Mini PCs

bobmac said:
Any size realy, desktop, laptop, mini pc, dont care as long as it's quiet, can connect to a monitor and a tele and can play You tube vids.
I almost have the perfect solution...a Lenovo laptop but it only has one video output. :(
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You could build (or have built) a small form factor (SFF) PC for less than a laptop with higher spec and better longevity (upgradability).

Bear in mind, no PC is truly "silent" as they all need to be cooled (even the hipster's Macs and Macbooks need to cool down). It's about pairing a suitable processor with a suitable cooler (matching the Thermal Design Power (TDP) as closely as possible).

I'm sure someone on here built a SFF system for about £400/450 not long ago.

I build about 10-12 "small" systems a month on average, maybe only 4 or 5 "big" gaming PCs in the same time.
 
bobmac said:
Hold the bus....
Is DDR3 a major drawback?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingdel®-Haswell-Generation-Fanless-Computer/dp/B01AWB2GWG/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Silent+PC&qid=1616414040&sr=8-3&th=1
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Short answer yes, long answer (with a bunch of caveats), no.

I simply would not be paying £500 for that spec. Take away the DDR3 for a moment, that's a 4th gen CPU (we are currently on 11th gen). And that whole thing is like a passive radiator, using the case as a cooler. Absolute madness IMO.
 
GreiginFife said:
Short answer yes, long answer (with a bunch of caveats), no.

I simply would not be paying £500 for that spec. Take away the DDR3 for a moment, that's a 4th gen CPU (we are currently on 11th gen). And that whole thing is like a passive radiator, using the case as a cooler. Absolute madness IMO.
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Bugger :(
 
bobmac said:
Bugger :(
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I had a quick look (albeit very quick), but a SFF of around 35 x 21 x 9CM (w x d x h) based around a i5 10400 (10th gen 6 Core /12 Thread) CPU with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 512Gb NVMe (so even faster than a "standard" SSD) and a high end Noctua (best air coolers out there IMO) low profile air cooler would run about £500.

So compare that to the above you linked...

For comparison, a laptop with a 6c/12t processor, 16gb of RAM and a 512Gb NVMe would probably be over a grand, easy!
 
GreiginFife said:
I had a quick look (albeit very quick), but a SFF of around 35 x 21 x 9CM (w x d x h) based around a i5 10400 (10th gen 6 Core /12 Thread) CPU with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 512Gb NVMe (so even faster than a "standard" SSD) and a high end Noctua (best air coolers out there IMO) low profile air cooler would run about £500.

So compare that to the above you linked...

For comparison, a laptop with a 6c/12t processor, 16gb of RAM and a 512Gb NVMe would probably be over a grand, easy!
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Sounds brilliant
Now, where's my screwdriver, hammer and acme book of ''building your own computer'' ;)
 
I'm more at home with a tablesaw and a bag of screws than soldering a motherboard together.
And shouldn't that be a personboard, I don't wand to be accused of being sexist.
I'll take a look on youtube and see what's there.
Ta
 
bobmac said:
I'm more at home with a tablesaw and a bag of screws than soldering a motherboard together.
And shouldn't that be a personboard, I don't wand to be accused of being sexist.
I'll take a look on youtube and see what's there.
Ta
Click to expand...

No soldering required. Parts slot together with a mix of clips and screws. If you need any advice just PM me. I did a build guide for @spongebob59 a while back, think he also built a small form system.
 
Ive already got a desktop that I took out because the fan was too noisy, I'll fire it up and get the specs. Maybe I could just adapt it.

i3 4160@3.6 Ghz
8 gb ram
120gb ssd
1 TB hard drive
windows 10 pro
 
Sorry to go off topic, but there seem to be people here who understand computers...
I bought my elderly father this 3 years ago: Lenovo IdeaCentre 310 All-in-One PC, Intel Celeron, 4GB, 1TB HDD.
It's been painfully slow since day one. It's not his broadband that's the problem and I've removed all the bloat but it's still pathetic. Any suggestions?
And again, I apologise for changing the subject.
 
RichA said:
Sorry to go off topic, but there seem to be people here who understand computers...
I bought my elderly father this 3 years ago: Lenovo IdeaCentre 310 All-in-One PC, Intel Celeron, 4GB, 1TB HDD.
It's been painfully slow since day one. It's not his broadband that's the problem and I've removed all the bloat but it's still pathetic. Any suggestions?
And again, I apologise for changing the subject.
Click to expand...

I'm not the best at being tactful but I'll try :D.

You could try cooking it at 180 for a few hours because I'm afraid you were sold a turkey!

Whilst I joke, there is a seriousness there. Celerons are the junk end of CPUs and even in a system with proper cooling and decent memory config it would be slow.

Put it in a thin box with little to no cooling and a single channel memory architecture AND a a standard mechanical Hard Drive, it's just a total disaster of a spec.

There isn't a huge amount you can do. A Solid State drive would give it a boost. Without knowing the exact model number (as the "model 310" will have various configs) then it's hard to say if even upgrading the memory is a) worth it or b) possible.
 
GreiginFife said:
I'm not the best at being tactful but I'll try :D....
Click to expand...
I think I noticed your subliminal message in there. Thank you for confirming what I suspected but didn't have the knowledge be sure of.
He generally only uses it to look at online seed catalogues before ordering them over the phone anyway, so it's probably not worth worrying about.
He didn't give me much of a budget to work with 3 years ago.
He's a Yorkshireman and I guess if you're a Fifer you maybe know the definition already.
 
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