Quiet, Performance (Gaming) Rig

[Trent Steel]

Doing an new system build to replace my 3.5 year old machine (which I plan on gifting to family). Focusing on a blend of gaming performance, low load noise, and price. No set budget, but not looking at spending more to get just a little more. Priced it out at a few different places and will start picking up parts soon, bundle deals, and sales are happening on a bunch of the parts below at the moment, but I used newegg for reference purposes.

Current Component Selection (will update this post directly with changes)

Processor (219.99)
Newegg.ca - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

Motherboard (179.99+12.24)
Newegg.ca - ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.1) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Ram (104.99+9.99)
Newegg.ca - CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M4A1600C9

Video Card (264.99+11.49)
Newegg.ca - PowerColor AX6950 2GBD5-2DH Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

CPU Cooler (110.99+12.99)
Newegg.ca - Noctua NH-C14 140mm x 2 SSO CPU Cooler

Power Supply (159.99-20.00+9.99)
Newegg.ca - COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RS800-80GAD3-US 800W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Case (99.99)
Cooler Master Silencio 550 Mid Tower Chassis at Memory Express Computers

Optical Drive (84.99+7.24)
Newegg.ca - LG Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 10X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Super Multi WH12LS30 LightScribe Support - Blu-Ray Burners

Hard Drive 1 (219.99+9.99)
Newegg.ca - ADATA S511 Series AS511S3-120GM-C 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Hard Drive 2
Current 2 TB eco drive

OS (139.99+6.99)
Newegg.ca - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems

Total: $ 1619.42



I am not dead set on any single component, just trying to meet my own set objectives, my own current research has narrowed it down.
Substitutions considered and still are being considered

-i7-2600k

-reducing ram to 8GB (deals can be found for the 16GB packages though)

-Corsair water cooler, H100 or H80, depending on what fits

-antec Solo II case

-dropping power supply and bare bones case and replacing with an Antec Sonata IV, but this only has a 620W PS, may not be enough for any OC

-dropping optical completely, already have a External USB DVD Writer for occasional use

-Different SSD, Patriot Pyro PP120GS25SSDR 2.5" MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD), or OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD), all seem to have very similar performance, so price may decide

-upgrade to Windows 7 Ultra

-adding a third performance HDD

-wait for next gen intel processor lineup

Outside Build Options
-new monitor, possibly 3D, 20-24" wide screen format, no idea what is available

-new router, upgrade from G to N band, again a bit dazzled by all the options out there

[glc]

Newegg.ca - ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Newegg.ca - HIS IceQ X Turbo H695QNT2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Newegg.ca - CORSAIR Professional Series HX850 (CMPSU-850HX) 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Newegg.ca - Intel 510 Series (Elm Crest) SSDSC2MH120A2K5 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

For gaming, the 2600k is not worth the premium over the 2500k.

The best "N" router made is the Linksys E4200, but you would have to bring one in from the US, it's not yet available in Canada.

[David M]

For quiet you want to have as few fans as you can get away with. You also want the fans to be large and slow turning.

There are quiet cases with material that absorbs and isolates noise.

The 850HX that glc recommended has a 140mm fan which is going to be very quiet, plus at 850 watts, the fan will probably never hit its top speed. The better PSU's regulate their fan speed according to demand.

[Trent Steel]

Thanks for the replies.

swapped out the components with GLC's suggestions.

Got everything from memoryexpress.ca, local store and online, picked up everything today, a good portion of the parts are on sale this weekend.

Changed the processor from i5-2500k to i7-2600k, there was a combo deal with the motherboard and processor (only $40 premium), added in a 1TB Western Digital Black drive.

If I have any issues with the build, I will post back here.

[Trent Steel]

Got everything assembled, powered on, windows installed. Having issues with the getting a video signal from the graphics card. Its getting power, but I can't get any signal from the card itself. If I use the onboard ports, I get a signal. Have not figured out whats the issue here. I thought the onboard got disabled when there was a card installed.

Any ideas?

[Trent Steel]

Switched the monitor back to the video card, let it boot up and waited didn't work, the VGA onboard indicator lit up, rebooted, all works fine now.

Must have done something internally to make the switch.

[glc]

Both the onboard video and the video card should work simultaneously. You probably have to make a bios setting for what you want to be the primary display.