New PC Specs

xy16644 · 23 Jun 2012 at 22:00

Cagerty said:
No problem

As with the above advice though, I would still recommend you save some money and go for the AX 650w, as it should be able to handle a GPU and any HDDs you add in the future.

Re the fans you could always try Sharkoon Silent Eagles or Gelid Silent 12's

You've got me thinking of changing from a 850W PSU to a 750W maybe. I need to check out some PSU calculators I think just to make sure.

olivier renault · 23 Jun 2012 at 22:26

xy16644 said:
You've got me thinking of changing from a 850W PSU to a 750W maybe. I need to check out some PSU calculators I think just to make sure.

Don't bother with calculators. 650W for any single graphics / single GPU card (and that's generous in most cases), 750W for two 28nm cards (HD7xxx / GTX6xxx), 850W for adding more fancy stuff (watercooling, loads of drives) or older more power-hungry cards (GTX480 / GTX580), 1000W for tri-sli, 1200W for quads.

These are gaming PSUs, bronze rated minimum, with big amps on the 12V rail. And of course enough PCIE connectors of the right kind (6 or 8 pins required depending on the cards).

FYI, I pull 450W on my rig on full load, that's two 6950's and a 2500K overclocked, which are a bit more thirsty than the new GPUs and CPUs.

olivier renault · 23 Jun 2012 at 22:38

xy16644 said:
Thanks for mentioning these brands, I'd never heard of any of them

Its certainly made me rethink my choice of parts. I have now changed the following:

PSU: BeQuiet BN203 DARK POWER PRO 10 850W Power Supply
CPU Cooler: Be Quiet BK017 Dark Rock Pro 2
Case fans (replacing the included fans with the R3): Be Quiet BL063 SilentWings 2

I really like Noctua but can't stand the colour of their stuff. The BeQuiet products look amazing and more importantly, from what I have read are VERY quiet.

Am I making a good change here?

I don't know... If you get a NH-D14, having matching case fans might work. Besides, everything will not be visible, (the R3 has a front door to hide the ugliness away).

Keep in mind that the Dark Rock Pro 2 is deceptively big (It's a good cooler, better than the original Dark Rock). It's actually taller than the Noctua, and about the same as the Silver Arrow (another very good option).

The silent wings USC are very good, the SilentWing 2 should be pretty much identical. They have unconventional mounting mechanism, but that should be ok.

Dunno much about BeQuiet PSUs, but they have a good reputation, especially their high end stuff.

German engineering and all that...

olivier renault · 23 Jun 2012 at 22:46

TBH, I don't know if you should bother changing fans with an already quiet case. Granted, replacing front case fans can be a pain if you're not happy with the performance.

xy16644 · 24 Jun 2012 at 07:28

Thanks for all your comments Olivier and everyone else!

After reading about the BeQuiet PSU I am definitely going to get one! Thanks for the advice re the wattage PSU I need. You've really go me thinking now. There isn't much price difference though betweek 750W and 850W. Silly question but, will a 850W use more power than a 650W PSU when idle during the day?

Will the Be Quiet BK017 Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU cooler fit in the R3 case? You mentioned it being a taller cooler.

You also mentioned that the Be Quiet BL063 SilentWings 2 have unconventional mounting mechanisms. Will this be a problem with the R3?

After reading up about the Corsair Obsidian 550D case I am now undecided about the case! The R3 looks amazing and takes two more 3.5" drivers but the Corsair case seems like a more solid/quality case. Can anyone help me decide between the two? They both get very good reviews online.

olivier renault · 24 Jun 2012 at 09:24

xy16644 said:
Thanks for all your comments Olivier and everyone else!

After reading about the BeQuiet PSU I am definitely going to get one! Thanks for the advice re the wattage PSU I need. You've really go me thinking now. There isn't much price difference though betweek 750W and 850W.

If there is isn't much in it, why not. Get something you're happy with. I've got a AX850 just because I could, even though it's OTT.

Silly question but, will a 850W use more power than a 650W PSU when idle during the day?

Nope. Usually the efficiency of PSUs peaks at 50-70% load, but we're talking a couple of percents at most. And the top of the line PSUs are very efficient anyway. So not worth considering.

Will the Be Quiet BK017 Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU cooler fit in the R3 case? You mentioned it being a taller cooler.

I have no idea. The silver arrow fits barely (the fan gets pushed down), so I wouldn't really count on it. Unless you can find someone with a DarkRock and a R3.

You also mentioned that the Be Quiet BL063 SilentWings 2 have unconventional mounting mechanisms. Will this be a problem with the R3?

Again I don't really know since I don't have experience with either. But I don't think it would be a problem. These are case fans, what good would be a case fan if it cannot fint in a case

After reading up about the Corsair Obsidian 550D case I am now undecided about the case! The R3 looks amazing and takes two more 3.5" drivers but the Corsair case seems like a more solid/quality case. Can anyone help me decide between the two? They both get very good reviews online.

dunno after all

The 550D is better quality, the R3 has much better airflow. The P280 as I said, sits in between. The P280 uses negative pressure. Extraction fans all round and yet has better internal temps than most, while being extremely quiet.

xy16644 · 24 Jun 2012 at 10:01

The nice thing about going for the 850W is that it gives me plenty of room to grow into and its not that much more expensive.

I have compared the Noctua and Be Quiet specs of the CPU coolers and I see the Dark Rock Pro 2 is 6mm higher than the Noctua NH-D14. I have emailed Be Quiet asking them if this will be an issue with fitting their cooler in the R3 case.

Still can't decide between the R3 and the 550D case...hmmm. Tough one. On the "TimeToLiveCustoms" Youtube channel he gives the 550D his gold award. I couldn't find a review by him though for the R3. Pity.

bobo696 · 24 Jun 2012 at 10:11

your psu is wayyyy overkill !

650W is more than sufficient
look at the HX650W, good modular corsair

olivier renault · 24 Jun 2012 at 10:41

xy16644 said:
Still can't decide between the R3 and the 550D case...hmmm. Tough one. On the "TimeToLiveCustoms" Youtube channel he gives the 550D his gold award. I couldn't find a review by him though for the R3. Pity.

He did a comparison with the NZXT (more like a rant against the NZXT). The R3 used to be his go-to case for his components reviews.

xy16644 · 24 Jun 2012 at 21:31

I've been doing some more reading up on the OCZ RevoDrive3 120GB PCI-E SSD. From what I understand its not the best choice for home users especially if you don't use compressed files.

So it got me thinking. Would it be better to get two SSD drives and configure them in RAID 0? Two OCZ Technology 128GB Vertex 4 or Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB drives are still cheaper than the RevoDrive3! Before anyone lectures me on the risk of running RAID 0, I get it, if one drive fails I lose everything. Not really a problem as I'll be imaging the machine shortly after its built and regularly after that.

So is two SSDs in RAID 0 a better choice than one RevoDrive3? And if it is a good idea...OCZ or Crucial drives? OCZ Vertex 4 seem waaaay faster than the Crucial M4. I have had a Vertex 2 for 18mths and have been really happy with it.

olivier renault · 24 Jun 2012 at 21:38

No man, keep it simple and get a single drive. For performance, it's all relative. I'd just snap that Samsung 830 256GB notebook for £150 if you want to spend on a good capacity SSD. Job done. Else, any decent 128GB SSD will do the job.

xy16644 · 24 Jun 2012 at 21:41

I like that Samsung SSD drive. I also like the OWC drives from what I have read (very fast but pricey).

Choices choices. RevoDrive 3 or Samsung/OWC SSD...hmmm.

xy16644 · 30 Jun 2012 at 20:32

After much research and reading of reviews I have finally decided on the following hardware for my new desktop build:

Case: Corsair Obsidian 550D Black Mid-Tower
CPU Intel CPU Core i7 3770K Quad Core IvyBridge Processor OEM
Mobo: Asus P8Z77-V DELUXE Intel Z77 Socket 1155 Ivybridge Ready
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3 (1600)
Boot drive: OCZ Technology 256GB Vertex 4
Data drive: Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black WD2002FAEX Hard Drive
PSU: BeQuiet BN203 DARK POWER PRO 10 850W Power Supply
Monitor: Dell 27" IPS Monitor A12 U2711 IPS Monitor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan Quiet CPU Cooler
Case fans: Be Quiet BL063 SilentWings 2 (3 of these)
Keyboard: Logitech Illuminated Multimedia Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech Corded Mouse M500
UPS: APC Back UPS ES8 Power Saving Outlet 700VA

How does the above look?

The only questions/thoughts I have on this build are:

1) Will the UPS I have selected be ok for this kind of setup? I only need enough battery time to have the machine shutdown properly in the event of a power failure. I also want the UPS to protect my machine from power surges etc.

2) Since I am not running any video card, I thought running two case fans in the front and one in the rear should be enough? Or should I only worry with one case fan in the front of the case?

3) I'm hoping this machine (once built) will be very VERY quiet considering the parts I have selected?

4) Can anyone recommend a passive/quiet video card that I could consider for when I want to run with two or three 27" monitors running at maximum resolution? I won't be playing any games...just using it to extend my desktop.

Many thanks to all for your input and comments regarding this build. You have all been so helpful and I greatly appreciate it!

xy16644 · 1 Jul 2012 at 21:27

Anyone?

I'm dying to place the order for this soon!

olivier renault · 2 Jul 2012 at 00:14

* doublepost *

olivier renault · 2 Jul 2012 at 00:15

1) No idea about UPS.

2) I wouldn't even worry about custom fans, but you seem dead set on them. In any case, Two front sounds reasonable. One will do it, but optimally, one for the drive bays at the bottom, and one for the system air flow above, removing the top drive bay since you shouldn't need it. And one at the back of course.

3) Yes. Use the adapter on the Noctua to run the fans at 7 volts (it's provided with the cooler).

4) Dunno really. Would probably be some AMD 6xxx series. They will run triple display on the DVI-D, DVI-I and displayport, so if your monitor doesn't have a DisplayPort connector, you will need an active HDMI->DisplayPort dongle. Sapphire makes FLEX cards, which basically allows you to run 3 monitors on almost any ports.

AFAIK the only NVIDIA cards supporting Nvidia Surround (that would allow triple displays) at the moment are the 670's and 680's. Else you will need to SLI them. These use the digital connectors (DVI-D, DVI-I, and HDMI).

xy16644 · 2 Jul 2012 at 07:47

olivier renault said:
1) No idea about UPS.

2) I wouldn't even worry about custom fans, but you seem dead set on them. In any case, Two front sounds reasonable. One will do it, but optimally, one for the drive bays at the bottom, and one for the system air flow above, removing the top drive bay since you shouldn't need it. And one at the back of course.

3) Yes. Use the adapter on the Noctua to run the fans at 7 volts (it's provided with the cooler).

4) Dunno really. Would probably be some AMD 6xxx series. They will run triple display on the DVI-D, DVI-I and displayport, so if your monitor doesn't have a DisplayPort connector, you will need an active HDMI->DisplayPort dongle. Sapphire makes FLEX cards, which basically allows you to run 3 monitors on almost any ports.

AFAIK the only NVIDIA cards supporting Nvidia Surround (that would allow triple displays) at the moment are the 670's and 680's. Else you will need to SLI them. These use the digital connectors (DVI-D, DVI-I, and HDMI).

The only reason I want the custom case fans is that I'm sure I read somewhere that the fans the case ships with are a bit noisy. Or it might have been the R3...getting confused now! Either way, I like a super quiet machine!

Speaking of fans. Is it worth even worrying about a fan controller with the Noctua CPU cooler and BeQuiet case fans?

I assume the video card will need a Displayport to be able to run the monitor(s) in its maximum resolution? HDMI doesn't seem suitable for this?