Hey, I need some opinions as I'm no expert at building small silent pc's but I'm planning on making a small server to host a ts3 server / Minecraft server / Garrysmod server.
I've got a price limit of £500 and my aim is for it to be really quiet and not use too much power.
I've sort of got an idea of what I want parts wise but its not perfect:
[url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hQjKkL]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hQjKkL/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url]
[b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-intel-core-i5-4590t-s-1150-haswell-quad-core-20ghz-30ghz-turbo-5-gt-s-dmi-11ghz-gpu-20x-ratio-]Intel Core I5 4590T socket 1150 Quad core processor[/url] (£146.58)
[b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/thermalright-cpu-cooler-axp100]Thermalright AXP-100 44.5 CFM Ball Bearing CPU Cooler[/url] (£46.13 @ Amazon UK)
[b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97igamingac]MSI Z97I Gaming AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard[/url] (£99.99 @ Ebuyer)
[b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-memory-bls2k4g3d169ds3]Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url] (£57.99 @ Amazon UK)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/sandisk-internal-hard-drive-sdssdhii240gg25]Sandisk Ultra II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive[/url] (£79.49 @ Scan.co.uk)
[b]Case:[/b] [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/products/cit-mtx-007b-black-mini-itx-case-with-180w-psu-and-black-interior-vesa-mountable]CiT MTX-007B Black mini ITX Case with 180w PSU[/url] (£38.38)
[b]Total:[/b] £468.56
[i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i]
[i]Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-14 20:48 GMT+0000[/i]
If anyone could give me any advice on this, it would be much appreciated.
By building an ITX machine, you're paying a price premium for worse parts. The smallest you should go for is MicroATX if you want to save space.
Issues with your build:
1) 180W is not enough power for the machine, even with the speed restricted T processor.
2) The T version of the processor is severely speed restricted (2.0 GHz default clock vs a non-T at 3+ GHz.)
3) The cooler you selected is massive and probably won't come close to fitting in the case you selected.
4) You don't need a Z97 motherboard with the non-overclockable processor you selected.
5) Minecraft will absolutely destroy an SSD. Get a mechanical drive instead or get 16GB of RAM and use 8 GB of it as a RAM disk.
Thanks for the advice, with it i've created this list:
[url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/m9cvNG]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/m9cvNG/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url]
[b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54590]Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] (£149.15 @ Aria PC)
[b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/zalman-cpu-cooler-cnps8900quiet]Zalman CNPS8900 Quiet CPU Cooler[/url] (£23.17 @ CCL Computers)
[b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-h97me35]MSI H97M-E35 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard[/url] (£57.56 @ Scan.co.uk)
[b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cml16gx3m2a1600c10]Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url] (£115.77 @ Ebuyer)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/sandisk-internal-hard-drive-sdssdhii240gg25]Sandisk Ultra II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive[/url] (£79.49 @ Scan.co.uk)
[b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cs450m]Corsair CSM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply[/url] (£43.00 @ CCL Computers)
[b]Case:[/b] [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/products/zalman-t4-black-mini-tower-computer-chassis-with-black-interior-and-usb-30]Zalman T4 mATX Case[/url] (£23.20 @ Scan.co.uk)
[b]Total:[/b] £491.34
[i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i]
[i]Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-15 10:55 GMT+0000[/i]
Opinions on this build?
My main goal is for it to be REALLY quiet so that I can barely hear it.
I would get a CNPS5X instead of that flat cooler, it will move heat away more efficiently. It's small enough that it should still fit in that case.
I would still get a mechanical drive but whatever you think will work. You can always put rubber grommets on the drive to dampen the vibrations.
I went for that CPU Cooler as its really quiet (I looked up some reviews and found a group review) and doesn't offer too bad cooling performance.
As for the mechanical drive, I'm going to use a Ramdisk and run minecraft from there.
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