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Help on my new rig.

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August 17, 2014 5:26:30 PM

Hi. I'm building a new rig. And I decided to go bare necessities, nothing more than I need, no useless features that I won't use at all. So, this is my Build:

CPU - i5-4690K
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-Z97N-Gaming 5
Ram - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1600Mhz, CL9)
GPU - R9 - 290X. (Can you recommend me the most quiet one?)
SSD - Samsung EVO 500GB
HDD- 2.5 1TB
HDD - WD Green 3TB x2
Case - Cooler Master Silencio 352
Blu Ray Reader.

Now, my Question is:

Which Power supply to get? It must be semi-modular, most quiet as possible and the ideal Wattage output and fully haswell compatible. No over wattage that I won't use. Also, as most efficient as possible as well. Price is not an issue.

And what fans to get? I want black fans, the most quiet as possible. I will want to use 4.
And a good quiet CPU cooler, that is 155mm so it can fit the case. (Or a solid quiet performing 120MM AIO) And it's ok if I must replace the Fan. Just recommend one as quiet as possible.

Any help would be very appreciated. As the PSU and fans it's where I always get to struggle.

Thank you from now.

More about : rig

August 17, 2014 5:39:58 PM

Points:

1) Graphics:
I strongly recommend waiting for the GTX880 coming soonish.

2) Fans:
Your case comes with two fans already. You don't need more than two (one as front-intake, the second as top-rear exhaust).

3) CPU cooler:
Recommend the Noctua NH-U14S.

*If you want the best Quiet to Cooling ratio this is the best cooler you can get. I bought the Noctua NH-U12S and have overclocked an i5-4670K so I know how great these coolers are.

4) DDR3 memory:
No issues, just verifying you mean TWO sticks not one as you should have 2x4GB not 1x8GB to be in Dual Channel mode.

5) 500GB SSD:
Do you require an SSD this capacity? Maybe consider a 250GB version instead? FYI, very few games benefit from an SSD beyond loading times. I tested this on dozens of games and aside from a few like SKYRIM that have frequent load times (map points, dungeons) it's not a big deal.

Thus I have my main STEAM folder for games on my HDD, and a SECONDARY STEAM FOLDER on an SSD only for those games that benefit. You can actually MOVE games as needed (i.e. only benefit AND you are currently playing). Just backup, delete local content, then restore but chose the 2nd folder on the SSD...

6) PSU:
A quality 650W would be about right. You can use PCPARTPICKER to filter down the list by Wattage, Semi-Modular, then by price and user feedback..
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August 17, 2014 5:39:59 PM

You might want to rethink your defintion of bare necessities (3 hard drives), but I degress. Okay on to your build, I would go with this R9 GPU:
ASUS R9280X-DC2T-3GD5 Radeon R9 280X 3GB $329
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I would go with one of these PSUs:

CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI CrossFire 80 PLUS GOLD $129
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
The fan will only spin when the GPU is pushed

EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 220-G2-0750-XR 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

3rd Party Cooler:
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO $34
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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August 17, 2014 5:50:34 PM

Update:
I build systems to be the QUIETEST they can possibly be as I have an illness that is aggravated by noise. Here's some points:

1) CPU FAN:
The Noctua I mentioned can be dead silent in idle and barely audible in full load (unlike a liquid cooler with pump and minimum fan noise to keep liquid circulating)

2) CASE FANS:
You don't need that much case air flow usually. Most fans aren't even ideal. You want something like a PWM 4-pin fan that is VARIABLE at 500RPM to 1800RPM.

A half decent fan is roughly inaudible about 600RPM. The range is also important because a lot of motherboards (and their software) uses a minimum ratio of 40% so won't go lower for the case fans. May be 20% for CPU fans. So at 1800RPM the lowest it can go is about 700RPM.

The perfect case fan would be 400RPM to 1000RPM in variability but I can't find one so get close enough. Note that many motherboards support PWM (4-pin) and Voltage (3-pin) for case fan control but may only support 4-pin PWM fans for the CPU. Hard to know unless you ask.

I paid $6 for case fans from Bitfenix a few years ago and since they're dead silent (with fan control setup) and do the job it's hard to recommend $20+ Noctua fans. Again, front-intake and top-rear-exhaust at no more than 700RPM should be ideal.

3) Graphics Card:
The R9-290X cards are by far going to be the loudest thing in your system. A good GTX880 with a great cooler will be much quieter.

4) Power Supply:
Corsair has an Zero RPM fans, alternatively I bought one of the Be Quiet fans for my dad which is very quiet:
http://www.corsair.com/en-ca/power-supply-units/popular...
or
http://www.bequiet.com/en

While Zero RPM power supplies in theory sound quieter, having the power supply always spin at least a little bit is probably better. The hot air still has to be removed so dissipating into the case it would just add to fan noise elsewhere and may be even noisier overall.
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August 17, 2014 5:54:14 PM

Oh, those 3 Harddrives, the 1TB one is for backup purposes. The 3TB it's for my iTunes Media, music and movies and steam games.

And the GPU, I can still wait for a while. Actually running a R9-270X and it's holding out well. But I just want the best out there, but without the stuff that I don't need. Any better fans? I'm not fond of Noctua colours.. Noiseblocker NB-eLoop 120mm is what I'm thinking about right now, even although they are white. But I can live with that. And the EVGA SuperNova PSU, is the one that I'm going with. A lot of people recommended it.
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August 17, 2014 5:55:34 PM

And fans, I just want to test various fans and have all the slots filled. I know. More dust, probably a bit of noise. But as long as it keeps the air flowing and as silent as possible by doing so. Was thinking about a 120mm AIO, so it won't use a lot of space on the motherboard. It's a ITX after all.
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August 18, 2014 2:41:30 PM

SirDrannik said:
And fans, I just want to test various fans and have all the slots filled. I know. More dust, probably a bit of noise. But as long as it keeps the air flowing and as silent as possible by doing so. Was thinking about a 120mm AIO, so it won't use a lot of space on the motherboard. It's a ITX after all.


Your statement is confusing:
1) You say "more dust, probably a bit of noise" but then you say "... and as silent as possible..".
also,
2) Why did you choose a mini-ITX motherboard and then get a large case? All you've done is reduce your connectivity options to the motherboard.

If you want mini-ITX then why not just get a Bitfenix Prodigy case?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKIsrwS3fX4

3) Noctua:
You say you don't like the color, but then choose a case with no windows anyway? Have I missed something?

Summary:
Anyway, here's something to consider:
a) Bitfenix Prodigy case
b) front intake and top/rear exhaust fan (see my notes on fan cooling/noise)
c) Semi-Modular PSU
d) Noctua NH-U12S cooler for CPU
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August 18, 2014 3:22:34 PM

I don't like boxy cases. And as silent as possible, with those 4 fans. And the color, because eventually I will get a windowed case, so want to keep the fans as simple looking as possible. And the case isn't large. It holds a Micro-Atx maximum and couldn't find any mini-itx tower with foam to reduce the noise. And I decided to go with The EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2. Future proof when I decide to upgrade. And probably, heck, will decide to go for a much better system. Probably a Z97 mini-itx board (I just love mini-itx boards. Exactly what I need, no useless ugly PCI ports. Only what I need. ), and a 4690k and some AIO water cooling kit. And can't get the noctua cooler. Won't fit. Maximum CPU cooler height is 155mm. The noctua seems to be 158.
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August 18, 2014 4:18:36 PM

SirDrannik said:
I don't like boxy cases. And as silent as possible, with those 4 fans. And the color, because eventually I will get a windowed case, so want to keep the fans as simple looking as possible. And the case isn't large. It holds a Micro-Atx maximum and couldn't find any mini-itx tower with foam to reduce the noise. And I decided to go with The EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2. Future proof when I decide to upgrade. And probably, heck, will decide to go for a much better system. Probably a Z97 mini-itx board (I just love mini-itx boards. Exactly what I need, no useless ugly PCI ports. Only what I need. ), and a 4690k and some AIO water cooling kit. And can't get the noctua cooler. Won't fit. Maximum CPU cooler height is 155mm. The noctua seems to be 158.


1) I'd bet any money the Noctua NH-U12S will fit. At worst the very top would lightly touch the FOAM on the side panel. The acoustic foam is probably why they claim it won't fit in addition to erring on the side of case flex etc.

The side panel actually is raised where the CPU cooler would hit in a large square by a few mm's (for the foam) so I would say there's a ZERO chance the NH-U12S won't fit.

2) Again, just stick with two fans (front and rear) and connect them directly to the motherboard, and use the motherboard's fan control software.

I would assume no fan issues as they are apparently 3-pin (voltage) so probably can drop down to basically inaudible levels (i.e. set to 40% max at 40degC, then ramp up).

3) Liquid cooling:
If you really want quiet, then adding a PUMP maybe isn't the best idea. The pump is always going, and the CPU fan would spin faster than for air in idle temperatures since there's no heatsink to dissipate heat, just the fan/radiator method. Liquid coolers are fine if you need to push the limit for cooling but otherwise they'll just be NOISIER than you need.

*I say again, a good air cooler is a better option unless you absolutely need to push your CPU to the limit which I don't recommend. Stick with the "XMP" settings in the BIOS which keeps Intel Power Management intact (thus less heat, thus less noise).

Take all this as you want, but if you really want the quietest system then look at every single part in the system that makes noise. One loud fan defeats the entire purpose of your design.

My dad's computer is inaudible basically. The front fan drops to 300RPM, the power supply fan can't be heard, and the Noctua NH-U12S can't be heard unless my CPU is running near max load (no graphics card). To be clear your graphics card will produce at least 75% of the noise if you have everything optimized according to my recommendations unless the GTX880 has an awesome low-noise in idle design which would be nice.
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August 18, 2014 4:31:38 PM

Well then, I guess I'll ignore the ugly colour and go with the Noctua fans then. And wait for next gen GPU's to see what I can get. I know, I will hear some noise from such powerful components. Just want to keep it as quiet as possible. Thanks. Already ordered the Noctua fans and the Cooler
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