Hi All, I've decided to build my own computer system. I have an ASUS P8Z77-V PRO motherboard. I've been looking around for a desktop case that will accomodate that motherboard, but every time I find one that looks like it will do the job, a quick search with the word "noise" added to the case name reveals all kinds of complaints. Any recommendations would be appreciated. I will be using this PC for digital music production, possibly for playing out, so quiet is important. Thanks in advance, :Miki.
How about buying a case with no power supply then buy a top end PSU which will be quieter. I bought a Corsair psu a short whie back. The cpu cooler fans are noisier but it does have four fans in puh,pull config My case is a Corsair Obsidian 800D
Fractal Design black pearl is a great case with sound proofing and a nice 180mm at the top rear and also a couple of 140mm fans, has a separate compartment at the bottom for PSU will accommodate extended ATX MOBO.
You'll want a case with foam or rubber padding. It's the vibration from fans, etc, that cause the annoying rattling noises. I have padding and rubber washers for my motherboard, hard drives, optical drives, power supply unit and my AIO watercooling radiator+fans. Honestly, my it's as if my Computer isn't even on, extremely quiet. My case is a Xigmatek Midgard Chassis and most of my padding is custom by me, but to be honest it was extremely quiet before as it's a very sturdy case. Also, brushless fans are the way to go for a quiet PC. I'm a producer also maybe we should collab?
Thank You all for your replies. For portability, I'm looking at a rack mounted PC case. Initially, I was thinking about a small footprint desktop case, but now I'm not sure that this would be the best way to go. I found a company that sells inexpensive rack cases (Plink USA) I can't post links yet, but if you're interested, you can google them. @The Dev: Absolutely. As soon as I get my computer back up and running, let's talk. I like to write trip hop, ambient, and downtempo lounge stuff, but I'm flexible.
Glad to see we helped. For me, Dubstep, Electro, Drum & Bass and Drumstep. Am flexible also We have a studio being built and is nearly finished. I'll send you a friend request if you don't mind. Good luck in sorting your computer.
Well...Here's my choices for hardware. Originally, I was going to go with a rack mounted system but thermal considerations made that all but impossible. ASUS P8Z77-V/PRO Motherboard Intel Core I7, 3.5 ghz Unlocked quad core CPU - BX80637i73770K RAM - 32gb; 8gb Ballistix 240 pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3 - 12800 (X4) NoFan CS-80 ATX Quiet Computer Case. NoFan CR-95C IcePipe Fanless CPU Cooler (This thing is -HUGE- ! About the size of an Angel food cake) Enermax Galaxy Evo82+ 1250W EPS Quiet Power Supply (EGX1250EWT) Samsung 830-series MZ-7PC512D/AM 512gb 2.5" SATA 3 Solid State Drive I haven't decided on a video card yet. I'm still shopping. I'll use the onboard video adapter to bring everything up, and then decide. I'm looking at the GeForce GTX 690, but the Radeon HD 7970 looks nice too. I have two concerns; One is the power consumption of the Graphics card. Around 300 watts. I'd like to run the power supply somewhere between 30 to 40 percent of its' rated power; this keeps the fan from kicking on. With a high performance graphics card, the supply has to deliver an extra 300 watts. This means that the quiet power supply is moot. The other concern is the graphics card fan. I won't know how loud it is until I spend the $1000 or so on the graphics card. Thanks everybody for your help and suggestions. Please feel free to comment on this build. Your critiques will help me to iterate this machine into a masterpiece computer. Best, :Miki. P.S. This site is great! I'm really glad I found this place.
The ATI 6xxx series are great for blu-ray movies, photo/video editing. but if you want a gaming card I'd go for an ATI 7xxx series with at least 1GB GDDR and the latest shaders.
@The Dev: A friend asked me to build him a video editing machine. If this build turns out well, I'll just sell Him this machine and build another for myself. Then, I'll make your suggestion to Him and let Him purchase a video card for himself. For Me, I will be running Cubase 6 with the Arturia V package and Native Instruments komplete 8 producer, as well as a few other VSTi synths. Native Instruments is a CPU hog by itself, so, the focus of this build is to get as much CPU horsepower as possible. I'm not much into gaming, but I do realize that the techniques for building gaming machines will definitely pay off when building a studio machine. If I like the way the core hardware performs, I'll probably try my hand at a water cooled version. Maybe a rack mounted box with water cooling, if possible. Best, :Miki.
Correct Native instuments Komplete is a resource eater, I mean Massive & Battery eat enough on there own. And glad you have you head on straight when building a studio machine, we don't worry too much when using Logic as the Mac rips through it, but I love FL Studio and Ableton so a good enough PC has to be built, it's an i5 and 8GB RAM minumum for me. Also, the watercooling sounds like a good idea
The next chapter in the saga... I've been looking at RAM and I'm thinking of substituting G skill for the Ballistix RAM. G.SKILL Trident X Series Model F3-2400C10Q-32GTX 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) NewEgg has it for about $100.00 USD per stick. It's twice as expensive as the Ballistix RAM, but I figure it should be good for overclocking. I'm not planning on overclocking the MoBo, but it's nice to know that it can if I decide to. Has anybody used this RAM? Any issues? NewEgg has a few reviews, all of which seem to be good.
Try to find a power supply that has a fan rheostat so you can adjust the fan speed and use a mounting gasket when you install it. For the video card fan noise you can use something like ATI tool to adjust the fan speed. For the case fans use larger fans as they run at lower RPM's as opposed to smaller fans plus you can use a fan controller to adjust fan speed further if needed. And if you can get away with an SSD hard drive that would reduce case vibration even further just make sure you use a well ventilated case in a cool room if your going to throttle the cooling way down as some stated I have a Coolermaster 690 Advanced II case which allows for a lot of cooling options.
I went with the NoFan CS-80 and the NoFan IcePipe 95C. My CPU is 72C, so the Ice Pipe should work well. @Computers Plus: Here's the supply I'm getting. Enermax Galaxy Evo82+ 1250W EPS Quiet Power Supply (EGX1250EWT) This supply is probably 2X (maybe even closer to 3X) the power rating needed to run the mobo / CPU / ram / SSD combo. This particular supply fan kicks on when the temperature rises due to increases in current. Running at about 35%, the fan probably won't even kick on. (I hope... ) Good idea about the mounting gasket. I'll pick one up when I pick up the supply. @Dev: That's -exactly- what I do. I use Daemon Tools and I love it! Saves wear and tear on optical drives. Oh, and -definitely- yes to the SSD. Either Intel or Samsung. Not sure which one yet. I am curious about the G.Skill RAM, though I ended up getting the Ballistix RAM. Would love to know if anyone used it.
I have used tons of G. Skill ram and it has been very good ram no complaints when I do a build any more I hone right in on G. Skill you would not have went wrong I think it's better than the Ballistix you ended up getting.
Well I just got the CPU, the Blu-Ray recorder and 3 of the 4 RAM sticks. I just realized that I only ordered 3 sticks, so I ordered the fourth one today... Next: The case, power supply and the SSD. Then the build commences. I wish I could do it faster, but money is tight and I'm squeezing it from wherever I can.