Mini itx - mostly for making music

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hi,

i like to have a nice mini itx build for music making (Ableton), i dont care about graca and it should be a bit green aswell :)
So far this is what i put together :

ASUS P8H61-I (rev 3.0)
INTEL Core i5-2500K
KINGSTON 8GB KIT DDR3 1333MHz CL9
WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar Green 1000GB 64MB cache

only question is what PSU should be enough but not to much ?
the CPU comes with a cooler aswell ?

thank you for advice :)
 
I wouldn't bother with an i5 if youre not gaming, i think an i3-2100t would give the same performance in audio software because of the hyperthreading. It would also be cheaper and consume far less power. I would go for:

i3-2100t
8GB 1.5v RAM
ASUS P8H61-I
WD Green 1TB
200W+ 80 PLUS PSU

That drive will be nice and quiet and won't consume much power but will be painfully slow when encoding/bouncing etc. I would buy a cheap <64GB SSD to install your software and to do all the encoding and stuff then move it over to the other drive for storage. It would also make the system boot like 5x faster. Something else that would help if you can afford it is an 80 PLUS Gold PSU, it would be super efficient so would use less power and likely be quieter.

Overall that should be a quiet system that will consume a tiny amount of power. The good thing there is that low power = low heat. Low heat = quiet. Another thing you could do if the budget allows is to get a cheap low profile CPU cooler, one that will fit a 120mm fan. Then remove the fans from the case and the cooler and just buy 2 low rpm, super quiet fans such as:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm-scythe-kaze-jyuni-500rpm-slip-stream-fan-sy1225sl12sl

I think these are the quietest 120mm fans available. If you get a good PSU and just use one of those on the CPU cooler and one as an exhaust on the case, the system should be ultra quiet.
 

itxgamer

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Mar 17, 2011
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I agree with jmsellars1, the i5-2500K is overkill for your build, especially the 'K' series, as you can't overclock with the H61 chipset anyway.

The i3-2100 would be a better fit, but you want to stick to true quad-core, look at the i5-2300 or the i5-2400. Both will be a bit more powerful than the i3.

All of the above mentioned CPU's come with a cooler.

As for a PSU, something in 200w-250w would be plenty, but don't cheap out on it. Get a quality power supply for a reputable manufacture. YOu could also look for a nice case that includes sufficient power.