Puget Systems Serenity SPCR Edition: Blissful Silence
by Dustin Sklavos on February 10, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
- Intel
- Radeon
- Sandy Bridge
- Puget Systems
- Serenity SPCR
Conclusion: Custom Job at a Custom Price
When we look at the Puget Systems Serenity SPCR Edition, we're really looking at two things: the design of the custom build, and the hardware configuration proper.
The hardware configuration is largely up to the end user; the quote on our price sheet listed our test system at a fairly onerous $2,149. We're really looking at a little over $1,000 in parts here judging from a trip to NewEgg and some quick and dirty math. No one likes seeing 100% markup on a computer that costs over two bills, so from a pure value perspective the Serenity SPCR Edition can feel like a real bust. None of the upgrades available on Puget Systems's site really gouge the end user (as opposed to, say, ordering RAM from Apple), so what we're really dealing with is a brutal base price. Bouncing over to the "Professional," which is designed to run at 20db instead of 11db (oh the horror!), drops the price by about $150. Even the "Mini," built in an Antec Mini P180, only drops the price another $100 on top of the "Professional." That's still pretty unseemly. And after all that, to only offer a one year warranty on parts versus the three years standard I've seen nearly everywhere else seems like adding insult to injury.
Update: After Jon at Puget Systems and Jarred both ran the numbers, they came up with a figure substantially higher than mine. While my rough and tumble estimate hits equivalent performance, it doesn't really account for all the extra materials Puget Systems does employ in this build. Jarred estimates markup at between 40% and 50% which is still a little rough, but nowhere near as bad.
On the other hand, the Serenity SPCR Edition isn't a slapdash job the way some other builds from boutique vendors can feel. The only other custom system I've seen that actually modified the case somewhat was AVADirect's Nano Gaming Cube, but that thing was more or less bursting at the seams and in dire need of a proper case instead of a modified one (something AVADirect has been working with SilverStone on). Puget Systems clearly thought the Serenity from the ground up, and there's some careful consideration going on here to ensure the quietest system. This is a smart design if ever I've seen one, and you can't argue with results: Puget Systems set out to build a silent computer and they've achieved it. The Serenity runs, under load, quieter than most laptops I've tested run at idle. We can't test the noise level because it basically sits beneath the noise floor of my apartment complex and I just don't have gear sensitive enough to pick it up.
Reconciling the high price (complete with middling warranty) with your desire for a silent machine is really going to be a matter of personal preference and just how much you're willing to spend for a quiet system. Puget Systems clearly gunned to get the Serenity as quiet as humanly possible (in fact our rep was disappointed they couldn't get it down to 10db), sparing virtually no expense, and on that front they're successful. You will, if nothing else, get quality parts if you order a Serenity from them (even the Serenity Mini uses a Seasonic power supply by default). Deciding just how much silent, efficient running is worth is going to vary from user to user, but at least Puget Systems is putting it on the table and offering a custom build that sacrifices flash for an austere, professional design.
Puget Systems' response to the Sandy Bridge chipset bug shows that they're willing to provide better support to end-users than most companies—something you usually only get from a boutique computer vendor. We appreciate what they offer, and if they could knock at least a couple hundred off the price and bump that parts warranty up to three years, we'd have Editor's Choice material on our hands. As it stands, though, I'm left reviewing another system that a lot of users (myself included) would be overjoyed to own but are unwilling to pay for.
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Kaleid - Friday, February 11, 2011 - link
should have a 500rpm fan added to it, 79C is not cool.flemeister - Friday, February 11, 2011 - link
It's well within spec. Also, a fan mounted on the video card would need to be mounted horizontally, which would encourage ticking/scraping noises from the fan (I've got a similar rig, gone through this stage before). These noises would be noticeable in a rig this quiet.And if you choose a fan that's not susceptible to such noises, you encounter motor noise, a buzzing sound that reminds you why Puget chose the sleeve-bearing Scythe Slipstream fans - they sound absolutely perfect: no buzzing, no unwanted noise at all. I'm using three of the 800RPM models in my rig as we speak, and I couldn't be happier with them!
coffeejunkee - Friday, February 11, 2011 - link
Nice try but there is only one way to go with this configuration: Thermalright HR-02 on the cpu and HR-03 GT on the gpu. It won't get more quiet than this.Chris Peredun - Friday, February 11, 2011 - link
I know Dustin didn't want to go into the "30fps" discussion, but I'm really, really tired of seeing that statement getting bandied about the Internet.There is a very, very clear difference between 60 and 30fps. If you disagree, I'm afraid you are simply wrong.
There.
I said it.
*draws line in the sand*
Dustin Sklavos - Saturday, February 12, 2011 - link
There absolutely is and I believe I suggested as much.That said, in my experience (and for most of the industry) 30fps seems to be the magic number for playable smooth framerate in gaming. Certain games look like crap at 30, though, while others (Crysis) can actually dip below it and still feel pretty smooth.
Chris Peredun - Saturday, February 12, 2011 - link
*shakes head and respectfully gestures to the other side of the line*The confusion is that ~24fps (and around 30fps) is the lower threshold of motion, where you stop seeing individual frames and start seeing continuous movement.
Yes, 30fps is smooth. Yes, it's playable. But 60fps is noticably better, especially when the game is fast-paced. Something like WoW won't suffer nearly as bad as a twitch FPS, for example.
The easiest way to relate the 60-vs-30 argument is to ask people if they can see the difference between something like a live-action sports event or soap-opera (both typically shot and broadcast 60fps) and a "major network TV show" typically shot and broadcast at 24/30fps.
Or have a look at the sample video here, recorded from Way Back When UT2004 was considered new:
http://kimpix.net/2006/12/03/60fps-vs-24fps/
If you're *happy* with 30fps, you've probably saved a lot of money on video cards over the years by not needing anything above that. But please don't try to write it off as an academic difference. 100 vs 150, I'll accept as being academic simply because most people still run 60Hz monitors.
ClagMaster - Sunday, February 13, 2011 - link
"And finally, a brief thumbs up for including 8GB of DDR3 instead of 4GB in the review unit. This really should be standard and it's perplexing why so many of our review towers don't ship with 8GB at this point."Thats mighty magnamimous of you that you gove a "brief thumbs up" have 8 GB of memory on your review unit.
Your comment is silly.
I seriously wonder if you ever used over 30% (2.4 GB) of that memory in your test reviews.
There are plenty of people who have used PC's for 25 years who consider 32-bit Operating Systems and 4 GB of DDR3 memory more than adequate for most mainstream applications which includes DVD and BlueRay encoding.
How about you load a 32-bit Windows XP Home or Pro OS on this nice quiet Sandy Bridge Boutique PC with 4 GB of DDR3 memory and see how much more efficient this computer would be.
Just do it and post the results.
HangFire - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
"Just do it and post the results."I hope they do.
I've run XP and 7 on identical systems, and even the same system. XP has inexplicable delays in bootup and network operations that don't plague 7. Having an extra 4GB of dynamically available disk cache really helps in SSD/HDD systems.
xbmchtpcfan - Sunday, February 13, 2011 - link
I think one important aspect that everyone is failing to call out is what is your time worth to you? Many of you talk about putting together your own rig for cheaper, yet fail to realize you are spending your time to do that. What is that time worth to you? Many of you will just chalk this time up to a 'hobby', but I have lots of hobbies, spending time with my family and friends among the top.And yes, I am technically competent enough to order all the parts and put a somewhat silent machine together for a cheaper base cost. But between researching, ordering the parts, assembling, testing, etc, how much time will I really put into this?
Since most of you want to put dollars next to it, I'll give an example of something with dollar value. If you could consult in your field of expertise, is the 30 hours spent better than consulting on the side for, say, $50 an hour? Now your opportunity cost is $1500 of lost revenue vs an additional cost of $700 (rough estimates) for the Puget system.
Given the above example, many of you will say that if you are able to consult for $50 an hour outside of your normal day job, than you can probably afford to pay whatever you want, so let's take look at non-monetary examples. Is it time better spent than staining your deck? Landscaping? Is it time better spent than reading to your daughter or watching her walk for the first time?
The answer to all of these may be yes to you, but to others, they may have different priorities and different hobbies that they like to do. If you want to know what types of target consumers Puget is looking for, it's the ones that realize that their time is worth something and that there is an opportunity cost associated with anything that requires your time and effort.
As for me, I am in this market, so for me, it is about reviewing all the boutique shops that offer this type of quiet machine and factoring in everything they have to offer based on the price of the system. From what I can tell, Puget is near or at the top of the list. I'll likely wait for the Sandy Bridge fiasco to blow over and see what Puget does with the Radeon HD 6850 to get a little more gaming power out of a silent machine. So there you have it, one AT reader that is in the target market.