First time build $1000-1200 budget silent gaming pc

[tblizz]

Hey all, this is my first build and I want a silent and cold gaming pc.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 1 to 2 Weeks

BUDGET RANGE: $1000-1200

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming and School work.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: I need everything

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com but I'm open minded

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.S.

PARTS PREFERENCES: Reliable

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: I haven't decided on a monitor yet but I want the resolution to be 1920X1080.


ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I want the computer to be as quiet as possible. And does anyone know if anyone sells PC clones of the wired aluminum mac keyboard with the low profiled keys?

Thanks


So this is the build i came up with:

Antec CP-850 850W Continuous Power CPX SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC "compatible
Model #:CP-850
$139.99 -$35.00 Instant $104.99


Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
Model #:GFC-00599

$99.99 $99.99


Antec P183 Black Aluminum / Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Model #183
$179.99 -$25.00 Instant $154.99

ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

Model #:M4A89GTD PRO/USB3

$149.99 $149.99




XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Model #:HD-587X-ZNFC
$399.99 -$10.00 Instant $389.99


AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX
Model #:HDZ955FBGMBOX
$159.99 $159.99





G.SKILL Trident+ Turbulence 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBTDS
Model #:F3-12800CL7D-4GBTDS
$129.99 $129.99


Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Model #:WD1001FALS
$89.99 $89.99


SAMSUNG 24x DVD Burner - Bulk SATA Model SH-S243N/BEBS LightScribe Support - OEM
Model #:SH-S243N/BEBS
$24.99
Subtotal: $1,304.

 

[Mr Pizza]

its good but the ram is overkill, get this, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231278

HDD, caviar black is kinda slow now, get this,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

PSU,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012&Tpk=hx650

 

[Mr Pizza]

why did i chose that? because HDD don't benefit from sata III, only SSD gets faster from it.

The PSU is overkill and its huge, gonna take up a lot of room and corsair is a better brand.

Ram its way overkill, and if you don't overclock you don't even need heat spreaders

 

[tblizz]

Thanks for the advice, I chose the antec psi because I read it provides better airflow with the p183. Is it not worth it?

 

[Mr Pizza]

eh, the corsair is clean, small, and has a 7 year warranty, go with it and go with that HDD, and with that ram.

 

[tblizz]

Alright sounds good. Should I get a third party CPU cooler? And could you please tell me what cables I'm going to need?

 

[Mr Pizza]

All of your cables will come with the PSU and the Motherboard, no need to worry about that yes you should get an After Market CPU cooler only if you are overclocking, here are some good ones,

Noctua NH-D14
Cooler master V6
Cooler master V6GT
Cooler master V8
Cooler master V10 (overpriced but good)
Megahealms (just add fans)
Dark Knight

 

[Mr Pizza]

I would really go for the NH-D14 though (for heavy OC)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018&Tpk=NH-D14

but your case might not fit it (Checking now)

 

[Mr Pizza]

Ok yes the NH-D14 fits in your case

 

[tblizz]

Is it necessary to spend that much on a CPU cooler?

 

[geofelt]

You might want to read some articles on quiet components at www.silentpcreview.com

They test the quietest cases, psu's , and other components.
The Antec P183 ranks quite high as I recall.
You want an oem cooler with a large slow turning fan if you want quiet. The stock fans are small, and spin up to high rpm's making lots of noise under load.
You should be able to get one for <$50.

Do not consider the psu as part of the cooling system. If properly sized, the fan will not ramp up and will remain quiet while delivering the requisite power.

If you are a student, do you qualify for academic pricing on windows-7?

 

[tblizz]

I don't think they offer discounts on the full version, just the upgrade. Should I also replace the case fans as well?

 

[Mr Pizza]

Yes, if you are really picky about it, and the antec p183 has 2 spots to put fans in the front, you should get some to put there and it will increase air circulation in the case regardless.

 

[geofelt]

I don't think they offer discounts on the full version, just the upgrade. Should I also replace the case fans as well?

You can get windows-7 professional for about $30 if you qualify for academic pricing.
http://www.microsoft.com/student/en/us/software/windows.aspx

Upgrade is considered as retail if you ever need microsoft support, or want to transfer the license to another motherboard. You can use upgrade to do a clean install if you need to.

The Antec tri-cool fans are decent. They have a 3 position speeed switch. On low, they are very quiet. Try them first; you will probably not notice any improvement by switching them out.

There is a difference between silent and quiet .
silent is not realistic for a gaming PC. Graphics cards run hot, and any sort of a strong card will require a fan to cool it.
Even if you used a passive cooler, you will need some sort of case fan to give some sort of airflow to your case.

A more realistic goal is to have a PC that is very quiet while at idle, or doing light work.
Ramping up the noise while gaming is OK because the game sounds will drown out the fan noise. Particularly if you use a headset.

 

[snoshy]

corsair psu's are definitely very quiet. def go for that one.

the noctua d14 might be overkill for your 955 unless you're planning a huge oc, then its very good for the cooling per noise. even just cooling, its already the best.

if its too much for you, go for a smaller noctua. i would say noctuas are worth the money for silence and cooling because they include their high quality fans which would normally cost you 15~20 a piece.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608014
some budget scythe coolers perform also very well (scythe mugen) and can use the motherboard controller to slow the rpm down for increased silence.

couple suggestions on SILENT pc. at one point or another, you will HAVE TO sacrifice cooling capabilities. so with that understood, the p183 has good airflow due to the number of fans you are able to install.

antec includes its tricool fans, you can read the specs and compare with otehr top quality fans like scythe s-flex series and noctua fans. The antecs are louder and push more air at high setting, but at low stock setting, they are actually one of the most quiet fans, but of course, push not as much air.
but since you are kind of over your budget limit, i would suggest not buying aftermarket fans, and just set them at medium/low, depending on your noise tolerance and how much cooling you want to sacrifice.

any gpu with a big block of fan liek that is usually pretty loud, only because they actually have a tiny tiny fan taht spins very fast to push air out. dont be fooled by the large plastic thing, the fan is actually very small. so if you want any type of silence from your gpu, it will have to come from aftermarket cooling. expect to spend at least 50 bucks for decent cooling vs noise performance. you might want to downgrade to a 5770 instead (plays 1920*1080 quite well still) and use that extra money for gpu cooling.

some more notes:
for me, the sflex fans rated at 23dba, 1200rpm, are SILENT to me from like 6 inches. i stop them with my thumb, and it sounds the same as if it was running. so just as a baseline measurement. sub 20dba is completely inaudible. but usually anythign over 25dba starts to have an annoying hum. keep that in mind when reading specs for fans, heatsinks, and whatnot.

 

[tblizz]

Thanks for the info, I think i will go with the after market Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler to get the slower fan speeds. And I will also stick with the stock tri-cool fans for now but concerning the three optional 120mm fans: - 1 lower front chamber - 120mm fan (optional)
- 1 upper front chamber - 120mm fan (optional)
- 1 middle chamber - 120mm fan (optional)
Should I put fans in all three positions or will that lead to too many fans undermining my need for silence?

 

[tblizz]

Any monitor recommendations?

 

[snoshy]

good choice for cooler. for the tri cool fans, just remember to set them on low or else they will have a low annoying whiny hum.

i would say only put fans for the upper and lower front chambers, and stick with low noise fans for minimal noise. if somehow you find that even with all thoes fans you STILL dont have enough airflow, THEN only add the other middle fan.

monitor i recommend this one for price and performance. good reviews for low price. it displays 1920*1080 beautifully, used it for almost 3 months now, cost me less than 200 but looks amazing. plays 1080p very nicely.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052&cm_re=vh242-_-24-236-052-_-Product

 

[tblizz]

I was going to buy the Noctua NF-S12B FLX 120mm, 3 Speed Setting, Beveled Blade Tips Design, SSO Bearing Fan . So i might just get one since they're so darn expensive. The ASUS was given some bad reviews from owners who had it for over year. Should I be concerned?

 

[snoshy]

excellent fans, but yah, very pricey.
ive never used one, but try these. they have had good reviews and have good specs, but im not sure about hte quality. but they are very low noise, PWM, and decent CFM for the noise level.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426015

also these are very good quality, they use double ball bearing and they feel smooth when you spin them manually by hand. great quality and quiet as well.
try the D or the E. E is silent for me, push good air, but i guess if you listen very closely with silent ambient noises you CAN hear them. sitting on my chair with the case on the ground and with the case door closed, i cant tell if my pc is on or not. but if you're really concerned, get a few of the D's for greater combined airflow while silent. they are only 8.7 dba's and if you get 3 fans its 15 bucks each (free shiping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=600035590&IsNodeId=1&Description=scythe%20s%20flex&name=120mm

for the monitor, there are way more positive reviews. but again, people will always be unlucky and get a bad batch. its a risk you take with every product. so far the monitors been great for me. if you check otehr professional reviews (from cnet etc) they also have great reviews. i would say get it just because its a great buy for the price. if you're very concerned about reliability, op for a more expensive monitor from dell

 

[tblizz]

Awesome I'll check out those fans and read up on the monitor a bit more. I should be ready to buy this build in a few days. Is there anything else I need? Is there also any benefit to a SSD? I can increase my budget by a few hundred if necessary.

 

[snoshy]

depending on what you use your computer for.

gaming, ssd's provide faster map load times, startup times.
for creative development stuff liek video editing, rendering, photoshop etc. faster writing to the disk means faster rendering times and filter applications
for everything else, its just overall faster response time. boot times especially. but overall more snappiness.

if that soudns good to you for an extra 100 200 bucks, then by all means go for an ssd. also depends on your budget and what size you want your ssd to be. id say if you plan to keep lots of games and apps installed, get a big ssd, maybe 120gb, 100 gb or 90gb, but that will run you way over 200 bucks.

for ~165 you can get a 60gb ssd, (well the best ones anyways, cheaper ones are not as fast, and i assume taht if you want to get an ssd, you'd want the fastest) but you cant store too many games at once with that.

but hey if you're interested, give me a shout and ill suggest one. tell me approximate size of the ssd too

 

[tblizz]

I would just want to use it as a boot drive. How much speed improvement would I see if I used an SSD to access the disk drive?

 

[snoshy]

well if its ONLY for booting, i would say its not really worth it getting an ssd just for that. because how often do you restart your comp or shutdown (i just use S3 standby). ssd will maybe save you 3-5 seconds off your boot, depending on how many things you are running at boot time. but i dunno if those 3-5 seconds every time you start will be worth the hundreds of dollars you will be spending.

especially if you're ONLY using it to boot.