Rig recommendations for silent PC

[atypicalsingaporean]

Hi guys, I'm trying to build a passively-cooled system, capable for running two 4K screens. No gaming, only 4k60p videos, hifi audio, and Photoshop work.

I'm looking at:

i5 6500
ASUS Z170-A
Samsung SSD
16/32gb DDR4
Seasonic SS-460FL2
CM690 III case

I need recommendations with respect to the GPU and the heatsink for the CPU. At 65W, I don't think the CPU is too difficult to cool passively -- is that right?

The room is air-conditioned, at around 26C.

Thanks!

 

[wwenze]

Strong recommend you to visit this forum instead

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

After looking at what happened to the last thread of silent pc in HWZ, wow.

 

[MoneyFace =p]

Hi guys, I'm trying to build a passively-cooled system, capable for running two 4K screens. No gaming, only 4k60p videos, hifi audio, and Photoshop work.

I'm looking at:

i5 6500
ASUS Z170-A
Samsung SSD
16/32gb DDR4
Seasonic SS-460FL2
CM690 III case

I need recommendations with respect to the GPU and the heatsink for the CPU. At 65W, I don't think the CPU is too difficult to cool passively -- is that right?

The room is air-conditioned, at around 26C.

Thanks!

Simply just watching and decoding 4K60fps video using DXVA right? Not using madVR for rendering and upscaling?

 

[Jian19]

Fractal Design R5 case

 

[MoneyFace =p]

Fractal Design R5 case

I actually find these chassis with noise-dampening foam and low vents coverage a hindrance more than beneficial if TS decides to install custom HSF cooler over CPU and GPU. He did mentioned it will be used in a aircon room so assume he is going to use that advantage for cooling. Hence, i will rather he get something adequately small and compact enough that is also as airy as possible to drive heat out of system asap.

 

[Jian19]

I actually find these chassis with noise-dampening foam and low vents coverage a hindrance more than beneficial if TS decides to install custom HSF cooler over CPU and GPU. He did mentioned it will be used in a aircon room so assume he is going to use that advantage for cooling. Hence, i will rather he get something adequately small and compact enough that is also as airy as possible to drive heat out of system asap.

No gpu can get how hot ? slap a deepcool garbiel in can Liao

 

[MoneyFace =p]

No gpu can get how hot ? slap a deepcool garbiel in can Liao

He did mention need some recommendation for GPU....

So there's a high possibility he will need it....

 

[Jian19]

He did mention need some recommendation for GPU....

So there's a high possibility he will need it....

No gaming just a entry one will do..i think he dun even need 1

 

[MoneyFace =p]

No gaming just a entry one will do..i think he dun even need 1

That's why i ask him he gonna decode over DXVA or using madVR first before deciding on something....

Take note he gonna drive TWO 4K screen and playing 4K60fps videos....

 

[koroshiya8]

Been using R5 for a while and it's really silent unless i play games and ramp up the GPU to 85 deg. think it's quite subjective the definition of silent... some ambient noise from the CPU is unavoidable even though R5 fans are super quiet (due to low RPM).

 

[MoneyFace =p]

Been using R5 for a while and it's really silent unless i play games and ramp up the GPU to 85 deg. think it's quite subjective the definition of silent... some ambient noise from the CPU is unavoidable even though R5 fans are super quiet (due to low RPM).

From what i sees, TS is looking to run both CPU ad GPU passively, i.e. without any fan installed leh. So a quiet-oriented chassis (that are sadly also detrimental to heat expulsion) IMO may most likely be unhelpful to TS's passive PC ambition.

 

[atypicalsingaporean]

From what i sees, TS is looking to run both CPU ad GPU passively, i.e. without any fan installed leh. So a quiet-oriented chassis (that are sadly also detrimental to heat expulsion) IMO may most likely be unhelpful to TS's passive PC ambition.

Yup that's right I'm aiming for a passively cooled CPU and GPU if that's possible. I'm primarily concerned with support for 4k60p -- since I'm going to connect to a few 4K displays, I believe a graphics card is necessary.

Thanks, guys

 

[atypicalsingaporean]

Simply just watching and decoding 4K60fps video using DXVA right? Not using madVR for rendering and upscaling?

Ideally, the system should be able to support high quality 4K rendering, such as madVR.

 

[MoneyFace =p]

Ideally, the system should be able to support high quality 4K rendering, such as madVR.

Woah but do you really have great 4K60fps content for that sort of rendering? You certainly need huge pocket for high-end system but unlikely to have fully passive system.....

 

[atypicalsingaporean]

Woah but do you really have great 4K60fps content for that sort of rendering? You certainly need huge pocket for high-end system but unlikely to have fully passive system.....

I work with RED footages from time to time and...

Quadro K2200, or 960GTX? Any higher I don't think passive cooling is suitable, right?

edit: Just for playing back. Work on the footage is done on another workstation.

 

[MoneyFace =p]

I work with RED footages from time to time and...

Quadro K2200, or 960GTX? Any higher I don't think passive cooling is suitable, right?

edit: Just for playing back. Work on the footage is done on another workstation.

The problem is madVR uses alot of OpenCL resources and needing to playback 4k60fps is essentially as good as needing to play 8x regular Full HD 1080p30 videos, i.e. you need humongous amount of resources to be able to do that. But unfortunately my knowledge for madVR and its resources usage on higher resolutions is still pretty amateur so will leave up to the imba video professionals to comment. But i strongly believe you'll need something even greater than GTX 960...

HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2 are also required for 4k60fps resolution mode.

 

[Toby88]

I work with RED footages from time to time and...

Quadro K2200, or 960GTX? Any higher I don't think passive cooling is suitable, right?

edit: Just for playing back. Work on the footage is done on another workstation.

Probably you won't need aggressive cooling for just playback. I believe only rendering does increase temps quite bit. This according to what I can tell when I am doing my edits. Then again, I am only doing 1080p contents, so I am not too certain about 4K stuff.

RED? *drools* Are you using Epic Dragon?

 

[trento]

i can't say much about the 4k part. but u can start from a point of having as little fans as possible. thats where most of the noise comes anyway.

Also, have a well ventilated case since yr ambient temps are low, it can help greatly with the cooling, reducing the need for extra fans. 690iii should be ok.

There are some heatsinks which can passively cool the cpu quite well without fans. Deepcool Lucifer comes to mind. but if the cpu is pushed, it will still get hot.

as for gpu, if it doesn't get pushed too hard, fans will probably not be audible.

 

[atypicalsingaporean]

Since I'm not rendering/processing the 4k footage, and just playing them back, I should think that a GTX970 with 4gb of vram would cut it.

Looks like it's difficult to cool a 970, so a semi-active solution like the Asus Strix? Sounds good?

(we have a series of RED systems... and I'm not even demanding 6k or 4k120 for playback. )

 

[Toby88]

Since I'm not rendering/processing the 4k footage, and just playing them back, I should think that a GTX970 with 4gb of vram would cut it.

Looks like it's difficult to cool a 970, so a semi-active solution like the Asus Strix? Sounds good?

(we have a series of RED systems... and I'm not even demanding 6k or 4k120 for playback. )

970 is a 'relatively' cool card as I used to own it. At gaming loads, it is around 65 -68C (note that this scenario, gpu works relatively hard aside from benchmarking). Normal loads during playback, I was getting low 40's.

Most 970s are able to have fans not spinning till they reach around 60 (i think).

As for the fan speed profile, just set a gentle curve and it should not be audible.

(a series of RED systems...awesome! Just too bad I am not MKBHD, not able to justify using them).