Need help with SFF build please!

gandhi

gandhi

gandhi

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Many thanks in advance for any advice offered.

Looking to start my first SFF build that's going to be used as an HTPC but I also do a fair bit of work in 3ds max, C4d, Vray and sketchup. Playing games is quite low down on the agenda but would be nice. 3D stuff is quite processor intensive so more cores the better and hyperthreading is a must. Would also like the build to be as quiet as possible. Having films turned up late at night to cover the noise of the current build does not make for a happy homelife ;)

I won't be overclocking as I suspect the gain per/£ will be minimal.

I have 3.5" HD's I can re-use from current build. Don't need OS or Monitor.

Cost sub £600 please.

Basically, I would like the moon please. On a stick if possible.

My current thoughts are:

Lian li PC-Q02a or Silverstone SG06
Intel Xeon E1230v2
16GB DDR3
MSI B75IA-E33 Motherboard
128GB Crucial RealSSD M4

All of which comes it at around £480

Where I am coming unstuck is GPU and cooling. Need them to be quiet, meet the spec above and fit in the cases I want.

Possible or am I asking for too much!

Ta

Spencer
 
Unless its for ascetics go for the SG05 as it has slightly better airflow, not enough of a difference if you prefer the case though.

I think your going to be better off with a z77 I5 3570k or the 3770k build rather than the xeons.

Asus or asrock itx mobo with an nt06-e cooler, runs mine silent at 4.6Ghz but i have a slimline fan on the underside too.

nothing wrong with the rest, as for GPU i would go for the 7850 if theres money lest and set a custom fan profile so that it doesn't spin up untill 40 degrees which means no fan on the GPU when watching films.

Only downsides i have found with the SG05 are its a little fiddly to fit everything in and the dust filter requires you to open the case about once a month to clean so thumb screws are worth it.
 
Why do you think the 3570k or 3770k would be better? I'm not planning to overclock and the 1230v2 xeon runs cooler, is 4 cores with hyperthreading and is about £100 cheaper than the 3770k?
 
3770k Has IGPU which can be utilised alongside the main GPU for better performance and when not in use will have about the same TPD, the increased clock speed of the I7 would have a large difference and there is no support for quick sync with the xeon.

Bar that its just finding a mobo that supports the chip which you have.
 
Ah right, cool. Thanks for the extra info! Quick question....

Are you running the CPU passively cooled with the silverstone heatsink? What are your temps/noise levels like? Looking at your sig, I suspect I will pretty much end up with almost the same rig as yours!
 
As long as the filter is clean you get about 25-30 on idle (45-50 when clogged) and just under 70 when stress testing, GPU will sit at about 20-35 for anything not game related (watching films).

When gaming the GPU fans kick in which causes a little noise but its the same as it would be in most cases, I dont hear the main fan noise anymore but if you sit the case on top of your desk so your 1m away from it then it may bother you.

As for the cooling i found that i could get away with passive cooling up to 4.4Ghz but after that i needed to use a fan. i have a slimline scythe fan attached to the underside of the cooler. You have to take of the black mounting bracket and invert it to attach the fan in this config, the fans about 11db so you dont hear it and i leave it running on full at all times. It helps for the bits where your CPU is the only thing stressed as the ivy chips dont draw enough watts to pull a decent amount of heat from the PSU so very little airflow. You will need to get low profile RAM if your using this setup though and i will warn you now its a fiddly process but well worth it once its all in.
 
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