Silent M350 Chassis with an Intel i3 (or i5). Possible?

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walden
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Silent M350 Chassis with an Intel i3 (or i5). Possible?

Post by walden » Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:06 pm

Hi,

I'm planning to upgrade my PC to a silent low power unit to sit behind my desk out of view. My PC use is normally barely above idle, nearly 100% web browsing and listening to music with occasional video watching, etc. I'll be running Linux. So I would like to get a quiet, power efficient system for this purpose. After reading the article on Fluffy2 viewtopic.php?f=14&t=64995&p=565036, I am tempted by the Intel Ivy Bridge cores and I'm considering either an i3 or an i5 (I'm debating whether my usage patterns really warrants an i5).
I also like the idea of the M350 chassis but I'm concerned about cooling. From what I've read in other forums about this case, it is a good idea to have a CPU fan to get some airflow. Ideally, I would like to have this as the only fan, or a small case fan over a passive heatsink, either way I would like to keep the number of fans down to an absolute minimum to avoid noise (my current fanless server annoys me because I can hear it's hard-drive! But I'm willing to tolerate a slight fan noise on my desktop).

Can anybody offer any suggestions as to what will/wont work with this CPU and Chassis selection?

Alternatively if you can suggest a different chip architecture that would be better suited I can then read up on that.

Other components are:
Intel DQ77KB
1x SSD
8Gb Ram (2x sticks)

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xan_user
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Re: Silent M350 Chassis with an Intel i3 (or i5). Possible?

Post by xan_user » Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:01 pm

Welcome to SPCR!

i have been running an intel e5300 (65w) dual core in that case with only the stock fan set on low for a few years now without any issue. and that was a with a WD 250GB HDD inside the case, and not ssd. ( i have since upgraded to a half height ssd that fits inside the front bezel)
a i3 or even i5 should not be an issue. (tho i see no actual need for an i5 with your usage)

nutball
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Re: Silent M350 Chassis with an Intel i3 (or i5). Possible?

Post by nutball » Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:15 pm

I have an i3 running in one of these. I Dremeled the stock fan off the stock Intel heatsink, and glued a quiet 80x25mm fan to the inside of the lid of the case. This is the only moving part (SSD fitted, not HDD), it's unnoticeable over ambient except at the dead of night.

That said, the Antec ISK100 is now my default choice of case at this size. Despite issues with fit-and-finish (noted in the SPCR review), I've found it a little more flexible and moddable.

walden
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Re: Silent M350 Chassis with an Intel i3 (or i5). Possible?

Post by walden » Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:32 pm

Thanks for your replies, I'll pull together an order tonight I think!

What would you recommend for a PSU? I'd like to use a Pico-PSU, could I comfortably go lower than a 150W DC PSU + 150W AC Power Brick?

xan_user
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Re: Silent M350 Chassis with an Intel i3 (or i5). Possible?

Post by xan_user » Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:31 am

no need for a pico, the board you referenced has on-board psu.... i think its often bundled at retailers with a ~90w brick
19V DC (mates to 5.1 mm ID, 7.4 mm OD plug)

Lucien
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Re: Silent M350 Chassis with an Intel i3 (or i5). Possible?

Post by Lucien » Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:37 am

xan_user wrote:Welcome to SPCR!

i have been running an intel e5300 (65w) dual core in that case with only the stock fan set on low for a few years now without any issue. and that was a with a WD 250GB HDD inside the case, and not ssd. ( i have since upgraded to a half height ssd that fits inside the front bezel)
a i3 or even i5 should not be an issue. (tho i see no actual need for an i5 with your usage)
Don't mind me asking, but how big is the heatsink that came wtih your E5300? I was looking at Sandy Bridge CPUs, and I though only the stock Intel heatsink that came with 35 W parts would fit in the M350.

Also, any details on the half height SSD? Sounds like an interesting option.

xan_user
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Re: Silent M350 Chassis with an Intel i3 (or i5). Possible?

Post by xan_user » Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:39 pm

afaik its the smaller of the stock intel heatsinks. i believe there are a couple of aftermarket coolers that might fit, but i was happy enough with the stock one. (if i was still living in the mountains i might have needed a quieter solution, but i now have a fairly high ambient noise floor...)

heres the ssd i have. http://mydigitalssd.com/half-slim-sata-ssd.php my mobo is only sata 2 or id have gotten a faster ssd.

JJ
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Re: Silent M350 Chassis with an Intel i3 (or i5). Possible?

Post by JJ » Mon Oct 08, 2012 5:32 pm

Does anyone know:

Would an i3 with a Big Shuriken work in the M350 with two 2.5" drives mounted?

rub187
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Re: Silent M350 Chassis with an Intel i3 (or i5). Possible?

Post by rub187 » Thu Oct 25, 2012 2:02 am

JJ wrote: Would an i3 with a Big Shuriken work in the M350 with two 2.5" drives mounted?
No! Best cooler for m350 ist this one: Dynatron-T459

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