SPCR

Hi guys. I hope someone can look over this system for me, and give advice on alternate components if it makes sence.

These are the components recomended by the local pc builder, when asked to make a silent gamer pc with a 3570k cpu

i5 3570k 6MB LGA1155
Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 ATX board
MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GB
Coller Master Silencio 550 ATX cabinet
Cooler Master GX Lite 700w (120mm) psu
WD Caviar Green WD20EARX SATA-600 2TB

SSD for system, and it has ram ofcourse xD

I would probably have gone for a smaller single fan g-card (for less heat), but he explained this one runs colder and makes less noise.

Unless you plan on overclocking your system a CPU like the i5 3450 would do just as well. Also, you should look into aftermarket CPU coolers as the stock cooler isn't silent.

If you can wait a few months you could use a GTX 660 which would perform much better than a 560 while producing less heat and likely less noise as well.

There are better silent cases out there at the price point of the one you listed. I would rather use an Antec Solo II or Fractal Design Define R3.

I would recommend the Seasonic X-560 power supply for your needs. I haven't heard anything about the CM PSU mentioned and it isn't marketed as being quiet or silent. The aforementioned Seasonic tested very well by SPCR and many members here (myself included) have great experiences with it.

Gretter wrote:These are the components recomended by the local pc builder, when asked to make a silent gamer pc with a 3570k cpu

Hi and welcome to SPCR.

The questions always asked for gaming builds:
- What games do you want to play?
- What is your monitor resolution?
- Do you want to play with all the effects maxed out or do you want to make trade offs for fps/cost/noise/etc?

Agree with everything Falkon says. The Silencio only supports CPU coolers with a max height of 154 mm which leaves out many mainstrem aftermarket CPU coolers. So Fractal Design R3 or Antec Solo is the way to go. Or perhaps the Fractal Design Mini (practically the R3, but m-ATX, fans can run quieter).

And I've heard a lot of goods things about the cooler on MSI Twin Frozr cooler here at SPCR. Try searching around for members with first hand experiences with that cooler.

kuzzia wrote:The Silencio only supports CPU coolers with a max height of 154 mm which leaves out many mainstrem aftermarket CPU coolers.

The Gelid Tranquillo CPU cooler is 153mm high so it would just about fit in a Cooler Master Silencio 550.

You could always use a non-tower CPU cooler. My Noctua NH-C12P SE14 is only 114mm tall with the fan installed. The added benefit of some spillover airflow over the motherboard is nice, too.
My i5 2500 idles in the low 30s and runs around 55 C during Prime95. That is with the 140mm fan at ~750rpm.

Thx for youre excelent feed backs.

I've changed cabinet, cpu and psu, according to advice and will use onboard g-chips until the 660 comes out.

I'll give more detail when it arrives, if I remember.

Z68 is not bad, but it's not the latest. Why not Z77?

Falkon wrote: My Noctua NH-C12P SE14 is only 114mm tall with the fan installed.

Agreed, but don't forget a top down needs an extra 25mm of breathing space (one fan width). So it's effective height is 139mm.

ces wrote:

Falkon wrote: My Noctua NH-C12P SE14 is only 114mm tall with the fan installed.

Agreed, but don't forget a top down needs an extra 25mm of breathing space (one fan width). So it's effective height is 139mm.

The height I stated is the height with the fan. It's listed as 90mm tall without a fan.
http://noctua.at/main.php?show=productv ... g=en&set=1

This post is pretty much what I was looking for, so I am replying to this thread instead of starting a new one. I built a couple of configurations before myself, but never with noise considerations. Also I am "a bit" out of date with hardware, and I did not parse this forums as I should have yet, so I apologize if this is well known...

I am looking for a decent gaming machine (no need for max res, FPS etc, but with decent gaming exp). Noise is a huge factor.

Couple of qustions that tie-in to topic:

- Antec Solo II appears to be preffered case in this thread, (+ I don't like Fractal Design Define R3) - what are the good silent CPU coolers you would recommend with this case? Which fans to use with this case?

- I still need to sum all up, but what would be recommended GPU if if 560 is not in play? 560 is 260 USD on newegg and I am not sure if that is in my budget. Any step lower (fanless card or card with aftermarket coolers?). Or is it 560 with stock coolers worth additional investment?

- Vicotnik, which Z77 board did you have in mind when "replacing" the Z68 one listed here?

Dzipi wrote:I still need to sum all up, but what would be recommended GPU if if 560 is not in play? 560 is 260 USD on newegg and I am not sure if that is in my budget. Any step lower (fanless card or card with aftermarket coolers?). Or is it 560 with stock coolers worth additional investment?

The GTX 560 (not Ti version that you mentioned) retails for a little under 200 USD, and be had for as low as $150 with sales and rebates: http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=61347

I've heard good things about the Asus DirectCu coolers, and they seem to review well here on SPCR. From what I've read the performance of the 560 is closer to the 560 Ti than the 550 Ti.

Dzipi wrote: - Antec Solo II appears to be preffered case in this thread, (+ I don't like Fractal Design Define R3) - what are the good silent CPU coolers you would recommend with this case? Which fans to use with this case?

- Vicotnik, which Z77 board did you have in mind when "replacing" the Z68 one listed here?

For a silent CPU cooler I would recommend the Scythe Mugen 3. Relatively cheap, and the Mugen 2 showed great thermal performance and the stock fan was great! The fan on the Mugen 3 seems to be the same. With good pwm control it can run as low as 300 rpm! The stock fan of the Antec Solo II is great as it is, but you have the option to add two 120 mm front fans. If you choose to do so, I'd recommend a Scythe SlipStream 500 rpm (500 rpm is virtually silent). SlipStreams are usually cheap, and they have are well-regarded here at SPCR. Also consider a SlipStream 800 rpm, which could be controlled by the motherboard. The reason I'm not recommending a Nexus Real Silent 120 mm fan is that this fan has a starting voltage that is a bit too high. SlipStreams, however, are known to have really low starting voltages, allowing you to run them at very low speeds.

I would couple it with an ASUS P8Z77-V. It has FanXpert 2 which is a great program for fan controlling, and it can control 3 chassis fans and 1 CPU fan.

Falkon wrote:

Dzipi wrote:I still need to sum all up, but what would be recommended GPU if if 560 is not in play? 560 is 260 USD on newegg and I am not sure if that is in my budget. Any step lower (fanless card or card with aftermarket coolers?). Or is it 560 with stock coolers worth additional investment?

The GTX 560 (not Ti version that you mentioned) retails for a little under 200 USD, and be had for as low as $150 with sales and rebates: http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=61347

I've heard good things about the Asus DirectCu coolers, and they seem to review well here on SPCR. From what I've read the performance of the 560 is closer to the 560 Ti than the 550 Ti.

Thanks for the info!

After giving it a though I will set a limit for video card at under or around $200. I am still confused regarding what video card in this range to get/what is the best "silent" solution. Does the 560 perform in a same way as 560Ti noise wise (stock fans)? Is it "better" to get another card and put aftermarket fans?). I was even considering Saphire 7750 Ultimate and eventually upgrade sooner, but bad reviews on newegg scare me a bit.

I am pretty much set on other components thanks to feedback and info I got here, but this one is still bothering me...

Thanks!

Dzipi wrote: I am still confused regarding what video card in this range to get/what is the best "silent" solution. Does the 560 perform in a same way as 560Ti noise wise (stock fans)? Is it "better" to get another card and put aftermarket fans?). I was even considering Saphire 7750 Ultimate and eventually upgrade sooner, but bad reviews on newegg scare me a bit.

I think it's more a question of one cooler versus another rather than one GPU versus another. The 560 Ti has a higher power draw and inherently will require a more substantial cooler to cool it quietly and effectively. If you can find a GTX 560 for less than the previous Asus I linked and wanted to add an aftermarket cooler from a place like Arctic Cooling or Thermalright that should work well, but will cost more.

I did find another 560 with a non-reference cooler which several users reported as being very quiet:
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=61236

I usually don't read into customer reviews too deeply as it seems that with all electronics people are much more prone to report negative experiences than positive ones. Of course if there is a significant number of poor reviews that has to be considered.