Monster performance in a silent case possible?

[apav]

Hey guys,

 

Next year sometime I'm planning to do a major upgrade to my system. Everything except my drives and my sound card are getting upgraded. Most notably, I'll be getting an Intel High End Desktop CPU (like the 5820K or whatever is next around that price point) with a closed loop cooler, and will 2 way SLI Nvidia's next flagship model (or the 980 if it still is the better choice). But I also want to downsize my case from a full tower to spacious mid tower, and lately I've been thinking about going with a silent case/setup. The problem is, I don't know how much the dampening will help when you have SLI and the noisiest hard drive I have ever owned (WD Black). Plus, airflow might be a problem with the heat my hardware is producing in a smaller case. 

 

Obviously you cant avoid it being loud in games, but I have my speakers or headphones on so I don't care. I just want it quieter when it is idle, for instance when I'm browsing the internet or using it as a media server. I could install more fans, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a silent case. Is there a happy medium somewhere, where I can increase airflow and keep it at safe temperatures without making it a whole lot louder? Do you have any recommendations for a case I can accomplish this with?

 

Thanks!

[the jolly roger]

Hey guys,

 

Next year sometime I'm planning to do a major upgrade to my system. Everything except my drives and my sound card are getting upgraded. Most notably, I'll be getting an Intel High End Desktop CPU (like the 5820K or whatever is next around that price point) with a closed loop cooler, and will 2 way SLI Nvidia's next flagship model (or the 980 if it still is the better choice). But I also want to downsize my case from a full tower to spacious mid tower, and lately I've been thinking about going with a silent case/setup. The problem is, I don't know how much the dampening will help when you have SLI and the noisiest hard drive I have ever owned (WD Black). Plus, airflow might be a problem with the heat my hardware is producing in a smaller case. 

 

Obviously you cant avoid it being loud in games, but I have my speakers or headphones on so I don't care. I just want it quieter when it is idle, for instance when I'm using it as a media server. I could install more fans, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a silent case. Is there a happy medium somewhere, where I can increase airflow and keep it at safe temperatures without making it a whole lot louder?

 

Thanks!

Define R5, decent airflow, dead silence, mid tower, spacious, check, check and all the checks

[theloveablemoose]

Well the GTX 980 uses very little power at idle so if you get the Asus version which will trun off the fan it will be completely silent, closed loop watercoolers can have some pump noise but running them slower gets rid of this. I would think about how silent you want your PC to be before making plans as this can effect your final part list.

[apav]

Define R5, decent airflow, dead silence, mid tower, spacious, check, check and all the checks

Are silent cases even meant to handle high end builds like the one I am planning? Okay I'll check this out thanks.

[KamiKatze]

+1 on the Define R5

 

 

However a PC is only as silent as the components inside.

 

What cards will you SLI? The Asus Strix are so far leading in silence concerns.

 

Your old hard drives will probably be the most noisy part at idle, as it is allways difficult to eliminate all the vibrations. At leasts that's currently the state with my main PC.

 

Airflow wise i wouldn't worry. My setup (see sig) provides enough airflow to keep temps down properly. A SLI config may require one more fan or two, but as long as you choose some very silent one for the job (bequiet, noctua or noiseblocker) you'll be very happy.

 

Lastly, it's allways a question of how you control your fans. A smart fan controller with custom fan curves - whether this fan controller is built into your motherboard or not- will allways help a lot.

 

Edit: oh yeah, liquid coolers will most likeley lead to a pump noise at idle. don't know if that's an issue or not, i decided to never touch liquid cooling because of that concern.

[apav]

Well the GTX 980 uses very little power at idle so if you get the Asus version which will trun off the fan it will be completely silent, closed loop watercoolers can have some pump noise but running them slower gets rid of this. I would think about how silent you want your PC to be before making plans as this can effect your final part list.

Currently own an original NZXT Phantom. Even at their lowest settings, the case fans are pretty audible (though I get great airflow, tradeoff). I want to downsize my case, and have my build quiet enough (especially when I'm on the desktop) and cool enough to be safe for long hours of gaming. Acoustics during gaming don't matter as much to me as acoustics when it isn't under load.

 

I watched Linus' video so I have some ideas. If I go with the next generation flagship Nvidia card I hope ASUS releases a similar product.

[theloveablemoose]

Currently own an original NZXT Phantom. Even at their lowest settings, the case fans are pretty audible (though I get great airflow, tradeoff). I want to downsize my case, and have my build quiet enough (especially when I'm on the desktop) and cool enough to be safe for long hours of gaming. Acoustics during gaming don't matter as much to me as acoustics when it isn't under load.

 

I watched Linus' video so I have some ideas. If I go with the next generation flagship Nvidia card I hope ASUS releases a similar product.

I doubt Asus would take that feature away as its one of the few selling points of their cards, as for CPU cooler do you have a prefrence to water cooling as a NH-D15 is very good at cooling and is extremely quiet but may incompatible with some cases.

[apav]

+1 on the Define R5

 

 

However a PC is only as silent as the components inside.

 

What cards will you SLI? The Asus Strix are so far leading in silence concerns.

 

Your old hard drives will probably be the most noisy part at idle, as it is allways difficult to eliminate all the vibrations. At leasts that's currently the state with my main PC.

 

Airflow wise i wouldn't worry. My setup (see sig) provides enough airflow to keep temps down properly. A SLI config may require one more fan or two, but as long as you choose some very silent one for the job (bequiet, noctua or noiseblocker) you'll be very happy.

 

Lastly, it's allways a question of how you control your fans. A smart fan controller with custom fan curves - whether this fan controller is built into your motherboard or not- will allways help a lot.

 

Edit: oh yeah, liquid coolers will most likeley lead to a pump noise at idle. don't know if that's an issue or not, i decided to never touch liquid cooling because of that concern.

Thanks! I didn't know that about pump noise. I was considering water this time around because I thought it would be generally cooler and quieter all the time. That and with less fans in a silent case and a water cooler I was hoping I could eliminate a lot of the dust buildup. Guess not though. I'll look into really good quiet air coolers. 

 

And by old hard drives, did you mean old as in age, or old because SSD's are slowly replacing them? I have the new WD Black drive, came out about a year ago. Blazing fast but man is it loud, see here:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R141W2YPZBWEK5/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00FJRS5OW&nodeID=541966&store=pc

 

Watch that video. Good example of the incessant clicking noise. I knew what I was buying and don't regret it, but it still makes me wish I could make it less audible, and here I am.

[apav]

I doubt Asus would take that feature away as its one of the few selling points of their cards, as for CPU cooler do you have a prefrence to water cooling as a NH-D15 is very good at cooling and is extremely quiet but may incompatible with some cases.

No preference, I was under the ignorant impression (since I know nothing about watercooling) that it would cool better and be quieter all the time. And (still unconfirmed) it would leave less dust in my case.

[Neftex]

Hi guys, how about the Silverstone FT02 case? Im not sure about the SLI but Ive been looking at it quite some time.

 

BTW: www.silentpcreview.com/article75-page5.html

[KamiKatze]

Thanks! I didn't know that about pump noise. I was considering water this time around because I thought it would be generally cooler and quieter all the time. That and with less fans in a silent case and a water cooler I was hoping I could eliminate a lot of the dust buildup. Guess not though. I'll look into really good quiet air coolers. 

 

And by old hard drives, did you mean old as in age, or old because SSD's are slowly replacing them? I have the new WD Black drive, came out about a year ago. Blazing fast but man is it loud, see here:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R141W2YPZBWEK5/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00FJRS5OW&nodeID=541966&store=pc

 

Watch that video. Good example of the incessant clicking noise. I knew what I was buying and don't regret it, but it still makes me wish I could make it less audible, and here I am.

 

 

For a 5820K, liquid cooling is not a bad idea.

 

Air coolers that would be suitable for your needs are the bequiet Dark Rock Pro 3 or the Noctua NH-D14 (/D15). There are many more, like the thermalright silver arrow and another one from phanteks. The basic idea is a giant piece of metal with some quiet fans.

 

Overclocking that 5820K will be pretty much equal on  AIO liquid coolers aswell as giant air coolers. The thing that is important are the fans. Every AIO is only as silent as it's fans. it should of course have a proper pump, but high pump speed is normally not the most important. You need some silent fans with adequate static pressure, that's it.

 

Regarding the hard drives, the clicking noise won't be dampened away by a good sound isolated case. Chances are, if the noise is unbearable now, it will be almost unbearable in a noise dampened case.

[theloveablemoose]

No preference, I was under the ignorant impression (since I know nothing about watercooling) that it would cool better and be quieter all the time. And (still unconfirmed) it would leave less dust in my case.

It's fairly easy assumption considering the amount of people that use and praise them, but as for dust it's going to be the same amount as it will still be using fans and pushing similar amounts of air through a radiator rather then a heatsink. Also depending on how the radiator is mounted it can be extremely easy or extremely hard to clean dust whereas with an air cooler it is fairly simple. Now this sounds like a lot of bashing towards liquid coolers but its not im just outlining things that you will have to bare in mind when choosing one over the other, for instance most air coolers are extremely large and therefore it may be hard to facilitate in a large number of cases, but some like the Noctua NH-D15 look awful but have a reduced number of things that can go wrong (pretty much just the fans whereas the pump may break or leaks could occur on a closed loop water cooler).

[WoodenMarker]

Every case is silent. Fans, hdd's, etc are what make the noise. 

Dampening hdd's can be very helpful to reducing noise by lowering case vibration.

 

What are you current specs? 

It's very possible to have a powerful yet quiet system. 

 

My room ambient measured roughly by several phone apps with my s3 stuck inside of an empty Define R4 is ~27-28 dBA and my system is a constant ~29.5 dBA with the s3 a foot away from the side panel regardless of load. 

I did this by using rubber screw and ziptie-mounted NF-P14/P12's at low rpm's, suspending my WD Reds in open-cell foam, delidding my 3770k, and using Liquid Metal Pro on the die. 

[GrimDoctor]

I could recommended the Corsair Air 540. A few colour options from factory. Major air and water options. I know not everyone likes Noctua looks but if you want quiet + performance then...

I guess you'd class my specs on the higher end, specs in my sig. There are a tonne of amazing big power builds on the net for these.