#Silent PC for Audio/Gaming

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

rain owl
#

Hello!
I’m new to PC building, so I’d like some help. Thanks!

Primary Uses:

  • Audio/Recording/DAW (Ableton)
  • Gaming
  • CAD (SOLIDWORKS)
    Primary Objectives:
  • Practically silent (<25dB) while recording/editing audio. I will record & use stereo monitors / open-back headphones in the same room. Note: no gaming noise requirement.
  • Game at 1440p60fps HDR on medium settings / 1080p120fps on low-to-medium settings. No ray tracing. Mostly triple-A FPS, Rocket League, and LoL. Demanding games ~60fps, lighter ones like LoL ~120fps.
    Sourcing
  • MicroCenter/Amazon.
    Budget:
  • $2k

Component Targets:
Motherboard
ASRock Z590 PRO4 Intel LGA 1200 ATX
/
MSI Z590-A PRO Intel LGA 1200 ATX
CPU
Intel i7-12700K 3.6GHz 12-core
GPU
AMD RX 6700 XT
RAM
2x 16GB CL16 DDR4-3200
Drives
M.2 NVMe SSD
(1TB boot/software, 2TB storage)
PSU
650-750W 80+ Platinum
Case
Fractal Define 7 Black TG
(Quiet/insulated)

Reasonings
Most important CPU aspect for audio is clock speed, not cores, for DAWs, but should still work for gaming. For RAM, overall latency critical, thus DDR4-based build, which shouldn’t impact gaming. GPU is good value for money, & I can shut off GPU fans during low load. Idk what cooling for CPU or case—I’ve heard water cooling is noisier bc of the pump. For case fans, oversizing the fans at low rpm is good, but I don’t know which fans to buy or if “silent fans” matter.

MicroCenter Build ($1.6k):
Fractal Define 7 Black TG
ASUS Gigabyte 7690 UD AX DDR4 ATX
Intel Core i7-12700K
ASRock AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB
T-Force Vulcan 32GB DDR4-3200
Corsair RM750x 750W 80 Plus Gold
SSD M.2 1TB Samsung 980 Pro
SSD M.2 2TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus
DeepCool AK400 CPU Cooler
HEC Cougar CFV12HPB Case Fan x4

Questions:

  1. Should this meet expectations?
  2. Do I need a surge protector?
  3. Should I oversize the PSU?
  4. 64GB of RAM?
  5. Best cooling options?

TL:DR help make a silent PC

torn compass
#
  1. Noctua fans
  2. Many fans
  3. Noctua air cooler
rain owl
#

Do they have non ugly beige options lol

torn compass
#

I would recommend a ups (battery backup)

torn compass
#

≈ $15 each

rain owl
#

What about sizes?

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Idrk if those matter

torn compass
#

120 and 140, the two that are the most common

#

In mm

rain owl
#

But like how to choose

torn compass
#

Depends on what your case supports

rain owl
#

Bigger is better?

torn compass
#

Generally.

#

The fractal Torrent has 180mm fans in the front

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Idk what Noctua sells of that size that’s not beige

torn compass
rain owl
#

Good to know

torn compass
#

And it’s about $20 usd more than your chosen case

rain owl
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That’s fine

#

Ty

torn compass
#

Noctua fans are not that cheap, but if you want the silence and performance, it’s def worth the extra cost

magic breach
#

the chromax versions i think as well

rain owl
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Chromax?

magic breach
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their name for black fans

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also, 140mm noctua fans are meh

rain owl
#
  1. Ah
  2. Oh? Could you explain that pls
magic breach
#

well basically noctua has the A12 for their 120mm fans, which is one of the best in the market
but, they didnt make the changes to the A12 to make it 140mm, so its not the best

rain owl
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Is that enough of an issue to make other fans preferable at 140mm?

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Also if y’all have links to articles, vids, or channels, I’m happy to read/watch and evaluate myself

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Don’t want to make y’all hold my hand through everything

magic breach
#

i think the arctic P14 are better

magic breach
rain owl
#

Ah them

torn compass
#

You could to all out and embrace the beige
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TFE9wfAfudE&pp=ygUNTHR0IG5vY3R5YSBwYw%3D%3D

YouTube
Linus Tech Tips
This Ugly PC will BLOW YOUR MIND - All Noctua Gaming PC

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Asus teamed up with Noctua to release the best and brownest 30 series cards – and to celebrate, we stuffed as many of their fans as possible in one PC build!

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magic breach
#

400$ on fans..

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tbf you can prob get quieter than that with a different case

torn compass
#

Well you don’t need the random little fans they chucked Around for no reason

torn compass
magic breach
magic breach
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theres also the factor of noise insulating side panel

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instead of glass

torn compass
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And Noctua fans

magic breach
#

sure

rain owl
torn compass
#

But yeah there is the side panel dampening

rain owl
magic breach
rain owl
#

I like more cores = more better in case I want to stream on discord for my friends or something?

magic breach
#

not really

rain owl
magic breach
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6 cores is still a decent amount

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also, u said that the music thing only cares about clocks

rain owl
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Does it have efficiency cores? I liked the power efficiency of the 13700k

magic breach
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wait, ure buying from microcenter deals?

magic breach
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it uses like 100w max lol

rain owl
magic breach
#

i think there might be some deals on the 7700x

rain owl
magic breach
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also, league runs at 120fps on literal potatoes

torn compass
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More cores = lower clock speeds, usually

magic breach
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my 12600 runs it at over 300fps, gotta limit it due to engine limits

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idk why, but high fps just makes the game run terrible

rain owl
rain owl
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I’ll put the 7600 in my list

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Or 7700x?

magic breach
torn compass
magic breach
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it just makes me teleport all around

torn compass
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Oh yeah that would make sense

rain owl
#

Wait are those DDR4 based

magic breach
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no its ddr5

rain owl
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Big sad

magic breach
#

check what i linked above

rain owl
#

Oh my app didn’t refresh for a bit

magic breach
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yea discord does that

rain owl
#

Will have to re-do some research on motherboards if I do DDR5 but it would be more futureproofed in case DDR5 CAS latency decreases anytime soon

torn compass
magic breach
rain owl
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6000 is very fast tho, and 36 is better than 40 if I am gonna take DDR5

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I was looking at 16x3200 so I’m sure it’ll be fine

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At that point we’re probably talking small percent difference in overall latency

magic breach
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the sweet spot is 6000cl30 but you dont lose that much performance

magic breach
rain owl
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I’ve never seen a reasonable kit of DDR5 below 36

magic breach
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a 6000cl30 is ~120$

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oh btw, the z590 you thought about is LGA 1200, 12700k is lga 1700

rain owl
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Oof lol

rain owl
rain owl
magic breach
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socket

rain owl
#

Ah

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I was gonna double check at MicroCenter before I ordered stuff but that’s exactly what this post is to help catch lol

rain owl
magic breach
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yeah so for the noise you prob want to get a gpu with 0db, noctua should have 0db as well

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and i think an RM750e is quieter but honestly psu noise is prob the least important

rain owl
magic breach
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yeah

rain owl
magic breach
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oh btw why is latency this important

rain owl
magic breach
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e is quieter but x is better

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i think?

rain owl
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Hm

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I will look up more about it later

magic breach
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i dont even know

rain owl
#

Plus, if I’m upgrading to the “new thing”, I want it to be the same or better, not a performance hit lol

magic breach
#

weird architecture ngl

rain owl
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I don’t know the specifics

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But several professionals all advised the same thing

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Speed good latency more important

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Something about how things are loaded and how processes are handled by DAWs specifically that other uses don’t typically see

magic breach
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good to know ig

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3200cl16 has lower latency than 6000cl36 but idk it feels so weird

rain owl
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It’s not a huge deal, but if I’m optimizing a system then I’m gonna pay attention

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I’d rather be on the newer platform anyway

magic breach
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also about the 64gb thing, honestly thats kinda up to you

rain owl
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Cool I won’t then

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Feels dumb lol

grave raven
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So organized

rain owl
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Thank you! I figure if I’m asking people for free help then I should make it easy to follow

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When I first wrote it, I was at double the character count so I had to cut a lot lol

quick ivy
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So, one thing to mention is the benefit of having your PC far away from your desk. 25ft DisplayPort and USB3 cables are pretty easy to come by. This is will help dramatically, especially for the non-airflow noises like coil whine

rain owl
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Oh that’s a good point too