Silent gaming build

dizmo · October 24, 2016

Black Friday nears, and a new build does as well. Hopefully some of this gear drops in price, but if not this is the build I'm looking at.

It'll be used for gaming and work (think tons of tabs across either multiple monitors or a split ultrawide).

Silence is the main goal of this build, so I replaced the fans.

I chose the case because I'd like USB C on the front panel, and I like how the i/o is positioned.

Are there any quieter GTX 1080's?

Quieter fans? These were the ones that seemed quietest.

This is my idea so far.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($54.90 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-GAMING 6 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($171.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 1TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($324.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GAMING X 8G Video Card ($664.35 @ B&H)
Case: Cooler Master MasterCase Maker 5 ATX Mid Tower Case ($169.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular Fanless ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($98.99 @ My Choice Software)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 ULN 140mm Fan ($25.88 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 ULN 140mm Fan ($25.88 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 ULN 140mm Fan ($25.88 @ OutletPC)
Keyboard: Corsair K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE Wired Gaming Keyboard ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Thermaltake Level 10 M Hybrid Wired Laser Mouse ($85.65 @ Amazon)
Total: $2632.44

elHOMBREdelSACOk · October 24, 2016

IMAO to keep things quiet, the less fans the better, even sacrifice gpu/cpu temps for fewer rpms.

I understand why you like that case, but maybe something like the qbx kaze from cougar, or the silverstone raven z series would be quieter than having a big case full of fans, even if they are very good at keeping it quiet.

The reason why I propouse smal cases is because there is almos no air flow since each heatsink fan takes its own airfrom the outside, reducing to the bare minimun the number of fans to keep your pc up and running.

Also, maybe you could sacrifice some performance and checking out these completely fanless cases, in case (haha that joke) you didn´t already.

I´ve seen a skylake i5 paired with a gtx 970 (undervolted) inside one of these. Impressive. That way you could achive the complete 0 db experience.

There are also some pretty cool no-fan cpu coolers and fanless PSUs that you should definetly check out, but make sure they dont block all your 16x pci-e lanes.

Of course overclocking is a no-go if you plan on going full silent, but maybe you could make quiet a bit considering a pair or three of these:

Spoiler

I don´t know man... Maybe you could just do like Linus and leave your pc in another room, using a thunderbolt dock or sometthing like that.

Cheers!

Edit: Also Silverstone has some sound dampening foam wich may help.

dizmo · October 25, 2016

2 hours ago, elHOMBREdelSACOk said:

IMAO to keep things quiet, the less fans the better, even sacrifice gpu/cpu temps for fewer rpms.

I understand why you like that case, but maybe something like the qbx kaze from cougar, or the silverstone raven z series would be quieter than having a big case full of fans, even if they are very good at keeping it quiet.

The reason why I propouse smal cases is because there is almos no air flow since each heatsink fan takes its own airfrom the outside, reducing to the bare minimun the number of fans to keep your pc up and running.

Also, maybe you could sacrifice some performance and checking out these completely fanless cases, in case (haha that joke) you didn´t already.

I´ve seen a skylake i5 paired with a gtx 970 (undervolted) inside one of these. Impressive. That way you could achive the complete 0 db experience.

There are also some pretty cool no-fan cpu coolers and fanless PSUs that you should definetly check out, but make sure they dont block all your 16x pci-e lanes.

Of course overclocking is a no-go if you plan on going full silent, but maybe you could make quiet a bit considering a pair or three of these:

Hide contents

I don´t know man... Maybe you could just do like Linus and leave your pc in another room, using a thunderbolt dock or sometthing like that.

Cheers!

Edit: Also Silverstone has some sound dampening foam wich may help.

It's not completely out of the question to have a silent computer

My last rig was very quiet (except under load, but that's kind of obvious).

I'm not interested in small cases, as I often find myself using my case as a footrest and require the space to house the 2 HDD's. Also, if you think about it smaller cases are more often louder....they heat up faster, as there's less space on the inside, and thus require more exhaust. It'd be on the desk, closer to the ear, so once again, more sound.

I might take out some of the fans though and just run the single in the back, and perhaps one up front. I think all that's really needed these days is a single case fan anyway for exhaust.

I'm no really looking for completely quiet in all conditions, just in most. The video card I chose does have a silent mode, and the PSU listed is fanless Overclocking is still absolutely possible. It doesn't really make things louder.

Another room isn't an option, as that just adds way too much hassle, complexity and I don't want cables all over the apartment.

Haha, that looks like a pretty sweet case though. Interesting design!