First time build(er)

[Astrosyn]

Hi there,

 

 

as the title says I'm building a PC for the first time and would appreciate some help/feedback on the configuration below. Before I get to the actual build let me share few words about myself so you'll get the idea who you're dealing with. I can say that at least for the last 10 years I've been ignoring what's going on the pc market. To this day I owned three PCs and neither was really great even for the time being (started with ye old 486 (rocking at 100 mhz and 16 Mb rams, oh yeah), stepping up to 1000 MHz and currently I'm "stuck" with Pentium dual core 940 (don't bother looking up, it's old and crappy). I'm not really tech savy (but after finding Linus's channel in the last three months I gained some confidance), my greatest "achivment" was installing CD-rom unit back in the old days.. was pretty proud of that back than.

I'm pretty annoyed with my current PC, it's crappy, outdated and struggles with everday stuff. I'm not even thinking about gaming unless the game is 10 years old. But what bothers me the most is the noise/loudness.. it's not acceptable anymore (I can hear it in the next room or even next two rooms..).

 

 

Sooo, I decided to step up to the big boys league and build my first PC. I have two goals for building this PC. One is longevity of the system and the other one is silence. I think this can be seen in the choice of components. I was aiming for the components that received good reviews and were labeled as quiet. Even though there are components that may be a bit overkill for the time being and my current actual needs (although I do plan to play Witcher 3 as well as some new upcoming titles) I plan to have this PC for the next, let's say 3-4 years without having to worry about replacing anything.

I think I blabbered long enough so here's my target build:

 

 

GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Gaming X 8G

CPU: i7 6700K (although overclocking is not my priority atm, I plan to do it in future if required, or I'm choosing K version over non K simply due to potential resell value)

CPU cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3

Motherboard: MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon Intel Z170

Storage: 500GB Samsung 850 Evo 2.5 Sata (I might get another 500 gb, just for additional storage/backup)

Memory: Patriot VIPER 4 Series 3000MHz (PC4 24000) 16GB Quad Channel DDR4 Kit

Power supply: 750 watt be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 - How much of an overkill is it comparing to 650 watt counterpart? Even with (maybe, just maybe) getting 2nd GPU for SLI?

Case: be quiet! Dark Base 900 (it comes with 3 additional case fans)

 

 

Since it's my first time build I'd like to know whether I'm missing something obvious. Are components compatible with each other? Any nonsense in this build?

I do realize I could get some components cheaper (like case (which really has a beastly price), cpu cooler and PSU), but I'm intentionally spending extra money just for that sweet silence - or at least so say the reviews. Budget is not really an issue but I try to be somewhat reasonable with the choices. Just for the record I'm from Europe.

 

 

Many thanks to you all.

 

 

Oh and perhaps once more thing, since I've been so long out of the "game". To my understanding this should be more of a 4k build, but will it really last for 3-4 years to come or should I just purchase a 1440 monitor and call it a day? (I would like a 4k though )

[Mike Soda]

If you can come to the decision that you never want SLI, then a 550W PSU will be fine even for a GTX 1080. Otherwise a 650 but probably no higher than a 750 would be more than enough. Personally I'd go with a different brand for PSU & CPU cooler, such as EVGA G2 & Cooler Master Hyper 212x.

[Astrosyn]

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Any partiuclar reason why not be quiet brand? I am aiming for quiet components, but if there are practical reasons (or een financial ratio performance/price/silence) then I could take it into consideration.

Without looking at the reviews now, are " EVGA G2 & Cooler Master Hyper 212x " considered quiet?

[Mike Soda]

9 minutes ago, Astrosyn said:

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Any partiuclar reason why not be quiet brand? I am aiming for quiet components, but if there are practical reasons than I could take it into consideration.

Without looking at the reviews now, are " EVGA G2 & Cooler Master Hyper 212x " considered quiet?

Although I'm gonna double check right now, I'm pretty sure someone from Linus Media Group reviewed a Be Quiet CPU cooler & in their opinion it wasn't that great. The G2 PSU's & especially the GS & GQ series are optimized for silence in terms of when their fans spin up at varying loads. Another aspect to consider is maybe going with a way overpowered PSU. Since just about any brand in the 1,000W+ range will never reach load, thus the fan will never need to turn on. Below I've linked the review of Linus reviewing that CPU cooler. Initially one thing I can see EVGA's PSU's have on Be Quiet are warranty, 7 years vs 5. One final thing to consider is the type of fan bearings used, go for double-ball bearing, so far I can't see any mention of what Be Quiet uses.

 

 

[Snipeon]

Bro, I may not have done my research on any of those components, but just because the brand says quiet does not mean that it is quiet. Check out acoustic reviews on both of the components and look for complaints regarding coil whine...

 

On a side note, moving air has always been a noisy thing. Even the GPU you're looking at is pretty noisy when ramped up. I would suggest looking into acoustic foam or an equivalent, but note that cooling capability would definitely be traded off in exchange for silence.

 

Also, you may wanna consider water cooling or sticking corsair's maglev fans into your system. Though I can't say they would be cheap...

[Snipeon]

No I didn't watch the video, but if it rocks your boat then all is fine. Though u still may wanna do more research as to whether it is as quiet as the video portrays. Real life performance and videos don't always show the same results...

 

In the end, choose whatever rocks your boat, but don't let one video or review lock up all your choices.

[Astrosyn]

Well, I made some research on compatibility of Dark Rock pro 3 CPU cooler and the MSI Z170A Gaming  motherboard and it seems that although it should work, everything is not perfect according to this (check the last comment): http://www.be-quiet.net/forum/showthread.php?1402-Dark-Rock-Pro-3-LGA-1151&langid=2

 

Every single user of Dark rock mentioned mounting is a nightmare. Personally that doesn't bother me that much.. I plan to do it once and then leave it be. However looking at few comments that are available for the MSI Z170 board and dark rock combo seems like they are not really perfect for each other. Which sort of saddens me since I like the look of the dark rock and performance also seems to be really great.

 

With above in mind I am more leaning towards Noctua NH D15 that everybdoy seem to trust and like. But oh god why did they choose this color combo of "poop brown and vomit tan". I know there are industrial ppc fans with different colors but reviews say they are quite a bit louder and you would need to toy with some setting to get them to lower rpm (and I'm not looking forward to that).

[Astrosyn]

Let me just conclude this topic by saying it's been about thre weeks since me and my more IT keen buddy built a PC and it's a beast in all aspects and most importantly it's quiet, dead quiet, like literally I can't hear it, not even under full load (eg playing games). Very pleased all in all so thank you for all you helpfull tips.

 

And just for reference this is the final build:

 

GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Gaming X 8G

CPU: i7 6700K

CPU cooler: Noctua NH D15

Motherboard: MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon Intel Z170

Storage: 500GB Samsung 850 Evo 2.5 Sata

Memory: Patriot VIPER 4 Series 3000MHz (PC4 24000) 16GB Quad Channel DDR4 Kit

Power supply: 750 watt be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11

Case: be quiet! Dark Base 900

 

ps: gosh darn it, now I need to also upgrade my monitor and there really are only 2 options on the market for the 1440p, 27', G-Sync monitor and the prices are ridiculus  -.-'