I'm building a high-end PC for 2K video editing and music recording, and I'd like it to be as quiet as possible in real-world use. I'm considering an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120, Gigabyte RTX 5070 AERO OC, 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory, a Gigabyte Z890 AORUS PRO ICE motherboard, a 2TB Samsung 990 EVO Plus NVMe SSD, an 850W Platinum-rated power supply, and either a be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 or Dark Base 701 case. I'm aiming for a white-and-blue build and don't have a strict budget. How quiet do you think this system would be, especially under sustained editing workloads and during music recording?
3 Answers
Don’t assume an AIO will be quieter. A pump produces a continuous hum, while a good air cooler can be nearly silent at light workloads and can be controlled with a sensible fan curve. Your Phantom Spirit should be a solid quiet choice, especially if the case has good airflow and the CPU power limits are tuned.
A 360mm AIO could keep the processor cooler under sustained workloads, which may let its fans run more slowly. It could also fit the white aesthetic better, but the pump adds another constant noise source, so it isn’t automatically quieter in every situation.
You could also consider the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. It has slightly lower clock speeds but a faster ring bus and can perform similarly—or better in some workloads—while costing less. That said, if you found a bundle that made the 285K and motherboard significantly cheaper, the i9 is still a reasonable choice.
I considered the Core Ultra 7, but I found a bundle with the white motherboard, 32GB of RAM, and the Core Ultra 9 for about $250 less than buying the Core Ultra 7 setup separately.