Recommendations for silent hardware with requirements
Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 1:49 pm
Hi there. So I'm a software developer and past self build fanatic/gamer. I'm done with those days, been a LONG time (years) since I upgraded my computer, so I'm out of the loop on the latest hardware (lol, I remember the days of having to check my OC Hardware and Silent PC Review pages multiple times a day, so little time now ).
I would appreciate some help with hardware choices of today given the following requirements.
What I have now is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (Black edition or similar as I recall), 4GB DDR2 400, GeForce GT 240, 1 sata HDD. It runs as a server 24/7 (Plex, VERY light traffic family only gallery over LAMP), very rare gaming (only Starcraft II and Urban Terror, oh yeah, I only run Linux), web surfing, and some development. Has 3 fans right now, 120mm case, 120mm in PSU, and a CPU fan.
So as mentioned, I don't know too much about the latest hardware, but it seems like I should be able to build (or even buy cheaper these days) a completely fanless solution that would still be an upgrade. I don't need the fastest thing out there, perhaps a target of ~2x performance on the CPU, and at least > current performance on GPU to maintain current gaming capability.
With all of you're current knowledge, can you make any hardware recommendations for me to have a look at? The only thing I've found close so far without building is the Intel NUC line, but they are lacking a bit in the GPU department. Nvidia "just works" with Linux (Intel just works mostly too, but ATI can be problematic) so I'd like to stray from ATI based grapics.
Oh, and I would love to go solid state, but they are quite expensive still for now. Given what I use the computer for, I'm looking at least possible cost vs performance, e.g., even 1.5x the CPU would be fine if it's quite cheap to build/buy. However, it would be cool if whatever hardware/case I end up with still allows for upgrading to SDD later. Also, I have this case now: http://www.avadirect.com/product_detail ... ?PRID=6025. If there is fanless hardware I can pop in there for an upgrade (and I have a lot of past experience with case/psu/etc/ modding too if I need it) even better!
Thanks!
I would appreciate some help with hardware choices of today given the following requirements.
What I have now is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (Black edition or similar as I recall), 4GB DDR2 400, GeForce GT 240, 1 sata HDD. It runs as a server 24/7 (Plex, VERY light traffic family only gallery over LAMP), very rare gaming (only Starcraft II and Urban Terror, oh yeah, I only run Linux), web surfing, and some development. Has 3 fans right now, 120mm case, 120mm in PSU, and a CPU fan.
So as mentioned, I don't know too much about the latest hardware, but it seems like I should be able to build (or even buy cheaper these days) a completely fanless solution that would still be an upgrade. I don't need the fastest thing out there, perhaps a target of ~2x performance on the CPU, and at least > current performance on GPU to maintain current gaming capability.
With all of you're current knowledge, can you make any hardware recommendations for me to have a look at? The only thing I've found close so far without building is the Intel NUC line, but they are lacking a bit in the GPU department. Nvidia "just works" with Linux (Intel just works mostly too, but ATI can be problematic) so I'd like to stray from ATI based grapics.
Oh, and I would love to go solid state, but they are quite expensive still for now. Given what I use the computer for, I'm looking at least possible cost vs performance, e.g., even 1.5x the CPU would be fine if it's quite cheap to build/buy. However, it would be cool if whatever hardware/case I end up with still allows for upgrading to SDD later. Also, I have this case now: http://www.avadirect.com/product_detail ... ?PRID=6025. If there is fanless hardware I can pop in there for an upgrade (and I have a lot of past experience with case/psu/etc/ modding too if I need it) even better!
Thanks!