The Perfect Silent Gaming Machine.

[Vikendios]

I am a musician. Not Garage or Rap, more Brahms & Bach. And in my sound-proofed music room, I also like to play video games.
I demand a state-of-the-art picture so I use a Dell 30inch monitor with 2560 x 1600 definition. And I roam Tamriel listening to Beethoven, Clockwork Orange style, on audiophile speakers.

Needless to say the hiss from the black box would be intolerable. Until recently the only solution for ultra video settings and 60+ FPS was to confine the whizzing SLI'd brute to the next room, and thread the mouse, keyboard and monitor cables through a hole in the wall, itself well padded with cotton.

However when I decided to re-rig (as I do every three years), I looked into a silent machine I could live with in the same room, seriously simplifying cable threading, etc.

I believe I have achieved this, thanks to new trends in hardware :

1. The smaller and smaller engraving means the real stoves (CPU and GPU) are getting less power hungry.
2. The race for GPU power has stabilized, meaning a single GPU can handle nearly all games at high definition.
3. The games themselves are peaking in terms of hardware demands, as the Studios want to keep the modest rigs serviceable. No more Crysis..
4. SSD's have no moving parts.
5. Scandinavian, German and Austrian designers (Fractal, BeQuiet! Noctua) are now involved, minimalist Bauhaus people who believe that Style, Space and Silence are the ultimate luxuries in life.

So here is the project.Nothing OC'd, everything kept simple.

Case : Fractal R4
MB : Asus Z-97 A
CPU : i7 4790S (emphasis on "S")
CPU cooling : BeQuiet Dark Rock 3
PSU : Silverstone NightJar 520 (No fan !)
Case cooling : 2 Bequiet 140 mm Silent Wings
SSD : Samsung 850 Pro 1 Tera
DRAM : 2 x 1866 C9
GPU : 1 x GTX 980 (Generic, no OC)

Will my dream of silence come true ? I will tell you Jan 10.

 

[DSF]

I have a Fractal R4 and love it, but will it be completely inaudible during a gaming session with a top-tier video card pushed to the limit at 2560x1600?

Probably not.

I don't notice the noise at all while I'm gaming in headphones, but I imagine I would with speakers, especially as low as your noise tolerance seems to be. It's very noticeable when I take the headphones off after gaming as the machine cools itself back to idle (at which point it is essentially silent) but the question is whether sound effects/music through speakers would be enough to mask the noise.

Edit: Also, how much do you care about the graphics settings in your games?

 

[Vikendios]

Hi. You make good points.
I only play with headphones when PVP'g with my guild. In that case I route Beethoven (or other...) through the monitoring Sennheisers with low game audio and just enough TeamSpeak to have crisp conversations. In that case, of course, box noise is less of a problem.

Otherwise, I use my main audiophile set-up for music, and decent quality table speakers at low level for game audio, and that's when I want a basically silent rig.

Yes I like a great 2560 x 1600 picture, but I can turn off things like AA, or lower demands for non essentials such as shadows, water reflections, etc. I have tested the GTX 980 on my present rig (in lieu of 2 SLI 770) and it seems perfect, at least on TESO and DA Inquisition, my current plays.

My hope is to put at least every chance on my side, and the 980 fan will probably be the worst offender. I hope the case padding will take care of it. Any better ideas ?

 

[DigDog]

you must be a great guy to hang out with and drink martinis.

 

[escrow4]

you must be a great guy to hang out with and drink martinis.

I just had a random mental comparison of the way I live and I nearly put myself into a coma laughing.

OP, a reference any GPU is loud and hot. They are not built for silence. No high end GPU is. Then again my case has 8 fans and sounds like Stalingrad, so what do I know? :awe:

 

[Nhirlathothep]

i don t think any gtx 980 can be quieter than asus strix that turns off fans when not under load:

0dB Fan Technology

http://www.overclockers.com/asus-strix-gtx980-graphics-card-review

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/asus-strix-graphics-280x-780,26861.html

 

[mfenn]

Will my dream of silence come true ? I will tell you Jan 10.

I'm assuming this means you've already purchased the components?

"Silent" is a very high bar.

When gaming or under similar loads, the machine will definitely be clearly audible. Enough to disturb you? Maybe or maybe not. But it definitely won't be silent.

Your build will be quiet (maybe even functionally inaudible) when idle or under light loads (e.g. web browsing). Even then, it won't be silent.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

The stock 980 may be quiet, but it ain't silent. Go for an aftermarket one like the MSI or Strix if you can.

 

[denis280]

my friend just put is tower in the closet.it is cool and no more sound

 

[Vikendios]

I appreciate suggestions to look at Asus' Strix version of the 980, of which I was not aware. I will certainly try it if not satisfied with the reference 980 that I already own.

As for Dry Martini's, I did not know they existed in Scotland. Give me a good single malt everyday...

 

[Blain]

When you come posting "silent" here at the AT forums, we take that literally, since the subject has been thrashed heavily.
You will be much more satisfied if you lower your requirements to "very quiet".
You'll likely glean more by on the subject by reading information over at SilentPCReview

 

[Cerb]

CPU : i7 4790S (emphasis on "S")

K. Not S, not T, but K. You're getting a motherboard with options. Don't restrict those options by buying a crippled CPU.

GPU : 1 x GTX 980 (Generic, no OC)

Regardless, go non-generic, unless maybe you're doing a custom WC loop.

Will my dream of silence come true ? I will tell you Jan 10.

Not if you want it under load. The GPU will make sure of that, even if you can't hear the rest under load. They've got high-end GPUs down to whisper quiet, which is great for stock cooling, but that's still a constant motor/bearing/turbulence noise mix, under load. Find somewhere you c an put the PC so there is a wall between you and it, on top of making it a very quiet PC, will be the best way to achieve perceived silence, under load.

i don t think any gtx 980 can be quieter than asus strix that turns off fans when not under load

Like the MSI, eVGA, and Palit that do the same?

 

[Vikendios]

@cerb
If you read my original post, you know that the "beyond a wall" location is what I currently use.

I don't buy your recco for a "K". I will not overclock, my fanless PSU is limited to 500 W, and AnandTech Tests (they had a special on "S" chips a few weeks ago) show that they are ample for my gaming, which is GPU - bound. I will not use any motherboard options other than the obvious XMP. I bought that one for quality, not features.

Let me rephrase : I am trying to build the quietest possible simple rig that will drive a good picture at 2650 x 1600. Have I chosen the best parts available today ? That is the question.

I had one good suggestion : the ASUS Strix 980. Thanks, Nhirlathothep. Will do.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

To be fair you could buy a k and then undervolt/underclock it or even limit it's TDP to whatever you want. My overclocked 4670k only uses like 60w max anyways.

 

[Cerb]

I don't buy your recco for a "K". I will not overclock, my fanless PSU is limited to 500 W, and AnandTech Tests (they had a special on "S" chips a few weeks ago) show that they are ample for my gaming, which is GPU - bound. I will not use any motherboard options other than the obvious XMP. I bought that one for quality, not features.

Let me rephrase : I am trying to build the quietest possible simple rig that will drive a good picture at 2650 x 1600. Have I chosen the best parts available today ? That is the question.

No, because the best CPU in that price bracket is the i7-4790K, not the i7-4790, i7-4790S, or i7-4790T, at stock speeds (choosing the K here has nothing to do with overclocking). You do nothing but limit yourself by buying a non-K i7 on LGA1150, not being a system integrator. The same motherboard options usable for overclockers needing higher power limits can be used to make your CPU operate at lower power limits. If you're GPU bound and not worried about CPU performance, why not step down to the i5-4590, or go in the middle with a E3-1231V3? If choosing an i7, get the one that has something going for it.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

@cerb

I don't buy your recco for a "K". I will not overclock, my fanless PSU is limited to 500 W, and AnandTech Tests (they had a special on "S" chips a few weeks ago) show that they are ample for my gaming, which is GPU - bound. I will not use any motherboard options other than the obvious XMP. I bought that one for quality, not features.

Let me rephrase : I am trying to build the quietest possible simple rig that will drive a good picture at 2650 x 1600. Have I chosen the best parts available today ? That is the question.

No you have not chosen the best parts IMHO. Cerb is corect that the 4790k is the best part. Only if you were trying to create a system with low wattage requirements would the "S" series processor be superior. Low wattage does not automatically mean lower noise. The CPU cooler you have chosen will not know the difference and perform just as well with the K processor.

Be careful when you order ram, get low profile sticks to fit under that enormous CPU cooler

 

[Cerb]

Even with low wattage requirements, the K has more flexibility, higher multi-core Trubo Boost speeds (for bursty interactive work, with low average power use, Turbo is kicking in all of the time), and can be made to run to a given spec, by the user. With the S and T CPUs, you plug them in, and you're done. For a system integrator, that itself has value, and the cost gets passed to the buyer, that sees value in a small system that won't deafen them, or a pretty high performance embedded appliance. The K can be set to whatever power limits you like, with the probability of >4GHz operation at reasonable loads, even with reduce power limits set. All the while, getting the S over the K is at most a savings of about $30 on a $1200-1500 system, that isn't going into a tiny case.

Also bear in mind that you can do all the same with the GTX 970 or 980. I have a lower power limit profile I use for old games, for example, just to keep the video card from trying so hard, which allows the fans to stay off the whole time (if I could, I'd undervolt, as well). Lower might be fine, but 70% seems to be a good balance, keeping games up through early DX9 passive, while allowing enough brute forced AA for my liking. I leave it at 100%, which it hardly ever reaches, for newer games.

 

[mfenn]

Like the MSI, eVGA, and Palit that do the same?

Technically he's not wrong. Those options won't be quieter than the Strix. They'll be just as quiet (barring sample to sample differences in coil whine of course) and probably cost less though.

 

[Vikendios]

To close this debate, I think it is useful to understand the user's mentality. I have no interest building rigs, fiddling with BIOS or setting any "K" parameters myself. I know how to, but it bores me to death. If a stylish superquiet rig satisfying my requirements was available off the shelf, I'd buy it immediately. But it isn't, and therefore I had to do a little research myself (being literate in IT in the sense of an old guy who was coding FORTRAN before most of you were born).

Now back to my fiddle and Brahms. Thanks guys, and I have ordered that Strix.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I think we understand the user’s mentality just fine. Too much Brahms can make one a bit tone deaf. This isn't your typical forum. I worked the VAX lab and I'm a noob compared to most of these guys.

FWIW, there are builds that would be acceptable to your rarified aesthetic and tastes. Puget could build it easily and even ship it with some grey poupon.

There is no "fiddling" required of the recommended K series processor. It's plug and play with the option of further refining it’s operation. It will outperform the S processor out of the box with no degradation in sound performance. I’d bet my champagne wishes and caviar dreams on it.

Good luck with the tedium of this mundane task.