Silent CPU Cooler and PSU

FRAGMAYO

FRAGMAYO

FRAGMAYO

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Merthyr, Wales, UK
hello guys I have purchased my CPU and plan to purchase the case and mobo that are listed below

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £158.99
1 x NZXT Phantom 630 High Performance Modular Ultra Tower Case - Gun Metal £145.99
Total : £499.97 (includes shipping : £12.50).






I am looking for a silent CPU cooler and Haswell PSU that will also look pretty cool.


Thanks
Daniel
 
I'll leave the cooler suggestion to others but on the PSU I'd go for one of the latest Corsair modular PSUs. Most of them now have semi-passive cooling meaning that unless you're pulling over a certain amount of power the fan stays off so it's absolutely silent. Even when it does start to spin it's still quiet.
 
will be 1 x NVIDIA GTX 770 and will be upgrading to 2 in SLI at a later date

will look at the PSU's now thanks
 
+1 for Seasonic

As Phantom 630 has 170m CPU clearance you can use most any cooler. All the below are top coolers with pretty much the same cooling ability (+/-2c) so it more about what fits (PCI-e slot & RAM clearance) and the one you like the best.

Cooler size comparison (Width x Depth x Height looking from front of case with motherboard laying flat)

Akasa Medusa .= . 8x 6mm pipes 144x129.5x163mm w/ 140mm & 120mm PWM fans 49.6mm*
K2 / Assassin . = . 8x 6mm pipes 140x128x158mm 146x154x160mm w/ 120mm & 140mm PWM fans43.2mm*
Dark Rock Pro 2 =. 7x 6mm pipes 133x124x166mm 133x149x166mm w/ 120mm & 135mm PWM fans
NH-D14 . . . . = . . 6x 6mm pipes 140x130x160mm 140x158x160mm w/ 120mm & 140mm fans44mm*
NH-S14U . . . = . . 6x 6mm pipes 150x52x165mm plus fans base offset 2mm 41mm*
PH-TC14PE. . = . . 5x 8mm pipes 140x159x171mm w/ 2x 140mm fans, PWM adaptor40-45mm*
Megahalem. . = . . 6x 6mm pipes 130x74x158.7mm plus fans 40mm*
HE01 . . . . .= . . . 6x 6mm pipes 140x119c160mm w/ 140x38mm PWM fan 42mm*
Archon SB-E. . = . 8x 6mm pipes 155x53.6x170.2mm plus fans 34.45mm*
Silver Arrow . = . . 4x 8mm pipes 147x123x163mm 151x149x168mm w/ 2x 140mm Fans 40.87mm*
SA SB-E . . . .= . . 8x 6mm pipes 155x105x164mm 170x130x170mm w/ 140mm & 150mm PWM fans 31.9/39/46mm**
SA SB-E Extreme . 8x 6mm pipes 155x105x164mm 155x130x165mm w/fans Smaller because of 140mm fan vs 150mm fan.

*cooler base to bottom fin. (add 8mm for motherboard to bottom fin.)
**fins are at 3 different levels
K2, D14 & 14PE are about same size cooler but 14PE has 140mm front fan.
Coolers with 140mm front fans can be problematic with ram clearance.
SB-E is widest by 15mm. Even wider with TY-150 fan = 170. (can interfere with PCI-e slot)
Extreme is 155mm wide because TY-143 fan is 151mm wide.
 
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Just while im on the topic of silent here


could anyone recommend a blu ray drive that would pretty silent,

i was also wondering if ocuk have any drawless ones, like the PS3

Thanks for all the advice, some nice looking coolers in that list, the dark rock pro looks a bit bulky, but the Megahalem looks cool
 
That's a hard call to make. A lot depends on what sound they actually make even at sam dBA. Some sounds are not as pleasant as others. Also depends on how much load / heat they have to dissipate
Dark Rock Pro 2
NH-U14S
Archon SB-E

I found these sound clips helpful in determining what some coolers sound like
http://www.hardwaremax.net/reviews/kuehler/488-test-thermalright-archon-sb-e.html?showall=0&start=6

Edit:
This French site has lots of info on 120mm & 140mm fans. You can compare the graph of ones you like by clicking on them in list at bottom. Click again and their graph goes away :D
120mm
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/874-35/recapitulatif-db-a-vs-cfm.html
140mm
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/886-26/recapitulatif-db-a-vs-cfm.html
 
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Either a Seasonic Gold rated 700w or higher or Corsair AX860. Both will have silent operation(no fan spinning) with one GPU as the powerdraw would be below the 50% available from the PSU. You can go with lower watt output but this way you will never have to worry about SLI or crossfire as you have enough power if you want to go that route and buying Gold or plat PSU is an expensive activity so better do it right the first time :)

For Cooling i would go with a Corsair H100i and change the fans to 2xNoctua NF-F12 PWM as the stock fans that is coming with the h100i are terrible noise wise.
 
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doyll said:
That's a hard call to make. A lot depends on what sound they actually make even at sam dBA. Some sounds are not as pleasant as others. Also depends on how much load / heat they have to dissipate
Dark Rock Pro 2
NH-U14S
Archon SB-E

I found these sound clips helpful in determining what some coolers sound like
http://www.hardwaremax.net/reviews/kuehler/488-test-thermalright-archon-sb-e.html?showall=0&start=6

Edit:
This French site has lots of info on 120mm & 140mm fans. You can compare the graph of ones you like by clicking on them in list at bottom. Click again and their graph goes away :D
120mm
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/874-35/recapitulatif-db-a-vs-cfm.html
140mm
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/886-26/recapitulatif-db-a-vs-cfm.html
Click to expand...


That's some excellent info and comparison work.

Thanks for sharing that.
 
If you can keep your fans below 1000rpm you can easily have a near silent system.

I'm running a 14PE and a Silver Arrow SB-E on my bench about 2 meter away from where I'm set on notebook. They are both idling but the only sound is a slight hum from the Asus GTX580 DCII fans running 1140-1170rpm. 2nd system GPU is HD6570 w/ Scythe Setsugen cooler and it's silent @ 700rpm. Room is very quiet.. I can hear breeze blowing leaves and birds outside.

I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to idle the GTX580DC2 down to about 800rpm as it's only 30c now and never goes over 50c.
 
Yeah I often find it's the GPU that idles too high. Unfortunately you can't just swap the fan out. At least not easily.

Maybe there's a marketable idea there for GPU manufacturers? I know it's not necessarily that simple due to blower type fans, but if they made the fans changeable I'm sure there'd be a load of blower style fan options on the market in no time.
 
oceaness said:
Yeah I often find it's the GPU that idles too high. Unfortunately you can't just swap the fan out. At least not easily.
Click to expand...

What I've done before is used IC Diamond 24 to replace the stock Nvidia thermal compound. It makes the heat-sink a little more efficient and keeps the GPU fan rpm down a little.
 
It doesn't have blower fans.
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They are PWM and can have custom speed settings.. just will not go below 1140-1170rpm. :(
Might have to talk to Tealc and see about getting a voltage control to lower the 12v to like 9v so they idle lower.. Will mean they won't run their 3500rpm either, but I don't need them going that fast anyway :D
 
Yeah that is something I considered, could you just insert a resistor into the fan power cable? Even under Furmark my 670 doesn't seem to go above about 80% fan speed, so it surely makes sense to shift the fan speed down by 20% at the top and bottom end :confused:

andicole0 said:
You could try a Nofan CR95C for a silent CPU cooler.

Andi.
Click to expand...

How would something like that cope whilst gaming? I always feel I'd be more comfortable with a semi fan-less design, i.e. the fan only came on when the temperature got to say 70 or 80 maybe or rather a customisable minimum distance to Tjunction so it would work better with more CPU's, even then it could probably still be silent at very low RPM if it's technically capable of radiating 95W without a fan, which is a pretty impressive figure.

Also I guess you'd pretty much rule out any over clocking with a fan-less design?
 
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