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The Silent Guardian - Build Finished

Inehmo
By Inehmo
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Good evening LTT.

Let me start of by apologizing being one of the a**h**es who start their build log when they have nothing to show. You're here for the pictures and all I can offer is just wall of text. :angry:
 
Pics here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/333080-the-silent-guardian-silent-fullhd-60hz-capable-gaming-pc/?p=4657335

This is my latest (and final) attempt to get myself a truly silent, gaming grade desktop PC. I have tried it many a times and there has always been something that just wasn't right. (HDDs for most of the time). This time I wanted to do everything right. And if this fails, I'm just going to give up.

I've been building PCs since mid 2000s so I'm by no means an expert but I've learned a thing or two along the way.

Here are some of my thoughts on how to build silent machine:

1. HDDs and silent computers don't match.
- You can use all sort of tricks to quiet them down but in my mind it's just easier to not use them at all.

2. If you don't build custom water cooling, use air cooling
- Price matched air coolers perform just as well as AIOs and you don't have to worry about noisy pump, leaks, loud stock fans etc.
- Very SFF machines are exception, it's not easy to fit Noctua NH-D15 to a small mini-ITX case. :)

3. If you're not going to overclock, don't buy overclock-able parts
- I always bought overclock ready parts and never got around to actually go through with the process of overclocking anything

4. GPUs and PSUs are the most difficult components
- This used to be an issue. GPUs have small fans which often cannot be controlled to spin low rpm enough and PSU-fans are kind of hit or miss situation, replacing them is just a bit too much of "modding" in my taste.
- Now with Maxwell and semi-passive GPUs and semi-passive PSUs, at least in idle they should be dead silent, in theory.

5. Invest in quality fans
- Buy Noctuas. :P

6. I don't game all that much
- For me it's more important to have extremely silent PC on idle cos that's what it's going to do for the most of the time. I just want to know that if I suddenly get the urge to play something, I can do it. As long as Arkham Knight will have 60fps maxed out, I'm a happy camper.

OK, enough with the rambling, are we building a PC or what?

So here are the parts and why they were chosen:

Motherboard: Asus H97-Pro
- Asus fan control is just superb. Didn't really even think about other manufacturers.
- Intel NIC
- 4 PWM fan headers, just the amount I need
- Could've chosen H97M Plus but chose ATX case so got ATX mb as well.

CPU: Intel i5 4460
- As I said I don't overclock. This thing has enough horse power to game at FullHD and for daily tasks so I thought it would be a good choice.
- Thought about going for Xeon but didn't think I would see enough performance difference so saved some money here.

RAM: G. Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600MHz 2x4GB
- Cheapest 8GB set of 1600MHz DDR in the store I was using with XMP, nothing fancy.

GPU: EVGA GTX 960 SSC
- Semi-passive mode
- Has good factory over clock which is good for me as won't be doing any on my own
- Looks kind of cool
- Should have pretty conservative stock fan curve, I don't mind getting couple of degrees hotter if it keeps things nice and quiet

SSD: Crucial MX100 512GB
- Got a good deal from German Amazon so pulled the trigger for a bigger than necessary drive

HDD: You're joking, right?

PSU: EVGA G2 750W
- Semi-passive mode
- A good quality internals, like really, really good.
- A bit overkill on the wattage but maybe it prevents the fan for spinning at all ;)

Case: Cooltek W2
- Looks amazing IMHO
- Dual compartment design, can get direct airflow to where it's needed
- Easy removal of rear fan grill (this is a personal thing but I just think it's awesome that I don't have to cut it myself)

CPU-Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S
- Has NF-F12 as a stock fan, do I need to say more?
- W2 has quite small clearance for the CPU-coolers, not much bigger coolers will fit.
- i5 4460 is Haswell Refresh so shouldn't be that hot anyway

Case fans:
Rear: Noctua NF-S12A PWM
- Pure airflow, now air restrictions what so ever so no need for pressure
Front: 2x Noctua NF-A14 PWM
- Noctua's top end 140mm fan, ought to be enough for anyone.

Noise dampening: Cooltek Deluxe Insulation Kit - Midi Tower Set
- For finishing touches

So with these ingredients and a bit of fan curve tweaking, I think I should be able to finally achieve silent gaming PC. This will be my first non-µATX build since 2008 and I'm expecting a very easy one after all SFF nonsense in the past. :lol: Should have some room to update in the future as well if I can muster some cash for higher res / higher refresh rate monitor.

All parts are ordered. Should arrive in a week or two. Kind of created this thread to see if there's any interest for this kind of build. If even one person bothers to read all of this and post a reply, I might have to actually take pictures of the build and share them. ;)

The past cannot be altered. The present holds but regret and loss. It is only in the days to come that a man may find solace. When memory fades..
Gigabyte B450i Pro WiFi | AMD Ryzen 5 2600 | SilentiumPC Fera 3 HE1224 w/ Corsair ML120 | 2x8GB DDR4 3400MHz CL16 | MSI RTX2070 Armor | Plextor M8PeG 256GB NVME | Crucial MX100 512GB | Corsair SF600 Platinum | Fractal Design Define Nano S | Dell U2518D | Filco Majestouch-2 TKL with Cherry MX Brown | Logitech G703
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Posted

Didnt Linus do a silent PC build guide?

Im so patriotic, I piss red white and blue. My doctor told me it was pancreatic cancer, I told him to SHUT HIS COMMIE MOUTH.

-A shotgun wielding redneck

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Look at Linus guide 

and look at Asus strix 960 over the EVGA as the fans turn of by defult 

All though you can do this in fan control software eg Msi afterburner 

IntelCorei54670k,Maximus VI Formula,Swift tech H220, 16gigs Corsair Dominator platinums, Asus DCUII GTX 780,1x256 840 evo, 1x 2TB Segate barracuda, Corsair AX 860, 

3 X Noctua NF-F12, 2x Noctua NF A-14, Ducky Shine 3 Blue Leds Blue switches, Razer Death Adder 2012, Corsair vengence 1400  

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Look at Linus guide 

and look at Asus strix 960 over the EVGA as the fans turn of by defult 

All though you can do this in fan control software eg Msi afterburner 

EVGA's fans have the 0rpm mode too.

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EVGA's fans have the 0rpm mode too.

As was mentioned in OP. :) I took EVGA over Asus as it was much cheaper and has nice factory oc.

EVGA actually has dual bios as well.

The past cannot be altered. The present holds but regret and loss. It is only in the days to come that a man may find solace. When memory fades..
Gigabyte B450i Pro WiFi | AMD Ryzen 5 2600 | SilentiumPC Fera 3 HE1224 w/ Corsair ML120 | 2x8GB DDR4 3400MHz CL16 | MSI RTX2070 Armor | Plextor M8PeG 256GB NVME | Crucial MX100 512GB | Corsair SF600 Platinum | Fractal Design Define Nano S | Dell U2518D | Filco Majestouch-2 TKL with Cherry MX Brown | Logitech G703
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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • Author

It's finished!

 

I actually had this finished last weekend already but I've been making small tweaks along the week and finally got around to share it with you guys.

 

 

The Goodies!

 

cZHWIrc.jpg

 

Foam to make even Linus happy.

 

CobSjPs.jpg

 

Case in all it's glory. Looks quite small which is definetely not a bad thing.

 

mTubbRH.jpg

 

Inside. Removing stock fans was task #1

 

UbhBXEY.jpg

 

#NoctuaBrownIsNotUgly - Seriously though, I think it looks pretty awesome.  :wub:

 

T9O2mVW.jpg

 

All done. SSD is there just laying as this is not going to be LAN-machine or anything  so it won't be moving anywhere and I wanted it to get some airflow(not that it needs any but still).

 

ioLCh4U.jpg

 

qbVfH3S.jpg

 

(Sorry for my potato pics  :blush:)

 

The ugly backside, didn't bother to cablemanage much as there is a lot of extra room.

 

6tbBgWO.jpg

 

Build went relatively smooth, got drunk half way through which delayed it considerably.  :P Had to fight somewhat with the dampening mat because arts'n'craft is not my strong suite but other than that, it was pretty smooth sailing. Pretty satisfied how clean it looks.

 

Now is it quiet? On idle, OH HELL YEAH it is. As soon as I figured out how the eco-mode on the PSU works, it became completely inaudible on idle. If there is less than 50c on the CPU, I only run the lower front fan @ 400rpm and the CPU-fan @ 230rpm. GPU and PSU run passive on idle. Temps are bit high but that is to be expected. Browsing internet, watching Youtube or even FullHD movies, I can't even hear the PC at all so this was a huge success!

 

On a gaming load, all fans run around 500-600rpm and are still very quiet. However GPU fans ramp up all the way to >1000rpm and make the most noise. Nothing too bad, but definetely audible.

 

For final pic, my desktop.

pNtWGtX.jpg

 

 

What do you guys think? Comments more than welcome! :)

The past cannot be altered. The present holds but regret and loss. It is only in the days to come that a man may find solace. When memory fades..
Gigabyte B450i Pro WiFi | AMD Ryzen 5 2600 | SilentiumPC Fera 3 HE1224 w/ Corsair ML120 | 2x8GB DDR4 3400MHz CL16 | MSI RTX2070 Armor | Plextor M8PeG 256GB NVME | Crucial MX100 512GB | Corsair SF600 Platinum | Fractal Design Define Nano S | Dell U2518D | Filco Majestouch-2 TKL with Cherry MX Brown | Logitech G703
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Sweet!

The case kinda looks like a mini Air 540. Instant win there.

CPU: Intel i5 4690K Cooler: Cryorig H5 Motherboard: ASrock Z97 Extreme4  RAM: Kingston HyperX Blu Black Series 8GB GPU: Powercolor R9 390 PCS+

Case Fans: 3X Phobya NB-Eloop 120mm in front + 1X Noiseblocker BlackSilentPRO 140mm, rear HDD: WD Caviar Blue 1TB  PSU: Corsair CX600M  Case: Corsair Air 540 ODD: LG Supermulti (Yeah whatever)  Monitors: LG25UM55-P, LG 22EN43

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WOW as the owner of an Air 540 I am seriously thinking of switching. And I LOVE the air 540 so for me to say that is...wow...Nice build and nice desk setup. Congrats :)

I am a member of the PCMasterRace. I am terribly sad to announce that I own a PeasantStation 3 Super Slim. it's in a drawer away from my glorious PC.
F@H stats:http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=userpage&username=AngelKoura

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WOW as the owner of an Air 540 I am seriously thinking of switching. And I LOVE the air 540 so for me to say that is...wow...Nice build and nice desk setup. Congrats :)

Thanks! To me the W2 is Air 540 done right. I only wish they would make mATX version; four expansion card slots, support for two 120mm in the front. Could get the height and width down somewhat for smaller builds.

The past cannot be altered. The present holds but regret and loss. It is only in the days to come that a man may find solace. When memory fades..
Gigabyte B450i Pro WiFi | AMD Ryzen 5 2600 | SilentiumPC Fera 3 HE1224 w/ Corsair ML120 | 2x8GB DDR4 3400MHz CL16 | MSI RTX2070 Armor | Plextor M8PeG 256GB NVME | Crucial MX100 512GB | Corsair SF600 Platinum | Fractal Design Define Nano S | Dell U2518D | Filco Majestouch-2 TKL with Cherry MX Brown | Logitech G703
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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Very nice build! Going to build something similar in few months. Never heard about this case before. I wonder why? It seems almost perfect.

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Too bad there's no US importers for that case.  It's really sweet.  Nice build too!

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In US you will find this case as Rosewill W2 if they decide to add it to their catalog. I hope they do since it's awesome and everyone should be able to enjoy it's awesomeness.

The past cannot be altered. The present holds but regret and loss. It is only in the days to come that a man may find solace. When memory fades..
Gigabyte B450i Pro WiFi | AMD Ryzen 5 2600 | SilentiumPC Fera 3 HE1224 w/ Corsair ML120 | 2x8GB DDR4 3400MHz CL16 | MSI RTX2070 Armor | Plextor M8PeG 256GB NVME | Crucial MX100 512GB | Corsair SF600 Platinum | Fractal Design Define Nano S | Dell U2518D | Filco Majestouch-2 TKL with Cherry MX Brown | Logitech G703
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Nice rig. Cooltek cases are boss, too.

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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