First-time home built quiet PC

[irongall]

Hi,

Can you please have a look at the build below and tell if I am making a big mistake somewhere? I'm mainly concerned about some incompatibility issues that I might be overlooking. I'm building a (primarily gaming) PC for the first time. However, my main concern is to build a quiet PC.

Other considerations: I do not plan to do any overclocking and I try to keep the complete build close to $1,500.

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS5 LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard
(Mainly to go with my 2 GPU cards)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500
(Mainly because of the price and the stock cooler being both cool and quiet)

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2
(Overkill. Looking for recommendations for a quiet 850W PSU)

Case: Nexus Clodius Quiet High Ventilation PC Case
(I really like this case but there are only a few reviews available. It is not very wide but I won’t need a huge CPU cooler. It’s quiet and I can adjust the fan speed manually)

Memory: OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066

Hard drive: Seagate ST3640323AS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

Video Card (2): GIGABYTE GV-R485MC-1GH Radeon HD 4850 1GB
(Heatsinks on 1GB cards... Got good reviews though. Planning to get two in CrossFire)

Monitor: Acer X193W+BD Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 2000:1 (ACM) 1680x1050
(Or would you recommend a 22” monitor?)

Thanks for taking a look!

 

[dirtmountain]

A good place to look for reviews for a quiet set up is www.silentpcreview.com
I would go with a 22" monitor (it's what i use now and it seems to get smaller over time) You might look at some aftermarket cooling solutions for your graphic cards that will improve cooling and reduce noise. Here's a good review of the 4850 and photos and benchmarks on improved cooling.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/8299-sapphire-radeon-hd4850-512mb-graphics-card-review.html
Here's a good place to look at quiet coolers. www.frostytech.com The site seems to be down right now, but it gives great reviews on both coolest and quietest coolers. hint: quietest are usually Scythe brand coolers.

 

[x_2fast4u_x]

Looks good, a 19" monitor is fine, less cost and more games support those resolutions then a 1680x1050, the 22" at the the moment are like black sheep of monitors plus with lower resolutions you can play games like crysis with max settings + 4xAA and still get ok frames. that psu looks good most noise is going to come from the video cards, HDD, DvD-rom, cpu fans are normally quiet. use something like two 120/140mm fans one in front one in back that will give plenty of air flow without compromising on sound.

 

[grieve]

My list build (in my Sig) I built quite as well... You really need to consider the heat that dual 4850's will produce. Quite might not be an option and you’ll find yourself adding case fans.

 

[antiacid]

zalman 850watt is very silent because of the two heat pipes in it. Give it a try

 

[icyicy]

Keep in mind that a 4850 with aftermarket cooler will most likely not leave enough room for a second one in crossfire, depends on the PCIe slot placement on the motherboard. But I wouldn't take the risk.

You might want to look into the NXZT (NZXT?) cases that are supposedly silent, called HUSH and Whisper, not sure which one is best and if they have good airflow (for a Crossfire system nonetheless).

There is absolutely no reason to buy a 19" monitor now. All games these days support 1680x1050, 1920x1200 and most can be played on 2560x1600 even, and 22" prices have dropped so much that you pretty much have to get one. But, if you really want a 19" monitor instead, then just drop the motherboard and GPU and go with P45 (P5Q Pro) and a single HD4870 512mb, that will come off cheaper, cooler, and give you the same performance as even a single HD4850 will run any game on highest except Crysis at that resolution. And an HD4870 will even do Crysis and future games without a problem.

 

[irongall]

Thank you all for the feedback!

These GPUs actually should not need an aftermarket cooler. These cards boast about Multi-Core Cooling...! Heat sinks without a fan. Some reviews find them true to their word: cool and fast. (Not to mention, dead silent!)

Too good to be true?