Small Size, Near Silent, Low Budget

Johnboy1951

Not for me, although I am interested in the info, but a friend has asked me to find out if it is possible to build a
Small Size, Near Silent, Low Budget
pc for general use, definitely not heavy gaming.

General Use:
As I understand it, playing videos, movies and such in HD.
Usual on line stuff such as Youtube etc
Maybe encode the odd video ... but not a regular occurrence, so if it takes time that would be acceptable.
Music playing, ripping & encoding music files (again not regularly).

I thought of a mini-ITX motherboard and suitable case, with an i5 CPU and 4GB RAM
For the drive maybe a 60GB SSD with storage on the old PC set up as a simple storage/server.

It might be acceptable to get a lower CPU initially with the option to upgrade to an i5/i7 or so in the future, budget permitting.

No need for any peripherals like monitor, keyboard, mouse etc no need for OS either .... all available.

The bit hit is the budget ..... ~€350 ..... which seems a bit too low for what I am looking at.
Even a NUC would work out about ~450 and not be upgradable in the future.

That's the challenge ..... any suggestions?

Thanks for any help

mayordenis

Right it's thrown together quickly and is a bit over budget as it comes in at £330ish but I would say it's a pretty good computer. Might be cheaper if you arse around on hardwareversand:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00K5J22GG/ - i5 4590
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BTQAWH0/ - Case (mini itx)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00F4J5D9K/ - Motherboard, socket 1150, Mini itx
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004CRSM48/ - 4GB ram
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00A1ZTZOG/ - 120GB SSD
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009RMP14M/ - 430W PSU

Hope it's some sort of guidance anyway, think it's a good direction to go.

papu

no need for an i5 , or even an intel board if you're going budget.
You'll have to choose the cheapest option and stay within the budget.
Maybe picking up a second hand shuttle barebones or something?
You could even build your own case if you had some fabrication skills

mayordenis

papu wrote: »

no need for an i5 , or even an intel board if you're going budget.
You'll have to choose the cheapest option and stay within the budget.
Maybe picking up a second hand shuttle barebones or something?
You could even build your own case if you had some fabrication skills

I dunno if the budget is €350 and the above is about €410 (£330) I think you would be well off trying to find a way to make it work.

Maybe just cannibalise a different HDD for now and pick up the SSD a little later.

Genghiz Cohen

"Small - Silent - Cheap, Pick 2."

BloodBath

Easy providing he doesn't want a dvd/blu-ray drive and he isn't gaming on it.

He could easily add a graphics card and another 4gb of ram to this later if he wanted to turn it into a gaming PC anyway.

If he plans on doing some gaming on it now then drop down to a pentium processor and get a cheap graphics card in there.

Adjust the CPU fan profile in the bios to reduce noise. It's very quiet with an i3 anyway.

Prices got using geizhals.de to get a discount on hardwareversand.

Johnboy1951

@ Bloodbath ..... he is set on nothing larger than mini-ITX ..... yours seems larger ..... or am I misinterpreting ..... I did not find the motherboard on line yet ... but will look again.

Thank you all for your replies ...... it seems this might well be possible quite close or within budget.

I must delve into the details posted now ....... thanks again.

Should have added ..... no need for CD/DVD/BlueRay drive at all ....

BloodBath

It is ITX. If you want decent design, upgradability and cooling that's about as small as you can go.

If he has no intentions of ever adding a graphics card then you could go for something smaller though.

Go to geizhals.de , search for each part individually and select hardwareversand from the list of sellers. Add each item to the cart.

Johnboy1951

@mayordenis,
That looks almost perfect ...... can use an existing HDD for the moment and everything else is up to scratch.

Dropping the SSD brings the lot to ~€360 plus delivery.

As near as dammit to the budget.


Thank you.

Johnboy1951

BloodBath wrote: »

It is ITX. If you want decent design, upgradability and cooling that's about as small as you can go.

If he has no intentions of ever adding a graphics card then you could go for something smaller though.

Go to geizhals.de , search for each part individually and select hardwareversand from the list of sellers. Add each item to the cart.

He has no intention of adding a graphics card.
He would be quite satisfied with something the size of a NUC (probably prefer it) so such things are not a consideration at all.

The mini-ITX is as large as he will go I think.

That also has the advantage of being upgradable so he will be happy to accept the larger size for that future-proofing.

Thanks for the list.

Serephucus

I would personally:
Drop the i3 for a G3258 (can be OCed if he want extra performance down the line, and is cheaper)
Up the SSD to the 256GB variant, as it's better value, and you have the budget
Change the case to a Cooltek C2, as it's small, and (IMO) looks nicer too.

mayordenis

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

He has no intention of adding a graphics card.
He would be quite satisfied with something the size of a NUC (probably prefer it) so such things are not a consideration at all.

The mini-ITX is as large as he will go I think.

That also has the advantage of being upgradable so he will be happy to accept the larger size for that future-proofing.

Thanks for the list.

I have the black version of that case btw (just what was cheapest when I bought) and it takes a full size graphics card which is a treat.

Johnboy1951

mayordenis wrote: »

I have the black version of that case btw (just what was cheapest when I bought) and it takes a full size graphics card which is a treat.

I have spoken with him ...... he was hoping for a much smaller case

He does not need the facility for a graphics card, as for his intended use the Intel GPU will be more than sufficient.


He would buy one of the cheaper NUCs today, if he had the possibility to upgrade the CPU in the future ....... so maybe that gives you a better idea of his requirements.

The difficulty is budget .... as I feel sure it would be possible to meet the case requirements with a different type of PSU .... an external brick and small internal unit.

Thanks again ..... I will keep looking about for a case suitable for his requirements and a PSU powerful enough for the board.

.G.

Try this http://mymediaexperience.com/htpc-builds/budget-htpc/

Or this http://mymediaexperience.com/htpc-builds/value-htpc/

Obviously he won't need everything listed and you need to find euro prices but it gives an idea of how small a htpc can go while still being able to upgrade the cpu down the line.

Serephucus

Why exactly does he want/need a computer this small?

When you get into NUC territory, you're getting (for the same money as something a little bigger), something that is:
Not upgradable
Not as powerful
Noisier
Hotter

Johnboy1951

Serephucus wrote: »

Why exactly does he want/need a computer this small?

When you get into NUC territory, you're getting (for the same money as something a little bigger), something that is:
Not upgradable
Not as powerful
Noisier
Hotter

Personally I don't believe he needs it as small as a NUC ...... the 'next size' up would do just as well.

He wants as near no noise as possible, out of sight and powerful enough for use as his main computer ...... which can also be used as a media centre/player.

Its main use will be as PC.

Johnboy1951

superg wrote: »

Try this http://mymediaexperience.com/htpc-builds/budget-htpc/

Or this http://mymediaexperience.com/htpc-builds/value-htpc/

Obviously he won't need everything listed and you need to find euro prices but it gives an idea of how small a htpc can go while still being able to upgrade the cpu down the line.

Thanks .... those might interest him

Johnboy1951

Thanks guys for all the helpful information.

I have passed on links and comments to him.

Now it is up to himself ..... I am stepping out of it.

(I do not want to get the blame for a wrong decision - or even a right one )

regards all.

Lu Tze

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Personally I don't believe he needs it as small as a NUC ...... the 'next size' up would do just as well.

He wants as near no noise as possible, out of sight and powerful enough for use as his main computer ...... which can also be used as a media centre/player.

Its main use will be as PC.

The Antec isk 110 itx case can mount on the back of a monitor/TV if it has a Vesa mount, might be an option if he wants it out of sight

BopNiblets

Gigabyte do some Mini PCs if that's any use:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=gigabyte%20mini%20pc&sprefix=gigabyte+mini+p%2Caps