New SFF Computer

[jalvarez0907]

Hi Guys

First post here! I've been reading the forum but hadn't joined, now I decided I should seems you seem to be the kind of guys that could help me out.

I want to change my current computer. Im running on a I7 2600k with a GTX 770 on a custom Water Cooling with a custom case i made some years ago:



To be honest i never gave myself the time to "really" finish it, so the 4 Scythe Gentle Typhoon fans on the bottom are just plugged to the PSU and running at max, the white LEDs that powered the white acrylic died




So, I love that computer, but its kind of a pain in the ass to dissasemble and change anything on it.

The other hickup is power draw. Its bad, im paying quite a lot on my electric bill right now, so i want to tone it down on that.

My two main goals are Silent and efficient gaming. Since I work at home, that computer turns on at 8 AM and normally goes off at 1 or 2 AM

I currently have a second computer which i just reassambled, this small guy:

It's a demo computer the company send to me, Its an EVGA Hadron Air, running a Z97 Motherboard with an i5 4440 processor, 16 GB ddr3 and a freshly changed GTX 1060. As storage it has a single SSD, an 850 EVO I stuck to the back of the case with double sided tape. I removed the drive cage from the case and changed the top fans to something more silent. I also removed the fan from the Heatsink, but to be honest i havent tested if it can run passively on that heatsink

What i want is a computer that I can run either passively or absurdly silently on the everyday "excel, email, skype" work time and then play some games on 1080p/120hz for now, but it wont break my bank account with an immense electric bill

I was thinking of changing the processor and MB for a Z270 Kaby Lake processor and maybe getting a U proccesor for more efficiency. Also a NVMe drive. Im not sure about the Graphics card, i currently own a GTX 750 ti, 950, 1060 SC, 1070 FTW and a 1080 FTW DT. What do you guys think would run the best? or maybe for that case a blower card?

hope to hear from you guys

Regards, Jaime

 

[Phuncz]

Welcome to the forum !

You don't need a U-type processor, just stay away from the Intel 7600K and 7700K processors if you want to keep it quiet.
Generally an open-air GPU coolers will benefit in a system with a lot of airflow (meaning air intake and exhaust), which isn't too easily done in an unmodded Hadron Air I imagine. Though in my experience blower GPU coolers tend to be noisy because of their noise profile and geometry, not because of the amount of air they move. The GTX 1060 seems like a good fit, but a 1070 (if the FTW model fits) might be a good fit too if properly ventilated and not needed to run at full tilt all the time.

 

[jalvarez0907]

Welcome to the forum !

You don't need a U-type processor, just stay away from the Intel 7600K and 7700K processors if you want to keep it quiet.
Generally an open-air GPU coolers will benefit in a system with a lot of airflow (meaning air intake and exhaust), which isn't too easily done in an unmodded Hadron Air I imagine. Though in my experience blower GPU coolers tend to be noisy because of their noise profile and geometry, not because of the amount of air they move. The GTX 1060 seems like a good fit, but a 1070 (if the FTW model fits) might be a good fit too if properly ventilated and not needed to run at full tilt all the time.

Thanks for the answer Phuncz.

what i thought was modding the front a bit to separate the front acrylyc and place a silent fan behind that to pull air in so i could use a open frame card like the GTX 1070 FTW.

Either that or entirely dithching the Hadron for another ITX option i could more easily make silent. Do you think that there is a better case for running a passive CPU and a open air gpu?

Regards

 

[Phuncz]

You'd basically want a front to back or top to bottom airflow for that scenario, so you can maximize airflow. I'm not that good at remembering all the case layouts, so there's bound to be lots more. The one I can think of is the Silverstone FT-03 Mini and the Silverstone SG09.

 

[jtd871]

I think the 'demo' setup you've got is perfectly fine - unless you need to give it up at some point. I'm running a i5-7500 and a EVGA 1060 SSC on air with a Cryorig C7 and Corsair SF450 and I can barely hear it sitting on top of my desk with the CPU and PSU fans closest to me. The GPU fans aren't supposed to spin up unless it's working at least moderately hard, and same with the PSU fan.

I'm really happy with my build - so much quieter than my gaming laptop (although that did have a fair amount of dust inside the sink around the fan when I opened it up for the first time in years the other week).

 

[TheGooseIsHere]

I don't see why your Hadron system wouldn't be able to run silently. You've got a decent sized CPU heatsink, which should stay silent with a decent 120mm fan at low speed. The only noise producing components I can see in that build are the CPU cooler and GPU cooler (and case fans) and these should all be extremely quiet? (since you don't have a mechanical hard drive in there)