The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 07/01/2019 17:34, RJH wrote:
On 07/01/2019 14:07, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
I rather fancy having a PC integrated to the main Hi-Fi etc system.
Mainly
to download/store music etc files. Got a fair bit of space for it, so
even
an older case size would be fine - but flat rather than a tower. Would
like a decent processor so it doesn't become obsolete quickly. Only need
an HDMI output for the TV, so probably not a fancy graphics card.

I've built a few in the past, but can't for the life of me remember who I
got the bits from. Googling as usual gives several.

What would be the most reliable mother board to go for? Not had that good
experience with ASUS before. And which processor? As I said not done
anything like this for ages, so very out of touch.


I did this with a Zotac motherboard which came with an Atom processor,
integrated graphics and RAM, all passively cooled. Stuffed it in a mini
case, which could hold a couple of 3.5" drives - but I used 2.5" drives
for lower noise, and an SSD as the OS boot drive. It uses an external
laptop PSU.

That was some years back - it's still quite capable but only 720P video
IIRC. These people seem to specialise it what you're after:

https://www.mini-itx.com/store/

IME it's the quiet/silent bit that presents the
challenge/compromise/potential cost.



I just skipped an atom board case and PSU...

Do you know about the problem with 2000 series (2550, 2558, 2750,2758)
atom boards? There is a processor hardware bug that causes nearly all
of them to fail in the first two or three years. Reputable ones
actually made in the last year or so should have newer processors
without the fault but it is hard to tell without the year of
manufacture. Most board makers will repair/replace them, but that it
obviously a big nuisance.

--

Roger Hayter