~£900 almost silent gaming build

[stuck]

opinions please :-)

This build is based almost entirely on this http://www.silentpcreview.com/SPCR_2...ng_Build_Guide

But there may be some further refinements worth making. To be honest it's more than I hoped to spend, but not by too much, was hoping for ~£800

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2V6C99
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2V6C99/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£139.83 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Kotetsu 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£31.13 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£84.59 @ Dabs)
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£75.57 @ PC World Business)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£150.89 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (£284.97 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£74.63 @ CCL Computers)
Other: Be Quiet! Straight Power 10 500W (£74.99)
Total: £916.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-21 01:02 GMT+0000

[drone567]

They all look like good choices. I'd be tempted to use a higher power unit. It's worth spending a few extra pounds on future proofing.

[stuck]

Thanks, could look at the same PSU but 600W

Regarding the mobo, do you see any benefit of upgrading to the H97-PRO? It seemed to me this just had a different ethernet chip using Intel Gigabit Ethernet instead, wasn't sure this was worth it. Similarly could also consider H97-PRO Gamer if any benefit to it

many thanks

[drone567]

Ah that's part of the fun we all have, so much choice, so many reviews, information to compare; there's quite a few online http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answer...o-reviews.html It's definetly worth matching your mb and gpu(ie;same company). I felt like I juggled components for a while, but the right ones just seem to stand out. It's worth thinking about future developments; what you might want to add, or maybe do. This site always makes me want to upgrade, cunning!!!!

[WellofSouls]

I wouldn't fancy putting a 500W PSU in there, would want a bit more breathing room. Also the price you're paying for the RAM seems waaaaaaaay too high.

[satrow]

I wouldn't fancy putting a 500W PSU in there, would want a bit more breathing room. Also the price you're paying for the RAM seems waaaaaaaay too high.

500W is fine for a rig that's not likely to draw more than 250-270W in normal usage. Similar RAM from Crucial for that 'board might be ~£10 less, others might be cheaper still but would probably be higher risk.

[D1DM]

There's absolutely no need to get a higher wattage PSU. At least not because 500W is in any way short of power for the system as outlined. Possible reasons to get a higher wattage PSU include:

• wanting more cables (but you can't just assume because a PSU has higher wattage that it will have more cables, you actually have to go and look at the cable configs of the PSUs you are considering. For instance the E10-600W only has two extra PCIe connectors compared to the 500W version)
• wanting to be able to SLI in the future (which seems unlikely on a system designed to be as quiet as possible)

Agree that cheaper RAM can be had (for example):
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3-1600 1.35V (£62 @ Amazon, apparently or ~£67 @ Crucial's site)
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/cruc...4g3d1609es2lx0

[Gronich26]

Stuck, if you haven't made your purchases yet may I suggest the following changes which would take you closer to £800.

Prices as at 2/3/2015:

Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC Mate (Amazon £64.99) - Overclocking chipset for some future proofing.
CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 412S (CCLonline £31.54+£3.00P&P) Quieter than you selection review on UK.Hardware.info
CPU - i5 4690 or i5 4690K (+£15 over 4690) I doubt the price will less that UK suppliers after P&P and VAT. 4690K with this mobo will give
you the ability to have a mild overclock in future.
Memory: Kingston HyperX Predator Beast 8gb DDR3-1600 (2x4gb) (eBuyer £55.95)
Storage: Crucial BX100 256Gb SSD (Amazon £69.99)
WD 2TB Green HDD (Amazon £60.71) I suggest this because it would give you substantially more storage for less but the choice is yours.
GPU: Zotac GTX 970 (£257.94 eBuyer) Good reviews and just as quiet as the ASUS for £25 less.
CASE: Fractal Design Refine R4 (£69.99 eBuyer) an excellent case - The R5 is not a substantial upgrade over the R4.
PSU: Coolermaster VS 550W 80+ Gold (eBuyer £50.00) - Good review on UK.Hardware.info.

I think a few of my selection are upgrades and would save you £100!

[JoeOfJoedonia]

I would recommend at least 550W as well.
I really like the SilverStone Strider Gold 550W Full Modular which is currently ~£65 at Scan; a good price for a fully modular one.

[stuck]

Thanks for all the advice here, greatly appreciated.

I'm finally getting round to buying, just a question of RAM

I've been looking at hyperx savage 2x4GB http://www.amazon.co.uk/HyperX-Savag.../dp/B00N8H066A

As it's recommended by silentpcreview

However, the 1866 version of this same RAM is only £1 more, is there any reason to upgrade/not to?!

[Gronich26]

I doubt any speed difference will be perceptible, but for £1, why not. I have seen a few deals for 2133 & 2400MHz under £50 in the last few weeks so look out for them.

[DanceswithUnix]

For £1 I would get the faster ram. It looks like the motherboard you are choosing can't make any use of the extra speed, but if you find yourself re-using it in another box or reselling it then having something more flexible can only help.

Missed this first time around, so about the PRO motherboard. It looks like the CPU voltage regulators on the PRO version are better, and you get a SATA Express port at the expense of 2 SATA ports.

VRM probably matters if you are overclocking, which doesn't seem to fit in with your idea of a quiet system so presumably that doesn't matter. SATA ports may be important to you, most people only ever use one for SSD/HD one for DVD drive though.

As for the ethernet port, well my netbook has cheap Realtek ethernet and I have benchmarked it at about 1.8Gbit/sec so almost maxxed out transmit and receive at the same time with CPU cycles spare on the tiny E350 APU. So yes, Intel ethernet probably will be faster if you measure really carefully, but I can't imagine you can feel the difference. Perhaps if you are running stuff like VMWare ESXI you might want driver support, but not for games.

[gupsterg]

... I've been looking at hyperx savage ...

Bought the 2400Mhz version for a build, was expecting the RAM to feel light as thought heat spreader be thin but dimm's have a nice weight to them IMO.

Instead of the Be Quiet! Straight Power 10 500W I'd opt for a Link:- Cooler Master VS650 for £61.20, cheaper & more watts. Enhance is the OEM and unit has good reviews plus own one so can recommend one from 1st hand experience.

As someone who likes to OC for extra bang for buck I quite like Gronich26's suggestion.

Only other tip I'd suggest to save a few £££ to spend elsewhere is perhaps a HSF from ebay, I was amazed at how cheap some great second hand units go for.

[DanceswithUnix]

Sometimes a bigger PSU can be quieter because it isn't struggling and has bigger fans, but I don't see how directly more watts has any use to the OP. If SPCR say that the Be Quiet unit is quiet then as someone that likes a whisper quiet PC I can see the draw.

[gupsterg]

... I don't see how directly more watts has any use to the OP. If SPCR say that the Be Quiet unit is quiet then as someone that likes a whisper quiet PC I can see the draw.

Have a look at the VS series reviews on Techpowerup they are also very quiet. I could understand your comment if I was asking OP to spend more ££ to gain a 650w but that is not the case and as you know the 650w isn't gonna use more electric than than the 500w.

I agree OP not need the watts currently but I personally wouldn't pay for a 500w unit when I can have a 650w unit for cheaper and not comprise on features or quality plus if in future an upgrade of a component requires more watts it's there.

For example I bought a Seasonic S12 600w 8yrs ago it has lasted through several CPU & GPU upgrades, another lower power or quality unit may not have given me that.

IMO the right case and PSU can last through several upgrades and thus reduces the cost of future upgrades to rig.

[DanceswithUnix]

Have a look at the VS series reviews on Techpowerup they are also very quiet. I could understand your comment if I was asking OP to spend more ££ to gain a 650w but that is not the case and as you know the 650w isn't gonna use more electric than than the 500w.

Reviews are really hard to trust when it comes to noise though, hence an SPCR review is worth about 10 others. The thing is, a really quiet high pitched whine will drive people like me nuts whereas a white noise sound of rushing air may register louder on a sound meter and hence score worse in review but be nowhere near as annoying. SPCR care about that stuff, I bought my Antec Fusion home server case on their recommendation and sure enough despite trying to replace it with something more modern and smaller I have ended up going back to it as I just can't beat it for being whisper quiet despite being a highly active server.

So yeah, all things equal get the 650W. It may or may not use more electricity depending on design and efficiency characteristics, but most of us don't care about that if we are after quiet. I run a 650W psu on a machine that probably can't pull more than 250W because it can do the usual 120W it will have to deliver when gaming really quietly.