Updates at the bottom!
I'm trying to put together a 4k-capable gaming machine, that has living-room compliance, as well as reasonably low maintenance (Fans every three years is about as far as I'd go).
I'll be shipping stuff to Germany, where pcpartpicker sadly isn't doing a great job at crawling the marketplace. skinflint/geizhals is where I get my info. I'm currently aiming at 2500 euros (yeah, I don't know how that happened).
Current thoughts:
I'm very much case-driven since looks and noise are the two main drivers of making the machine living-room compliant. Black is the new beige for me, so one of the cases, that I would have almost bought - but then all stock disappeared, was Lian Li's PC-V320A.
The machine will be very much on display, so excessive blinking lights are a no-go. Windows are also not desirable, since mainboards usually have some debug lights on them. Finally, glass/plastic is probably worse than aluminium for side panels, as it provides good thermal insulation, but only middling noise isolation.
I'm not strapped for room, so a DAN-case A4 wouldn't be much different from a Streamcom DA-2. I do think that a stackable formfactor (e.g. Silverstone FTZ, or the mentioned Lian-Li) makes everything easier, cubes (looking at some Raijintek cases) are also an option. Classic tower cases are pretty much out. Also: no 5.25 slots, except slot-ins. I've got a slot-in drive that I could re-use if I were so inclined, but I don't plan on needing a drive, ever.
As you can see, paying 400 euros for a case (with PSU and fan-markup) isn't completely out of the question - but where I've been struggling has been thermal performance.
My current leading case is the Raijintek Metis Evo ALS - I'm hoping that a 1080 Super with 120mm AIO-watercooling will fit, as well as a 120mm tower cooler, and a 120 mm PSU.
Avoiding PCIe-cables is a plus, as stability is an issue with those.
Case availability is also an issue, something like the Loque Ghost, with no known release date in the EU is pretty much a mood killer.
Storage-wise I'm looking to go M.2-only, my last few builds where a mix of Intel 660 @2TB and Samsung 970 evo @1TB. mostly to have some space for the OS, and not having to worry too much about the games library. Media/user profiles will be sourced from a 10G-capable NAS, so the only thing spinning in the case, will be fans
Mainboard-wise, I'm looking at 64-Gig RAM capability with little overclocking, as well as having compatibility with the case regarding USB front-panel connection. I'd try to avoid an adapter. If I find a suitable µATX-case, then I should be good to go with a 4-slot config, an ITX board would have to support 32GB DIMMs.
Why so much RAM? Sure those SSDs are fast, but having a bit of cache-headroom is crucial. Also, I've always built my computers with what at the time would be called "too much RAM", and never had to worry about running out. Tabbing between 2 Games running at the same time? Why not
On-board bluetooth is a plus, as I'm looking to use BT game controllers, mice, keyboards and headphones.
GPU: no preference, it has to push 4K at reasonable FPS in modern-ish games, while not being too hot/loud, so that's why the 2080 super with AIOs look like the way to go, if the case allows for it. With smaller cases, I'd often be limited to dual slots, and I don't think you can keep 250W at full chat reasonably cooled with just 2 <100mm fans. Especially with the undirected airflow, that most cards have.
CPU is samey - for smaller cases, I'd be probably looking at <70W CPUs, with a good turbo capability, but 6-8 threads and high clock is probably still where it is, with gaming CPUs. I'm trying to keep CPU price below 500 euros, or the overall budget will be hard to keep under control. Ryzen or whatever Intel can get working in the next quarter are fine by me.
I'm targeting a peak system power of around 400W, so the PSU should be somewhere in the 500-600W range, with the highest possible efficiency, so it won't significantly add to the clamor at full load.
I'd preferably buy new, hardware, but the right case would work used as well.
Noise goals are no noise at idle, unless you put your ear into the fanway
But the trouble comes under load, where it really should try to be as silent as possible, without having to do a custom loop, which would kill the low maintenance requirement. I think directed airflow really helps with this, as well as putting noisy components away from openings - another argument against tiny cases, which often just put the GPU fans right to an unfiltered mess of slots/holes to get cooling. I can't see how that works out. Incidentally, none of the youtube builds that I have found so far, where 2080s where put into small cases gave any impression of the amount of noise coming from the case under significant loads.
I'd really appreciate any experience with speccing similar builds. The goal here isn't to build a console replacement, but rather something that is better in every way: Looks, performance and noise.
-----------------------------------
[Update 1]: Parts are ordered, build documentation will follow.
[Update 2:] It is done.
I'm trying to put together a 4k-capable gaming machine, that has living-room compliance, as well as reasonably low maintenance (Fans every three years is about as far as I'd go).
I'll be shipping stuff to Germany, where pcpartpicker sadly isn't doing a great job at crawling the marketplace. skinflint/geizhals is where I get my info. I'm currently aiming at 2500 euros (yeah, I don't know how that happened).
Current thoughts:
I'm very much case-driven since looks and noise are the two main drivers of making the machine living-room compliant. Black is the new beige for me, so one of the cases, that I would have almost bought - but then all stock disappeared, was Lian Li's PC-V320A.
The machine will be very much on display, so excessive blinking lights are a no-go. Windows are also not desirable, since mainboards usually have some debug lights on them. Finally, glass/plastic is probably worse than aluminium for side panels, as it provides good thermal insulation, but only middling noise isolation.
I'm not strapped for room, so a DAN-case A4 wouldn't be much different from a Streamcom DA-2. I do think that a stackable formfactor (e.g. Silverstone FTZ, or the mentioned Lian-Li) makes everything easier, cubes (looking at some Raijintek cases) are also an option. Classic tower cases are pretty much out. Also: no 5.25 slots, except slot-ins. I've got a slot-in drive that I could re-use if I were so inclined, but I don't plan on needing a drive, ever.
As you can see, paying 400 euros for a case (with PSU and fan-markup) isn't completely out of the question - but where I've been struggling has been thermal performance.
My current leading case is the Raijintek Metis Evo ALS - I'm hoping that a 1080 Super with 120mm AIO-watercooling will fit, as well as a 120mm tower cooler, and a 120 mm PSU.
Avoiding PCIe-cables is a plus, as stability is an issue with those.
Case availability is also an issue, something like the Loque Ghost, with no known release date in the EU is pretty much a mood killer.
Storage-wise I'm looking to go M.2-only, my last few builds where a mix of Intel 660 @2TB and Samsung 970 evo @1TB. mostly to have some space for the OS, and not having to worry too much about the games library. Media/user profiles will be sourced from a 10G-capable NAS, so the only thing spinning in the case, will be fans
Mainboard-wise, I'm looking at 64-Gig RAM capability with little overclocking, as well as having compatibility with the case regarding USB front-panel connection. I'd try to avoid an adapter. If I find a suitable µATX-case, then I should be good to go with a 4-slot config, an ITX board would have to support 32GB DIMMs.
Why so much RAM? Sure those SSDs are fast, but having a bit of cache-headroom is crucial. Also, I've always built my computers with what at the time would be called "too much RAM", and never had to worry about running out. Tabbing between 2 Games running at the same time? Why not
On-board bluetooth is a plus, as I'm looking to use BT game controllers, mice, keyboards and headphones.
GPU: no preference, it has to push 4K at reasonable FPS in modern-ish games, while not being too hot/loud, so that's why the 2080 super with AIOs look like the way to go, if the case allows for it. With smaller cases, I'd often be limited to dual slots, and I don't think you can keep 250W at full chat reasonably cooled with just 2 <100mm fans. Especially with the undirected airflow, that most cards have.
CPU is samey - for smaller cases, I'd be probably looking at <70W CPUs, with a good turbo capability, but 6-8 threads and high clock is probably still where it is, with gaming CPUs. I'm trying to keep CPU price below 500 euros, or the overall budget will be hard to keep under control. Ryzen or whatever Intel can get working in the next quarter are fine by me.
I'm targeting a peak system power of around 400W, so the PSU should be somewhere in the 500-600W range, with the highest possible efficiency, so it won't significantly add to the clamor at full load.
I'd preferably buy new, hardware, but the right case would work used as well.
Noise goals are no noise at idle, unless you put your ear into the fanway
But the trouble comes under load, where it really should try to be as silent as possible, without having to do a custom loop, which would kill the low maintenance requirement. I think directed airflow really helps with this, as well as putting noisy components away from openings - another argument against tiny cases, which often just put the GPU fans right to an unfiltered mess of slots/holes to get cooling. I can't see how that works out. Incidentally, none of the youtube builds that I have found so far, where 2080s where put into small cases gave any impression of the amount of noise coming from the case under significant loads.
I'd really appreciate any experience with speccing similar builds. The goal here isn't to build a console replacement, but rather something that is better in every way: Looks, performance and noise.
-----------------------------------
[Update 1]: Parts are ordered, build documentation will follow.
[Update 2:] It is done.
Last edited: