New Silent Build for Guild Wars 2 and other mild Gaming

[Mitch Mizerie]

I have been building high end Mid Towers for years but I am ready to reduce my form factor and looking for a silent solution.
Please give any feedback you might have on this build, compatibility or any stability issues with parts.


Case: Fractal Design Define Mini Black Micro ATX Silent PC Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352011

Mobo: ASUS P8Z77-M PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131833

CPU: Intel Core i5-3550 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116505

CPU Cooler: ZALMAN CNPS9500A-LED 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445

PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series HX650 (CMPSU-650HX) 650W Modular
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012

SSD: Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 128GB SATA III
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148448
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Other Parts:
WD 500GB 7200RPM HDD SATA II
Asus 24x OEM SATA Optical
Maybe an additional silent fan so that I have 2 up front and 1 in the back.
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Already Own:
GPU: MSI R6870 Hawk Radeon HD 6870 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127560

Monitor, Keyboard/Mouse, Speakers
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The only compatibility issue that I am somewhat aware of is the ATI card on an Intel chipset. I have been using it in my Core 2 Duo/Asus rig for about 3 months with no problems though.

This will be my first venture into the SSD realm so I am particularly interested in what anyone has to say about that portion of the build. I am going for complete silence from 1 meter away if I can achieve it.
I plan to do work in Adobe CS6 suite and will upgrade RAM if the need arises. I also plan to play Guild Wars 2 quite a bit.

 

[boulbox]

i would suggest try not going with mirco anything as it tends to get hot

so far i would suggest trying for a case around 50-90$ how ever much you want to spend and replace the fans with after market ones which will be around $10-$20 extra per fan(you really should be replacing all of them for good measure) next would be getting the low powered cables to make the fans spin at a lower rpm for maximum quietness (with a good case the low rpm won't be changing the temps as much) another part is to change the stock cpu fan for a aftermarket one by looking at your current build i'm guessing you don't want to spend much so at least go for a coolermaster hyper 212+.

im sorry for writing in a big paragraph just didn't want to spend a lot of time spacing this out.

right now when i look at your budget i was suggest getting what you need now and if it gets to loud, buy some after market fans i suggest noctua fans they are amazing but never fits into any of my builds color scheme

also suggest going with a i5 3450 only difference is the clock speed(won't really know any difference between 3450 speed and 3550) and it uses a lower model of intel graphics(which you wouldn't need since you got a graphics card)

CPU/PSU:i5 3450 and HX650 - $304.98
Mobo/SSD:MSI Z77A-G45 and m4 128GB - $264.98
Ram:mushkin black line 8GB @ 1600 - $44.99
Case:COOLER MASTER HAF 922 - $79.99
(can choose antec 900 as it looks a lot cooler just chose this to fit a better budget)
right now Western digital is having a great sale at amazon this one is also a lot faster than the one you posted up
Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache - $119.95

Edit: kind of like the Ram you chose as it fits in color scheme a lot more but i don't think those $60 ram are not worth it compared to mushkin or the g.skill reds. the CPU cooler that you chose is really old compared to hyper 212 evo and the evo will give a much better performance.

 

[Mitch Mizerie]

Thank you for the suggestions.

I will probably go with the i5 3450 & HX650 combo
I was also able to find a combo deal on my selected Mobo/SSD...even more savings.
The switch on the HDD certainly makes sense as well.

However,
I am stuck on my mATX form factor and that case. I am looking for something very simple and clean. The foam insulation in the Define Case should be a great sound barrier and the fans that this series of case come with have been getting great reviews.
I have worked with HAF cases before and they are certainly fun looking but I have moved past the all the molded plastic, jagged lines and crevices that are pain in the butt to keep dust out of.

Finally I totally agree with you on the CPU cooler, the hyper 212 is much better and I will switch to that.
I have a budget of $1000 and these changes are getting me right around that figure.

Thank you for all the help.