2nd build advice - small and quiet i5 build

[emilin]

Hi Guys,

I am about to buy the components for my seconds build, the idea is to get a quiet/almost silent small PC for SO. Small form factor, low power and low noise are key objectives.

I picked from the recommended builds so it should be pretty straight forward but would be great if you see any issues with the choices below. I am specially interested if anyone had any experience in noise levels with the low powered i5s or with my choice of case and PSU.

CPU Intel Core i5 4570S Quad Core Retail CPU (Socket 1150, 2.90GHz, 6MB, Haswell, 65W)
Memory Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz CL9 XMP
Motherboard Gigabyte H87N-WIFI Motherboard (Intel H87 Express, DDR3, S-ATA/600, Mini ITX, Socket 1150)
System Drive Crucial CT120M500SSD1 2.5-inch 120GB M500 SATA 6Gb/s SSD
Data Drive WD 2TB Desktop SATA Hard Drive - Green
Case Cooler Master Elite 130 Computer Case
Power Supply Be Quiet Pure Power L8-CM 430W PSU

Many thanks for any comments or suggestions.

Cheers,
Emilio

 

[Adrian B]

Your hardware looks good. Nice case option - it is supposed to have plenty internal space. You may wish to consider a better quality fan and heatsink to reduce noise over the standard Intel model.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/hardware-parts/103860-low-profile-cpu-coolers.html
Good luck

Adrian B

 

[emilin]

Thanks Adrian, I thought about using the standard cooler to keep budget low, but yes maybe I should consider other options.

How much noise difference do you think a low profile cooler would do over standard cooler?

 

[Adrian B]

Thanks Adrian, I thought about using the standard cooler to keep budget low, but yes maybe I should consider other options.

How much noise difference do you think a low profile cooler would do over standard cooler?

The limitation of the standard cooler is that it is built down to a very low price. The standard cooler works fine for an everyday build that is in an office environment where a bit of noise is tolerated. In your own home,if you want to use a build as a media server connected to a TV, then ideally you don't want to hear the sound of fans running. The better quality coolers tend to be a little larger and quieter than the standard cooler.

Adrian B

 

[comma1234]

Mini ITX is great for small, but not necessarily for quiet. Everything is right near the vents. If you go with the stock cooler, that will certainly be the noisiest thing in your case. I wouldn't want to use one for an HTPC. Typically some of the bigger 120mm+fan heatsinks are ideal for quiet. But unless you want to get a BitFenix Prodigy case, you probably won't squeeze one in. Expensive, but extremely quiet and small is the Thermalright AXP-100. You could go water cooling, but getting a super quiet pump is key and also can be quite expensive. You can always start out with the stock one and if you don't like it save up for something nicer.

Hard drives can be fairly loud and are usually the cause of that somewhat higher note whirring most computers emit. The WD Green drives are 5400RPM, so it will certainly be quieter than a 7200. But if you like super quiet, maybe attach mass storage via the network. If absolute speed isn't of concern, a 5400rpm 2.5" drive would be a very quiet solution.

I don't know anything about "be quiet!" band PSUs, but as I said in an earlier post, I don't like 2-rail systems. Your system should have a pretty low power demand, so its probably not a huge concern. If be quiet's decibel ratings are a accurate, that is quite a silent PSU.

Not sure what your budget is, but probably one of the nicest small and quiet computers out there is the Mac Mini. Hard beat proprietary when it comes to compact and quiet. The Apple online store has refurbished i5 Minis for $509 right now.

 

[emilin]

Thanks for the advice Iw ill check that cooler but I think since it is included I'll try the stock cooler first then change it if it is noisy. There's a video of it on youtube that seems to show that its virtually silent unless you are hammering the CPU. I suspect with my wife usage pattern it might be fairly silent, but we'll see.

Mac mini is something I had not considered, having myself a rock solid hackintosh but you prompted me. The mac mini is obviously going to be the better looking but besides being considerably more expensive (i'm in UK), I really want to have the option in the future to add a couple of more HDD. The planned build at the moment has an SSD as system drive (that should be silent) and the data disk being a standard 3.5 HDD (which will be not as silent but shouldn't have to be whirring constantly). Later on I might add 2 more mirrored disks to do backup from my main NAS (this will be on a scheduled so again those disks will be inactive most of the time).

I am not sure about the PSU, ideally I wanted a no-fan PSU, but given that the case is very small I am worried there's no space for the heat to dissipate.

Any further comments would be great.