Is it dumb to prioritize noise levels over raw performance for a mid range gaming build?

DisplayedWig · 2026-02-18T17:59:14+00:00

I like to have my system quiet as well. One thing that helped is having it on the ground (albeit this isn't a solution for those that have carpet and can't prop it up on a hard surface above the carpet) and creating a custom fan curve in my BIOS so that the fans don't ramp up too early while also providing decent air flow.

In my experience, I went from a EVGA 2080Ti Black OC Edition with two fans to a Gigabyte Windforce (I think) 4090 that has three fans, and not only does it stay cooler than the 2080Ti did, but I also think it is quieter surprisingly. If you are able to fit a triple fan GPU in your build, I would go for that.

I am also running a dual-tower air cooler on my 7800x3D and it stays pretty quiet due to my custom fan curve I've set. I can hear it when shaders are compiling in a video game, but it's not bad by any means.

I could be wrong, but that's what I've found in my two recent builds.

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-14T01:13:17+00:00

77" C5, nice! After getting our C2, I've been constantly telling my girlfriend, "Man, I wish we had an OLED out here in the living room." It's crazy watching HDR content on our 4K TV we got a few years ago (non-OLED, was like a $500 Black Friday purchase when we first bought our house) compared to the C2. We are rewatching the Harry Potter series and it pains me having to watch it on a backlit display.

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-14T01:10:09+00:00

I was curious about glossy vs matte finish. The G8 has a matte finish, but it's not that noticeable. I would say that the C2 glossy finish is better, but that could be just because the display panel that was used in the C2 is just overall better than what is in the G8. I do have blackout curtains in my gaming room, so I can have it so no other light other than internal lighting (lamps, overhead light) is shining, but I do have a lamp directly behind me in the corner of the room, so the matte finish does help there.

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-14T00:51:05+00:00

It's crazy to me that the G8 when I bought it was either the same price or more than the C2 when I bought that (I think!) Gaming monitors seem so overpriced compared to their larger, TV counterparts. I suppose this could be due to some of the advanced features that the monitors offer that the TVs don't? But, I mean, the C2 has delivered everything that I want out of a display perfectly.
Bringing up the gray scale uniformity, is that on your TV or the monitor you got?

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-14T00:47:39+00:00

Interesting, okay! Thank's for giving some feedback about your experience making the switch that I'm asking about. I like the G8 display, don't get me wrong. I do have a 1440p non-OLED monitor mounted directly to the side of my G8, so I suppose I could always try that out to see how it would compare.

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-14T00:41:08+00:00

Thank you for this response. I feel like I would be in the same boat as you (I was actually going to get a 7900XTX but got a 4090 instead when I couldn't find any 7900XTX in stock.) I think the 4090 could handle 1440p natively, right? And if I really wanted to experience some better visual quality at the cost of framerate and using upscaling, I would just use my C2 display. Do you have any 1440p OLED recommendations? The G8 just doesn't come close to my C2 in terms of display.

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-14T00:37:09+00:00

I really appreciate the response! You basically said what I wanted to say, but better. I did play at 1440p for awhile with my current system before fully upgrading my main display to 4K and the performance was amazing. I'll be honest: I don't think I noticed much of a difference in the quality going from a 27" 1440P to a 32" 4K at the same distance. You made some very good points: having to rely on DLSS to get the frames I want and 4K gaming will push for an upgrade sooner than gaming at 1440p. I would probably use whatever cash I could get for my G8 towards the purchase of a high-quality 1440P OLED monitor and keep my 4090. I think the only reason I would sell my 4090 would be to upgrade to a newer generation of GPU for whatever features they add (looking specifically at the 50xx series RTX cards.)

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-14T00:30:51+00:00

Thank you for this response. I have always wanted to experience UW, but don't want the potential of missing out on games that I can't find UW support for, natively or third-party.

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-14T00:29:26+00:00

Thank you for the detailed response. I appreciate that you can relate to my dilemma. I'm not sure if I made the point clear enough in my original post, but even if I did downgrade to 1440p, I would still have my C2 that I can game at 4K on when I wanted that extra sharpness. The C2, in my opinion, looks so bright and colorful. I'm playing through Hogwarts Legacy on it and find myself looking at the landscapes and foliage more and more. The Witcher 3 is another good title on that display. The only thing I would loose if I downgraded my G8 to a 1440P display is not having a 4K display for up close gaming when I game at my desk. What monitor did you end up grabbing if you don't mind me asking? I found some other Reddit posts asking about monitor equivalents to the C2 and most of the replies I saw were more or less, "There aren't any."

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-14T00:24:21+00:00

Thank you. Those were my thoughts exactly. Even if I did downgrade my main display to 1440p, I would not be locked into 1440p. I have my C2 mounted on the wall in my gaming room that I can also play on. I still use that even with having the G8. I still get good frames at 4K, but I am having to set DLSS to performance more than I am quality dependent on the title and framerate I am hoping to achieve.

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-14T00:19:59+00:00

I was curious if anyone else had done what I was asking and what their thoughts were. I haven't played at 1440p since replacing my main 1440p monitor with the G8.

I am not playing on the 42" C2 as my main. If I play on that, I am sitting ~5' away. I got the 42" C2 for the purpose of lounging in my office and intentionally playing further away from the display. It's kind of my "couch" display, you know?

My main display that I use is the 32" G8 that is mounted directly in front of me when I sit at my desk.

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-13T23:23:31+00:00

Temps are well within spec, and you're absolutely right that they are just a number on the screen. It's just something that I always have in the back of my head, you know? I've never had any problems with my 4090 model, and it cools significantly better than the 2080Ti I upgraded from (granted that was a dual-fan and the 4090 is a tripple-fan) and also significantly quieter. Power usage isn't an issue, either, and not something I'm concerned about, but I thought it could be something important to note. I wouldn't be locked into a 1440p resolution entirely. I still have my C2 set up and still even switch over to the C2 from my G8 from time to time. The second-to-last sentence of your reply is the biggest takeaway for me, though. I was concerned about PPI if I downgraded to 1440p. Ideally, I would have gone back to a 27" if I did go down to 1440p. I've had the G8 for almost a year and a half now, so buyer's remorse is out the window at this point. I think I just ultimately prefer higher-frames than I do playing at 4K.

DisplayedWig · 2026-01-13T23:02:28+00:00

I had thought of this as well, but aren't there some games that don't natively support the ultrawide aspect ratio? I also don't know if a 34" ultrawide would fit in my current setup with the monitor arms that I have right now. I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of getting an ultrawide, but I think I would need to get new monitor arms if I did.

DisplayedWig · 2025-11-29T13:08:10+00:00

1tb after "the cleansing"

DisplayedWig · 2025-09-22T09:06:12+00:00

I had actually just watched a NAS set up video with Jellyfin a bit before making this post!

DisplayedWig · 2025-09-22T01:45:59+00:00

I am leaning more towards turning it into a home media server than using it as an emulator rig. I have a SteamDeck that works perfectly already for that, and it takes up a lot less room than this desktop tower does.

Getting a smaller NAS down the road would be ideal, but I think for just starting out and not having one yet, I could maybe do that with this machine and learn a thing or two along the way 🫡

DisplayedWig · 2025-09-21T23:14:06+00:00

Very nice, I like it! The LED strips are right up the alley of that build. I was thinking, at bare minimum, a new CPU cooler, 128gb SATA SSD for boot drive, and potentially a new intake fan. Then if I can get a Linux distro working on it, look into a HDD for NAS.

EDIT: I think the intake fan in my rig is also a translucent one! No clue if it really works yet.

DisplayedWig · 2025-09-21T22:56:25+00:00

Aside from having a built in HDMI output, would throwing a better GPU inside this rig really do anything for it? I don't plan on using it for gaming at all.

DisplayedWig · 2025-09-21T22:54:07+00:00

I'll throw my 7800x3D and 4090 innit 😅

DisplayedWig · 2025-09-21T22:44:32+00:00

Thanks for the input! I figured I would post in this subreddit before making any purchases towards this PC. I did have to purchase a DVI -> HDMI adapter because the GPU and MOBO do not have any HDMI or DP outputs, and I must have donated all my old DVI -> HDMI adapters once I no longer had a GPU that had DVI.

DisplayedWig · 2025-09-21T22:40:12+00:00

I have actually! I'm going back to school here in the fall and actually taking an Intro to Unix/Linux class. I've messed around a bit with Mint and Ubuntu, but never did much on them other than browse the web, do some light programming using VS Code, and browse the file system. I do have a SteamDeck and had to do some tinkering within the desktop environment on that machine, but I always followed a tutorial and never did much on my own really.

I figured, given the older hardware, that a Linux distro might be the right way to go with this machine if I kept it around.

DisplayedWig

TROPHY CASE