Quiet Gaming PC

[BungleShark]

Hello,

I'm looking to build a new rig at home. Although I am no stranger to creating a custom build for myself, its been a few years since I last did something like this.

My goal is to build myself a gaming rig that's silent (or near silent) when I'm using it for general run of the mill stuff like web browsing or doing office work. When I'm gaming, I often have a headset so I'm not to concerned about noise whilst gaming.

What I really want to know is, with regards to CPU, Graphics and optional case fans which are plugged directly into the motherboard, can these be switched off when certain tempreture conditions are met. For example, whilst CPU and Graphics card tempretures are sub 60 degrees, the fans are in fact switched off?

The sort of rig I'm looking to put together will most likely be an i5 chip with a 1060/1070 graphics card. I quite like the Asus motherboards as I have found them to be pretty reliable in the past (your experience may differ).

I know with certain PSU's (normally higher priced ones) the fan only spins when the unit is either under load or a tempreture condition is reached which activates the fan. In the past I also had an Antec case (I can't remember the model name) which I purchased specifically to hide the noise of interior fans (as the reviews indicated this particualr case did a good job off doing so) which worked quite well.

Any tips or recommendations you have in building quiet rigs would be most welcome.

Thank you in advance.

 

[mickyflinn]

The corsair rm550x would be my choice or 750w if your going sli 1070 in the future.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...lar-power-supply-cp-9020090-uk-ca-208-cs.html

 

[Robzere31]

Some motherboards will allow you to set custom fan curves through the bios, (my old Z87 board did as does my new Z270E) but I use an NZXT Grid fan controller to control all my fans.
Easy to set up & once done you can forget about it.

 

[lee32uk]

Pretty much any gpu/psu will be quiet when not under any load i.e Web browsing etc.

 

[pastymuncher]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Turning off the cpu fan is a extremely bad idea unless you are using a huge heatsink in a case with good airflow, which would make turning the cpu fan off pointless anyway. Just buy a good cooler with a quiet fan.

A lot of modern gpu's turn the fans off when idling or below a set load or temperature (mine is below 50 degrees for example). You can also create custom fan curves with the likes of afterburner.

A good motherboard should have options in the bios to set fan speeds in accordance to temperatures. My current one does and so did the Asus I had before this one. It's another way to control cpu fans but works well for case fans too.

The Bitfenix Whisper M series of psu's doesn't have a fanless mode but it does have a very quiet fan (hence the Whisper name). They are also very reasonably priced starting at £78 for the 550w version, £85 for the 650w and £92 for the 750w. You certainly get more wattage for your money than other brands. They all have a 7 year warranty as well.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Bitfenix Whisper M Series 550W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £77.99
• 1 x Bitfenix Whisper M Series 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £84.95
• 1 x Bitfenix Whisper M Series 750W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £91.99

​

 

[dt97583]

The corsair rm550x would be my choice or 750w if your going sli 1070 in the future.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...lar-power-supply-cp-9020090-uk-ca-208-cs.html

My RM PSU is really very quiet, I basically never hear it

 

[Brazo]

Having built lots of silent pc's I am now completely satisfied with my silent gaming rig.

People have different versions of silence.

Mine is holding my ear an inch from the case at midnight in a quiet room. I'm quite committed

I can't recommend bequiet products enough.

I have their psu, silent wings 3 case fans set to silent mode on the motherboard.

I have a dark rock pro 3 cooler also set to silent on the motherboard bios. These fans spin at 25% and happily cool my 7700k at 4.5ghz all cores.

I have a zotac amp 1080 which has 0db mode and whilst not the quietest card out there under load (that honour goes to the Palit cards) it's the quietest of 4 1080's I have tried and it is very very quiet and doesn't make me want to buy a Palit card. It's like being happy with a 200mph car even though a 205moh car exists.

 

[Plec]

I don't wish to appear to hijack the thread - but I hope my questions will help the OP as well as myself...

Having built lots of silent pc's I am now completely satisfied with my silent gaming rig..

Mine is holding my ear an inch from the case at midnight in a quiet room. I'm quite committed

I can't recommend bequiet products enough.

I was considering either Fractal design Full Tower (windowless) or the Corsair Carbide 600Q. From your experience, if you've worked with either case, is there much in it? I've not worked on a BeQuiet case before?

I have a dark rock pro 3 cooler also set to silent on the motherboard bios. These fans spin at 25% and happily cool my 7700k at 4.5ghz all cores.

Impressive is that under load too? I have a similar monolith sitting on my present CPU in the form of the Themalright Silver Arrow. Although it's quiet and cool under the right parameter settings - I vowed I would never stick, what essentially is a finned house brick, in my machine again. Fittings for the Silverarrow is a PITA and troubleshooting is always made that much harder with the '2001 Space Odyssey monolith' in my way.

Question is - have you compared the Dark Pro to a 'BeQuiet all-in-one water solution'? - My hope was that these units would be the equal in comparative silence and cooling - with the right tweaking? My only experience is with the Corsair all-in-ones and although very capable I've been a bit underwhelmed by the noise (again as you say relative).

As mentioned - I hope my questions help the OP as I don't want wish to appear to be hijacking the thread (briefly)...

 

[Brazo]

I haven't built in those cases but haven't built in a bequiet case either.

A quality sound proof case will go some way to attenuating noise but if there's no noise to begin with then a sound proofed case is pointless. Given I have some quite large hikes in my case for graphics card airflow, the parts I have listed do not need a fancy case to be silent.

In terms of the dark rock pro 3 it's actually the 'noisiest' component in my case as in the gpu is 0db, I've never heard the psu and the case fans are absolutely silent. The fans do ramp up with load but in terms of being able to hear even a whisper from it you have to put your head next to my 'holey' case and wait for all background noise to subside and even then you need to focus.

In normal use and normal gaming it's a 0db pc. Some recent games when maxed do produce a very slight fan noise from gpu.

If I was going again for an AIO it would be the bequiet model as it is the quietest. But by their own admission it's not silent unlike my 'noisiest' component, the dark rock pro 3!

Nb you can disable one of the fans on the dark rock pro 3. I haven't.

 

[Plec]

snip

Thanks Brazo - appreciate the comprehensive reply, that 'hands on info' has helped me consolidate some of my own thoughts and made me look in interest at the PSU (I've always bought Corsair).

If I was going again for an AIO it would be the bequiet model as it is the quietest. But by their own admission it's not silent unlike my 'noisiest' component, the dark rock pro 3!

I was really trying to avoid putting a brick into my next build - and as I want to get a silent case - the AIO would be strapped to a massive opening, thus effectively negating all the other silent components, especially if it's noisier than the noisiest part of your build.

Thinking back over your post and my assumptions - I think the common sense approach would be if i'm getting a sound dampening case then an AIO is probably not the way to go. Better to let the case try and contain all the sound, rather than creating an opening that gives voice to the loudest part.

Thanks again - I think I've talked myself out of AIO if i'm getting the Carbide 600Q. I just hope the Dark Rock is easier to fit than the PITA that is the Silverarrow. Especially the fan fittings which are infuriating to get on...

 

[Brazo]

The dark rock is a pita to fit - sorry

The noctuna d15 is easy to fit, just as quiet but I chose the dark rock pro 3 on looks and ram clearance.

 

[Plec]

Thanks, again, Brazo - i read some reviews last night after noticing the similar retention clips holding the fans. I'm sure there's a more elegant solution - but costs must be a factor...

Sorry, BungleShark, i semi hijacked your thread - but hopefully you will have gained some useful insights into some of the pros and cons of trying to attain relative silence - and slightly different ways of approaching it.

 

[Quartz]

If you are really serious about noise, look at the Calyos case. If you're slightly less serious, look at the Nofan CR95 cpu cooler and one of OCUK's silent PSUs.