Pc Spec advice: most efficient, quiet 1440p gaming build

smogsy

smogsy

smogsy

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A friend of mine wants a New gaming build,
Their currently using a ryzen 1800X & GTX1060

Here's what they want:
  • most efficient & quiet build, their very susceptible to any noise
  • support for 1440p gaming up to 240hz (but their happy with 140/160fps for most part)
  • don't care for glass/RGB
  • Midi/full build
  • he plays all games from GTA V to BF2042, to Alan Wake 2 & other new titles
  • no real budget but under £3500 would be nice
whilst I can spec a decent rig, I thought the community could help finding those minor details of Quietest components

only think i'm thinking is using noctua for quietness, he finds be quiet to loud, also thinking of air cooling so no pump noise

suggestions?
 
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A few thoughts:
  • In my experience of building for quiet/silence, with a higher-end build the potential for coil whine is actually way more problematic and needs more research than the fan noise.
  • With fan noise, you generally just want everything to be overbuilt, e.g. get a bigger, heavier case, with more airflow than you need and the same with the CPU cooler and graphics card. The closer to being "adequate" what you pick is, the nosier it will be.
  • Coil whine can often be tamed by underclocking/undervolting, but that's not a guarantee. It's still likely to be worth it though, since everything comes overclocked nowadays.
A spec with a few ideas:

CPU because of what TPU wrote:
We've seen very high power consumption numbers in today's Core i9-14900K review, the Core i5-14600K does much better here, because it has fewer cores, a lower power limit setting and generally runs at lower clocks, which means the silicon is operating closer to its maximum efficiency point. With 93 W on average in applications, the 14600K is much less power-hungry than the Core i7-14700K (155 W) and the i9-14900K (170 W). Especially in gaming its power consumption is much closer to AMD, 76 W on the 14600K vs 49 W on the 7800X3D is still a big percentage difference, but not so much in absolute terms. Low power consumption also means lower heat output. This makes the 14600K much easier to cool and any decent heatsink should be able to keep it cool—no need for an AIO.
Click to expand...

Graphics card: I really don't know which ones are likely to have less coil whine, but when I googled the 7900 XT/XTX cards with the best coolers like TUF and Nitro, the results didn't seem great?

Phanteks P600S: this is pretty large, has no window/RGB and has panels that can be removed for airflow if necessary.

PSU: as with the graphics card, I don't know which PSUs are likely to have less coil whine, but if you go overspec then the theory is that it runs cooler and quieter and platinum produces slightly less wasted heat to dispose of. If there's a passive option on the PSU, then it will also run passively for longer.

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Intel Core i5-14600K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail
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MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
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Tetras said:
A few thoughts:
  • In my experience of building for quiet/silence, with a higher-end build the potential for coil whine is actually way more problematic and needs more research than the fan noise.
  • With fan noise, you generally just want everything to be overbuilt, e.g. get a bigger, heavier case, with more airflow than you need and the same with the CPU cooler and graphics card. The closer to being "adequate" what you pick is, the nosier it will be.
  • Coil whine can often be tamed by underclocking/undervolting, but that's not a guarantee. It's still likely to be worth it though, since everything comes overclocked nowadays.
Click to expand...
Tottally agree, thats why i was thinking of looking for a locked down case, Thick side panels etc.

i know the sea sonic prime are known for <20DB usage at full load, but as you say lerss power = less heat = less noise hence thinking of this+ very slow fan
https://noctua.at/en/nh-p1 noctua suggests this would be good with a fan attached

from my exp its also motherboard chipset fan you got watch out for too my asus chipfan is noisy!

seasonic
 
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Ryzen 7800X3D. it’s so efficient it can be passively cooled. For the GPU a Sapphire nitro plus is virtually silent. Case is a tough one because you need good front and rear air flow. Fractal do bitumen side panels that offer very good acoustics. The Seasonic syncro Q704 is also very quiet.
 
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jigger said:
Ryzen 7800X3D. it’s so efficient it can be passively cooled. For the GPU a Sapphire nitro plus is virtually silent. Case is a tough one because you need good front and rear air flow. Fractal do bitumen side panels that offer very good acoustics. The Seasonic syncro Q704 is also very quiet.
Click to expand...
I was thinking 7900 would be better yes its 12C vs 8c but its also 65W vs 120W, price difference is around £15 & worse case it could be undervolted more too

but nitro heard very good things putting together a list will post later today
 
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smogsy said:
I was thinking 7900 would be better yes its 12C vs 8c but its also 65W vs 120W, price difference is around £15 & worse case it could be undervolted more too

but nitro heard very good things putting together a list will post later today
Click to expand...

The 7800X3D is generally stronger in gaming than the 7900X, but you could probably fit a 7950X3D within budget if 8 cores aren’t enough.

After upgrading a system for a buddy and playing around with a Sapphire Nitro 7900XTX I was very impressed. Bonkers performance, excellent acoustics and really well made. By far the closest I’ve come to spending this kind of money for a graphics card.
 
pastymuncher said:
As he's on AM4 wouldn't it simply be a good idea (and a damn sight cheaper) to update the motherboard bios, drop in a 5800x3D and add a new graphics card, maybe a psu if needed too?
Click to expand...
i thought so too, but his going to hand the 1800x down the family,
jigger said:
The 7800X3D is generally stronger in gaming than the 7900X, but you could probably fit a 7950X3D within budget if 8 cores aren’t enough.

After upgrading a system for a buddy and playing around with a Sapphire Nitro 7900XTX I was very impressed. Bonkers performance, excellent acoustics and really well made. By far the closest I’ve come to spending this kind of money for a graphics card.
Click to expand...
indeed it might be stronger, but 7900(non X) is 65W which is massive heat difference from 120W (tested this on my 5900X) slience comes first before perf
but sapphire is on the list
 
smogsy said:
i thought so too, but his going to hand the 1800x down the family,

indeed it might be stronger, but 7900(non X) is 65W which is massive heat difference from 120W (tested this on my 5900X) slience comes first before perf
but sapphire is on the list
Click to expand...

The 7800X3D pulls less than 70watts.
 
smogsy said:
default tdp is 120W max were as 7900 is 65w (amd spec sheet)
Click to expand...

Yeah, it’s nothing like that. It’s the most efficient desktop CPU by a very long way.


www.techpowerup.com

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Review - The Best Gaming CPU

AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D is everything that gamers want: eight fast cores, in a single CCD, with 3D VCache stacked on top at a price point of $450. In our review we can confirm that 7800X3D is indeed the fastest gaming CPU available, beating Intel's 13900K and even the 7950X3D.
www.techpowerup.com www.techpowerup.com
 
come up with this so far case/cpu/gpu is up for debate right now, maybe somthing with lot less tdp
My basket at OcUK:

Total: £2,769.79 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

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AMD Ryzen 9 7900 Twelve Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail
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Fractal Design Torrent Black Solid Mid Tower Case
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Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Nitro+ Vapor-X 24GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
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mickyflinn said:
@smogsy you have 2 X 7900 in your basket.

If main use is gaming then a 7800x3d is a must with a decent cooler like the Thermalright peerless assassin 120se should be silent.

www.tomshardware.com

Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE Review: Incredible, Affordable Air Cooling Performance

Shockingly cool and quiet, less than $40!
www.tomshardware.com www.tomshardware.com
Click to expand...
Didnt you know i was going to stack them :D that makes a 7900-3D right? :D
but will have to nose into 7800x3D more but i think the noctua breeze box might be better as might not need a fan. ideally the pc be fanless, but doubt that will be possible for gaming (https://noctua.at/en/nh-p1)
 
It might be possible to go passive cooled but it would be challenging. You’d need to start with something like an inverted, extended XL ATX case and massive heat sink for the GPU.

It might be worth searching for Nofan if they still exist. They used to offer heat sinks that could deal with a 100watt CPU.
 
smogsy said:
default tdp is 120W max were as 7900 is 65w (amd spec sheet)
Click to expand...
The TDP is pretty much meaningless nowadays, the 7900 is a very good CPU, I like it a lot for productivity/mixed builds, but if you check jigger's link you'll see that the X3D is actually more efficient and uses less power when gaming.

smogsy said:
but will have to nose into 7800x3D more but i think the noctua breeze box might be better as might not need a fan. ideally the pc be fanless, but doubt that will be possible for gaming (https://noctua.at/en/nh-p1)
Click to expand...
From my experience of fanless PCs, it isn't really worth it because 1. when idling a decent CPU fan and case is nearly silent anyway unless you put an ear right next to it, 2. it can help to cover up any annoying electrical noises and hums. The worst thing is a fan that keeps whirring up and down because of the CPUs boost behaviour.

When gaming, the CPU fan is unlikely to stand out with the other fans in the case (e.g. chassis, graphics, PSU) anyway.
 
If you're going for a Fractal Torrent case then you might take a look at the Noctua NH-P1 - the airflow provided by the Torrent's case fans may obviate the need for fans on the cooler - but research would be needed.
 
FredFlint said:
Set it to ECO 65W in the BIOS, I run a 7950X at 65W. Using ECO 65, you still get max single core boost(5.77Ghz) with a drop in multi-core boost and much better temps.
Click to expand...
sure.. but why buy a 8C CPU locked to 65W when a 12C can be 65W without lock :p amd tdps do seem a bit "off"
 
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CPU
For efficient gaming CPU nothing beats 7800X3D.

Cooling
For a quiet out of the box air cooler, a large Noctua or Scythe will do the job. I would still go with AIO and set the fan/pump speeds to a manual curve. Can't hear the pump of my Arctic 240 aio in any conditions. But fan speed needs to be capped so that they don't jump to 1700rpm on any temperature spike

GPU for that performance has to be a 4080. They are the most efficient and some models additionally benefit from overengineered 4090 grade coolers. Again, depending on model be prepared to use manual fan curve.

passive cooling is a fairy tale.
Slow large fans will easily provide silent and sufficient cooling. Aim to never exceed 600rpm for 140mm and 800rpm for 120mm fans.

PSU Seasonic 80plus platinum

Case is tricky. Mesh for airflow or solid panels for noise blocking?
I went with mesh O11 Air Mini. Occupy all fan positions and slight positive pressure

something like this
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Total: £2,718.73 (includes delivery: £0.00)​



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Lian Li O11 Air Mini, Midi-Tower, Tempered Glass - White
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