Not so ultimate silent PC

[robotica34]

My current PC is around 5 years old, though has had most of the parts replaced, except the motherboard and the CPU.

 

My current PC specifications are these:

 

Motherboard: ASRock H55M

CPU: Intel® Core™ i3-530 Processor (4M Cache, 2.93 GHz)

GPU: GIGABYTE GTX 650 Ti BOOST 2GB VRAM

RAM: Some A-DATA memory with a clock speed of 1333Mhz DDR3 running in dual-channel mode (2x2GB), probably this

PSU: SL-500A 500W (this was picked by a tech guy at a local repair shop because the old one started making some weeird sounds)

Case: sigh... the original PC was a prebuilt

There's a sound card present somewhere somehow, an optical drive and an SD-card (and a bunch of other card types) reader.

 

Since most parts were replaced, I can't really complain about performance in games (Even GTA V runs very well on minimum settings, which is fine to me, I still use a VGA cable).

 

Even though games run fine, mundane tasks such as even opening a browser or searching for files can be very demanding for my CPU, and since this is a dual-core with hyperthreading, having many apps open seriously slows down my PC. So I need an upgrade.

 

I don't really have a set budget, but here's what I do want out of my new PC:

1. It should be as quiet as possible. I hate sound, and so do my parents.

2. Less power consumption > extra insignificant mmph (I'd rather buy a 3.0 GHz than a 3.5 GHz if it consumes way less power).

3. A normal motherboard that DOESN'T make my mouse lock up whenever I turn on my desklamp (that is some *** up stuff with my PC)

4. Running a lot of background apps or having browsers open wouldn't slow down my PC.

5. I don't care about games running on lower quality than all maxed out, but I'd like a smooth, 60 fps out of them (I have a 60 Hz monitor).

 

 

For RAM - 16 GB is enough even for future-proofing, I'm not a video editor or something like that. I could go with a cheaper DDR3 kit of 2x8GB HyperX Fury OR a DDR4 kit of 2133 MHz 2x8GB HyperX Fury. If my choice sucks, tell me.

 

I'm debating on whether or not I should change my GPU - It's almost brand new, and it's working fine - most games I play on a regular basis run 60 fps (sometimes less), but without any stutters. I'm not a VERY hardcore gamer. Although if an upgrade should be necessary for the long run, also tell me.

 

Oh, and for the case - any case that doesn't look ugly, would fit my motherboard and make the PC quieter.

 

I know LinusTechTips has uploaded videos on his silent PC builds, but the latest one costs around 5000 USD, and the other ones < $2000 are slightly outdated - I don't want to risk it.

 

Thanks for your responses in advance.

[Bl00dgod]

welcome to the forum

@robotica34 follow your topics

 

CPU i7 4790k

CPU Cooler Corsair AIO H100i GTX

MOBO ASUS Z97 AR

RAM Crucial Balistix Tactical Tracer 16GB 1866DDR3

PSU EVGA Supernova G2 750W

Case Silent Base 600 Be Quiet

GPU EVGA GTX 980Ti hybrid

Storage Samsung 850 EVO 500GB

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rHjVpg

 only thing i hear is the sound of the my hdd

 

if you only game you could swap the i7 for a i5 4690k or the ram for less fancy

or swap the AIO vs aircooler like noctua nh d14/d15

 

your mouse might suffer because a crappy power connection

[Guest]

I'll try to provide some answers later on, if you don't get any satisfactory ones, but...

 

 

3. A normal motherboard that DOESN'T make my mouse lock up whenever I turn on my desklamp (that is some *** up stuff with my PC)

 

 

This is not your motherboard issue, this is a power issue. You're getting power spikes or something, and with that shitty PSU you are lucky nothing has died so far. 

[Bazilias]

-snip-

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($299.99 @ Newegg) 

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($94.99 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($68.42 @ SuperBiiz) 

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($147.99 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($58.65 @ SuperBiiz) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB HYBRID Video Card  ($699.99 @ Micro Center) 

Case: be quiet! SILENT BASE 600 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($74.99 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($67.15 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $1602.16

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-30 05:38 EST-0500

[19_blackie_73]

look into my sig - near silent and 60fps gta prooved with 1.5x downsampling and almost maxed settings, with fans at lowest rpm set and only 70°C in games

[robotica34]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($299.99 @ Newegg) 

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($94.99 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($68.42 @ SuperBiiz) 

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($147.99 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($58.65 @ SuperBiiz) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB HYBRID Video Card  ($699.99 @ Micro Center) 

Case: be quiet! SILENT BASE 600 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($74.99 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($67.15 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $1602.16

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-30 05:38 EST-0500

Would I be able to get away without the GTX 980 Ti? Because that thing is almost half the budget and I'm not playing very resource-demanding games - the GPU I currently have satisfies me very well. Other than that, the build is fine, except that... 466 W would make up half of our electricity bill. How much less power does the 650 Ti BOOST use?

Thanks for your answers in advance.

[robotica34]

Another thing to mention: my cooler is almost new. Shouldn't I be able to reuse it for the new build, or does it then defeat the purpose of the "silent" build? Also, I do not think I need a hard drive because I have two of them already (one is 1TB (or 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, screw the advertising suckers) and a 500 GB one (500,000,000,000 bytes)). As for the CPU, a Quad-Core 4.0 GHz? For multi-threaded workloads, 3,5 GHz should be more than plenty, and with a single-threaded workload, Turbo Boost would kick in. Am I wrong somewhere or will the system start to slow down dramatically with Turbo Boost on?

 

EDIT: I don't know if it's the right cooler (I won't go into opening my case and taking a look at it right now), but I think I matched mine to the one I found on the Internet (it fits mostly all categories). In the end, then, this is how much my PC would cost and look like without the parts like the GPU and the cooler replaced: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LrvCHx

 

Thanks for your responses in advance.

[Bazilias]

Would I be able to get away without the GTX 980 Ti? Because that thing is almost half the budget and I'm not playing very resource-demanding games - the GPU I currently have satisfies me very well. Other than that, the build is fine, except that... 466 W would make up half of our electricity bill. How much less power does the 650 Ti BOOST use?

Thanks for your answers in advance.

What's your budget?

[robotica34]

What's your budget?

As I said, I don't really have a set budget - the more I save up, the greater my budget will be, though I'm looking ~$1000-$1500.

 

This is what I came up with: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7ktqjX

 

Total price is $929.20 (prices from NCIX US and Amazon.com, others don't ship to Lithuania  ) + an $199.99 Enermax Digifanless 550W ATX 605 Power Supply EDF550AWN for a total of $1129.19. The only thing that bugs me currently is the compatibility note. Will I be fine with that? Is this build OK?

 

Thanks for your responses in advance.

[Bazilias]

As I said, I don't really have a set budget - the more I save up, the greater my budget will be, though I'm looking ~$1000-$1500.

 

This is what I came up with: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7ktqjX

 

Total price is $929.20 (prices from NCIX US and Amazon.com, others don't ship to Lithuania  ) + an $199.99 Enermax Digifanless 550W ATX 605 Power Supply EDF550AWN for a total of $1129.19. The only thing that bugs me currently is the compatibility note. Will I be fine with that? Is this build OK?

 

Thanks for your responses in advance.

Here I got a build for $1147.68

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($209.99 @ NCIX US) 

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($30.99 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($64.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($77.99 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($58.65 @ SuperBiiz) 

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($289.99 @ Newegg) 

Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($56.10 @ SuperBiiz) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($94.99 @ Amazon) 

Monitor: BenQ RL2455HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor  ($174.00 @ B&H) 

Total: $1147.68

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-01 02:14 EST-0500

[robotica34]

Here I got a build for $1147.68

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ NCIX US)

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($30.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($77.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.65 @ SuperBiiz)

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card ($289.99 @ Newegg)

Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($56.10 @ SuperBiiz)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($94.99 @ Amazon)

Monitor: BenQ RL2455HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($174.00 @ B&H)

Total: $1147.68

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-01 02:14 EST-0500

Your system uses 491 W, which is crazy - this PC will be on most of the time, and the electricity bill will go up a lot. Also, is it necessary to use an Intel processor? The AMD ones look just as fine. Don't forget that my PC has to be as silent as possible and that I need to use as little power as possible. What about my suggested build though? Does it not fit into my categories?

[robotica34]

+OK, I figured out what's wrong with AMD - they're fast, but not efficient. Going to remake my build for Intel then (still keeping the GTX 970).

 

What I might want to go with is this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VKZCHx

Although I'm not sure about the CPU fan and the case fans that come pre-installed, since they're only ~65 CFM while an $18 SilenX shows a 90 CFM airflow. Should I buy that extra fan or not?

[robotica34]

Is bumping allowed or should I start a new thread if this one is dying already?