Silent PC - Does this make sense ?

ftb_dave

ftb_dave

ftb_dave

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I am planning to build my first PC and after hours and hours and hours and hours of reading and rereading forums and reviews and rapidly realising how little I know here is the list of bits I have settled on, and why.

Solo II - £89.99 - when will oc be getting them back in stock
i5 3700K - £200 ish
Asus P8Z77-V - £139.99
GPU - Passive HD6850 £143.99
PSU - OCZ ZX 850W £116.99
SSD - OCZ Agility 3 120GB - £103.99
Mem - Corsair Vengance low profile 8GB - £39.99
HD - Already got
OS - Already got win 7 64bit
DVD - Already got

£835

Case - Antec Solo II. The full size Cases are ENORMOUS so even though the big kid in me wanted something with a window and blue neon lights I decided they were too big. I really like the look and size of the Temjin TJ08E, but it has a great big fan on the front which people say is noisy even at low speeds (so how can it be editors choice on spcr ?),

Processor - Ivy Bridge i5 3700K.

Motherboard - Asus P8Z77-V, 1. it has fan xpert 2 which sounds like it must be a good thing and 2. It has wi-fi Go which I think looks really cool.

GPU - Here I have a cunning plan - I am not going to get one ! The games the kids play on the PC are mincraft and Wow and even our old Dell Diminsion 5150 and Acer Aspire can play these so the new i5 Ivy bridge with be tons better (if the kids want to play skyrim etc I will buy a powercoler HD6850 passive, and if they are still complaining I will buy another and run them in crossfire mode). I am a bit concerned about the heat in the case if I end up with 2 6850's, but if it proves to be a problem hopefully I will be able to fix it by buying a fan or two for the front of the case.
Question - why are there so few passive GPU's ? am I missing something ?

PSU - 850W of whatever is on offer at overclockers, I know it is overpowered for the above (especially without a graphics card), but as I may end up running 2 6850's, I may eventually need the extra ooomph.

SSD - Cheapest 120GB on the overclockers website at the time.

Cooler - Here I have the same cunning plan as before - I am not going to get one. Initial reports are that there are problems overclocking the ivybridge processors, so initially I will not overclock it, and if I am not going to overclock it I don't need a cooler (surely an unclocked ivybridge must be close to a clocked sandybridge).

Memory - 8GB of whatever is on offer on the overclockers website at the time of ordering.

Comments please, especially from anyone who can convince me that I can get a smaller case such as the Temjin TJ08E.
Maybe I should get a different graphics card (560ti 448, extra £60) and rely on the case to keep the noise down ? that way I could get a less powerful PSU (coolermaster silent pro gold 600W, saves £35), maybe even a fanless one ?

Thanks in advance
Dave
 
ftb_dave said:
Question - why are there so few passive GPU's ? am I missing something ?
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A passive heatsink is more expensive than an active cooling solution, plus most people aren't too bothered about the noise. Also due to the massive amount of heat produced by some GPUs and the limited space afforded to graphics cards in a case it's sometimes just not possible to create passive cooling for some cards.

Don't forget that passive Graphics cards such as the 6850 do require some case airflow, otherwise they'll melt. The low end HTPC passive cards aren't so fussy but are a waste of space for playing games.

Cooler - Here I have the same cunning plan as before - I am not going to get one. Initial reports are that there are problems overclocking the ivybridge processors, so initially I will not overclock it, and if I am not going to overclock it I don't need a cooler (surely an unclocked ivybridge must be close to a clocked sandybridge).
Click to expand...

Sorry but that idea is poor for a near silent build. The stock coolers are not ever going to be anywhere near silent. I couldn't find any reference to an i7 3700k either. Intel stock coolers are designed to just about cool the CPU at stock settings. A larger heatsink, with large fans running very slowly would give you the best quietness. Something huge like the Silver arrow, Phanteks or Noctua dual array coolers. There is also a passive CPU cooler by Nofan which is massive and can cool some stock CPUs, but again you would need some case airflow.

Silence is not possible using higher end hardware. Quiet is possible provided you spend some money and make some allowances for higher temperatures.
 
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The 6850 ain't half bad for a passive card, but for the money you could get a 6870. A lot of recent GPU coolers are VERY quiet idling. I value silence too, I have a Fractal Design XL case and a HD6950. I've put an Arctic Cooling Accellero Twin Turbo cooler on that and to be honest I have to check to see if my computer is still on :D

While gaming it does ramp up a bit, still not loud, more of a whooshing of air. But then I use headphones so it doesn't matter
 
I'm afraid you can't do silence unless you're willing to spend more, it seems to me you're trying to achieve it by simply chopping bits off.

Few things i noticed:

Spend more on better fans/coolers and they'll be quieter and work better.
In no scenario ever run a cpu without a cooler, if you meant stock cooler... it works but its loud and inefficient.
Dont even think of running wow or minecraft on integrated graphics... unless you want 10fps on lowest detail... while looking at the floor in wow. I've done it, don't waste your time.

Decide whether you want SILENCE or quiet. If you want silence, without much knowledge youll have to go low end system, if you want to buy something pre built take a look at this:


Also a stock ivybridge will be just above a stock sandybridge, it wont be stock ivy > clocked sandy.
 
d_brennen said:
The 6850 ain't half bad for a passive card, but for the money you could get a 6870. A lot of recent GPU coolers are VERY quiet idling. I value silence too, I have a Fractal Design XL case and a HD6950. I've put an Arctic Cooling Accellero Twin Turbo cooler on that and to be honest I have to check to see if my computer is still on :D

While gaming it does ramp up a bit, still not loud, more of a whooshing of air. But then I use headphones so it doesn't matter
Click to expand...

We are still telling the kids the "no TV or PC in your bedroom" so the PC will live in the same room the missus watches TV and she has ears like a bat :) I have asked her if she will wear headphones when watching TV but her answer was unprintable :(
 
Joshct said:
In no scenario ever run a cpu without a cooler, if you meant stock cooler... it works but its loud and inefficient..
Click to expand...
I was going to use the stock cooler, but as you point out it will be loud, so I suppose I had better get a cooler.
Joshct said:
Dont even think of running wow or minecraft on integrated graphics... unless you want 10fps on lowest detail... while looking at the floor in wow. I've done it, don't waste your time. ..
Click to expand...
Thats what the kids do at the moment, guess they are in for a big surprise :)
Joshct said:
Decide whether you want SILENCE or quiet..
Click to expand...
This is the big problem, we all understand what silence is and I would probably be happy with quiet but what is quiet to one person can be noisy to another.
Joshct said:
Also a stock ivybridge will be just above a stock sandybridge, it wont be stock ivy > clocked sandy.
Click to expand...
Bummer.

I watched the youtube vid, and I think they are cheating, from what I have read the PSU and the CPU is not where the noise problem is, GOLD standard PSU's are very efficient and hence don't generate much heat, so they have quiet fans, and you can get some very quiet CPU coolers, OK a fanless PSU and a fanless cooler would be best, but the PSU and Cooler noise will hopefully be killed by the sound proofing built into the case.
The big problem is the GPUs and the heat they generate 1. It has to be removed from the card by fast running (noisy) fans and 2. the heat is then pumped into the case and the case needs a fan (or fans) to remove it.
I am hoping to remove 1. by having a fanless GPU and hoping that the fan on the case is sufficient (or I can add more silent fans to the front).

Like I said originally, don't know if it makes sense, but it sounds OK to me :) In fact I have almost convinced myself to get a TJ08E, the PSU is quiet, the CPU is quiet, the GPU is fanless, apparantly you can run the TJ08E front fan very slowly (through fan expert) and you can even replace it by a quieter fan...how noisy can it be ???
Maybe everyone who complains about the noise has a poor PSU, a non passive GPU (most likely), a massive overclock, noisy case fans or all of the above !
 
ftb_dave said:
We are still telling the kids the "no TV or PC in your bedroom" so the PC will live in the same room the missus watches TV and she has ears like a bat :) I have asked her if she will wear headphones when watching TV but her answer was unprintable :(
Click to expand...

Headphones for you dude :D
 
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