Easiest, simplest micro-ATX to build silent PC in? Silent requires no moving parts and no electronic noise. Did you mean quiet? ;) How quiet should it be under full load? And how quiet at idle? You should start with component selection, for example what HDD and what GTX 960 will you be buying (hint...

Cistron wrote:So if you'd want to add features you'll just end up using the empty PCI slots, likely interfering with GPU cooling.

A network or sound card is unlikely to interfere with cooling. mITX boards are usually more expensive and more cramped.

Here are the specs on Engery's website: http://www.energy-speakers.com/products/take-classic/?sku=TK-CLASSI-5-1 Where on that page? Really can't find them, though Bragging Rights and Maximum Performance Tips are clipped. With amplifiers it is pretty much assumed that 8 ohm is supported even if it i...

If your RS 170 supports line in, a simple HDMI audio extractor will work placed between the receiver and the TV. What about using the TV's line or headphones out? BTW, where do I find the specs of the Take Classic 5.1? Ah, Amazon lists some specs, can't find them on the Energy site. Their impedance...

Is line out also disabled on mute?

I've got the Sennheiser RS 170.

I'm having a look. What'd be the 2.1 equivalent of that Energy Take 5.1 set?

Is it possible to have headphones permanently connected to the Yamaha RX-S600, preferably at the back, and mute speakers (and headphones) independently?

Total budget is between 500 and 1000 euro. We live in the Netherlands.

What's your (or her) budget, Olaf? Don't know yet. A sub is okay, 5.1 might be okay too, the current system is 5.1 as well. Wouldn't ARC take care of returning the audio from the TV (PC & STB too) to the receiver? What LG AIO do you have? What kind of outputs are you using on your HTPC and STB? HDM...

My girlfriend is looking for a new home cinema / theater system. Naturally a new TV cabinet has already been bought and the old one (a Sony all-in-one DVD receiver) is too deep and broken (DVD tray keeps opening). The cabinet was a bit too wide too, although she measured everything. :p So the PC cas...

Maybe you should check which meaning you give to the adjective " inferior ", Olaf: Which meaning did you intend to give? None of the 9 seems appropriate. with reference to the quoted Seasonic, the BeQuiet build quality is inferior, and as I stated it's mainly due to the capacitors choice, which is ...

but along with an inferior build quality (mainly caps quality is rather inferior). Got a reference for that? A reference about chinese Teapo capacitors? Google it, or read about those on badcaps, hardocp, jonnyguru and similar sources. Come on, can't do better then that? Jonnyguru for example says:...

quest_for_silence wrote:but along with an inferior build quality (mainly caps quality is rather inferior).

Got a reference for that?

Perhaps, but that sounds more like anti-bang. :p I think this should be mentioned. 240W / 360W = 67%. Is the noise of the 360G really an issue at 67% PSU load? In the Netherlands the 360G costs 50 euro, the 650G costs 97 euro, 94% more expensive, not what I'd call "not much more $$." Update: http://...

While even a 500W model would suffice for this build, 650W units currently offer the best bang for your buck.

300W would suffice as well wouldn't it?
The 360W Seasonic is quite a bit less expensive.

In what way would a 650W unit offer better bang for buck?

I thought 120mm was 2010. Weren't they able to get 2x 140mm in there? Their cases are wide enough.

Right. But I'm saying it's potentially beneficial to have the GPU intake facing towards the CPU, as it was with BTX. Beneficial for space efficient designs at least. How would that be more space efficient? Depends how the case is designed and if you want to be able to have fans in front of the GPU....

Why 4+ cores and why 2+ network cards?

Simply having the GPU intake facing away from the CPU cooler makes airflow design more challenging in a SFF system. It's a shame BTX never caught on - it went some ways to addressing these issues. GPU intake is from below (in normal ATX), so it *is* facing away from CPU HSF. Fan size is something o...

Other than the nCase M2,

M1?

Which 6450 did you get? Asus HD6450-SL-2GD3-L Since I was being a bit spastic at the end it was maybe not the best choice even for short term since it seems to get pretty hot doing not much, so I may exchange it. Is it any good? I think I had another 6450 (with a 32-bit memory interface) but even a...

Which 6450 did you get?

Mats wrote:According to the manual:

DO NOT forget to connect the 4-pin/8-pin EATX12V power plug. Otherwise, the system will not boot.

So it won't boot without any plug, it doesn't say it won't boot if you plug a 4p plug into an 8p connector.

Perhaps you could test a tower case on it's side to verify this hypothesis. The mITX Phenom supports 230mm fans and the path from fan to components is shorter than in those ultra-deep ATX towers, and it's not impeded by drive cages. An inverted motherboard would also prevent GPU heat from rising to ...

Right Ideally you'd be able to enter a target temp and the software will figure out the rest... But then you wouldn't have control over its acoustics -- unless/until built-in options include specialized profiles -- "silent", "performance" etc like with CPU fan profiles in some mobo BIOS. Why not? J...

Right
Ideally you'd be able to enter a target temp and the software will figure out the rest...

I should have pointed out that the power difference remained 16~20W in the full load testing where Furmark+Prime95x2 was used in both ATX and mITX gaming systems. Interesting! Any cooling system with a thermal fail-safe will go into that kind of cycling under steady high load when the operating env...

Jumping straight into component options, the big question is, "Which case?" This is the single most important choice when planning any quiet/silent PC, Is it? I thought GPU (HSF) was more important, followed by CPU, HDD & SDD. Even when you consider the absence of a 3.5" HDD and the use of an 80+ P...

Fractal Design Core 1000: http://www.fractal-design.com/home/prod ... 000-usb-30

Case design has changed dramatically in the last couple of years as they are adopted for WC radiators; AIO coolers are mainstream. Unfortunately, yes. Most cases have become bigger and bigger, while some of us are looking for more compact. Compact mATX cases (< 18cm width, < 35cm depth) are still r...

MikeC wrote:Why all the thinking about radiators? Well, we just can't ignore them anymore,

Why not?
Air cooling still works extremely well.