Hi everyone, looking to replace a loud laptop that is currently playing back movies in the home theatre.
Would prefer a ready built or minimal building budget setup that is silent or low noise that can play back 4k streaming netflix/youtube through a projector.
Is something like the intel NUC series capable of this? or a cheap budget build from techfast and swap out the video card?
Thanks ppl!
I bought one of the older generation NUCs that were on sale around feb earlier this year(Intel NUC8I5BEH3) to replace my aging 10 year old ASROCK HTPC which was starting to struggle. The nuc by itself might get noisy if the fans kick in hard, but you can tweak the fans and cpu in the bios. I decided not to do that and just splurge on a Akasa Turing passive cooling case to replace the stock standard nuc case and it runs silent(and cooler!) now, perfect for a htpc, and more than capable of doing 4K, while running a few VMs in the background.
Agree strongly with the poster above. Does your use case restrict you to only having an actual PC?
It meets the requirements you listed and also has the bonus of being able to upscale content to 4K.
I like the flexibility of a proper web browser and a file browser for photos.
Web browser as sometimes we will use it to surf and look at holiday things, and sometimes for streaming video of TV sites with an ad blocker (that only seems to work intermittently).
Can the shield do those things?
You can load web browsers via the Google Play store but it’s not a particularly good experience.
Depending on how often you need to use a web browser you can stream/cast/mirror to the Shield using either Googlecast or Apple Airplay (via Aircast app)
I just find the Shield a really elegant and turnkey solution over using a NUC or laptop. Most major apps are available and you can also side load unofficial apps. Lots of processor grunt so the UI is silky smooth. Can also use the Shield as a Plex server to host and deliver your media content.
If your use case for a browser is less than 20% of the time I’d really look at the Shield.
I believe the Shield runs on Android. This should mean it can run FIrefox which allows the use of extensions such as uBlock origin. Simple Gallery for photo and videos for a gallery browser.
I use a AMD 2200g APU and it runs 4k and hdr fine.
It depends on how silent you want it and how much load your media (and anything else you're running) is putting on a computer and how much you're willing to pay. Mostly, the noise comes from the fans.
The best way to keep it quiet is to reduce the load, by purchasing the correct gear, not put it under too much load and keep it running in a cool, well ventilated environment.
As Scrimshaw mentioned, using the correct Noctua fans can play a big part in a quieter system, while also reducing the heat… which in turns, reduced the need for the fans to spin as hard. Notcua
With a PC with a decent, newish video card isn't going to put a strain on a system, but on an old laptop, it may push it harder causing the fans to spin hard. Without maintenance, those fans can get louder. Worse if they're cheap fans.
To keep it as silent as possible, you'll want passive cooling in as many systems as possible. Power Supply, video subsystem, ram etc. Reducing moving parts helps too. M.2/ssd over mechanical drives.
As I said, it depends on how silent you want it and how much it's worth to you.
Get a Media Player like Nvidia Shield, Apple TV or a Vodafone TV for use in the loungeroom
Silent small and designed for use with a remote not a kbm
If you need an actual PC for Media duties e.g. Plex Server then keep using the laptop or another pc or even a cheap NAS connected to network but in another room
a techfast build would be cheaper and more powerful than a NUC, but a regular atx build would have a lot more fans (there are at least 5 moving parts: PSU fan, CPU + GPU fan, intake and exhaust case fans). The noisiest part of the build would be most likely the generic case fans and stock Intel / AMD cooler.
Most GPU's should have a fan stop feature meaning they don't spin at all when the GPU is idle.
Quieting down the CPU and case fans with a Noctua cooler and fan kit is one option although it does drastically increase the cost of your 'budget' techfast PC.