Silent PC for storage, torrenting, monitoring, and movies
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 8:04 am
Hi there,
I need some comments/help regarding a PC that I’m going to set up. It will be a mix of standard desktop (in terms of size), HTPC (movies and music) and NAS (storage and back-ups).
Initial requirements
Tasks: torrenting, monitoring, operational 24/7, movies, external and back-up storage for my other PCs/laptops/tablets, maybe basic server application (hosting few websites and ftps, but nothing pro, just some fancy projects of mine).
No gaming (I have another PC for that). The only extra thing is two or three cameras I’d like to connect to it (for monitoring my apartment and weather outside the window, but I guess that won’t be a problem.
Also I’m planning to load (and use) my FLAC music collection to it. The PC would be connected to my LAN (no wirelees because it sucks in terms of write/send transfer) and to a TV (via DisplayPort) for watching movies.
Major requirement: as silent as possible (it will be located next to my bed (3m from my head) and I don’t want to hear any noise whatsoever whilst sleeping. Reasonable price is always a plus too (but I’m willing to pay extra for more silence).
After reading dozens of posts here and tests (here and elsewhere) I came up with the following cofing:
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini Black Micro ATX Silent PC (size is not a problem and I figured out that bigger case > better airflow > lower temp > lower fan speed required > silence. Also my main gaming PC has the Fractal Design Define R4 so both FD cases next to each other will look really nice).
Fans: 2x Noctua NF-P12-1300 120mm Case Fans (very silent from what I’ve read, best option, intake – front, outtake – back of the case)
Mobo: Asus F2A85-M Pro (has built-in DisplayPort - I plan to play movies directly on my TV, and 6x SATA 6Gb)
CPU: A10-5700 (65W, quite good performance, best integrated graphic available, AMD processor maybe are less efficient than intel ones but they cost much less… so I guess for my application AMD is better choice.)
CPU cooling: Noctua NH-U12P (again, one of the best available on the market, a little pricey but, again, I’m willing to pay extra for more silence).
PSU: Seasonic X-400 Fanless (as for now I do not plan to use a discrete GPU, but in the future… who knows; do you think that X-560 or X-650 would be silent enough, again I don’t won’t to hear anything – maybe besides HDD – whilst sleeping 3m next to this silent PC?)
RAM: 2x 8 GB Geil (or sth else compatible with Noctua cpu cooler)
HDD: 4x WD Cavaiar Red 2.0TB (for storage), 1x OCZ 128 SSD Vertex 4 (for system)
What do you think? Would I hear anything (maybe except the HDD) @3m?
Would you change anything in the above config?
I need some comments/help regarding a PC that I’m going to set up. It will be a mix of standard desktop (in terms of size), HTPC (movies and music) and NAS (storage and back-ups).
Initial requirements
Tasks: torrenting, monitoring, operational 24/7, movies, external and back-up storage for my other PCs/laptops/tablets, maybe basic server application (hosting few websites and ftps, but nothing pro, just some fancy projects of mine).
No gaming (I have another PC for that). The only extra thing is two or three cameras I’d like to connect to it (for monitoring my apartment and weather outside the window, but I guess that won’t be a problem.
Also I’m planning to load (and use) my FLAC music collection to it. The PC would be connected to my LAN (no wirelees because it sucks in terms of write/send transfer) and to a TV (via DisplayPort) for watching movies.
Major requirement: as silent as possible (it will be located next to my bed (3m from my head) and I don’t want to hear any noise whatsoever whilst sleeping. Reasonable price is always a plus too (but I’m willing to pay extra for more silence).
After reading dozens of posts here and tests (here and elsewhere) I came up with the following cofing:
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini Black Micro ATX Silent PC (size is not a problem and I figured out that bigger case > better airflow > lower temp > lower fan speed required > silence. Also my main gaming PC has the Fractal Design Define R4 so both FD cases next to each other will look really nice).
Fans: 2x Noctua NF-P12-1300 120mm Case Fans (very silent from what I’ve read, best option, intake – front, outtake – back of the case)
Mobo: Asus F2A85-M Pro (has built-in DisplayPort - I plan to play movies directly on my TV, and 6x SATA 6Gb)
CPU: A10-5700 (65W, quite good performance, best integrated graphic available, AMD processor maybe are less efficient than intel ones but they cost much less… so I guess for my application AMD is better choice.)
CPU cooling: Noctua NH-U12P (again, one of the best available on the market, a little pricey but, again, I’m willing to pay extra for more silence).
PSU: Seasonic X-400 Fanless (as for now I do not plan to use a discrete GPU, but in the future… who knows; do you think that X-560 or X-650 would be silent enough, again I don’t won’t to hear anything – maybe besides HDD – whilst sleeping 3m next to this silent PC?)
RAM: 2x 8 GB Geil (or sth else compatible with Noctua cpu cooler)
HDD: 4x WD Cavaiar Red 2.0TB (for storage), 1x OCZ 128 SSD Vertex 4 (for system)
What do you think? Would I hear anything (maybe except the HDD) @3m?
Would you change anything in the above config?