Smallest quietest fast PC to run 2x 4k montitors.

[anonymous-user]

I've currently got one monster PC for everything, but I want to buy a new smaller, quieter PC for non gaming stuff.

So something small and silent that can easily drive 2x 27 inch 4k monitors via DP. No 3d stuff required.

Windows ideally. Any thoughts on what I should look for, mid range?

[colin79666]

The latest Intel NUC in i5 or i7 form should do it. HDMI but that can be converted to display port with a dongle.

[Whoozit]

I have one of the first NUCs. Don't recall if it's first or second gen. Currently driving a single 4K screen and doing absolutely fine. The only problem with it was the power brick failing under load after a couple of years. That took some diagnosing to work out.

[anonymous-user]

NUC looks awesome. I'm wondering if it is silent under low loads with 2x 4k outputs?

[Whoozit]

sambucket said:

NUC looks awesome. I'm wondering if it is silent under low loads with 2x 4k outputs?

They're fanless designs IIRC so...

[Lemming Train]

The case and fans is what you should focus on if you want a quiet PC. I learnt this lesson the hard way many years ago when I bought a gaming PC but opted for the bog standard fans and cheapest case. Once it gets a bit of a work load (just having a bunch of tabs open and watching a YT 1080p video for example) the fans spool up to a level that creates an annoying whine which seems to get amplified by the metal case. In the grand scheme of things it's not much but in a very quiet room it's noticeable enough to be really annoying after a while.

Lesson learned, the next PC I bought I spec'd higher quality "quiet" fans and a comparatively expensive "quiet" case with some sort of acoustic padding gubbins and although I cringed at the price at the time it was well worth it as it's basically inaudible unless it's under a really high load and even then it's only the sound of the fans spooling up a couple of levels, but without any of the annoying whine/drone that the old PC used to make.

[devnull]

Yeah, I run a Hades canyon for my day to day stuff. It's pretty dam powerful to boot. Runs 2x 4k monitors.