First build in years, advice please?

[doyll]

So the BeQuiet EPS is 450mm. and will need an extension.

All other cables should be fine. Only cable that ends up short with bottom mounted PSU EPS power cable.

 

[doyll]

And if you're serious about the caster base, that would be amazing. I use a wheelchair so it's hard to pick the PC up and move it.

This is what it looks like. Went over to shop and have some baltic birch plywood to build it with and some black paint so it will be reasonable match.

Send me a message with trust and we'll sort it out.

 

[honosuseri]

Thanks for the additional ideas. I'm a bit concerned by this thread about the noise levels on the dual-fan 6850, though:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18411362
Not quite sure what to make of that! Maybe the first guy had a dodgy one, as later in the thread someone says the fans are controllable and it's nice and quiet. Then others are even suggesting ripping the 2 fans off and adding just a single aftermarket fan. Hmm...

I looked at the Coolermaster Silent Pro, but it's noise levels on low draw were higher than the BeQuiet. It's hard to relate that to real world experience though, and I might not notice the difference.

Will look through the other suggestions, thanks. And yes, I rip stuff to hdd so not worried about noise on the DVD, just accuracy, particularly on some old CDs - and was planning to cross-flash it up.

I think you might be a lil paranoid over noise if I'm honest. I use the Zalman Z9 for my HTPC which has four 120mm fans. I use the gelid tranquillo and have a nvidia 460 all powered by the BQ L8 630W PSU. I have had the F1 playing through the tvcard and even right next to the machine it's inaudible over my speakers.

During gaming because I have overclocked the GPU (900mhz max) the fan does have to spin up faster to keep temps in check. Although to be fair it's not that noticable over the speakers. I used MSI afterburner which allowed me to overclock and set my own profile to adjust fan speed

I've used the BeQ and the CM PSUs and I couldn't tell that one was louder than the other by ear. I'm more than happy to recommend either or

The R3 is a nice sleek case and i wouldn't blame you for using one. The outlaw has an inverted setup so the CPU and PSU are at the bottom where temps are coolest. The GPU is at the top and you can add a 120mm fan to blow over it, if you wanted to.

Case is very much down to personal preference. I didn't suggest the Z9 as it has 3 LED fans but that is probably the best bang for buck case. It's not perfect and I have made some minor changes to mine, it does include the P4/8 extension which was helpful. I wasn't keen on it being lit blue but having moved the fans around and setting the fan controller to low the effect is dimmed. In short no matter what you choose you will probably end up tinkering with it slightly

Nice of Doyll to offer to help you make a stand for the case. Raising the case from the ground will help the PSU fan get cool air and is worth doing on any case. OCuk sell a magnetic dust filter, the vents on the Z9 werent great so i cut it out and added the dust filter to cover it

 

[preacher]

I think you might be a lil paranoid over noise if I'm honest.

You could well be right - it's easy to obsess over the details while everything's still in the basket. Just that there were some reports the dual fans on that card always ran at max speed... But I'll check a bit more and then just pick one.

In short no matter what you choose you will probably end up tinkering with it slightly

True enough - though my free time is more precious than it was when I was first building PCs, so I think the R3 wins out due to being pre-silenced. Plus it looks really nice.

Nice of Doyll to offer to help you make a stand for the case. Raising the case from the ground will help the PSU fan get cool air and is worth doing on any case. OCuk sell a magnetic dust filter, the vents on the Z9 werent great so i cut it out and added the dust filter to cover it

Indeed - Doyll I'll send you a PM. It's more than nice and I wasn't sure at first if you were serious, but it seems you are. There's room here for a saying about the kindness of strangers, but one doesn't spring to mind. You get the gist though.

The technology in a lot of these components has come on a long way since I last built a PC, for example I had no idea modular PSU even existed. So I really appreciate all the advice.

 

[doyll]

Not a problem at all. We all stick together so to speak. Custom woodwork is what I did full time and now part time.

I don't think stock case fans are PWM but Alpenfoehn Matterhorn Pure is.... and is also a excellent cooler... and very quiet. Highly recommend it.
http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/alpenfoehn_matterhorn_pure_cpu_cooler_review,1.html

 

[honosuseri]

You could ommit the GPU for now. If you do the build we can help you through, take pics as you go. You will soon hit the 100 post requirement for free P&P and you can look to buy a 2GB GPU such as the 6950, ideally one on offer like this

The IGP will handle video playback and quicksync can use the IGP to boost video encoding without having a dedicated GPU installed. Games are starting to ask for more than 1GB of VRAM so ideally you want to aim for a 2GB card to be "futureproof".

 

[doyll]

Free shipping is 250 posts now

 

[Surveyor]

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[preacher]

Heh, you guys posted as I was writing this so hoping I've edited it correctly, apologies if anything doesn't quite make sense.

One more try at the basket. I'm worried I'm obsessing over details, and will never make a decision but it's not like they're taking orders on a Sunday.

I've been won over by reviews of the Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure. It seems to be louder than the Tranquillo at max, but better at cooling, and hopefully not so much louder I'll notice the difference. Consequently I've gone for the low profile DIMMs honosuseri suggested.

I had kept the single fan version of the 6850 in the build, over concerns the dual fan one wasn't PWM, as there seem to be posts on the forums saying the fans run at 100%. Now swapped that out for the Sapphire, which I can either order now and go a little over budget, or use the on-board for now and buy a GPU later. (Though I really want to try The Secret World, so will probably just buy it now.)

Is that extension cable the right one this time?

Too bad about the shipping, I guess there's no discount for "joined 7 years ago but hardly posted". Not the end of the world though.

Probably keeping my WD6402AAEX for now (320GB platters though ), and will think about getting an SSD next time I get a bigger than usual on-call payment from work. Still not sure how much difference it will make. Like the 256GB capacity on that Plextor one, but the reviews I found weren't great (for whatever they're worth), and the IOPS seemed low. I reckon 128GB should be enough, and we use Samsung at work, and also they seem to get good reviews. Any other SSDs I should consider?

Does this build look fairly balanced? PSU rating still okay? It looks like it should be, but like I said, I'm out of touch with things.

Any point in more RAM than 8GB? I'd say no for business machines, which is my expertise, but not sure about gaming. Easy to add later, of course.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x Sapphire HD 6950 OC "Dual Fan Edition" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Titanium Grey £69.98
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £50.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9B) £44.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £26.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM (Version C - with new Firmware) £19.99
1 x Akasa 8-Pin 30cm PSU Extension Cable (AK-CB8-8EXT) £4.79
Total : £638.20 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 

[honosuseri]

I do recall there being an uproar over that L7 PSU, in that it doesn't put out it's rated wattage. I think it was more like 450W, i would be tempted to swap it for the coolermaster 500W modular PSU which is barely a few pound more.

CM PSU link

The rest of the build is really nice. As you say you can add a SSD later

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel 330 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £109.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH100S3/120G) £109.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £94.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £85.99
Total : £400.97 (includes shipping : FREE).



What we suggest usually depends as to what is on offer at the time to be fair fella

 

[olivier renault]

Drop the CPU cooler. Add it later, and use money for the PSU.

Or use one of these.


OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99

 

[doyll]

Just setting down to eat. Will be back later.

 

[Bezzaboy1234]

Just to clarify on the GPU, I Own the 6850 XFX BE, Sapphire's 6850, The MSI single and Dual fan edition cards,

Straight into ATI catalyst control centre and you can whack the fans down to around 20% which is pretty much silent, Or in MSI Afterburner etc. Would definitely recommend the Dual fan version as the single fan version gets loud at high temps if you really push it in games like GTA 4 trying to max things out.

Not much point in the 6950 as it just adds more cost for something you don't need. As for BeQuiet I have one of their SFX PSU's and its excellent. can't fault it, almost silent

 

[preacher]

I do recall there being an uproar over that L7 PSU, in that it doesn't put out it's rated wattage. I think it was more like 450W, i would be tempted to swap it for the coolermaster 500W modular PSU which is barely a few pound more.

Okay, good to know, thanks. Does the same for the L8 modular? But I think the Cooler Master looks a better option right now.

What we suggest usually depends as to what is on offer at the time to be fair fella

LOL, fair point. I do a lot of IT procurement at work, and as a result can go a bit OTT on finding the price/performance sweet spot. (I work for the NHS, and it's the taxpayer's money we're spending - or saving.) Small differences scale up to a lot of money on big projects, but for personal purchases it's quite not so important.

Drop the CPU cooler. Add it later, and use money for the PSU.

Cheers for the suggestion - though I'd rather go over budget than put something off to buy later. I could be obsessing over noise, but looking at the ratings for the OCZ it seems louder, enough that I'd rather just pay more and get a quieter one, than take the risk I'll regret not spending just a few quid more.

I've looked again at some sites with measured dBa rather than manufacturer's stated spec, and the Cooler Master Silent Pro M looks a winner. Quiet and efficient. I think I was partly seduced by the styling on the BeQuiet one. And the measured dBa, while low, isn't quite as low as their spec sheet.

I get the feeling I've been stuck agonising over what should be a relatively simple decision... but had some crummy PSUs in the past.

Not much point in the 6950 as it just adds more cost for something you don't need.

Thanks for confirming the MSI dual fans are controllable after all. Perhaps the guy saying they weren't had a faulty one? So maybe back to the 6850 dual fan card then.

Head spinning now... too many choices. LOL

 

[doyll]

Okay. Have had a pint so take no responsibility for what I say.

Wife has an Asus HD 6850 single fan and it's not noisy.

I'm using a Gigabyte HD 5770 Silent Cell It is silent.

Here's a HD 6850 silent GPU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-145-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=168

When I build I try to get the best for my requirements. PSU is a major expense. I would rather spend an extra 20 or 30 quid and know it will be quiet... I got a TX650 v2 because Corsair says "An ultra-quiet double ball-bearing fan delivers excellent airflow at an exceptionally low noise level by varying fan speed in response to temperature" and it's a lie. I can hear it 8 feet away. But my case is quiet, and my GPU is silent, and my HSF is quiet.

 

[doyll]

I'll look tomorrow and see if I can find a good reviewer and group of PSUs that are quiet and good quality.

 

[honosuseri]

I can't find the thread on here about the L7 but I definately remember it. I personally went with the L8 630W (i linked the review earlier), in the review they got the PSU upto 701W before it shut itself down gracefully to protect itself. I paid £63 for mine not £80, the CM units are definately an option.

I don't know why you are being told you don't need a 6950. THe 6850 is an ok budget card as is the nvidia 460. I prefer the 460 which is why I own one, the 6850 is cheap the 460 currently is priced to close to that 6950 on offer and that extra 1GB of VRAM is worth having....skyrim is an RPG and is on the benchmarks i'll link in a mo

6850 vs 6950

At high resolution and high settings the 6950 walks it, the 6850 is beaten by the stock 460 too in the skyrim benchmark if you look. My 460 is clocked @900mhz not 675mhz Hopefully that will help you find a GPU you do like.

Personally i think you are better off leaving out the GPU for now and look to add one later once you have free P&P. The 7850 overclocks well but is more than the 6950 but uses less power. Once nvidias 660 is released prices will change up no doubt

 

[preacher]

I have no idea how reliable this website is, but I found all 3 main PSUs we've discussed at kitguru.net, with measured, real world dBA at different loads, admittedly the ~600W versions:

BeQuiet Pure Power L8 630W, Cooler Master Silent Pro M 600W, OCZ ZS Series 550W

By these measurements, the Cooler Master Silent Pro M looks the winner, with very impressive dBA even at full load. And very efficient, especially up to 400W. It seems to be quieter and more efficient than the BeQuiet, though there's not much between them. Still can't quite decide; I reckon either would be fine but am leaning to the CM.

Meanwhile dBA for graphics cards is harder to find, due to the massive number of variations on each card, and not everyone measuring noise levels. Tweaktown.com has what seems to be the same 6950 mentioned here, or very close: Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2gb Dirt 3 Edition. But it gives dB not dBA, and I don't know how to compare the two - clearly 56dB != 56dBA or we'd all go deaf after a lot of gaming.

Back to kitguru.net and I can only find the Sapphire 6970 Dual Fan, which is hopefully similar to the 6950 and shows a more impressive 29-34dBA: Sapphire HD6970 2048MB GDDR5 (Dual Fan Edition)

And I think I will go for the 6950 over the 6850, the stats look significantly better and I'd rather not under-spec the card. Been there, done that. It's why I always spend more than I've planned to, of course, but I think the basket is currently £625 so not too bad. And of course no matter what GPU I buy, new ones will be out soon, and the prices will change. But if you keep waiting you never end up buying.

 

[doyll]

I wouldn't worry about noise under load. As long as your system is quiet below 20-30% load I think you will be happy.

20 PSU 300-430w noise comparisons. Not really much info though.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2697/38

Users say the Corsair HX650 is quiet at low load. Think it's built by Seasonic.... And I'm definitely not in love with Corsair.

 

[preacher]

Thanks for that link. The Cooler Masters come out well though.

Must be time to stop dithering and order, I think.