Quiet PC Nofan A490S Silent Desktop

[ekt]

hi all, silent gurus
first post, long time lurker. I'd like to hear an opinion about this build

Quiet PC Nofan A490S Silent Desktop

• Jonsbo UMX4 Zone Black Compact Midi Tower Aluminium Case
• ASUS PRIME H270-PRO LGA1151 ATX Motherboard
• Intel 7th Gen Core i7 7700T 2.9GHz 35W HD 630 8MB Quad Core CPU
• Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) 2400MHz Memory Kit
• Nofan CR-80EH Copper IcePipe 80W Fanless CPU Cooler
• Nofan P-500A Silent 500W Fanless 80+ GOLD PSU

as for the gfx card, I'll be recycling my current Sapphire Radeon Hd5670 (fanless)
same for disks, i'll be recycling my current four ssd

QuitePc.com sells this for about €1.172 (i'm in europe)

I'm currently on a nine years old Dell Dimension 9200, Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
It has been a surprisingly good machine, and 'almost quiet' too (after throwing away the dvd reader and installing ssd and a fanless gfx card)
I want to replace it because cpu and case fans are becoming noisy (or I'm becoming more picky) and of course cpu power is lacking.
I write code and occasionally tablet drawings and 3d model. Some gaming, but I don't expect to be able to run latest games.

I'm mostly interested in what you think about the above machine wrt to the price, or if you would go on a totally different route with that budget.
I'm keen to buy some pre-assembled cause I really don't want to worry about incompatibilities between components and such

thanks for whatever advice you might have
Ettore

[CA_Steve]

Welcome to SPCR.

I'm not a fan of nerfing the CPU...and that's what the T part is. If you need the power of an i7, then get the std i7. It'll use the same power as the T part up to the max speed of the T part. So, nothing saved there...and you get the added horsepower when you need it.

I'm also not enamored of the No-Fan route. If you want to go fanless, go for a fanless case, like the HDPlex or similar. The case is pricier, but it's also the cooler.. maybe you can find an e-tailer for assembly..give HDPlex a shout.

On-chip gfx has progressed, my friend...the integrated gfx on the i7 is ~15% more horsepower than your HD 5670...and it's up to date, interface-wise. Also, you might take a look at your apps and see if you'd benefit from gpu acceleration...might be a reason for new gfx card rather than the old one or the iGP.

[ekt]

how naive... my hopes that I could avoid drowning in comparison sites!

but seriously, thanks.
didn't knew the T what was standing for. Given I lived with a core2duo till now, I don't really need a i7. I might also go back to an i5
hdplex. mmm. mini itx form worries me about expandability
on the gfx card you are obviously right. I just want to postpone the purchase.

other pre-built systems you are aware of?

[CA_Steve]

other pre-built systems you are aware of?

In the EU? Don't know. Perhaps others will chime in.

You could take a look at QuietPC.coms' Serenity UMX custom build. I like all the components available except for the listed PSUs. If you can get them to use a bequiet! Straight Power 10 500CM, you'd be set.

[ekt]

pure curiosity. how come you do prefer 'quiet' over 'fanless'?
I mean: pursuing silence, one would think that fanless is the ultimate solution...

[lodestar]

It might be worth saying that QuietPC UK give a breakdown of their top 10 best selling systems which shows that 70% are fanless systems, and of that figure 38% are the various Nofan models. The two Serenity (fanned CPU) models only account for 11% of sales. So in terms of what people are actually buying (at least from QuietPC) its obvious that there is a distinct preference for fanless. So if you do decide to stick with your original choice you are not alone...

[CA_Steve]

pure curiosity. how come you do prefer 'quiet' over 'fanless'?
I mean: pursuing silence, one would think that fanless is the ultimate solution...

Simple question/complex answer. This is a pre-coffee answer, so beware

1) Few people have environments so benign as to hear the difference between a fanless system and a well tuned fanned system. In other words, a well tuned fanned system can be inaudible, which for all practical purposes is silent.

2) I like some fanless systems. I am not in favor of ones that use large heavy coolers in traditional cases over ones that have a well designed case designed to use heatpipes. The former is a kludge, the latter is an elegant engineering solution. Partially, it's a thermal thing, partially it's a small ergonomic design thing.

So, if you were an audio engineer with a PC in a live mic environment, my answer would be different than one for a gamer or a business desktop user, or someone that needs it to be pre-built rather than DIY, etc..

[Vicotnik]

pure curiosity. how come you do prefer 'quiet' over 'fanless'?
I mean: pursuing silence, one would think that fanless is the ultimate solution...

+1 for what Steve wrote above.

Also, achieving silence as in pure silence is not possible. Fanless is great, but even that is not silent. AC adapters sometimes whine and hum, my motherboard squeals faintly during load or I/O operations etc. With no fans at all you also need to keep within a comparatively small power envelope. With just one quiet fan in there things becomes less constricted.

[Michael-Inet]

Hi ekt,

> hdplex. mmm. mini itx form worries me about expandability

You can have ATX, microATX, or mini-ITX with HDPLEX

https://www.hdplex.com/hdplex-h5-fanles ... -case.html

Specs tab, section: HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 Chassis Motherboard Compatibility

Best!