Build me a silent itx pc

[absyrd]

I'm so out of the loop.

I don't need to game other than onboard cpu gpu with Bluestacks.

I need small, budget itx build with plenty of usb ports.

Go!

[Findecanor]

For a CPU in a mini-ITX system, I would have gone with AMD Ryzen 5 2400G.
- Four cores/eight threads (more power might be too much for a small, silent mini-ITX build),
- Best integrated GPU of everything out there
- You can't beat it on price
- AM4 socket motherboards, that will continue to be supported with upgrades for a couple of years ahead.

However, the successor generation AMD Zen2 is supposed to be released in two weeks. So, in a few weeks, the 2400G could drop in price, and the successor 3400G should be available. The latter has slightly better CPU performance/Watt ⇒ less heat dissipation ⇒ less to cool ⇒ fan can run slower ⇒ lower noise.
Therefore, do wait and look at other components in the meantime.

For case, I would try to find one that is relatively slim, with no space for graphics card, and which has air intake on the side. Then you should be able to get away with only the CPU fan for cooling the motherboard and its components.
You should get an adequate CPU cooler with your CPU, which should be small enough to fit in whatever case you get.
If you do get a CPU for a 120mm fan, the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM fan is currently the best out there.

For motherboard, I would look for:
- AM4 socket (mentioned before)
- Look at USB port selection on the back. You won't ever get more than one header for two chassis USB ports on a mini-ITX motherboard anyway.
- Look for heat sinks over components on the top/left on the motherboard. That is a general indication of good power delivery. No heat sinks = very low-end board.
- If you plan to get a fast NVMe SSD some time in the future, look for a M.2 port on the top of the motherboard. Most mini-ITX motherboards have the socket on the back where it would not get any airflow. Alternatively, search for info on booting from an adaptor board in the PCIe socket.

[Sintpinty]

For a CPU in a mini-ITX system, I would have gone with AMD Ryzen 5 2400G.
- Four cores/eight threads (more power might be too much for a small, silent mini-ITX build),
- Best integrated GPU of everything out there
- You can't beat it on price
- AM4 socket motherboards, that will continue to be supported with upgrades for a couple of years ahead.

However, the successor generation AMD Zen2 is supposed to be released in two weeks. So, in a few weeks, the 2400G could drop in price, and the successor 3400G should be available. The latter has slightly better CPU performance/Watt ⇒ less heat dissipation ⇒ less to cool ⇒ fan can run slower ⇒ lower noise.
Therefore, do wait and look at other components in the meantime.

For case, I would try to find one that is relatively slim, with no space for graphics card, and which has air intake on the side. Then you should be able to get away with only the CPU fan for cooling the motherboard and its components.
You should get an adequate CPU cooler with your CPU, which should be small enough to fit in whatever case you get.
If you do get a CPU for a 120mm fan, the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM fan is currently the best out there.

For motherboard, I would look for:
- AM4 socket (mentioned before)
- Look at USB port selection on the back. You won't ever get more than one header for two chassis USB ports on a mini-ITX motherboard anyway.
- Look for heat sinks over components on the top/left on the motherboard. That is a general indication of good power delivery. No heat sinks = very low-end board.
- If you plan to get a fast NVMe SSD some time in the future, look for a M.2 port on the top of the motherboard. Most mini-ITX motherboards have the socket on the back where it would not get any airflow. Alternatively, search for info on booting from an adaptor board in the PCIe socket.

Wow, it seems like you know your stuff 

[xtrafrood]

Non-dedicated GPU with Bluestacks?  Holy sauerkraut and boiled potatoes that sounds like a chore to slog through.

[tp4tissue]

Non-dedicated GPU with Bluestacks?  Holy sauerkraut and boiled potatoes that sounds like a chore to slog through.

Absyrd just swiping right on dem' hood-rats he collects as his side-gurls,  No need for top-end GPU.

[absyrd]

For a CPU in a mini-ITX system, I would have gone with AMD Ryzen 5 2400G.
- Four cores/eight threads (more power might be too much for a small, silent mini-ITX build),
- Best integrated GPU of everything out there
- You can't beat it on price
- AM4 socket motherboards, that will continue to be supported with upgrades for a couple of years ahead.

However, the successor generation AMD Zen2 is supposed to be released in two weeks. So, in a few weeks, the 2400G could drop in price, and the successor 3400G should be available. The latter has slightly better CPU performance/Watt ⇒ less heat dissipation ⇒ less to cool ⇒ fan can run slower ⇒ lower noise.
Therefore, do wait and look at other components in the meantime.

For case, I would try to find one that is relatively slim, with no space for graphics card, and which has air intake on the side. Then you should be able to get away with only the CPU fan for cooling the motherboard and its components.
You should get an adequate CPU cooler with your CPU, which should be small enough to fit in whatever case you get.
If you do get a CPU for a 120mm fan, the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM fan is currently the best out there.

For motherboard, I would look for:
- AM4 socket (mentioned before)
- Look at USB port selection on the back. You won't ever get more than one header for two chassis USB ports on a mini-ITX motherboard anyway.
- Look for heat sinks over components on the top/left on the motherboard. That is a general indication of good power delivery. No heat sinks = very low-end board.
- If you plan to get a fast NVMe SSD some time in the future, look for a M.2 port on the top of the motherboard. Most mini-ITX motherboards have the socket on the back where it would not get any airflow. Alternatively, search for info on booting from an adaptor board in the PCIe socket.

Thanks for all that info. Never considered AMD.

Non-dedicated GPU with Bluestacks?  Holy sauerkraut and boiled potatoes that sounds like a chore to slog through.

I only play mobile game port. You don't think cpu is enough?

[tp4tissue]

You wouldn't use amd for any emulator, because it's going to lock into single core performance some where, and amd would hold it back.

what's the budget ? and what cpu and gpu are you using now.

[Leslieann]

First off, do NOT buy right now.
AMD is dropping new cpus and Intel is cutting prices. Pretty sure the new Ryzen fixes the issue TP is referring to, however new Ryzen boards are EXPENSIVE. Older boards are supposed to be forward compatible, but I would wait for some reviews and people to get some experience first.

Air cooling is quietest at idle, water is usually quieter under high load, usually. Noctua can often be quiet regardless, they are also cheaper and never leak, but water lets you dump heat outside the case so that can be a big help.

Anyhow
Core I5-9400F Note the F, it's a 6 core 65 watt cpu. Less heat means less to cool, less to cool means less air flow, less airflow means less noise.
ITX board, you're pick, get m.2 NVME and a compatible drive.
Noctua cooler, Noctua fans. Make sure heat sink is compatible with mobo. See notes on case as wel!!!
Low profile ram, this ensures compatibility.
Corsair SF 600 power supply or DC-DC power supply. The fan on the Corsair will never come on under less than 50% load, so it's dead silent.

Alternate cooling
NZXT Kraken 52 water cooler (if it fits). These seem to be the quietest at the moment. Forget custom water cooling loops in a teeny case, no one has really managed to make them work well.

Optional:
passive cooled GTX 1050 no fan, no noise.

Case - RESEARCH,RESEARCH,RESEARCH!!!
Here is the thing with the ultra tiny ITX systems, NOT EVERYTHING WORKS. It's not a simple matter of buying an sfx psu and a compatible heat sink. They all have GPU size limitations, heat sink limitations and most importantly, air flow considerations. You cannot just slap one together and expect good thermals and noise levels. Find a community around that case and see what others have found works. Even with tons of research you can dump a LOT of money into a small system, only to find you still need to replace something else.  Oh and fans aimed at you will be louder than fans with a panel between you and them, ventilation is good, but not of the fan is aimed at you.

Lastly, be prepared if you try for dead silent.
Besides costs, there may not be drive noise or fan noise but you may be surprised at how much noise just moving air can make, or worse, how much coil whine comes off computers. My desktop makes a bit of a woosh sound from 1-2 feet away but my file server gives off a pulsing whine from the cpu fan if it spins too slow or a droning whine if it runs a little faster, too fast and it howls all of which can be heard from across the room. There is a narrow happy medium but it's getting a replacement soon so it's less fickle. Others have reported loud coil whine.

Don't be afraid to let the cpu run warm. Many of us are used to 50-60c temps and letting it come up to 70, 75 or even 80c may get your hairs up, but it's still well within acceptable range. If you want silent, you may have to allow for some higher temps, especially in a tiny case.

[xtrafrood]

Yep, 1050xx would provide some decent buffer for most ports.  IIRC Bluestacks itself is very thirsty.  Could be fine with latest AMD APU; I'd at least pick a mobo with a pcie 3.0 x16 slot.

[tp4tissue]

1050 is like buying a 7950 from 2012.

1060. or 1660ti are safer.

Passive cooled sounds good, but ambient sound lvl is never lower than ~30-35db,  even if the whole pc is passive, on a whole, the db saved isn't much vs low rpm.

[xtrafrood]

Folks can say want they want from their high horses about certain cards from 2012--AMD Bonaire meets the latest spec for OpenCL rendering in Blender 3D (GCN 2.0).  Like I said though, at least make sure you have a pcie 3.0 x16 or even a x8 slot option.

[Sniping]

i'd just buy someone's assembled, used, computer. that's what i did this time around and saved so much money. the graphics card alone would have almost cost as much as my whole computer

[absyrd]

I have a gtx 960 laying around. It is my other components that are dead.

I was thinking of that fractal 202 case and can always throw gpu in later if I have to.

[tp4tissue]

what's the Maximum Budget ?

Will you need it to play HDR 4K movies ?

[Leslieann]

Passive cooled sounds good, but ambient sound lvl is never lower than ~30-35db,  even if the whole pc is passive, on a whole, the db saved isn't much vs low rpm.

I used to say the same thing to people until I shoved my entire computer into another room

It doesn't matter what ambient is, I mean it does, but it doesn't. A second noise is a second noise and if you have a trained ear you can hear it and focus on it. Not all sound is created equal, even at the same db, certain tones are more problematic for people than others to hear and/or ignore.

[Leslieann]

When I say it's not as simple as throwing things into a box, I'm not joking.
While a Node 202 is going to present different challenges here is what I went through with my NCase M1.

I've installed well over a dozen fans into this case in my quest for silence with most of the focus on the bottom intake fans, which are the focus here. Keep in mind I researched A LOT so I knew what I was getting into but unless you are willing to buy a lot of new parts to copy what someone else has already done you're going to have to experiment a bit. Copying what someone else did also leaves you vulnerable to their failures, which is how I ended up with the wrong psu. Apparently no one paid attention to psu temps or stress their system much.

At 700 rpm I could hear the fan ball bearings and air flow over the fan blades
At 600 rpm I could mostly only hear the air flow over the fan blades
At 500 rpm I could hear sleeve bearing noise
At 450 rpm I could hear the air flow turbulence over the case edges/fan grill and only just hear the sleeve bearings if you listened.
In all cases I could hear if there was an imbalanced blade and some fans simply wouldn't spin down below 500 or even 600rpm. At this point some would start pulsing the motor which has a really annoying drum/drone effect. If they ran at all.

I ended up removing the entire bottom of the case and replacing the 120mm fans with some new slow spinning 140mm fluid dynamic bearing fans and spinning them down to 30% (about 400rpm). This required a little sanding on the panel clips to clear the fan tabs but was well worth it. The fans in my case are set to never rise until 60c, then ramp up to 100% by 75c. It takes a continuous 75% cpu load before the system goes above 60c, which only happens when compiling software or gaming. If you're cheap, Rosewill has a pair of fluid dynamic 140mm fans for $12, when spun down they are silent, these are really a killer deal (these are what I used). Unfortunately they don't flow as much as Noctuas would (hence going 1400 instead of 120mm), if you want more you need Noctua but you will pay 4x as much. You can forget RGB if you want silent, no one makes a really quiet RGB fan yet. Above 60% rpm, even Noctua fans will be audible. The Rosewill fans start becoming audible around 40% (about same air flow as a 120 at 60-80%) but like I said, I only ramp them when necessary. The added size also meant more clean went up around the GPU and into the system.

The GPU fans pretty much only spin because the dual 140's are pushing them around otherwise they would probably be idle. Cpu cooler is a Noctua C14s and it's thermal controlled but I'm just using a normal profile for that as it's quiet as is. I have a 90mm fan in the back (blowing in) and it's an annoying pain in the neck, it doesn't ramp up until 70c (100% at 80c) as it has a tendency to whine. I went through 5 fans for this and it was the quietest I had, I'll probably replace it with a Noctua 90mm soon as it's the noisiest thing in the box. Not only is it set at 30% I have an old Zalman fan throttle on it set to almost minimum, it's probably 400 rpm or so. I also installed 50% taller feet 18mm instead of 12mm) in order to get more air under the case.

PSU fan also only comes on above 50% system load, this is how the Corsair SF series works and it's awesome, just make sure you get more than enough wattage to ensure you stay under 50%, I use a 600 watt for an 8700k/Rx580. I initially bought a Silverstone 450 and in the stock location would run fine if a little fan noise as it draws air in through the side panel, however the Ncase and C14s has a quirk in which if you use a 140mm fan on the C14s the psu will not fit against the side panel, you have to use the ATX bracket and then an sfx adapter. This turns the psu 90 degrees so it draw air off the cpu cooler and between system load and power draw meant my PSU was hitting well above 50c which is above manufacturer specs. BY all rights it can handle the draw, it just needed cooler air to do it. Installing a 120mm fan on the C14 allows the psu to sit in the standard spot, but raised my cpu temps by 6-8c which put me close to thermal throttle (I have yet to delid) and did keep me from turboing. The Corsair lowered not just psu temps but also system temps and noise (it's just better made). I have it mounted using the ATX bracket, then adapted to SFX using the Silverstone ATX to SFX adapter while using the stock 140mm Noctua C14s fan.

I've never seen the system go above 72c in this config, CPU or GPU and I have yet to delid which will drop 5-15c. Most of the time the system sits high 20's, low 30's, with the GPU about 6c higher and the only sound is a tiny air woosh. Not a hiss or whine, just a woosh and that is only audible from less than 2 feet in a dead silent room at 3am. I could have gotten here easier by throwing Noctua fans into every hole but I have an aversion to spending the better part of $100 on a few fans.


The fan in my file sever is more of a challenge.
It's a stock Intel fan on a 35watt Celeron so cooling it is easy, just spin the fan down right? At low rpm the motor pulses, it's very quiet, but audible and ungodly annoying. If you increase it a teeny bit it stops pulsing but then whines, a bit more and now you hear air flow over the fins. There is a sweet spot between motor whine and air hiss but It's hard to hit as this is an older Sandy Bridge and fan control is a bit more crude.

[absyrd]

I have a seasonic atx psu that the fan never goes on. Love it. Maybe I should go matx. Cheaper too.

[Leslieann]

MATX is actually dying, at least one major board manufacturer at CES said they were all but done with it.
Everyone is either going ATX or ITX, most people either need a lot of slots or just a gpu, not much middle ground really. Case manufacturers and OEM's have yet to catch up to that trend but they're working on it.

I went through an MATX phase a few years ago before going ITX and at the time it made sense but now if you're buying just go ITX. Skip the middle ground.

[absyrd]

This case dope too.

https://www.newegg.com/anthracite-gray-phanteks-evolv-shift-mini-itx-tower/p/N82E16811854067?Description=itx%20case&cm_re=itx_case-_-11-854-067-_-Product

[absyrd]

https://www.newegg.com/corsair-sf-series-sf600-600w/p/N82E16817139155?Description=corsair%20sf&cm_re=corsair_sf-_-17-139-155-_-Product

https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-node-202-mini-itx/p/N82E16811352058?Description=itx%20case&cm_re=itx_case-_-11-352-058-_-Product

The Asus ROG Strix mobo because one of the few with m.2 slot on front.

Then new ryzen when it comes out.

[tp4tissue]

This case dope too.

https://www.newegg.com/anthracite-gray-phanteks-evolv-shift-mini-itx-tower/p/N82E16811854067?Description=itx%20case&cm_re=itx_case-_-11-854-067-_-Product

Buying something that LOOKS good, will eat into your performance budget.

What is the Max Total for this build ?

For example, if you're doing $1500,  and you spent $200 on Looks, that's not so bad

If you're doing $800, and you spent $200 on Looks, you'd lose ~30-40% performance.

[absyrd]

I was actually gonna use it as a monitor stand.

[tp4tissue]

I was actually gonna use it as a monitor stand.

horizontally ?

[absyrd]

Yes.

[tp4tissue]

Yes.

the glass is quite small, might be hard to see all ur kewl stuff.

But, i mean, if you're already decided on $200 worth of Kewl.


Will Absyrdwyf approve $1000 upfront,  +$300 hidden ?

It might be possible to get that down to $800 , +$200 hidden


Any lower, the build will be significantly below the Peak for Price/Performance ratio.

[yuppie]

C O R S A I R - O N E

[Sintpinty]

C O R S A I R - O N E

Show Image

Too expensive.

[xtrafrood]

The hard hitting question: How well does the bead-blasted aluminum shell of the Corsair One i165 shred the cheese?  Seems like a lack of foresight for current cheese shredding trends.

[absyrd]

Yes.

the glass is quite small, might be hard to see all ur kewl stuff.

But, i mean, if you're already decided on $200 worth of Kewl.


Will Absyrdwyf approve $1000 upfront,  +$300 hidden ?

It might be possible to get that down to $800 , +$200 hidden


Any lower, the build will be significantly below the Peak for Price/Performance ratio.

I don't care about seeing stuff. And I want no LEDs.

And now I guess I don't need apu if I'm gonna use my 960.

[tp4tissue]

I don't care about seeing stuff. And I want no LEDs.

And now I guess I don't need apu if I'm gonna use my 960.

After the dust settles on the NEW Ryzen,  the intel should be slightly lower in price. 8700k is still the GO-To for G4m3r

The 960 is good because it can decode h265 for 4K m0vies.

[Findecanor]

I was actually gonna use it as a monitor stand.

I wouldn't recommend it. I think the case is largely made of plastic. It needs cooling from both the top and bottom, with unobstructed vents.

[absyrd]

I was actually gonna use it as a monitor stand.

I wouldn't recommend it. I think the case is largely made of plastic. It needs cooling from both the top and bottom, with unobstructed vents.

Word. Thanks.

[Findecanor]

BTW, back a couple of years ago, I wanted to build in this case but development took too long. Only a couple days left to order if you want one in the next run.

[Leslieann]

I almost went for the MI-6 but it was sold out with no mention of a reorder when I was looking to buy.

One big problem with every sandwich case is cooling the cpu, you have extremely limited height, the Mi-6 has the added disadvantage of severe gpu size limitations.
Even an Ncase M1 is harder to cool than almost every MATX and it's better than the sandwitch cases except those with room in them for a dual radiator on top or bottom like the Ghost S1. In which case all you did was move some side volume to the to the top, you haven't really reduced it. There are cases like the S4 mini that run pretty cool for the heatsinks they can use but that's only because the heatsink is basically completely exposed. It's still not really cool running by normal standards and the case is doing nothing to quiet those fans.

If I was doing a sandwich though it would either be a Dancase A4 or the new Sliger, which was lagging behind when I did the Ncase. There is a new watercooler for the Dancase which works pretty well but that wasn't available before and the Sliger's main frame is steel and has a bit more room. Steel? On a high end case, blasphemy right? You'll think twice when you strip out a tiny m3 thread in a 2mm panel where you only have 2-3 threads holding things. I've had 3 aluminum cases, only one has yet to strip and I only used it for a week, every other one had at least one screw strip within a few weeks of owning it.

[absyrd]

I'm not overclocking. My house is very cold year round.

Gonna get an apu just so I always can hook up even when a gpu dies.

[tp4tissue]

Gpu's not likely to die, and by your _Next_ build,   the whole previous build would be considered obsolete.  So you'd end up starting a full new box anyway.

Best way to do 'puters  is always buy the most Expensive thing you can afford TODAY, targeting the Highest Price/Performance ratio.

[xtrafrood]

Oh damn, I completely forgot that pcie 4.0 is the new hotness. That Samsung ~5gb/s 2tb nvme tho

[Findecanor]

the Mi-6 has the added disadvantage of severe gpu size limitations.

You see it as a disadvantage. I see it as the whole point of getting that case: It's desk footprint is not enlarged only so that it would be able to fit longer graphics cards.

My current case (Jonsbo U3) is only 27 cm deep, which is why I chose that case despite its many flaws.

[tp4tissue]

Oh damn, I completely forgot that pcie 4.0 is the new hotness. That Samsung ~5gb/s 2tb nvme tho

It's gonna make an impact come 8K.  before then, you'd need fewer lanes to get peak speeds on ssd, but can't really feel it.  Intel optane is already the fastest thing around without pcie4

[lightsout714]

You wouldn't use amd for any emulator, because it's going to lock into single core performance some where, and amd would hold it back.

what's the budget ? and what cpu and gpu are you using now.

TP not keeping up with AMDs strides in performance eh.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Leslieann]

I'm not overclocking. My house is very cold year round.

Low profile coolers can have half the surface area as a larger cooler, you won't overcome that with dropping room temp a few degrees.

You see it as a disadvantage. I see it as the whole point of getting that case: It's desk footprint is not enlarged only so that it would be able to fit longer graphics cards.

I agree with you, but remember the point of this thread is silence.

I like the MI-6, I LOVE the size, but did you see just how small that GPU limitation is?
Your case handles a 270mm gpu which is already condensed, the MI6 handles only 190mm. Cards that size have limited options, noisier fans, lower clock speeds and have a price premium for anything capable of gaming.

That said, it's awesome that we have these choices and the ability to do it, the amount of power you can have in such a small box is just silly. My customers always freak when I tell them they can have a full, quiet gaming system in something smaller than their last office computer, and smaller still for a few extra dollars. As fun as that is, the best part is when it's an office computer I can replace with an Intel Nuc (or similar), everyone goes nuts when they see those for the first time.

[ArchDill]

I LOVED messing with pcpartpicker.com when I was planning my build

[absyrd]

As I needed the pc immediately, I got the SG13 case so I could use my Seasonic silent psu, an asus amd itx mobo, amd 2400g, and noctua mini cpu cooler. Thing is ****ing silent.

[tp4tissue]

As I needed the pc immediately, I got the SG13 case so I could use my Seasonic silent psu, an asus amd itx mobo, amd 2400g, and noctua mini cpu cooler. Thing is ****ing silent.

/headscratch

how long will you be using this ?

[xtrafrood]

nice

[absyrd]

As I needed the pc immediately, I got the SG13 case so I could use my Seasonic silent psu, an asus amd itx mobo, amd 2400g, and noctua mini cpu cooler. Thing is ****ing silent.

/headscratch

how long will you be using this ?

Years. Not gaming except bluestacks mobile game. It is perfect.

[tp4tissue]

Years. Not gaming except bluestacks mobile game. It is perfect.

After 2 weeks, it'll feel like your old car..

Soooon,  the yearning for Ever-Greater-Power will be overwhelming.. It can only be abated by ritual Overclocking and finally, the Blood of Intel-i9

[xtrafrood]

Some folks can't stand to see other people happy.  Especially if the happiness stems from 'inferior products'.  But, the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.  So it goes.

[lightsout714]

Years. Not gaming except bluestacks mobile game. It is perfect.

After 2 weeks, it'll feel like your old car..

Soooon,  the yearning for Ever-Greater-Power will be overwhelming.. It can only be abated by ritual Overclocking and finally, the Blood of Intel-i9

Where the emoji with a stick hitting another guy. Ryzen all day!!!

[Leslieann]

As I needed the pc immediately, I got the SG13 case so I could use my Seasonic silent psu, an asus amd itx mobo, amd 2400g, and noctua mini cpu cooler. Thing is ****ing silent.

Nice choices, Noctua coolers are amazing.

Some folks can't stand to see other people happy.  Especially if the happiness stems from 'inferior products'.  But, the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.  So it goes.

I doubt Tp has an I9, he spends all his money on monitors.

Honestly though, once you get to that level of power, its good but very much diminishing returns. Not just money-wise but performance as well. Beyond 6 cores/threads they start to sit idle more and more often and there's really no gain in performance except in special cases. I equate it to a highway, you can have 4 lanes doing the speed limit or 12 lanes doing the speed limit. No ones getting there faster, just more people getting there at the same time.

I work with a lot of systems, unless you're video editing, gaming at 4k or something else quite specific once you have a relatively new 6 core/thread cpu, a good NVME ssd and 16gigs ram your not really going to see much improvement regardless of what you spend. The software has become the bottleneck.