2014 Desktop PC System: A Quiet Windows Gaming and Linux dual booting Desktop PC System
Vendors:
Newegg -
Amazon -
Frys -
Micro Center -
ZipZoomfly -
Mwave -
CrazyPC -
eWIZ -
Tiger Direct -
Directron -
Meritline
|
| Case |
+ Nanoxia Deep Silence 5 -
3dgameman video review -
Overclockers review -
pureoverclock review -
Amazon -
Newegg -
Microcenter
or
Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 (limited access to back side of motherboard CPU cooler area) -
AnandTech review -
Newegg -
Amazon -
Frys -
Microcenter
or
Antec P100 -
HardwareCanucks video review -
Benchmarkreviews review -
bit-tech review -
Amazon -
Newegg -
Frys
or
Corsair Obsidian 350D -
AnandTech review -
Amazon (windowed side) -
Amazon
or
NZXT H630 CA-630F-M1 Matte Black Ultra Tower Silent Case -
AnandTech review -
Newegg video review -
Newegg -
Amazon
or
NZXT H2 H2-001-BK (Black) -
Newegg
or
Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case CC-9011030-WW - Black -
AnandTech review -
Newegg -
Amazon
|
| Motherboard |
+ Asus Sabertooth Z97 Mark2 (5 year warranty) -
Amazon -
Newegg -
Microcenter -
Frys
or
Asus
Gryphon Z97 (5 year warranty) -
Newegg -
Amazon
Maximus VII Hero -
Newegg -
Microcenter
Z97-Pro -
Microcenter -
Amazon -
Newegg
Z97-A -
hardocp review -
Hexus review -
Amazon -
Newegg
Sabertooth Z97 Mark1 (5 year warranty) -
Amazon -
Newegg
or
ASRock
Fatal1ty Z97 Killer -
hardocp review -
Newegg -
Microcenter
Fatal1ty Z97X Killer -
Newegg
Z97 OC Formula -
AnandTech review -
Newegg
Z97 Extreme6 -
Phoronix review
or
Gigabyte
GA-Z97X-Gaming 7 -
Amazon -
Newegg -
Microcenter
GA-Z97X-UD5H Black Edition rev.1.1
GA-Z97X-UD3H
Z97X Gaming G1 -
hardocp review
or
MSI
Z97 Gaming 5 -
Hexus review
Socket (LGA) 1150 Z97 -
Newegg listing -
Microcenter listing
Tom's Hardware Top Oct. 2014 motherboards -
Hexus reviews
Intel X99 chipset = Avoiding due to high cost and power usage for more cores but lower speed which uses socket LGA2011-v3 which supports
Haswell-E Intel Core i7-5960X, i75930K, i7-5820k
|
| Audio Chipset |
Realtek ALC1150
|
CPU |
+ Intel i7-4790K (Socket (LGA) 1150) (Haswell) -
Troubleshooting overheating -
AnandTech review -
Tom's Hardware review -
Newegg -
Amazon -
Micro Center
or
Intel Haswell CPU - wiki
i5-4690K (Socket (LGA) 1150) -
Frys -
Microcenter
or
Future:
Intel Broadwell (ETA: 2014/2015) - wiki
Intel Skylake (ETA: 2015) - wiki
Processor Operation Temperature FAQ -
Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool (64-bit) -
Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel XTU) (Download)
AnandTech CPU Bench comparison -
CPU Benchmarks -
CPUBoss
|
| CPU Cooling Hardware |
+ Noctua NH-D15 -
Guru3d review -
TechPowerUp review -
Overclockers review -
TweakTown review -
Xbitlabs review -
Bit-tech review -
OC3D review -
Techicize video review -
OC3D TV video review -
PC Componentes video review (Spanish) -
Newegg -
Amazon
or
Noctua NH-D14 -
TweakTown review -
Guru3d group test review -
Guru3d 2009 review -
HardOCP review -
pcper review -
Tomshardware review -
Tomshardware review 2 -
Newegg -
Amazon
or
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan (OCCT 65C max CPU temp when disabling hyperthreading and turbo and setting fans to turbo) -
AnandTech article -
Amazon -
Newegg -
Microcenter -
Frys
or
Noctua NH-U14S -
Amazon -
Newegg
or
Arctic Freezer i11 -
Newegg
or
Water Cooling Options:
Swiftech H220-X -
Techpowerup review
or
Corsair Hydro H110 -
Techpowerup review
or
Corsair Hydro H105 -
Techpowerup review
review
or
Corsair H100i
or
Kraken x61
AnandTech CPU Air Coolers
Best Thermal Paste Application Methods -
33-Way TIM Comparison Test
|
| Video Card - AMD Drivers |
+ Gigabyte GV-N980G1 GAMING-4GD -
Guru3D review -
Tiger Direct -
Newegg -
Amazon -
Microcenter
or
NVidia GTX 980 -
AnandTech review -
guru3d power consumption -
Frys -
Newegg -
Microcenter
Gigabyte GTX 980 options
or
MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G -
Guru3D review -
Newegg -
Microcenter
or
Asus Strix-GTX980-DC20C-4GD5 -
Guru3D review -
Newegg -
Microcenter
or
NVidia GTX 970 (Coil noise issues?) -
Frys -
Microcenter -
Newegg
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 GV-N970G1GAMING-4GD -
Guru3D review -
Amazon -
Newegg -
Microcenter
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 Overclocked GV-N970WF3OC-4GD (reviews complain of "coil whine") -
Amazon -
Newegg -
Microcenter
Guru3D reviews
OLD:
Sapphire TRI-X Radeon R9 290 -
AnandTech review
or
Sapphire TRI-X Radeon R9 290X
|
| Video Card Cooling Hardware |
default
|
| Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier |
existing
|
| Memory |
+ Crucial Ballistix Tactical LP 16GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL8 Desktop Memory Kit (Two 8GB Memory Modules) -
Amazon -
Newegg -
Microcenter
or
Crucial -
Crucial Advisor
Crucial Ballistix Tactical 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model BLT4K8G3D1608ET3LX0 -
Amazon -
Newegg
or
G.Skill RAM Configurator
G.Skill Trident X F3-2400C10D-16GTX (16 GB (2x8GB) 2400 CAS 10) DDR3 10-12-12-31-2N 1.65v -
Remove Fin -
Video unboxing -
Video unboxing 2 -
overclockersclub review -
Newegg ($174.99) -
Amazon ($199)
or
Corsair CMY16GX3M2A2400C11R or CMY16GX3M2A2400C11A 11-13-13-31(2) -
Unboxing -
Amazon (Red) -
Amazon (Gold) -
Newegg (Red) -
Newegg (Gold) -
Microcenter (Red) -
Microcenter (Gold) -
Frys (Red)
or
Corsair Memory Finder
Corsair Vengeance Pro Series
Corsair Vengeance Pro Series — 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 DRAM 1866MHz C9 Memory Kit (CMY16GX3M2A1866C9) 9-10-9-27 1.5v -
Frys -
Newegg -
Amazon -
Microcenter
or
Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP -
Newegg -
Microcenter
or
Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Gaming Memory Model BLT2KIT8G3D1869DT1TX0 -
Newegg -
Microcenter?
or
Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB 1866 BLT8G3D1869DT1TX0 9-9-9-27 1.5v -
Newegg
or
Crucial Ballistix Elite 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 1866 MT/s (PC3-14900) CL9 @1.5V UDIMM w/XMP/TS 240-Pin BLE2CP8G3D1869DE1TX0 -
Amazon
or
Crucial Ballistix Elite 8GB Single DDR3 1866 MT/s (PC3-14900) CL9 @1.5V UDIMM w/XMP/TS 240-Pin Memory BLE8G3D1869DE1TX0 -
Amazon
or
ADATA XPG V1.0 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1600W8G9-DB 9-9-9-24 1.5V -
Newegg
or
16 GB DDR3 1866, 2133, 2400, or 2666 MHz
or
16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 ?
Corsair memory speed testing -
AnandTech - CAS Latency and Speed comparisons
|
|
Case Fans:
|
Quiet 140mm x 25mm
Noctua NF-A15 PWM -
Newegg
Quiet 120mm x 25mm
?
|
| Power Supply |
+ Rosewill SilentNight-500 500W Continuous @50°C, Intel Haswell Ready, 80 PLUS PLATINUM, ATX12V v2.31 & EPS12V v2.92, SLI/CrossFire Ready, Fan-less Active PFC Power Supply -
Silentpcreview -
Overclockers review -
Newegg video overview -
Newegg -
Amazon
or
Rosewill TACHYON-550 550W Continuous @ 50°C, Intel Haswell Ready, 80 PLUS PLATINUM, ATX12V v2.31 & EPS12V v2.92, SLI/CrossFire Ready, Modular Active PFC Power Supply -
Newegg video review -
Newegg -
Amazon 650W -
Amazon
or
SeaSonic SS-520FL2 520W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready -
Newegg
At least:
500+ W w/2x6-pins GPU power connectors
Newegg 80 Plus Platinum 2x6+2-pin or 4x6+2-pin Modular
Newegg 80 Plus Platinum 2x6+2-pin Modular
|
| Boot Drive 1 - SSD |
+ Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256GB -
AnandTech review -
Frys -
Newegg -
Amazon -
Micro Center
or
Sandisk Extreme Pro 240GB -
Newegg -
Amazon
or
Samsung EVO -
Microcenter -
840 EVO 250GB @ Microcenter -
AnandTech review -
Samsung 250 EVO = 3 year warranty
or
Intel 530 -
Intel 530 = 5 year warranty -
AnandTech review -
Microcenter options -
Newegg -
Microcenter
or
Intel 730
Samsung SSDs
Intel SSDs
AnandTech Recommended SSD 2013
|
| Data Drive 2 - HDD |
+ Western Digital Red 6TB (got for discount at $239) -
AnandTech review -
Newegg -
Amazon -
Frys
or
Original 1st choice: HGST Deskstar NAS 3.5" 6TB 7200RPM 3 year warranty -
HGST GPT Disk Manager -
simply reviews review -
Newegg -
Amazon
or
HGST Deskstar NAS 3.5" 4TB 7200RPM 3 year warranty -
Newegg -
Amazon
Hard Drive Reliability Update - Sep 2014
|
| Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer/Reader (SATA) |
+ Pioneer BDR-2209 SATA 16x BD/DVD/CD burner (Cyberlink software) -
Newegg -
Amazon
or
Pioneer BDR-209DBK SATA 16x internal BD/DVD/CD burner (no software) -
Pioneer BDR-209DBK-KIT 16X Blu-Ray Writer Drive + Nero 12 Essentials Burning Software + SATA Cable Kit - Amazon -
Newegg -
Amazon BDR-209DBK
or
LG BH16NS40 Super Multiblue Internal SATA 16X Blu-Ray Disc rewriter -
Amazon
|
| Operating System(s) |
Windows 7
or
Windows 10
and
* Fedora Linux
Avoiding:
Windows 8.1 Home Premium
|
