silence optimized cases (AU)

[kanjo]

my questions are many (so be prepared) 
 

im looking to build my first tower PC (first built by me not first tower owned) 
going to sell my laptop and put some money together to get it done. 

 

so my aim is to build the most silent PC i can BUT while offering enough cooling performance to not explode in that type of heat if i need to get on and google some stuff...and maybe game... yes i know that doesnt happen a lot but if i want to shell out big money for a pc i dont want to melt my components. 

I live in Australia, great country but we get absolutely ripped on the price of most components, even when ordering from the US most times because shipping ends up costing an arm and a leg IF stores even ship here then you need to route through a mail forwarding company which just ads more cost so not ideal. also being from Australia we dont usually get many options to enjoy, like our US counter parts do. 

 

given i am from where i am i had to take into account a few things, 

weather in Melbourne is crazy, in a day it can go from freezing cold to warm and back to raining many many times a day (this happens more than you think) 

 

summers can be brutal. eg, today (friday jan 2nd) it was 40 degrees Celsius, which from memory is around 104 degrees Fahrenheit so it can get damn hot. for the past few months ive been doing my due diligence and have been keeping my eyes and ears on any and all reviews, overviews, news and build guides to ensure i have a better understand of what i am doing. 

 

i have gone back and fourth with the idea of water cooling (custom loop) which given the environment is the best option being that it is generally near silent and gives the best results for cooling. but, being my first build i dont want to spend that much time on doing it and there is a lot more involved in it that what you would think when you just look at a cool pc with hardline or soft tubing glowing all awesome colours and such. so at the moment i look to be settling on air + a closed loop cooler like the h100/10 from corsair or any other brand that i can find here that has proven to do well in regards to temps. the nepton 240 looked great but isnt on sale here or is and i have yet to find it other than on ebay for a crappy price. 


so this long as thread is only getting longer.... 

 

buying most if not all parts from here  http://cdn.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf 
so if anyone doesnt mind checking it out and giving me recommendations on other options that are available to me please do, eg, not a fan of the red black maximus boards so alternatives with decent features and good expandability?

 

 

so the cases and components i have been looking at are as follows, 

 

cases; 

define R5 (maybe 4?) 
NZXT h440 (cant find in AUS yet)  
and there were others that the names of which elude me at the moment. 
 

components; 

mobo - asus maximus VII hero (really dont like the black and red but there are not a whole lot of options for featured boards here.) 
CPU - i7 4790k 

GPU - gtx 970 G1 Gaming or Strix (hoping to add a second one later for more grunt when needed) 

RAM - 16gb Gskill Ripjaws 1600mhz or 2133mhz. whatever i find a deal on
PSU - looking for fully modular so ive checked out the corsair RM850 and CS850. though i assume 850 is overkill for this build given 970s are very efficient on power use

for the fans i want to replace all the fans with noctua NF-f12s for the rad (static presssure) 
and AF fans for the case. 

 

as for hdds i have some spares i will use for the time being and hoping to pick up an SSD soon when prices are better here. 

so my question is aside from the cons of the R5 that i have seen being that the top of the case with the moduvent covers once used for fans or a rad shoots the silence optimization to shit (according to what i have heard of people online)  
would it be recommended to mount a radiator (closed loop) in the bottom of the case as exhaust with fans between rad and case (pull technically?), and come up to the CPU, have two fans in the front as intakes and the rear 120mm as an exhaust?

to me it sounds like a good idea for the following reason, (feel free to correct me as i probably am wrong) 

two front mounted case fans pull air into the case and over the GPU,RAM and mobo,
CLC at the bottom pulling some of that fresh air from the front fans down through the RAD fins and out of the case, 
then the rear mounted exhaust fan to further ensure that some of the fresh air from the from fans is moving over the rest of the mobo and sucking the air the GPU will be kicking up out of the case. 

so is that logical or am i sounding like a bumbling moron?

i ask this because the R5 is easy to come by where i am and aside from the moduvents seems pretty good an option for silence optimised and should allow me the space to go full custom water cooling in the future when im more comfortable with it. though i am sure there are other options. if i remember correctly there is a BEQUIET case that is great for silence. i think linus actually used it for his ultimate silent gaming PC, 

 

so let the discussion begin, hopefully by the end of this i can be an expert on the pc i intend to build  

(just that pc not an expert at all pc's, that would be awesome though......) 

also attached the PDF from the link above for pricelists from MSY. 
 

 

PARTS.pdf

[Mao_Zedong]

I would get an r5, as it is the best silent case. The h440 is an option, but only if you like the looks a lot more. For the cpu cooler, I would get a dual tower air cooler like the noctua nh-d14 (there are many other options, but that is one of the better ones). 

[kanjo]

I would get an r5, as it is the best silent case. The h440 is an option, but only if you like the looks a lot more. For the cpu cooler, I would get a dual tower air cooler like the noctua nh-d14 (there are many other options, but that is one of the better ones). 

i have checked out the d14 but i am looking to over clock the components in the future so rather than have to go out and buy the rad and stuff later i would rather get it out of the way in one shot while i have the money for it. 

not a huge fan of the h440's looks and ideally will be getting a case without a side panel window to help keep it as silent as possible. also it isnt readily available in AUS unless ebay inwhich case i will most likely get ripped off because ebay australia is pretty much useless for PC parts other than used ones. 

[Mao_Zedong]

i have checked out the d14 but i am looking to over clock the components in the future so rather than have to go out and buy the rad and stuff later i would rather get it out of the way in one shot while i have the money for it. 

not a huge fan of the h440's looks and ideally will be getting a case without a side panel window to help keep it as silent as possible. also it isnt readily available in AUS unless ebay inwhich case i will most likely get ripped off because ebay australia is pretty much useless for PC parts other than used ones. 

You can overclock with the nh-d14, it will perform better than most AIOs (all in one liquid cooler). This graph shows it beating multiple liquid coolers including the corsair h100i. The number 1 performer is the nh-d15, and number 4 is the nh-d14

[kanjo]

i know i can but i was hoping to keep the entire system running cooler so i figured that the best way to do that is with a rad being that instead of the fins of say a d14 or 212evo dont emit the heat directly around the centre of the mother board inturn raising the temps of the nearby components. my theory on it is that by have the CPU watercooled by a closed loop cooler it will take that residual heat off the block and to the rad (well duh Einstein, tell us something we dont know). keeping it further away from the GPU and ram to help keep those temps as low as possible without going over the top on elaborate cooling methods. like watercooling ram lol. 

though the d14/15 are options i have considered but i am trying to ensure that when summer hits like it is now that the pc will still remain in a great temp bracket. god damn 40 degree heat....

[kanjo]

here is a basic over view of what im thinking. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CyCXdC
though it mentioned a compatibility issue with the ram. that it runs at 1.6v and haswell refresh has a max of 1.5v for the ram. though i have seen plenty of build guides with this memory kit online....i wonder if i confused it with x99 (the builds that is) though im almost certain ive seen many 4790k builds with ripjaws at 2133mhz and even 2400 ... 


edit. changed ripjaws X to ripjaws Z and compatibility issue msg is gone now. so things are looking good

[Monkey Dust]

If you use a 240 rad you'll have mount it in the roof, removing the sound deadened covers, compromising the case's silent credentials. A large air cooler orientated with the fans blowing towards the case's rear exhaust fan, shouldn't heat the rest of the motherboard components too much. Though with a large air cooler you'll probably need low profile RAM, and it may interfere with cards in the top PCI slot, so a Motherboard with a 1x PCI-e slot in the uppermost position and the 16x one second from top would make your life easier.

 

A reference cooler on the 970 would help keep everything else a bit cooler too.

[kanjo]

If you use a 240 rad you'll have mount it in the roof, removing the sound deadened covers, compromising the case's silent credentials. A large air cooler orientated with the fans blowing towards the case's rear exhaust fan, shouldn't heat the rest of the motherboard components too much. Though with a large air cooler you'll probably need low profile RAM, and it may interfere with cards in the top PCI slot, so a Motherboard with a 1x PCI-e slot in the uppermost position and the 16x one second from top would make your life easier.

 

A reference cooler on the 970 would help keep everything else a bit cooler too.

yeah i have been looking into that. i cant have it in the bottom of the case as someone mentioned having the pump higher than the res or in this case rad. is bad for flow and could cause problems. and top mounting as you said does kill the sound damping of the case so i would rather not put them there becaise that would defeat the purpose of a silent case/build. sort of. 

as for the mobo im still checking out other options the maximus is somewhat of a place holder until i find something more suited. though it does have the 1st pci slot as a 1x then the 16x slot beneath that. and by reference cooler you mean the nvidia design with the blower/exhaust style cooling? that would be good but i dont think you can even find those in aus or at least not easily. which sucks...

been toying with the idea of front mounting the rad but then that would be the same as top mounting as far as sound dampening wouldnt it? 

and further i dont think running a rad at the front of the case, fans on the front in pull to bring air in the front through the fins and into the case would be good. i may be wrong though. seems like doing it that way would kill bringing fresh air into the case unless i use the bottom fan slots to intake clean air but that would result in bad airflow/pressure wouldnt it? at least it sounds like it would when i think about it. that would leave only the rear 120/40 as an exhaust which i assume isnt enough and isnt good

 

[Monkey Dust]

Having the rad in the front and sucking air in through the front would blow all the heat from your CPU back into the case, not ideal. Or you could mount the rad in the front, and exhaust air out through the front, using the bottom fan mount and the rear fan as intakes, but I'd worry about getting fresh air to the GPU, and you'd ideally have to rig up a dust filter for the rear fan.

 

You could build the system with the stock cooler, then compare the noise with and without the vents in place, then decide whether you want a rad in the roof. If you decide against the roof mount option, there are 140mm AIO coolers such as the Corsair H90 which would go in the rear fan mount. It still probably won't be as cool as the Noctura NH-D14 (the 120 mm H80 is 7 degrees warmer at max speed according to the table posted above) but won't have some of the drawbacks of large air coolers, mostly access to the RAM slots and the max height of RAM you can use.

 

The reference/exhaust vs non-reference coolers was covered in a recent vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAKyh-qqQCw If your just using one card you'll be fine, but if you're worried about temps every little helps.

[Charezon]

If I could put forward a recommendation for cases it would be the Antec Performance One series

 

http://www.antec.com/product.php?Family=5022020

 

Excellent build quality, good cooling, very quiet.  Definitely worth a look.

[snert98]

maybe the be quiet silent base thing is an option

[kanjo]

Having the rad in the front and sucking air in through the front would blow all the heat from your CPU back into the case, not ideal. Or you could mount the rad in the front, and exhaust air out through the front, using the bottom fan mount and the rear fan as intakes, but I'd worry about getting fresh air to the GPU, and you'd ideally have to rig up a dust filter for the rear fan.

 

You could build the system with the stock cooler, then compare the noise with and without the vents in place, then decide whether you want a rad in the roof. If you decide against the roof mount option, there are 140mm AIO coolers such as the Corsair H90 which would go in the rear fan mount. It still probably won't be as cool as the Noctura NH-D14 (the 120 mm H80 is 7 degrees warmer at max speed according to the table posted above) but won't have some of the drawbacks of large air coolers, mostly access to the RAM slots and the max height of RAM you can use.

 

The reference/exhaust vs non-reference coolers was covered in a recent vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAKyh-qqQCw If your just using one card you'll be fine, but if you're worried about temps every little helps.

that is also an option to check it with the stock cooler and go from there. the n14/15 looks like a great option i will just have to check how it will go for ram clearance. i am just aiming to keep the temps somewhere comfortable, itll prevent thermal throttling which is always a plus and keep the life of the gpu long rather then burning up and dying quick. hoping to keep this pc for a while once its built and upgrade as time goes on with small improvements like a second gpu when needed, OC-ing ect.

 

If I could put forward a recommendation for cases it would be the Antec Performance One series

 

http://www.antec.com/product.php?Family=5022020

 

Excellent build quality, good cooling, very quiet.  Definitely worth a look.

the link didnt work for me just took me to a blank antec page. and i dont see it available here in aus...more stuff we miss out on sadly. 

 

maybe the be quiet silent base thing is an option

as far as i know the silent base is exclusive to ncix for a little while and then i doubt it will be available here as i dont see any retailers here stocking any of bequiets products. 

 

also for refrence here is a link to the parts list for the store i will mainly be shopping at. 

http://cdn.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf  - MSY computers 

 

other options for stores are 

PC case gear and scorptec computers those are pretty much the only options in AU other than using ebay or buying online from the US - though postage from the US to here is usually spastic high and tends to defeat the purpose of buying online and then most companies wont honour the warranty unless i pay to ship it back to the states then wait weeks ect which isnt ideal. though i heard gigabyte offer worldwide warranties on most of their products. dont know if that is true or not though, 

[kanjo]

right after i posted that i went back to PCCG and scorptec and found a ass load more case options. prices arent as good as in the US but we dont have a market near as large so yeah economics WOO! 

 

also i did find the bequiet base on their site somehow.. figure theyre just buying them in bulk from them and adding markup. will look into this more 

[kanjo]

question, 

if i were to go with either the h440, silent base or R5 (this question is mainly aimed at the 440 and SB) being that the air intake cutouts are very limited would it be better to use air flow fans, or static pressure fans to try and pull and push more air in.

 

from my thinking the SP fans might be a better option for cases like these given on the 440 and SB there is only front intake slots that are thin and go up the side of the panel. so SP fans might be better suited to pull air in from the front. or is that just completely wrong and the idea of the static pressure fans is that the benefit of SP fans is only applied when it is pressed up against something like a RAD or CPU heatsink? 

just something i was wondering. i will do some searching and see if its already been answered because it highly possible someone has asked if it is better to use SP fans on a case that has limited airflow. i feel like ive answered my own question but its better to ask and be sure than to wonder and be wrong

 

 

--edit-- 

i didn't realize my consecutive posts were stacking. ive been spoilt by other forums where if i was the last one to post a comment and i returned and posted one it would just add it to the previous one automatically as an edit. and there is no option to delete or merge them together. maybe a mod can merge them if they spot this? if not hopefully no-one gets the shits with me. 

[Rebelattack]

Having the rad in the front and sucking air in through the front would blow all the heat from your CPU back into the case, not ideal. Or you could mount the rad in the front, and exhaust air out through the front, using the bottom fan mount and the rear fan as intakes, but I'd worry about getting fresh air to the GPU, and you'd ideally have to rig up a dust filter for the rear fan.

 

You could build the system with the stock cooler, then compare the noise with and without the vents in place, then decide whether you want a rad in the roof. If you decide against the roof mount option, there are 140mm AIO coolers such as the Corsair H90 which would go in the rear fan mount. It still probably won't be as cool as the Noctura NH-D14 (the 120 mm H80 is 7 degrees warmer at max speed according to the table posted above) but won't have some of the drawbacks of large air coolers, mostly access to the RAM slots and the max height of RAM you can use.

 

The reference/exhaust vs non-reference coolers was covered in a recent vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAKyh-qqQCw If your just using one card you'll be fine, but if you're worried about temps every little helps.

 

Don't know what case we are talking about by now but the H440 does not have a bottom fan it is for the PSU so that you can mount the PSU with the fan downwards to create a closed loop for it. The H440 also supports a 360 Rad at max in the top and you don't have to remove the top panels.

[kanjo]

Don't know what case we are talking about by now but the H440 does not have a bottom fan it is for the PSU so that you can mount the PSU with the fan downwards to create a closed loop for it. The H440 also supports a 360 Rad at max in the top and you don't have to remove the top panels.

when i wrote that it was focussed on the define R5. though now i am looking towards ditching the idea of the closed loop cooler and going with a noctua d14 or 15. so creating positive air flow will be a lot easier on almost any case. 

 

fans in the front as intakes, using a d14 or 15, aim fans to push air through the fins towards a rear exhaust fan. 

like you mentioned and others above. LTT forums + google = i know more about what i am doing now. a little more. getting there though