up either the GA-Z77-D3H or GA-Z77X-D3H (probably the former because it is cheaper) as both of these support UEFI and have 4 PWM ports (1 CPU, 3 System). I figured spending $10 or $40 more is worth being able to monitor and control my fans from within the BIOS/OS and not having to deal with an add-on card.

I agree that currently the video card is the loudest component. I am debating on whether to try to buy a card with good stock cooling that is quiet or just going for the cheapest and changing out the cooling. It is a hard decision because I've never done this changing the cooling on a video card before and I so I do not know the difficulty of it or how it may affect my warranty.

I will definitely keep posting as I slowly make my decisions to get further feedback. Not sure if I should just edit my original post or not as I decide on new components though. The board doesn't seem to support HTML nor can I find a BBCode for strike-through text.

[AFCommando]

Take a look at the recommended lists for the missing parts.
What kind of case, tower, desktop?
Desktop (htpc) cases limit CPU cooler height, wider towers don't. Most coolers come with PWM fans, and their speed can be managed through the mainboard when connected to the PWM fan header. And you can always buy a replacement PWM fan, if the cooler's fan isn't to your liking.
The SS-560KM is X-sereis and the best and quietest PSUs.
With a good CPU cooler and non-noisy hard drives, the graphic card cooler will be the loudest component. Do you want to replace the stock cooler or do you want the card that's best with the stock cooler. An easier mod is to buy a card with a decent heatsink and replace only the fan(s). The price of the Radeon 7770 has just gone down and the card uses less power than the 6850 at about the same speed, which makes it easier to cool.

Thanks for the link. I am planning to get a tower case, something like Fractal Design R3 or Antec P183 V3. I have experience building computers, but none with replace video card coolers, so I am a bit intimidated. Are there any particular brands/cards that are already quiet for a reasonable price? I saw that PowerColor has one that is completely fanless, but it runs for $200. I can get other cards that use the same chip for at $50 cheaper, if not more.

I was having a look at the Boring but silent build for some hints on how to build my own silent system. The Shaman has good cooling performance for little noise, but is a bit beyond what I'm willing to spend on an aftermarket cooling solution. I was wondering, if I chose to use an aftermarket solution, to use an Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Plus with a 120mm fan blowing across it. What I mean by blowing across it is that the fan would be positioned at the back of the video card blowing air towards the back of the case. I'm not even sure if enough hot air would get moved in this way out of the case, so it might be moot.

Well I will continue researching and updating this thread as I make more decisions. If you have any suggestions for video cards with either good stock cooling or easily modifiable without voiding the warranty, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Specs as of right now:
CPU: Intel i7 2600K
Mobo: Gigabyte Z77-D3H or Z77X-D3H
Ram: Samsung Low Voltage 30nm 2x4GB
Video: Radeon HD 6850, 6870, or 7770 (maybe Sapphire? or get XFX and replace stock cooler)
HD: Crucial M4 64GB
Case: Fractal Design R3, Antec P183 V3, or other tower case
PSU: Seasonic SS-560KM
CPU Cooler: Thermalright HR-02 or Noctua U12P-SE2
VGA Cooler: ??
Case Fans: ??

[boost]

What I mean by blowing across it is that the fan would be positioned at the back of the video card blowing air towards the back of the case. I'm not even sure if enough hot air would get moved in this way out of the case, so it might be moot.

There's a new version of the S1 cooler and a 120mm fan (sold separately) that can be attached so it ends up looking similar to the Shaman in the picture.

Case: Fractal Design R3, Antec P183 V3, or other tower case

Case fans on both towers are good. If you want quieter ones, Scythe S-Flex have a great price/performance ratio, BeQuiet silentwings have built in decoupling but they aren't widely available(?) .

[AFCommando]

There's a new version of the S1 cooler and a 120mm fan (sold separately) that can be attached so it ends up looking similar to the Shaman in the picture.

Yeah I saw that on their website. I will seriously consider it if I decide to mod the video card, still leaning against it though.

Case fans on both towers are good. If you want quieter ones, Scythe S-Flex have a great price/performance ratio, BeQuiet silentwings have built in decoupling but they aren't widely available(?) .

Hrm.. I checked both Newegg and Amazon, I wasn't able to find BeQuiet Silentwings available. How does Scythe S-Flex compare to Scythe SY1225SL12LM-P and GELID FN-PX12-15? Are the acoustic characteristics of the S-Flex better? Actually from Scythe's website it seems like the S-Flex is discontinued and they don't seem to be PWM controllable.

For cases, I like Lian-Li. Some say that it is difficult to silence an aluminum case, but if you are diligent and determined it can be done.

Found a nice Lian-Li case, the PC-B10. But its price is beyond my current budget. Will be checking out the R3 at the local store this weekend to see how I like it in person. It is more in my budget than the P183 V3.