Which cooling system is most silent on Bolt II?

Budget : No more than $2600
Expectations : I want to be able to run 2 monitors. I'd also like to future-proof it with 1440p, but that's not necessary. I'm intending to keep this computer at least 5 years, so I want to have some kind of futureproofing.
Usage : Gaming. A fully modded Skyrim is what I am really looking forward to. GW2, Civ V, Witcher Series, Bioshock Series, Dark Souls I and II
Special Needs : Silence. I'm willing to throw a fair amount of money at a gaming computer to buy silence.

I don't actually want advice on a build, as I already pretty much know what I want. I know that I'm going to go with a Bolt II since a small footprint is important to me too. I just want to know which cooling method is the most silent. I may or may not overclock the computer. I do not know yet.

Thanks for your help!

Edit : Is it possible to order without an optical drive? I really don't need one.


Edited by Tarcrat - 23 Aug 2014 at 9:12pm

As far as the graphics for 1440p, right now the best card is that resolution right not is the Nvidia GTX 770. The AMD R9 280X is almost as fast and a little cheaper, so that is another option.

I went with the Impact motherboard (a newer version is working its way through the channel, not sure when it will be available), an i7-4790K, 16GB DDR3 2133MHz DS Certified memory, Samsung Evo 250GB SSD, 1TB WD Black hard drive, GTX 770, cooling controller and both CPU and GPU cooling. Here is that build at $2634: https://www.digitalstormonline.com/configurator.asp?id=1036816

You could drop to slower memory, motherboard to the Asus Z97I-Plus, the CPU to the i5-4690K, or the AMD R9 280X to get the price under the $2600. Those are listed in my order of preference if it were my system.

I hope this helps.

Edit: One more thought, on the graphics the Nivida 880 and 870 are expected to launch soonish. Expectation is about a 10% performance boost. It would also likely lower the price of the 700 series cards.

Also, on the motherboard, the Z97 (which includes updated Impact that currently has not made it to retail) will be able to support the Broadwell CPUs coming out next year. It is unclear if the Z87 motherboards will be able to support Broadwell.

Edited by danjw1 - 24 Aug 2014 at 7:02am

danjw1, the build I had in mind is very similar to yours. I want to go with with the Asus Z97I-Plus motherboard for the reason you mentioned. It seems like I should go the liquid cooled route, especially if I want to keep the rig for a long time. Thanks both of you for the advice!


Edited by Tarcrat - 24 Aug 2014 at 3:06pm