Building the Ultimate Silent PC

UPDATE: I've decided on some of the parts based on various feedback and research

• MB: ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark1 Intel Z97 ATX LGA1150
• CPU: Intel Devil's Canyon Core i7 4790K 4.0GHz
• Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 280mm
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB DDR3-1866 CL9
• SSD: Samsung 840 EVO Series 250GB
• HDD: Seagate SSHD 2TB 64MB Solid State Hybrid Drive
• GPU: 2 ASUS STRIX GeForce GTX970 in SLI
• SPU: ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channel
• Case: NZXT H440
• PSU: SeaSonic X-750

Black Friday is just around the corner. ;)

@GhoX:

SLI 980 8GB can do 4k but it may not be the flagship, they might release a titan 2 or something.

Should I bother with Haswell-E and DDR4, or just stick with an i7 4790K on a LGA 1150 board? Assuming budget is not a factor, will there be a fair difference in gaming performance?

Haswell-E is more then just for gaming. 4790K is more for gaming. GTX 980 - 8GB should be out anytime now. Also, R9 290X - 8GB should be out anytime now. Two of those should be fairly good for 4K.

I still have my 2010 i7 980x and a gtx 690. I'm not looking for a new system.probably until 2016. This 980x has been holding up wickedly strong

It is starting to show its age now, isn't it? Although it has to be one of the better purchases among the expensive ones from Intel, given how long it has given decent performance.

I am with the x58 from 2009 it is still going strong I will defiantly keep it until Skylake or Cannonlake.

You'll want a 2-4 970s setup to be able to game well on 4K monitor (also 4K monitor IMO is nothing less than 50' that's actually worth spending for)

Updated the main topic with a list of hardware I've decided thus far.

Just change the GPU's, that's the loudest version of the 970's, the Asus is the quietest, the Gigabyte is the fastest and the MSI is in between.

STRIX it is then. I always figured that larger fans are quieter, and at a glance those Asus fans looked small.

Well the fans don't run if your just web browsing or doing any other non-intensive task. Personally I don't hear the fans below 60% anyway, my radiator is louder than it.

The fans don't run on the MSI or EVGA either.

But yes if you want the quietest go with ASUS.

Updated the parts again. This should probably be the final version of the build. I don't really want to go for GTX980, since GTX980 Ti (or whatever it'll be called) is coming out soon, and I'd regret not getting the Ti version then. I might as well settle for 970s since I need the computer in a relative hurry.

In terms of power supplies, I really like Seasonic X series, but only 750W version is available (I'm restricted in my options for stock). Will that be enough for this build, which will be overclocked to a reasonable degree? Alternatively I could go for Corsair HXi, but it doesn't really match the colour scheme I have in mind. I can also go for Seasonic Platinum 860W, but to my knowledge that is not intended to be a quiet PSU like X series.

That looks like a great rig, but It will not be silent unless you are water cooling the whole thing. Silence is not a concern for me. I have an open case right behind my monitor. As long as components are not really loud like Radeon cards, the basic fans and stuff don't bother me.

I'm not exactly aiming for 0db-10db "true silence", since the ambient noise even in a quiet non-sound proofed room would be higher than that. Somewhere around 20db low load and 30db high load would be inaudible in my setup, I think.

Power supply is on the small side for 970 sli...psus hit peak efficiency around 50 percent...I have near the same setup as you, but use a 1200w psu.

Well just as a reference, I know a person with 2 of the Gigabyte cards (the super long 3 fan edition) and he's using a Antec 750 watt and almost the same rig as you, the only difference is a smaller SSD and 2 SSHD's. Also a 4.5Ghz OC on CPU and GPU's are OC'd as well.

His system is fine. Also the 970's only use 350 watt combined (with an OC).

The X61 will also be the loudest, I have the same cooler, but it also has a silent mode that increases fan speed but reduces the pump speed.

I ended up going for Seasonic Platinum, D-15, pure 1TB SSD, and replaced H440's intake fans with 3 Noctua ones. I think I'm set?

@GhoX:

Yeah

Why would you need 1200W for X2 970s..? I have X2 R9 290s and a 1300W. I still got enough power for one more R9 290.