Looking to get a small form factor, powerful pre built mega quiet pc for living room

boco77

Bronze Level Poster
I’m looking to get a new pc that’s very quiet (fanless psu and water cooled), compact and fairly powerful for the living room.

My current specs:
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.5GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670
interal 120gb Samsung SSD as the main HDD and secondary internal 2tb HDD
Various HDD's with Synology NAS setup externally through ethernet.
Logitech 518 Mouse and Logitech K200 keyboard

I want a decent upgrade to the above as I bought my current one early 2012 prebuilt from here.

My budget is about £1500

I was thinking something like this for the living room https://i.imgur.com/QZu2RNm.png

I don’t want a tower as it needs to fit into my home entertainment cabinet and be MEGA QUIET. don’t want fans spinning when I’m playing on PS4 or watching netflix. The PSU needs to be I’m guessing 550w but I only want a fanless one. 80 Plus Gold or Platinum On psu too (if that’s even possible with fanless?)
Will not bother if i can’t get fanless psu and water cooled.

I need a speedy PC in terms of processor that extracts/copies files quickly (from the internal SSD/HDDs to a NAS after downloading files), Multitasking needs to be fast and has it cope with download speeds on a 200mb internet connection.

So a i7 and good amount of fast ddr memory 16gb is a must to keep it future proof.

I will be using it for everything but WONT be playing any hardcore gaming or the latest games with the best gfx cards and framerate etc. So it will be internet browsing, sorting and using iTunes, word processing etc and playing games but nothing more than strategy, indie and emulated games. I would like to play midterm strategy games like civilisation.

I want it in my living room so I’ll say again that quiet water cooling is a must on top of fanless psu.

I want a decent GPU but not top of the range Titan ones lol. It must do 4k hdr as I have a 4k hdr tv. VR ready would be nice too but not essential and at least 2 hdmi ports on the gpu. It needs to output in 4k hdr at 60fps via hdmi to my tv and not 30fps. I seen some cards that only output at 60fps 4k on DisplayPort only (whatever that is) and 30fps via hdmi. Not sure why? My PS4 can output at 4k/hdr/60

I want a gpu that is fairly quiet but this isn’t essential as long as it’s not loud. I’m guessing gpu fans will only kick in with intensive settings in games which is rarely gonna happen as I won’t be playing the best looking games on max settings.

With my current PC i went a bit overboard as its a massive inwin tower case and its simply too big for what I use it for its upstairs too as it’s fairly loud. Mobo and case support two gfx cards but I never really game on it much. Having said that I don't want a situation where I might be gimped so I don't want a bad gfx card that can’t play anything on medium settings just a decent enough one for 4k/hdr that can play most games on medium setting.

Case must have at least 2 or more USB3 ports on the front or top of the case and plenty more at the back. Will need to easily be able to connect usb leads and sticks to the front of the case as it will facing outwards from the cabinet. I don't want to be reaching round to the back once everything is connected. Being able to charge from or have USB ports powered while it’s off would be handy too.

HDD I'd like a 500gb or 250gb SSD as my main OS drive. Don't know which are good these days. Also a secondary 4tb internal as drive D:\
I'm bothered about iTunes as I have a ton of music on my 2tb internal drive D:\ drive and I wanna keep it exactly the same when i transfer it over to the new 4tb internal one in the new PC. (like keep all the playlists and paths the same as I have a lot).

I'd like a decent mouse and keyboard - this is important. I don't want a fancy gaming mouse with tons of buttons but one that is regarded as the best for general use. My current one Logitech 518 is great but its wired and a bit old. It does its job but must be surely better ones out after 10+ years out there? My Logitech K200 keyboard is decent but again I'd like something better for general use if there is one. Obviously being in living room it’d have to be wireless too.

Not interested in new speakers as it’ll just come through my current 5.1 system downstairs.

Also what are the latest things people have inside their PC's that they didn't have like 10 years ago? I don't wanna miss anything out and regret it later. I'm just still thinking like someone who bought a pc ten years ago as opposed to now. Internal bluetooth is a must, suck if using Bluetooth sticks. anything else that will just make quality of life better when using a PC?

Lastly, One of my biggest annoyances with my current PC and the one I had before was USB transfer rates with sticks and external HDD's connected via USB2/3 connections. It was always way too slow and it sometimes errored out transferring files. Like a 30gb file could take 20 minutes copying from the standard internal HDD to a USB 3 drive. This seems like a software issue more than hardware as it happened too often on different usb sticks or usb hdd's. It happened on both Windows 7 and Window 10 so I'm not sure if there is a solution for this?

Thanks for the help
 
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Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Will not bother if i can’t get fanless psu and water cooled.
PCS don't do fanless PSUs for most specs. They do do the RMx PSUs which are semi-passive and, in real terms, cool themselves without needing to turn the fan on most of the time.

I don't think my RMi (the sister model) has turned its fan on since I pressed the "test" button to make sure it actually worked.

So it's not actually fanless, but in real terms its literally silent.

I want a decent GPU but not top of the range Titan ones lol. It must do 4k hdr as I have a 4k hdr tv.
If you're gaming at 4k, you will want the GTX 1080 ti. Or at least a GTX 1080, but even that will be nerfing your gaming experience a lot in some titles. The 1050 in your build will be pretty laughable at 4k.

What exactly do you mean "water cooled" ? If you mean an AIO water cooler, the Noctua air cooler will actually be quieter.

If you mean a custom loop cooling solution, good luck getting that and all the other bits on your wishlist for £1.5k.

What's the maximum size case you can go for? (bearing in mind that the PC will need airflow around it). This will affect a lot of the build.

I'm not sure your wishlist, budget, and intended uses are an entirely realistic combination...
 
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boco77

Bronze Level Poster
I’m not really looking to game at 4k it was only for watching 4k videos so 1080p gaming will be fine. But I’m not gonna game on it much anyway. I just want a quiet computer and a small case like the one I linked to above.computer. The nocturnal air cooler sounds good and the RMi sounds perfect. A case like the Corsair obsidian 250d mini itx case is something I’m looking for
 
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Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
How about the Fractal Node 304? It's supposed to be quite good for acoustics and also manages temps well
 

boco77

Bronze Level Poster
How about the Fractal Node 304? It's supposed to be quite good for acoustics and also manages temps well

That looks perfect. Discreet and quiet. Would like a case like that with no distracting lights or LED nonsense can’t stand that stuff lol. If it comes in black even better.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
WD Blacks are known for many things, but being quiet isn't one of them. Very much the opposite.

Not sure I'd pay £50 more for 3600 MHz RAM over 3200MHz.

You're likely to find yourself wanting to replace the fan on the CPU cooler. Especially with "mega quiet" being on the list.

Similarly, consider the Fractal Node 304 or Fractal Nano for a quiet build. Will need an external drive but it can just sit on top.
 

jerpers

Master
I concur on the WD black. I have a super quiet build (which came at a cost) for my living room and I quickly removed the WD Black in favour for an SSD as the noise got quite irritating. It is funny what you can hear when everything else is quiet.
 

boco77

Bronze Level Poster
I need an internal secondary hdd though that’s 4gb or 3gb (I don’t really want external as it’ll be slower through usb 3 and just end up using an extra plug socket too). Any others that are quieter than the WD Black?

Also I meant to put the fractal node 304 in that build not the Corsair. As for cpu cooling and general cooling I know nothing about stuff like this what is the quietest? I just want quiet and discreet in terms of noise and don’t mind paying extra for that.

After 7 years I’m surprised computers haven’t really changed much apart from being able to get smaller form factors than before. Like I’m still having the same dilemmas when buying one.

I thought there’d be simpler, quieter and straightforward ways to get a specific build of your type. Not entirely sure how much faster it’s gonna be (for non game stuff) compared to my current one either...
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
If you're happy installing your own HDD you could get one intended for NAS devices like a WD Red maybe.

Otherwise the regular HDDs will be quieter than the WD Black, just because the WD Black are noisy beggars.

The Noctua will be the quietest but because it's very small it's barely more effective than a stock Intel cooler so not sure if PCS sell the i7 with it or not. If they don't, get the Corsair H60 - you may be able to manage the noise sufficiently by setting a custom fan profile. Failing that just replace the fan it comes with.

Oh for the power supply you'll want the TX650m, as unlike the VS series it's modular. It should also be quieter. Note that unlike the RMx series available with ATX builds, it's not literally silent and will always be running its fan at least a little.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Not entirely sure how much faster it’s gonna be (for non game stuff) compared to my current one either...
Thinking about it, your GTX 670 is probably about as good as a 1050 tbh.

The 8700(k) is way more powerful than the 3770k for thinks like video encoding, and certain games (though most the time the GPU will be the bottleneck anyway). But it may not wow you with performance difference.

Instead of the 850 Evo you could go with the PM961 SSD from the M.2 SSD Menu. It's faster.
 

boco77

Bronze Level Poster
Hmm I was gonna post a revised build but the ssd you recommended PM961 SSD is currently oos.
 

boco77

Bronze Level Poster
For gaming I’d like to play emulated games up to at least GameCube/ps2 At 1080p or higher. Also strategy stuff like civilisation 6 but anything like latest games on pc that are also on consoles I’m not gonna use the pc for these at all. I’m generally only gonna do light gaming on it at 1080p - usually steam indie games so the gfx card isn’t important. Not interested in playing the latest high end games with crysis like graphics lol.

Would that option be open in the future though with this case? Thinking about it maybe I should get a nice gfx card? What’s a decent gfx card that would fit in the case if I chose to get a nice one? Don’t really want pay more than £250 for a gfx card though.
 
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