Quietly powerful 4K gaming rig

[technicalfault]

Hi all,

I've enjoyed reading the opinions of many on here and I'd like to test my proposed quiet 'n' powerful 4K gaming rig build out on you. I am intending to ask OcUK for a build quote on this - is there a preferred channel for doing so?

In designing this build, I've focused on

a) quietness - all components at or below 39 dB as far as possible
b) 4k, 60fps achievable on high settings. However, this is mostly future-proofing as MSFS 2020 is likely to be the only game that'll need this much power. I play Minecraft (Bedrock) and older DX11 games at the moment.
c) Future-proofing, even though this is a bit of a misnomer. Hence selecting a PCIe 4.0 capable motherboard.

My current setup is a pretty crappy cobbled together thing from bits with a case that dates back to 2005. Now that I can afford it (and I have a 4K screen) I am willing to pay a little premium for something that lasts a while and is almost inaudible. A good base case and motherboard will allow me to upgrade the other components.

Of course, if I can shave something here and there please let me know your thoughts too. I switched to a 6-core Ryzen 5 v 8-core Ryzen 7 but is there any risk of bottle necking? Sources are mixed.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x be quiet! Pure Base 500DX ARGB Midi Tower Case - White Tempered Glass= £89.99
• 1 x MSI X570-A PRO (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset Motherboard= £159.95
• 1 x Team Group Dark T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Grey (TDGED4= £68.99
• 1 x Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Pure Black CPU Cooler with Dual 140m Fans= £94.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Super Gaming X Trio 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £829.99
• 1 x Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £79.99
• 1 x Corsair RMx Series RMx750 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020179-UK)= £134.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £248.99

Total: £1,721.08 (includes shipping: £13.20)​

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Thanks!

 

[technicalfault]

I'd get a larger SSD. That will fill up in no time.

Good spot! I should've mentioned that I'll be bringing a (slow) 500GB SATA SSD to this system. Pretty much the only component salvageable from my existing ancient build.

Thanks also for the MSI Motherboard tip. I'm looking at budget X570 models.

 

[technicalfault]

Thanks for all the feedback! I think this has helped me decide where to focus investment whilst keeping the overall price round the same.

The MSFS 2020 system requirements being published have helped too. This is the revised spec, considering again that keeping things quiet is important.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x be quiet! Pure Base 500DX ARGB Midi Tower Case - White Tempered Glass= £89.99
• 1 x Corsair RMx Series RMx750 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020179-UK)= £134.99
• 1 x Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock WGRP 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £719.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £269.99
• 1 x Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset ATX Motherboard= £209.99
• 1 x Toshiba Kioxia RD500 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £76.99
• 1 x be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler= £64.99
• 1 x Team Group 8Pack Edition 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C16 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/= £119.99

Total: £1,700.12 (includes shipping: £13.20)​

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Key changes:

* Palit 2080S card - seems second only to the MSI for noise at load but is about £110 cheaper at the moment. Only a 2 year warranty tho
* Upped the processor (stuck with smaller amount of RAM for the moment as it's an easy upgrade)
* Picked the Toshiba drive for a great price and good storage from the start (will be backed by slower SATA drives I already have and reasonably straightforward upgrade)
* Picked the Gigabyte motherboard as it has PCIe 4.0 x16 and a USB Type-C header on the board.
* EDIT: picked the faster RAM (as on offer) and
* EDIT: picked the Dark Rock 4 cooler vs the Noctua

Other notes:

* Stuck with the Corsair PSU as it seems to be quieter than the Phanteks at load - and I won't be maxing it out.
* Stuck with 16GB RAM for the moment as this is trivial to add later vs other components.

Getting a build quote now. Hoping it'll stay under the mental barrier of £1,800....

 

[technicalfault]

I also assumed Palit would be loud but I was surprised to read this review which suggests it's pretty quiet! It's also £110 cheaper than the triple fan MSI which I originally considered.

Remember, 2070S is close to 2080 non S performance , lacks more surprisingly in 1080p then 2/4k

Would you clarify? I'm looking at a 2080 Super here. I saw on another thread a pretty attractive 2070S and did consider it.