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Hi!
I want to put together a new computer. Looking to pull the trigger sooner rather than later as the looming tariffs have me concerned about pricing. One of the considerations is making it quieter than the current one as wifey says it's too loud. I want to build it around Ryzen 7 3700X and a video card able to handle 1920x1200 gaming.

- Video card: Thinking about a Radeon RX but would there be a loudness difference between AMD and nVidia?

- CPU heat sink: For the CPU, Noctua heat sinks look solid but which one is quietest? Or is there something else? Not sure if water cooling would help here.

- Power supply: Is there a difference between power supplies in the noise department?

-Case: All of this has to go into a case, so are there ones that help with reducing the noise? Of course the case has to accommodate the motherboard. I don't need a full blown tower. Optical drive bay is optional.

-Motherboard: I was thinking about mini-ITX, but then I realized it has only one expansion slot and I have a FireWire device (PreSonus Firebox) and a great Wi-Fi adapter that both need PCIe. So most likely it would be a micro-ATX board as I don't need a full tower. Looking at the motherboards choices are limited when it comes to silent X570 ones and they are too expensive. How loud are X570 boards with the chipset fans? Should that even be a consideration? Would going with a B450 (or whatever it is) be a good alternative? Or does it sacrifice something performance/feature wise?

Those are excellent questions.

bitcat70 wrote:

One of the considerations is making it quieter than the current one as wifey says it's too loud. I want to build it around Ryzen 7 3700X and a video card able to handle 1920x1200 gaming.

Ryzen 3000 series is a quiet choice because it is fabricated using a 7 nm process that operates at lower voltages than chips fabricated using older 14 nm or 12 nm technology. Since all of the energy consumed by the CPU is turned into heat, a processor that uses less energy needs less cooling, so you aren't likely to need noisy high-speed fans running flat out.

bitcat70 wrote:

Video card: Thinking about a Radeon RX but would there be a loudness difference between AMD and nVidia?

There are huge differences. Radeon RX 5700 and XT are more efficient than older GPUs because of their 7 nm fabrication technology. However, NVidia's GPUs are more efficient than previous-generation AMD GPUs due to superior design and because AMD has been prone to cranking up the voltage to squeeze a bit more performance out of their GPUs (like the stock settings for my Radeon RX Vega64). A $300 Radeon RX 5700 may be more GPU than you need for 1920x1200 but the smaller Radeon RX 5600XT is still a month away. Graphics cards with custom-designed coolers from the big ODMs like Asus tend to be quieter than the reference blower style coolers from AMD.

bitcat70 wrote:

CPU heat sink: For the CPU, Noctua heat sinks look solid but which one is quietest? Or is there something else? Not sure if water cooling would help here.

Big fans spinning slowly are quieter than smaller fans spinning fast.

bitcat70 wrote:

Power supply: Is there a difference between power supplies in the noise department?

80+ Platinum power supplies are more efficient than 80+ Bronze, so they don't generate as much waste heat. I recommend a good PSU from SeaSonic like the SSR-750PX. Their hybrid fan controller will actually shut off the PSU's fan if it isn't needed (at less than half load).

bitcat70 wrote:

Case: All of this has to go into a case, so are there ones that help with reducing the noise? Of course the case has to accommodate the motherboard. I don't need a full blown tower. Optical drive bay is optional.

You'll want a case that will accept the radiator that you've selected. I agree completely that micro-ATX is the best all-around motherboard form factor for gaming PCs, but the selection of micro-ATX cases is much smaller than ATX. Take a look at the Fractal Design Define Mini-C that I'm using. Equipping your case and radiator with Noctua fans will be quieter (and much more expensive) than other brands of fans.

bitcat70 wrote:

Would going with B450 chipset vs. X570 be a good alternative? Or does it sacrifice something performance/feature wise?

The big differentiator is PCIe 4.0 vs. PCIe 3.0. However, old-timey PCIe 3.0 is still more than fast enough for your graphics card, Firewire and WiFi.

Thank you for the great suggestions! So I'm pretty much set on:

- CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X
- Mobo: ASRock B450M Pro4
- Case: Fractal Design Define Mini C
- Video card: for now I'll transfer Radeon HD 7870 and upgrade later. I don't plan on getting anything faster than Radeon RX 5700 or so since for gaming I use 1920 x 1200 for now which might eventually get upgraded to 2560 x 1440
- PSU: Seasonic Platinum 80+ but a question: is 750 W optimal for the above? I don't want to use a PS that's overspecced for the build. Also, I see the one you linked has a big fan: does it pull the air from within the case? I don't plan on any overclocking.

That leaves:

- Heatsink/fan: I want a Noctua but they have a bunch of models and I'm not sure which one to choose: any particular one that would be quiet and provide good cooling performance? Are the dual fan options really better than single fan? (of course it has to fit in the case). Any recommendations for thermal paste?
- RAM: 16 (2x8) or 32 (2x16) GB: if someone could recommend a set that would be great! Would a lower latency kit provide extra performance?
- Case fans: Noctua: which is the quiet model?

750W sounds fine for that machine. There's fanless PSUs you can get in the 600-ish range which would probably do the job, but they don't come cheap, and since most decent PSUs these days have PWM fans that spin down when not under load, or like JAE said just get shut off altogether I wouldn't go there just for noise levels.

I have a Cryorig H7 Plus with the stock fans in this machine, and unless I'm encoding something, or running a VM it's inaudible. Before noise levels were a thing, I did some ridiculous stuff in the pursuit of a high performance, quiet PC, so keep that in mind when I say it's inaudible. The case is a Node 304, and the fans are close enough to the rear fan mount that I don't need a case fan. Small form factor PCs aren't for everyone though. The Define Mini C should do fine. My plan was just to get the biggest cooler that would fit in the case to help keep temperatures at a minimum so the fans could spend most of their time at lower RPMs. Something like MX-4 is fine for the thermal goo.

Ryzen is sensitive to memory timings and bandwidth, so it's not a bad idea to spend some time looking at that. There were a bunch of tests done on it when Ryzen was new still, so it shouldn't be a difficult thing to research.

The last time I bought case fans it was one of these which did fine.

https://noctua.at/en/nf-a14-pwm

bitcat70 wrote:

Thank you for the great suggestions! So I'm pretty much set on:

- PSU: Seasonic Platinum 80+ but a question: is 750 W optimal for the above? I don't want to use a PS that's overspecced for the build. Also, I see the one you linked has a big fan: does it pull the air from within the case? I don't plan on any overclocking.

Most power supplies highest efficiency occurs at ~40-50% of load, so if your normal usage is in that range (300-375W), the 750W supply will be the cheapest to operate. Also keep in mind as the power supply ages, it usually loses some of its max capacity.

roncat wrote:

Most power supplies highest efficiency occurs at ~40-50% of load,

This used to be the conventional wisdom a decade or so ago, but newer PSU designs purportedly have a much flatter efficiency curve.

It's still a good idea to not run a PSU right at its limit, but the "aim for double the wattage you actually need for best efficiency" rule of thumb is apparently becoming obsolete.

just brew it! wrote:

roncat wrote:

Most power supplies highest efficiency occurs at ~40-50% of load,

This used to be the conventional wisdom a decade or so ago, but newer PSU designs purportedly have a much flatter efficiency curve.

It's still a good idea to not run a PSU right at its limit, but the "aim for double the wattage you actually need for best efficiency" rule of thumb is apparently becoming obsolete.

Yep. Highest efficiency in modern supplies is nearly 75-80% of full load capacity (though the 80 Plus spec still requires more efficiency at 50% than 80%). That said, efficiency from 10% to 90% doesn't vary greatly like it used to. If you've got an 80 Plus Gold or better supply, it's likely not much to worry about. Spec for 70% load or so at full tilt and you're generally in a great place on the efficiency curve most of the time with some room for safe upgrades down the road.

Waco wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

roncat wrote:

Most power supplies highest efficiency occurs at ~40-50% of load,

This used to be the conventional wisdom a decade or so ago, but newer PSU designs purportedly have a much flatter efficiency curve.

It's still a good idea to not run a PSU right at its limit, but the "aim for double the wattage you actually need for best efficiency" rule of thumb is apparently becoming obsolete.

Yep. Highest efficiency in modern supplies is nearly 75-80% of full load capacity (though the 80 Plus spec still requires more efficiency at 50% than 80%). That said, efficiency from 10% to 90% doesn't vary greatly like it used to. If you've got an 80 Plus Gold or better supply, it's likely not much to worry about. Spec for 70% load or so at full tilt and you're generally in a great place on the efficiency curve most of the time with some room for safe upgrades down the road.

I used the Seasonic wattage calculator and for Ryzen 7 3700 and a Radeon RX 5700 with 100% CPU TDP utilization and running 24/7 it recommends a 650W 80 PLUS Titanium but I think I'll stick to the platinum ones. The load wattage shows as 402W. Since 70% of 650W is 455 and 70% of 750W is 525 would the 650 W PSU be a better match? I don't plan on utilizing the CPU 100% all the time but it could be for several hours at a stretch from time to time.

The 650 will power that build with no issues. The only reason for going with a 750 is to provide headroom for a beefier GPU down the road.

A 650 watt Focus Plus Platinum power supply from SeaSonic would be more than stout enough for your proposed build. I only mentioned the 750-watt version as I linked to a thread where that model had very recently been on sale for an excellent price.
SSR-550PX: $109 (was $101 on 10/7)
SSR-650PX: $139 (was $119 on 10/29)
SSR-750PX: $135 (was $100 on 12/1)
SSR-850PX: $155 (was $145 on 12/5)

Captain Ned wrote:

The 650 will power that build with no issues. The only reason for going with a 750 is to provide headroom for a beefier GPU down the road.

I hear you but I'm planning on staying withing the RX 5700 (XT) power envelope for the foreseeable future.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

A 650 watt Focus Plus Platinum power supply from SeaSonic would be more than stout enough for your proposed build. I only mentioned the 750-watt version as I linked to a thread where that model had very recently been on sale for an excellent price.
SSR-550PX: $109 (was $101 on 10/7)
SSR-650PX: $139 (was $119 on 10/29)
SSR-750PX: $135 (was $100 on 12/1)
SSR-850PX: $155 (was $145 on 12/5)

Gotcha! I'll keep an eye out for those discounts.

Updating some things:

- PSU: Seasonic FOCUS-PX-650 (unless their Snow Silent Platinum 650 model is quieter since it has a bigger fan. Does anyone know? Or: did someone use them?)
- Case fans: Noctua because it's the tits and since the mobo supports three case fans: rear: 1 x NF-A12x25 PWM; front: 2 x NF-A14 PWM. Am I right in assuming PWM fans would work with this mobo? Would the two fans in front be overkill?
- Heatsink: Noctua NH-U14S since I don't think there's a need for a dual fan unit?

That leaves the RAM. I'm looking into that.

I don't think you'll hear any Seasonic running. I can't recall them ever making a noisy PSU.

Waco wrote:

I don't think you'll hear any Seasonic running. I can't recall them ever making a noisy PSU.

Thanks! I took a look at the Cybenetics website and all the Seasonic models have pretty good numbers as far as noise is concerned. Am I right in assuming that the fan draws the air in and exhausts out the back?

bitcat70 wrote:

Waco wrote:

I don't think you'll hear any Seasonic running. I can't recall them ever making a noisy PSU.

Thanks! I took a look at the Cybenetics website and all the Seasonic models have pretty good numbers as far as noise is concerned. Am I right in assuming that the fan draws the air in and exhausts out the back?

Unless it's specifically noted otherwise, all PSUs exhaust out the rear.

Waco wrote:

bitcat70 wrote:

Waco wrote:

I don't think you'll hear any Seasonic running. I can't recall them ever making a noisy PSU.

Thanks! I took a look at the Cybenetics website and all the Seasonic models have pretty good numbers as far as noise is concerned. Am I right in assuming that the fan draws the air in and exhausts out the back?

Unless it's specifically noted otherwise, all PSUs exhaust out the rear.

Cool! Thanks!

bitcat70 wrote:

Would the two fans in front be overkill?

For a quiet build, it certainly would be.

Just one case fan, placed in the rear, should be fine, paired with a good CPU cooler and a not-too-hot GPU with a good heatsink/fan setup. (TechPowerUp's model-specific video card reviews should help you find a model with a good stock fan cooler, whenever you may decide to upgrade later from your 7870.) For the CPU cooler, though I'm biased to Thermalright, Noctua should certainly be fine, and Scythe if budget minded. For the case fan, Noctua is fine and an easy recommendation for you without me diving down that fun but deep rabbit hole.

For your case, the Define Mini C looks like a good option for a quite build. (You may want to confirm your motherboard fits.) I'd foam off the hexagonal mesh in the back myself, for a SPCR-spec quiet guild, but such action may not matter for you. You could experiment with taping off the mesh with packing tape though. (In a proper quite build, the path of the airflow really matters.)

Well, that's enough ramblings from me. Good luck.


P.s. You may also want to check the VRMs for whatever motherboard you go with. Some acceptable quality but bit cheaper VRMs may be just as reliable as those on a more expensive motherboard, for example, but they may throw off more heat that desired for a quite build.
Some guys geek out about VRMs more than needed for a build such as yours. (It's not like you're doing some hardcore OCing or the like.) But this did catch my eye when I did a quick search for you.
"The B450M Pro4 has an unquestionably worse VRM with only 3 phases in the VCore with MOSFETs by NIKO SEMI who make the worst MOSFETs on the market."
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/9 ... _pro_4_vs/
So yeah, you may want to do a bit of homework.
Oh, here's this for you as well, for whatever it's worth.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/9 ... tier_list/

That's an interesting chart linked from the Reddit thread. To make some broad generalizations: Looks like ASRock and Gigabyte each have a single flagship model, with almost everything else focusing on the lower/budget end. MSI seems to have a lot of midrange and above choices. Asus has a broad selection across all levels, with only a few choices at each level.

TBH it probably explains why I've almost always been able to find something that suits my needs from Asus.

DrCR wrote:

bitcat70 wrote:

Would the two fans in front be overkill?

For a quiet build, it certainly would be.

Just one case fan, placed in the rear, should be fine,

Would a 120 mm rear fan be better than a 140 mm in the front?

DrCR wrote:

For the CPU cooler, though I'm biased to Thermalright, Noctua should certainly be fine,

I've heard good things about the Noctua NH-U14S but would Thermalright be quieter?

For your case, the Define Mini C looks like a good option for a quite build. (You may want to confirm your motherboard fits.)

How would I confirm that? The mobo is ASRock B450M Pro4 which is microATX and specifications say the case is compatible with that form factor. Now, I haven't built computers in quiet a while so I may not be aware, but has anything changed? Is there anything specific I should look at?

DrCR wrote:

P.s. You may also want to check the VRMs for whatever motherboard you go with.

Thanks for the links! While they may not be the best out there, at least according to the second link they appear to be mid-tier. I'm not planning on doing any overclocking so I think I should be fine? I'll see how it works.

DrCR wrote:

Good luck.

Thank you!

bitcat70 wrote:

Would a 120 mm rear fan be better than a 140 mm in the front?

Yes. For a quiet build, you don't want front fans. And actually for normal builds, I still wouldn't recommend front fans. (An exception, for example, would be going hard down the front fans path with a custom air filter to general a positive pressure case for high dust environments.)

bitcat70 wrote:

DrCR wrote:

For the CPU cooler, though I'm biased to Thermalright, Noctua should certainly be fine,

I've heard good things about the Noctua NH-U14S but would Thermalright be quieter?

Off the top of my head, the Thermalright's Macho (whatever most current variant) is champ for a quiet build.... OK, I hunted down some specific models for you. Thermalright Le Grand Macho and Scythe Fuma 2 would be alternatives to consider.

From here, google duckduckgo is your friend. For example, here's this concluding summary.
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/ther ... cho/9.html

And here's look for how it could look in your system. https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/thre ... ns.252918/
(As a quick note, I don't like top exhaust for noise reasons. If heatsoak became an issue (perhaps unlikely for you) after some long duration crunching, for example, I would try the #23 route to keep rear exhaust rather than #14 route.) (Additional note: I think you'd be more than satisfied with Thermalright Le Grand Macho RT's included fan. I'm including this link for you simply since I came across it when link hunting for you, and at quick glance it looks like the case in those photos may be the case you are considering?)

bitcat70 wrote:

For your case, the Define Mini C looks like a good option for a quite build. (You may want to confirm your motherboard fits.)

How would I confirm that? The mobo is ASRock B450M Pro4 which is microATX and specifications say the case is compatible with that form factor. Now, I haven't built computers in quiet a while so I may not be aware, but has anything changed? Is there anything specific I should look at?

Your good. I guess I was simply too lazy to search if the ASRock B450M Pro4 was microATX or not.

bitcat70 wrote:

DrCR wrote:

P.s. You may also want to check the VRMs for whatever motherboard you go with.

Thanks for the links! While they may not be the best out there, at least according to the second link they appear to be mid-tier. I'm not planning on doing any overclocking so I think I should be fine? I'll see how it works.

Yeah, I would think also think that hsould be fine then.

P.s. One think I like to do for quite builds is to cut out (using Weiss snips) the steel grill behind the rear case fan. While modern day fan grill cutouts are not as restricted as they once were, when building a quiet build (and therefore low cfm), every bit helps. Note though, this would may not be a good idea if you have kids, cats, or whatever that could cause problems with running a case fan without some kind of fan guard.

just brew it! wrote:

That's an interesting chart linked from the Reddit thread. To make some broad generalizations: Looks like ASRock and Gigabyte each have a single flagship model, with almost everything else focusing on the lower/budget end. MSI seems to have a lot of midrange and above choices. Asus has a broad selection across all levels, with only a few choices at each level.

TBH it probably explains why I've almost always been able to find something that suits my needs from Asus.

Yeah, it's interesting work. I came across it when doing some what-if shopping some months ago. Re Asus, I felt like Gigabyte overtook Asus in the late C2D era or so as far as what motherboard a normal Joe PC builder would actually buy, but Asus reclaimed its position afterwards.

The 650-watt Focus Plus Platinum is on sale again at Newegg for $127 -10MIR. If you're efficiency-obsessed, the 650-watt Prime Ultra Titanium is $149 -20MIR.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

The 650-watt Focus Plus Platinum is on sale again at Newegg for $127 -10MIR. If you're efficiency-obsessed, the 650-watt Prime Ultra Titanium is $149 -20MIR.

Thanks for the heads up! Went for the Titanium as it allows a wider range of fan-free operation and it's a pretty good price.

The Prime Ultra Titanium is a top-of-the-line power supply. I like the Focus Plus line because they're not quite as deep as many ATX power supplies. (Height and width are set by the ATX standard, but depth varies.)

DrCR wrote:

bitcat70 wrote:

Would a 120 mm rear fan be better than a 140 mm in the front?

Yes. For a quiet build, you don't want front fans. And actually for normal builds, I still wouldn't recommend front fans. (An exception, for example, would be going hard down the front fans path with a custom air filter to general a positive pressure case for high dust environments.)

From what I gather, for a 120 mm fan the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM would be the one to get?

DrCR wrote:

bitcat70 wrote:

DrCR wrote:

For the CPU cooler, though I'm biased to Thermalright, Noctua should certainly be fine,

I've heard good things about the Noctua NH-U14S but would Thermalright be quieter?

Off the top of my head, the Thermalright's Macho (whatever most current variant) is champ for a quiet build.... OK, I hunted down some specific models for you. Thermalright Le Grand Macho and Scythe Fuma 2 would be alternatives to consider.

Went for the Le Grand Macho. What are the #23 and #14 routes?

Cool. The Le Grand Macho should serve your needs nicely. Did you give the RT i.e. is your Le Grand Macho coming with a fan included, or is it just the heatsink and you going to need to buy a fan for the Le Grand Macho?

#23 and #14 were simply referring to airflow paths pics discussed in this earlier linked thread. TLDR: You can ignore this. I simply started geeking out about airflow paths that likely won't be something you need geek out about. Just simply go with rear exhaust fan with your CPU fan blowing towards that rear exhaust fan.
Here's direct links:
#14 airflow path with top exhaust, which I did not recommend for quiet builds (but wouldn't be a bad way exhaust route if heat was a greater priority vs quietness (except I would still ditch the front fans shown in that pic))
#23/#18 Airflow path with duct to rear fan. (I really don't think you're going to have to consider bothering with this either. I simply started geeking out, perhaps excessively, re airflow paths, since airflow paths really matter for quiet builds.)


Edit: Sorry, yes, NF-A12x25 PWM should serve your needs quite nicely.

P.s. It's been a while since I bought hardware, but ForzenCPU.com was the site I used for heatsinks and the like. And here's resellerratings results, which seems to indicate they're still good.
https://www.resellerratings.com/store/FrozenCPU
(I didn't do any price checking for you, but assuming same/close pricing, I like to shop outside of Amazon. I checked another vendor for you, but it appears they've closed shop. What Walmart did to retail, Amazon has done to online.)

DrCR wrote:

Cool. The Le Grand Macho should serve your needs nicely. Did you give the RT i.e. is your Le Grand Macho coming with a fan included, or is it just the heatsink and you going to need to buy a fan for the Le Grand Macho?

Yes, the RT. From what I see the TY-147B fan is pretty good and there would be little if any benefit using another one.

Thanks for the explanations. I hear you about the sellers but it is what it is. On top of that overclocking, which drove a lot of that development and market, is not what it used to be.

bitcat70, how did the build turn out?

DrCR wrote:

bitcat70, how did the build turn out?

Still waiting for the case. Should be here today. I'm planning to put it together over the weekend.