New rebuild - Silent medium duty gaming rig

diduknowthat

diduknowthat

formerly liuliuboy
2/27/15 Update


New GPU and SSD.

GTX 750 Ti 2GB
Samsung 850 Pro 256GB

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Original Post

I just ordered parts for a partial rebuild of my current rig! After doing some PS3 gaming, I realized I simply cannot stand controllers for FPS games. GTAV is great, but shooters are desperately bad. Thus, I'm looking to give my current PC with an AMD 5800k APU a bit more juice.

The premise and criteria of the build is...
-Light to medium gaming
-As quiet as possible
-Compact/portable (I'm moving 4 times for work in the next 2 years)

Here are the parts I ordered:

HIS HD 7750 fanless 1GB memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161417

Lian Li PC-TU200B Mini-ITX case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112348

Silverstone HS02 Fanless CPU cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220055

Noctua NF-P14 FLX 140mm fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608017

Now before everyone starts freaking out about trying to run that graphics card with my 160watt pico-psu, I ordered a HD 6670 w/ a fan to try in my current system (returning right now, it overheats with the case panel on). I played Bad Company 2 on medium setting for over an hour without my computer doing as much as hiccuping, so I am confident that this setup draws less than 192 watts of 12v power (what the external power brick is rated for, as 12v bypasses the pico-psu all together).

I am planning to run the new Lian Li case without the hard drive cage, and just velcro my two 2.5" drivers to the inside. This, along with not running an ATX powersupply, should free up enough room for the truly massive HS02 cooler. Below is a picture of truly how big the heatsink is...

pc-jeu-passif,8-D-367069-3.jpg


So with no real powersupply, fanless CPU cooler, and fanless graphics card, the entire system is cooled by a single massive 140mm Noctua fan, which should bring it to as close as absolutely silent as possible for this build.

I'm very excited for the parts to come, and I'll definitely take pictures of the finished build!
 
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We'll have to see ;). I switched the graphics card out to a 7750, which uses less power and is more powerful than the 6770. Every little bit helps.
 
So after running and gaming on the system for a bit over a month...here's a progressive report (and some pictures)!

It works! The computer runs perfectly with reasonable temperatures. CPU maxes out in the 50s while gaming and so does the graphics card. The computer is very quiet (it's only running 1 140mm Noctua fan) and produces a quiet whoooooosh sound.

It's not bad at gaming. I can play Battlefield 3 on medium settings (texture at ultra) at 1080p resolution with no lag! I have to say I am very surprised by this.

It hasn't died yet. The computer is running on a 160 watt pico-psu with a 192 watt 12v power brick. I know longevity may be an issue, but I'll just treat it as an experiment right now, proving that you don't need monstrous 600 watt power supplies to run your every day PCs.

And pictures as promised:

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The majority of the case is dominated by the truly gigantic passively cooled Silverstone HE02 heatsink. The graphics card also has a large passive heatsink. Those two combined allows me to run the computer with only a single 140mm front fan.

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I just did a lot of cable management on the computer today. As you can see, all the wires are routed through 2 bundles, both out of the way of the fan. It helps that I'm running a pico psu, as there aren't any superfluous cables at all. In a low flow passively cooled computer, cable management can make a huge difference in temperature!

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The back of the case. As you can see, I left the panel where the powersupply goes open to not impede airflow. You can actually feel a large amount of air being blown through the back by the front fan. I also couldn't find a good place to put the Pico-PSU power connector, so I just wrapped it in electrical tape and zip tied it to the back of the case.
 
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Update. I changed out the current fan to a Noctua PWM 140mm fan with higher cfm and static pressure (Noctua NF-A14 PWM). It's about the same loudness as my old Noctua fan, but it puts out more air and keeps the whole computer cooler. I've been running 4 core Prime95 for the past 30 minutes and I have yet to break 50 degree for my CPU temp, and that's with the computer automatically running it at 950 rpm, versus the fan's maximum speed of 1500 rpm.

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http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Quality-Technology-NF-A14-PWM/dp/B00CP6QLY6
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I HIGHLY recommend this fan to anyone who needs a 140mm fan that pushes lots of air, and is extremely quiet.
 
Well, an update for everyone on my little experiment. Half a year later, the computer still works! I've used it every day, watching Netflix, playing games, browsing the web, and it's still chugging along! In fact, now that I'm out of the Kansas heat, my fan generally stays below 600 rpm for anything other than gaming.

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Great build man! Thats sweet those heatsinks keep it all that cool. Im after something like this thats more powerful and not neccesarily passive cooling..
 
Dean11 said:
Great build man! Thats sweet those heatsinks keep it all that cool. Im after something like this thats more powerful and not neccesarily passive cooling..
Click to expand...

Yup, the little airflow the front 140mm fan provides actually does wonders at cooling the CPU and GPU. Right now I'm browsing the web and listening to music, the fan is running at 650 rpm and my CPU is at 41C.

And I encourage you to experiment with a build like this! I see lots of people running monstrous computers with 1kw+ PSUs and 10 fans. However, with a bit of planning and cleverness, you can definitely build a powerful gaming computer that's almost silent.
 
Alright it's been almost a year and time for an update! I have replaced the HD 7750 with an EVGA GTX 750 Ti 2GB card. Man this little card is fast for 60 watt TDP! I can play almost any game at medium/high settings at 1080p now. I also threw on an Arctic Accelero S1 Plus heatsink to keep everything silent. Furthermore I replaced my ancient 60GB SSD and 1 TB 2.5" hard drive with a 256GB Samsung 850 Pro. It's a win win win situation with new SSD. Faster drive, larger drive, and the computer is down to only ONE moving part!

Temperature wise, when I'm gaming the 140mm front fan kicks up to 1200 rpm and keeps everything below 50C. When doing everything else (web browsing, Netflix, MS office), the front fan runs at ~600 rpm and the CPU sits at about 35C and GPU at 25C.

Take a look for yourself. About half the case's volume is taken up by heatsinks :).

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I totally missed this before. Looks pretty good. Your power supply situation just has "bad idea" written all over it though. I'd want to use a normal PSU.

Don't mind Okey, he needs a few 780's in SLI before it's powerful enough for his tastes. :P

Also, where were you in Kansas?
 
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zer0_c00l said:
i just love the way the build looks.one day i might try a build similar myself
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Thanks :good:

Darren said:
I totally missed this before. Looks pretty good. Your power supply situation just has "bad idea" written all over it though. I'd want to use a normal PSU.

Don't mind Okey, he needs a few 780's in SLI before it's powerful enough for his tastes. :P

Also, where were you in Kansas?
Click to expand...

I thought that at first, but I've been using it every day for almost 2 year and it hasn't had a hiccup. If you look around, people have run 120+ watt cards - GTX 960 - off of the 160XT (with some splicing to make a 6-pin connector). It's amazing how much power this little guy can put out!

And I lived in Winfield for a bit, now I'm back in Boston :).


Oh yeah, I played around with SpeedFan and now the Noctua runs at 400-500 rpm when performing normal tasks.

Next step in the build...

1) Find a way to properly mount the DIN connector onto the case, probably involves drilling a hole in the back.
2) Relocate front fan further into the case. This should make the computer even quieter during gaming as the fan won't be right against the front grill.

Here's some better shots:

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A year and a half later, this computer is still chugging along! That's a total of over 3 years since the original build, and the little computer that could is still rock solid. That said, she's been demoted to mainly a media PC since I got a PS4. I do still play some Cities: Skylines on it though.

I haven't been keeping up with new graphics cards. Can anybody point me towards the most powerful card that doesn't require external power these days?

Thanks!
 
diduknowthat said:
A year and a half later, this computer is still chugging along! That's a total of over 3 years since the original build, and the little computer that could is still rock solid. That said, she's been demoted to mainly a media PC since I got a PS4. I do still play some Cities: Skylines on it though.

I haven't been keeping up with new graphics cards. Can anybody point me towards the most powerful card that doesn't require external power these days?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
GTX 1050 TI is the fastest card that doesn't require a PCI-E connector as far as I know.
 
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