Quiet Non-Music PC Recommendations?

A

ACHiPo

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My listening room is also my home office in the mornings and evenings (I don't work from home much). I'm looking at replacing my current desktop computer and am looking for suggestions.


I'm just looking for a personal computer--I already have a HAL MS-3 and Aurender for music. The desktop PC is my primary PC used for email, web surfing, word processing, picture editing, acoustical analysis, and some personal spreadsheet analysis. It will not be used as a music server, but it's how I move files around my network. It is replacing a ~5 year old Sony Vaio all-in-one with an i3, 500 GB HDD, 2 GB RAM. The Sony AIO is plenty fast for my purposes, but the video card is getting flaky, so that and the fan noise is making me consider getting a quiet box with monitor.




I have an external 4 TB drive for local back ups.


I've looked at fanless gaming computers, but am not sure that's the way to go?


Thanks,
AC
 
Some of the small form factor Dell computers are really nice and most any decent laptop could fit the bill. If you are inclined, possibly a mac mini might do the trick too. Any budget you want to stay under? There's probably a ton of choices out there, but I love Dell and Macintosh computers.
 
joeinid said:
Some of the small form factor Dell computers are really nice and most any decent laptop could fit the bill. If you are inclined, possibly a mac mini might do the trick too. Any budget you want to stay under? There's probably a ton of choices out there, but I love Dell and Macintosh computers.
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Joe,
Thanks. I am trying to keep it under $2k, although $1k would be better. I would prefer to stay with PCs since I already have programs that work with MS.

Not sure how many choices there are--my Sony was pretty quiet when I bought it, but now it seems pretty loud.

AC
 
AC

Are you up to working on the one you have? If so your problem may be easily correctable. Most of the off the shelf boxes don't use near the quality of parts that are used by people who build their own use. Fans are one of the first places they cheap out. If you look at places like Newegg you can find the higher quality quiet fans that are used by builders and replace it yourself. If the noisy fan is part of the power supply replace the whole thing. As to the video if your machine is using the onboard video chip on the motherboard then just buy a new one using the same graphics chip company and plug it into a PCI slot. At start-up go into the setup screen and tell the bios to use the new card instead of the one on the board. I have replaced both many times. The fans are usually the first thing to go. If you are already using an off board video card just replace with newer version from same company, nVidia etc.

Now if you just want a new one, never mind.
 
Jack said:
AC

Are you up to working on the one you have? If so your problem may be easily correctable. Most of the off the shelf boxes don't use near the quality of parts that are used by people who build their own use. Fans are one of the first places they cheap out. If you look at places like Newegg you can find the higher quality quiet fans that are used by builders and replace it yourself. If the noisy fan is part of the power supply replace the whole thing. As to the video if your machine is using the onboard video chip on the motherboard then just buy a new one using the same graphics chip company and plug it into a PCI slot. At start-up go into the setup screen and tell the bios to use the new card instead of the one on the board. I have replaced both many times. The fans are usually the first thing to go. If you are already using an off board video card just replace with newer version from same company, nVidia etc.

Now if you just want a new one, never mind.
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My current PC is an all-in-one. While I might be able to work on it, the options are likely limited given the form factor. I'd thought about fanless units (I have a HAL MS-3 as my NAS and an Aurender S10), but I'm not sure about the performance and reliability for general computing tasks.

Thanks,
AC
 
AC

Then look at the Dell or Asus models using the ratings from users and Cnet and buy the best deal. Limited lifespan is part of their plan. When I had to buy one a while back the Dell was the best deal and I couldn't wait around.
 
Jack said:
AC

Then look at the Dell or Asus models using the ratings from users and Cnet and buy the best deal. Limited lifespan is part of their plan. When I had to buy one a while back the Dell was the best deal and I couldn't wait around.
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How do I find out how noisy they are?
 
I concur with Dell and Asus. I would also add in MSI. These three tend to be some of the best. My wife and I have both moved to using laptops full time now. We both have had Desktop computers for years and years but find that laptops have become so much better that the desktop is not offering much more, if any performance gains and the convenience of a good laptop is unbelievable for us.

I have a MSI, which has completely interchangeable parts, like a Desktop. Not long ago I bought my wife an Alienware (Dell's upper line of PC's). It took her a week or to to get used to the 17" screen versus the larger one that she used to have, but now she would not go back to a Desktop no matter what. I feel the same.
 
Jack said:
AC

Then look at the Dell or Asus models using the ratings from users and Cnet and buy the best deal. Limited lifespan is part of their plan. When I had to buy one a while back the Dell was the best deal and I couldn't wait around.
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Jack, Randy, Nikhil,
Thanks for your input. Dell and ASUS are on my list. I have the space and like the ergonomics of a desktop (without adding a docking station). I'm still trying to figure out which ones will be quiet enough to not bother me in my listening room. I've Googled a few search words, but keep coming up with companies that sell quieter computer components or DIY.

AC
 
If you do think about any of the companies that build customized high end computers I know there are tons of companies out there. With this said I feel you are much better with the companies that have a proven track record. Yes, you usually pay more for these companies products. Usually for a good reason. It is not like a new comer can do it better or cheaper than the companies that have been doing it forever. There are reasons why you pay more.

With that said, I have only two recommendations if you go down the custom made route. This comes from building my own PCs for a good 20+ years, and owning and/or reviewing computers from various custom manufactures. The two best, by far, are Alienware and what i believe is the best is Falcon Northwest. Falcon is the company that started the custom built PCs for enthusiast way back in 1992 if I am not mistaken.

They have designed their own cases for years. Actually one of the only companies that do not just used cases off the shelf. For example, the Tiki model (which I current use for my music server) has a super compact case housing very high end hardware. Their ultra small model is also mounted on a granite base. I took my Tiki that was originally used as my high end, ultra compact desktop PC and modified it (both software and hardware) and re-allocated it as a dedicated music server.
 
Other than ultra quiet fans, solid state h.d.'s and purpose built/quiet power supplies .....perhaps the easiest thing is just move the tower unit into another adjacent room and plumb the cabling itself through the wall to your office and desk?
 
Haven't found a reason to own a desktop computer in a long time. The last one purchased for our home was about 20 years ago.
 
This weekend I installed (with the help of a friend) an HP Prodesk 600-G1 Mini Business PC. It has an HDD but I do not hear it or the fan. Runs very cool (Energy Star) and it is a very small form factor. 7"x7"x1.3". I really appreciate the space it opened up by replacing a monster tower. I am in love already.

Mine came with W7-Pro installed but included disks (4) for both W7-Pro and W10-Pro OS and Drivers.

Downside is there is no optical drive or card reader but those can easily be added externally when needed and stuck in a drawer when not.

Find them on the HP site under business computers. Mini--not to be confused with their small form factor or tower computers under the same name "Prodesk 600-G1". Other models are also available. They also offer an Elite Desk mode.

Starting under $600.

c04104232.png

Good luck. Don
 
Randy Myers said:
I concur with Dell and Asus. I would also add in MSI. These three tend to be some of the best. My wife and I have both moved to using laptops full time now. We both have had Desktop computers for years and years but find that laptops have become so much better that the desktop is not offering much more, if any performance gains and the convenience of a good laptop is unbelievable for us.

I have a MSI, which has completely interchangeable parts, like a Desktop. Not long ago I bought my wife an Alienware (Dell's upper line of PC's). It took her a week or to to get used to the 17" screen versus the larger one that she used to have, but now she would not go back to a Desktop no matter what. I feel the same.
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I guess it all depends on what you use a desktop for. Laptops with photoshop and other photo programs not to mention my CAD programs are lagging behind. Ps we use dual 27" monitors. For music a laptop with enough guts to run say HQ Player and DSD up conversions and optimized for audio are very convenient. The Dell setup is a blast. I still have a 2012 Mac Mini configuration that has not been used in a while it's got the ram and cpu power not to mention a solid state drive but I just didn't like the mac.
 
Well it depends on which laptop you are referring to. For example, my laptop has a i7 CPU, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, M.2 SSD. In fact the laptop has a cage that can hold 4x M.2 SSD drives (I have 2 installed) along with a TB HHD. It also has a GTX980 graphics card, a blu-ray burner optical drive, 4x USB 3.0 and 2x USB 3.1 ports. Two display port outputs and a HDMI. It can power 3 external monitors and the internal 17", all at the same time. Oh, I could up the memory to 32 GB if I wanted to. It also has a built in SD Card slot so transferring images from my Nikon camera is simple.

The laptop also has complete interchangeable parts. Therefore I could in fact change the CPU or the graphics card for example.

Therefore I say it really depends on the laptop because I can guarantee you that my laptop can do Photoshop, CAD or anything else a desktop can do. In fact I do actually do all of my artwork on my laptop:

http://www.myers-art.com/Paintings.html

I do have photo editing software installed (I prefer Corel versus Adobe, personal preference), although honestly, I do not do a whole lot of photo editing. I concentrate on taking the photos correct up front. Since I learned photo taking back in the 35mm days, prior to digital and easy editing, I try to avoid editing after the fact.

Oh, my wife's new laptop actually has a 6th generation i7 CPU which uses DDR4 RAM. As I said, it all depends on which laptop. Current laptops can indeed perform equal with all but the super high end professional workstation class machine!
 
MikeCh said:
Other than ultra quiet fans, solid state h.d.'s and purpose built/quiet power supplies .....perhaps the easiest thing is just move the tower unit into another adjacent room and plumb the cabling itself through the wall to your office and desk?
Click to expand...
Like the remote idea (hard to do with an all-in-one, but can definitely do it with a tower). Would need to figure out a few things (like how to turn it on/off remotely, and how to run the wires to the unfinished portion of our basement below my office), but think it could work. Also like the idea of a main brand computer--I've done the custom/DIY before and don't have the patience at this point in my life. Also like the idea of buying from Costco--their concierge service is definitely worth it (by-passes the customer support indefinite hold, plus doubles the warranty).
 
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