Project Simple, Quiet and Sexy

[nmxdaven]

Hey all,

 

So after years of running large sli setups I’ve decided to make a change. I want something small, sexy, dead quiet and easy to do quick upgrades. After allot of thinking I decided on a game plan.

 

I sold my 970’s to recoup some money, and purchased a 980 sc 2.0. Say what you want about it, but the same cooler on my 970’s did an awesome job and I love that the fans turn off.

 

My second purchase was a caselabs s5. I’ve always wanted a caselabs case, and the s5 is the perfect guy for this job. Small, one of the best looking cases on the market, and great quality. I went with the standard window and ventilation on the two doors, a 120.2 mount for the front flex bay, and a 140.2 mount for the roof. All in Black and with the HD casters. The only thing that kills me is the wait time. 4-5 weeks right now….

At the same time I picked up some DEMCiflex filters for it, and an adjustable LGB light strip for just a tiny bit of bling.

 

I also got a second 500gb Samsung evo. All the other parts are from my existing build. So its currently looking like this.

Case: Caselabs s5

CPU: 4790k @ 4.8

GPU: 980 SC

MB: Gaming 5 MATX 97

RAM: 16gbVengeance 2400

PSU: 850 XFX Pro

 

My current issues are this:

1. I’m currently running a Noctua NH-D14. I really don’t want to go watercooling with this build. I’ve had plenty of water-cooled loops in the past. I wanted to spec out the case to handle it, but don’t necessarily WANT to do it. It currently keeps the cpu very cool. I even have the fans off until it hits 50c. Hopefully the new case will be able to run it in this configuration. The plan is to have noctua 120 x 2 in the front, and 1 120 in the rear running off a fan controller. I’m going to a much smaller amount of airflow, so hopefully it will keep up.
2. Kind of worried about the drop in gaming performance. I’m taking a pretty big hit going to a single 980 and it’s the first time I’ve run a single GPU in quite a while. The SLI setup already had a tough time taking on some games at 1440 with everything turned up + AA. I'm going to have to adjust some things down. Not sure how much I will like that.
3. Really considering changing out the XFX power supply.  While its great, it is pretty audible. I hate to throw away money, but it might be what keeps me from having a totally silent at idle system.
4. Debating on running the two evo's in raid 1, or keeping them seperate. I just HATE reinstalling a OS.

 

Other than that I guess its just time to wait on parts to come in.

[Kyuubixchidori]

I actually have a Noctua NH-C14, and a 750ti, and noctua 80MM case fans. yours is quite a bit more high end in the gaming side of things. But I love the movement to a silent system. My evga B2 gold is the loudest component besides when my hard drive turns on. 

 

I have a old green drive laying around, and those are great because I keep my games on it, so the only time the drive is actually spinning is when games are running. I have a sabertooth mobo, and with it I have all the fans set on their own curves. my cpu doesnt hit 45*C, and my 750ti doesnt hit 55*C. all while being dead silent, my case fans dont even kick in half the time playing GTA 5, and it still keeps those temps. and when they do, they make literally no noise. 

 

I literally cant hear my pc sitting at my desk. Best decision I made. You will love your system. 

 

 

what monitors are you running? you might not miss out on much. and for the power supply, just sell it and pick up another one. Im considering it lol. 

[nmxdaven]

I actually have a Noctua NH-C14, and a 750ti, and noctua 80MM case fans. yours is quite a bit more high end in the gaming side of things. But I love the movement to a silent system. My evga B2 gold is the loudest component besides when my hard drive turns on. 

 

I have a old green drive laying around, and those are great because I keep my games on it, so the only time the drive is actually spinning is when games are running. I have a sabertooth mobo, and with it I have all the fans set on their own curves. my cpu doesnt hit 45*C, and my 750ti doesnt hit 55*C. all while being dead silent, my case fans dont even kick in half the time playing GTA 5, and it still keeps those temps. and when they do, they make literally no noise. 

 

I literally cant hear my pc sitting at my desk. Best decision I made. You will love your system. 

 

 

what monitors are you running? you might not miss out on much. and for the power supply, just sell it and pick up another one. Im considering it lol. 

 

I'm just running a  single 1440 Benq BL3200. Its a 32" pannel. I know a few games are going to have issues. Some were already dipping into the mid 50's. I'm going to have to turn a few things down. I almost thought about cashing out some of my credit card reward points and going titan, but its just so hard to justify that much money on a card.

 

Yea I'm really looking forward to the change. I was running some pretty loud fans in the existing build. My plan is to put the noctuas on my NZXT cam controller and basing it off of GPU temp. It only goes down to 40% as its lowest setting, but it should be silent at that point.

 

Yea I'm looking at the coolermaster v1000. The more I think about it the more I think I need to change it. The old case is currently empty, no graphics cards, no case fans, and the cpu cooler not spinning and I can still hear a faint hum.

[Kyuubixchidori]

I'm just running a  single 1440 Benq BL3200. Its a 32" pannel. I know a few games are going to have issues. Some were already dipping into the mid 50's. I'm going to have to turn a few things down. I almost thought about cashing out some of my credit card reward points and going titan, but its just so hard to justify that much money on a card.

 

Yea I'm really looking forward to the change. I was running some pretty loud fans in the existing build. My plan is to put the noctuas on my NZXT cam controller and basing it off of GPU temp. It only goes down to 40% as its lowest setting, but it should be silent at that point.

 

Yea I'm looking at the coolermaster v1000. The more I think about it the more I think I need to change it. The old case is currently empty, no graphics cards, no case fans, and the cpu cooler not spinning and I can still hear a faint hum.

noctuas are near silent at 40%. even at 80mm, and Im assuming yours will be larger. Its so nice though, at idle, my cpu fan is sitting at 250RPM. and thats it. I bought this PC used, if it was my my money, I would never of dropped over 120$ in a cpu cooler and 2 fans, or 250$ on a mobo. but this guy did, and Im extremely thankful for it. 

 

 

Theres some power supplies that the fan only turns on under load. may want to look into those. 

[nmxdaven]

A few pics of the current setup before new stuff starts ariving....

 

The outgoing 970's....

 

 

 

 

I loved this case, but I will happily see it thrown to the curb when the S5 shows up... :lol:

[nmxdaven]

Updates:

 

Decided what I'm going to do with the PSU. I'm just going to mod it with a noctua 120mm and anti vibration mounts. Seems pointless to sell this one and buy another. Kind of makes me mad that the later 850 pro comes with a switching fan. I guess I got an early revision.

 

Also ordered a t-balancer this morning. I really like the idea of case fans not spinning at all when the system is idle. I'll use the temp probs on the GPU headsink and maybe the cpu sink so fans come online when the system is under load. It spends allot of time at idle, so not having to clean dust out as often will be nice.

 

New parts start showing up tomorrow.

[nmxdaven]

Got some peices of the puzzle today...

 

 

 

 

So far the card seems great. I think I got so used to some form of micro stutter that I forgot how smooth a single card is.

[nmxdaven]

Got some more parts in.

 

 

I know what your thinking. "Oh my God! A red and black build how unique!"

 

Ordered a EVGA 1050GS PSU and another 500 gb evo.

 

Also made a few changes to the case while its still doable. Changed the front fan/rad mount to 140.2 from 120.2 and added a PSU brace and some more flex bay mounting items. I think KC is sick of hearing from me, but if he didnt want to change my mind so often he could just go ahead and ship my case.

[nmxdaven]

Got this sexy guy in on Monday, along with the other ssd and some misc parts.




Changed the s5 to a xl window on the left, and a standard on the right. I ended up with 5$ credit. As a good American, I tried to bribe KC to get my case out sooner. Unfortunately it didn't work.
 

Haha, I appreciate the light hearted attempt, but unfortunately bribery will not result in your order being expedited. With that being said, If your order can be completed prior to the scheduled shipping date, we will have your order shipped at  the earliest date possible.

[Gilbert]

What case is the one you're using before the S5?

[nmxdaven]

The Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 from a previous build. Pretty good case, just never cared too much for its looks.

[nmxdaven]

So my case arrives tomorrow.

 

Am I excited? Not really. Havnt even thought about it much....

 

 

 

 

 

[nmxdaven]

Done!

 

The case was more than I expected. Amazing quality and a pleasure to build in.

 

More pictures coming when I get some time to do it properly!

 

 

 

[asusfan]

This is looking nice and love the case, it suits it well and nice to see a horizontal layout.

 

its almost like m-ATX and m-itx is the way to go if you want a smaller home computer, only if you want multiple graphics cards and ultra gaming or workstation do you really need a ATX rig now, so good job on not been too common and going for something different.