Building a quiet and cool running gaming PC...

VigilanteCS

Senior member
Dec 19, 2004
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Hey all. I've just ordered all my new parts for my system and they are as follows:

C2D E6750
eVGA 8800GTS G92
250 gig Seagate HDD
Gigabyte GA P35 DS3P
4 gigs Corsair XMS2 DDR2800

In short, is it possible to build a gaming pc that runs very quietly and cool? I know my main obstacles will be the stock HSF for the CPU and the HSF on the video card.

Are there any good heatsinks out there for 8800s or C2Ds that are passive cooling and do the job well, or have fans, but are very quiet? What dB range for case fans, etc, is considered quiet?

Thanks a lot for any advice!
 

JBDan

Platinum Member
Dec 7, 2004
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I have a similiar setup in a P180. PSU is a Corsair HX620 + a Raptor. Using a combo of Noctua and Scythe fans all on Speedfan @ ~800rpm when idle and ramp them up during gaming to ~1200rpm. I use a Ninja+ for the CPU fanless and have upgraded the NB HS on my p5n-e mobo with the Noctua NC-U6 fanless. In the P180/190/SOLO, a very quiet gaming rig is very do-able. * you don't have to spend big $$ on fans like I did...you can get some Yate Loons at 4$ a pop and put them on a controller or use speedfan or do a 7 volt mod for silence.

The G92 8800GTS is very quiet with stock HS up until fan goes above ~60% which you have control of via ntune or rivatuner. You can keep it at 50% and it will be more than satisfactory for cooling and quietness given you have comfortable ambient temps (72F give or take). The Ninja is pretty impressive fanless, but I have mounted a 120mm scythe 800rpm fan in the upper HD cage and angled it toward the Ninja. Works perfect to cool both cpu and 8800gts.

dB range for fans for super quiet imo is @ or below 21dBA. To acheive this, rpm's will generally be in the ~1000rpm range or below. dBA ratings unfortunately have no standard (as far as PC fans) so the best judge will be your own ear in your surroundings. My best advice....go to SPCR and read up if you want super quiet/silent rigs. The Antec SOLO/P180/190 series are some of the best cases for quieting down your internals. Good luck and ask at will!! :)
 

VigilanteCS

Senior member
Dec 19, 2004
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Thanks a lot for the advice. I suppose I forgot to add that the case I bought is a Raidmax 612WBP. I read about the Noctua HSF on a site somewhere and it looks quite nice and quiet for its size. I guess all I'll have to do is get some quiet case fans and a quiet CPU HSF (how loud is a stock C2D HSF anyway?). The case comes with some 500W Raidmax power supply (which I hope will be enough to power the rig), but if it's loud or incapable of providing enough power I'll replace it.

My goal is to be able to leave the computer on and not have it keep me up at night if I'm downloading something.
 

JBDan

Platinum Member
Dec 7, 2004
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The stock C2D HSF is actually a decent HSF, but under load and with poor case airflow the thing just gets downright loud. Looking at your case....what I would try first: Set your rig up and get a fan controller like the inexpensive sunbeam rhoebus. You might be just fine with your stock case fans.

Secondly: If too loud for your tastes then you could try a sleeve bearing Yate 80mm at 2$ a pop: http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-L...Low-Speed-pr-3775.html
And for the intake its bigger brother: http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-L...l-Bearing-pr-3772.html

About your PSU, I will just say that I am skeptical of PSU's that come with sub $100 cases...just my personal opinion.

For your CPU the Ninja+ is a top performing HS...low airflow being it's strong point. It needs little air to perform up with the big boys. It's also very reasonably priced (~36$) and comes with a nice 120mm Slipstream fan @ ~1200rpm.

Silence is so subjective. It's different for everyone. When and if you ever get rather addicted to quieting your PC, SPCR is a great source, albeit obsessive at times. In the end, it will be your own trial and error. :)
 

Conroy9

Senior member
Jan 28, 2000
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It's definitely possible to build a quiet gaming machine.

Since you already bought a case that comes with psu and fans, I'd probably start out with what you have plus a new cpu heatsink (maybe the ninja, ultima-90, or btf-90).

There's no point buying all the other stuff until you know whether it's too noisy, since everyone has a different idea of quiet. After you get that up and running, if you want more quiet, figure out which parts are causing the noise.

Then you can swap out the remaining noisy parts- you can change the psu, replace/unplug or lower the case fan speeds, and stick an arctic cooling accelero s1 on your 8800gts if you need to.

Other than that, what JBDan said :). www.silentpcreview.com has tons of great information about this.

By the way, I don't have a ninja, but I've read that it's a pain to install on socket 775 motherboards.