I have an aging Windows gaming box that needs an upgrade. With Trump winning the election, I anticipate tariffs on basically all PC parts, so I want to buy now. Here’s my challenge:
I love quiet PCs. I have a Fractal Design Define R4, I think, which I bought for its sound insulating ability. I’ve always gone with air-cooling, and my fan curves are tuned to be quiet. That works great for my 2080 TI.
Now, however, I want to get the 4080 Super and a big beefy AMD processor. Is air cooling still going to cut it? Or am I going ot have to go for all-in-one water cooling loops to keep temperatures under control without having to listen to the turbines spinning up?
I know there are a lot of factors to consider, but basically I think Fractal Design has great products, so I would probably get another case from them and build the machine from the ground up. I just want to find the solution that lets the machine run without making a ton of noise while it sits on the floor next to me.
Buy an X870 board for future CPU options, buy whichever 9000 processor that you settle you, after CES buy a 50 series from nVidia, they’ll have GDDR7 and could be slightly thinner, set your fan curve in UEFI and GPU software, look at a Dark Rock Pro 5 for CPU, and you can get it pretty silent.
I love the Dark Rock Pro. Used it in two builds so far, and it’s amazingly quiet. I opted not to go with the NVidia 50x0 series because I expect demand to be outrageous and prices to be high by then because of tariffs. At least I can get my hands on a 4080 Super these days. I literally just upgraded my parts list to include the X870 for exactly the reasons you stated. I’m thinking of going with the 7800X3D to save some money now, and maybe upgrade to the 9000X3D in a couple years if I ever notice performance issues. I primarily use it for gaming, and word on the street is that the 9000 series just doesn’t add enough to gaming performance.
There’s not a noticible difference in performance for 9000 if a person already owns a 7000. There is a technical case to be made for buying 9800x3D, and it’s not because it’s new or faster. But sure, buy a 7800x3D and then buy a 10800x3D.
I don’t know if tariffs, or an import tax, will be universal on everything, or only for certain products to encourage American manufacturing. Is there 4080 Supers easily for sale? I know the 4090 went end of life, maybe a month ago, from nVidia to clear out stock. I’m planning to buy a 50 series and then go to a higher resolution.
A Noctua NHD15 is still more than capable of cooling pretty much any CPU out there, especially AMD, and especially especially the new 9000 series which apparently run surprisingly cool. Other air cooling options are available. People also like the Thermalright Peerless Assassin, Deep Cool Assassin 3 or Sycthe Fuma all of which are cheaper. Noise wise, they’ll probably be fine in a case sat on the floor.
Short answer: I wouldn’t worry about air cooling a CPU unless your going to do some kind of mad overclocking or breaking benchmark records or something.
A lot of 4080s use the same heatsinks as the 4090s so they should be very quiet. I have a gigabyte OC 4090 and I have it undervolted as far as it will go (200 watts typical, 300 watts max) and I can’t hear it in my fractal define R4. Undervolt your 4080 a smidge and it will be dead silent. My CPU is a 5800x3d with an NH-D14 and it’s not possible to hear that thing.
Also just FYI the R4 is not large enough for the 12vhpwr cable, you have to make too sharp of a turn radius for it. My 4090 is undervolted so far I’m not concerned, but be aware of this.
What is the best way to undervolt (in linux obviously) I dont care about losing some performance, I want quiet. (4080 super and 7800x3d)
I’m not going to re-use the Define R4 case. I would probably get something like the Torrent (not the compact). My plan is to build the new box from the ground up and repurpose the current machine into a hand-me-down for the family.
