CPU cooling noise levels / VR readiness

[Tom_P]

Hi all,

Hopefully a couple of quick questions if anyone could please help? I've pulled a spec from Scott's (excellent) desktop building guide post (spec printed below as well) and am making a couple of tweaks.

My current 6-year-old laptop is loud, so I'm trying to make a couple of changes to reduce noise. The build already uses an "ultra-quiet" PSU and I've upped the case to the Corsair Carbide Quiet. I was wondering if it was worth upgrading from the standard AMD CPU fan to the Noctua Ultra Quiet option as well? Or would that have minimal impact on the noise level (it's fairly expensive at £61 extra if it doesn't make much difference)? Or alternatively - how easy is it for an amateur to upgrade the cooling from the AMD standard later if it is too loud?

As a quick extra - I'm not planning on using this for VR straight away, but will probably look at picking up some VR kit in Black Friday / Boxing Day sales. Would this be suitable for VR / are there any quick swaps I should make that would make a big difference to VR readiness without too much of a price hike?

Thanks for any advice!

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275Q QUIET CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Quad Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.3GHz/18MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 SUPER - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language

 

[AgentCooper]

Hi Tom, as far as I know the 2070 Super is the best starting point for VR use. Anything lower has a reputation for being vomit-inducing. I'm sure one of the more experienced people will have a build idea for you shortly.

 

[Grumpywurzel]

Can you add the url for your build please?

Whats the budget? That way we know how much headroom we have to play with

Guessing you already have the monitor, so can you confirm the spec?

Personally I'd bump up the CPU and GPU if you'd like to do VR without throwing chunks all over your PC. @Scott is deffo your go to guy for help on this build. If you arent smashing the CPU with an overclock or heavy workloads, then the standard cooler should be fine. There are loads of YouTube vids around with guides on upgrading the cooler. Noctua is a brilliant choice btw, uber quiet.

 

[AgentCooper]

Can you add the url for your build please?

Whats the budget? That way we know how much headroom we have to play with

Guessing you already have the monitor, so can you confirm the spec?

Personally I'd bump up the CPU and GPU if you'd like to do VR without throwing chunks all over your PC. @Scott is deffo your go to guy for help on this build. If you arent smashing the CPU with an overclock or heavy workloads, then the standard cooler should be fine. There are loads of YouTube vids around with guides on upgrading the cooler. Noctua is a brilliant choice btw, uber quiet.

'Throwing chunks'

Genius

 

[Tom_P]

Hi all,

Thanks for your help. The spec is saved at: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-am4-gen3-pc/1790375/

Budget wise I'd ideally like to keep it below £1200, but can stretch to £1300 if it would give a significant performance improvement. I'll be using it for gaming, not as a workstation and not looking at any heavy overclocking etc. so sounds like the standard AMD cooling will be fine, thanks.

Monitor wise I'm fairly flexible - I'm moving from an older laptop, so going to need to buy a full setup. Currently on an HP E243i on loan from work (thanks to Covid home working) - 1920x1200 WUXGA 60Hz:
https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/...WqfT1soY31pyj8N1tG8aAmIqEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I'll be needing to buy my own when they want this back though - but to be honest I haven't thought that far ahead. The build I started from was the suggested mid-range 1440p resolution option (assuming that would give me decent flexibility in future monitor choice), so at some point in a few months I'll need to decide between 1080p / 1440p / 60Hz / 144Hz etc.

If both the processor and graphics card need to be heftier for VR it sounds like I'm best off just waiting a couple years and upgrading GPU & CPU then so I can do it properly, rather than splashing out now to just scrape up to workable.

Love the "throwing chunks" metaphor by the way - I tend to suffer from travel / motion sickness so I imagine I'd get it even worse!

 

[Deleted member 17413]

Maybe something like this?

Case
CORSAIR 275R AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Monitor
IIYAMA G2530HSU-B1 24.5" Gaming Monitor
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK540 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 20 to 22 working days
Price: £1,322.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/Aw!J8wb7VN/


When you are looking at VR and have saved up the budget for it then the GPU, monitor can be upgraded at the same time, £1300 isnt a huge amount when it needs to include everything, someone might be able to squeeze a 1440p system out of it I dont know.
Would also look at a cooler when you upgrade too, while on 1080p I cant see you needing more than the stock cooler.