Motherboard + CPU combo for music server?

[CageyH]

I am planning to upgrade my music server PC soon.
I am looking for recommendations to let me build a fanless PC. I have a Zalman FX70 cooler that will cope with a CPU TDP of 80w without a fan. It will fit Intel and AMD processors.

The PC is only used for music playback, so I don’t need anything particularly powerful.
It will run Windows 10, as I have this already. ATX form factor is preferred as it is going in a Fractal Design R5 case, which is hidden behind the TV, so a small form factor is not required.

[Sherwood]

My solution was much simpler: an Intel NUC. Runs completely silently as it has no fan!

[CageyH]

I am not sure my Asus Xonar Essence STX II will fit in a NUC, and as the internal DAC is rather good, I am not wanting to get rid of it.

[CageyH]

I am thinking of an AMD Ryzen 3 2200G processor and an ASUS Prime B450M-A motherboard with 8Gb of DDR4 ram.

The processor has an onboard graphics processor, and the motherboard has video out.
With a TDP of 65W, my passive cooler will work well.

[CageyH]

Any thoughts/experience with something like the above?

[NRG]

Any thoughts/experience with something like the above?

Just a bit curious Kevin, why not a raspberry pi? It has more than enough compute power for audio and the options for play back software is vast. Personally I do not see any benefit in a dedicated x86 playback computer, it seems overkill IMHO...and expensive.

[CageyH]

I want to keep my Asus Xonar Essence STX II audio card, as it sounds very good with the upgraded Burson Audio V6 vivid opamps. I also have a very good PSU running the system.

If I was going down the Pi route, then I would need to start from scratch to find a DAC I like.

[Gazjam]

This Asus looks a good bet?
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VI_GENE/

Pays attention to the power supply and SNR.

For audio, I found its better to get a higher power CPU and underclock it.
Depending on what you want to do, upsampling room correction or whatever, the PC will do the heavy lifting.
An i7 would be a good bet, no real preference audio wise.

The Xonar's a nice bit of kit, used to fit them in my Korus Servers.

[CageyH]

Thanks. I will take a look at that. The main idea is to fit a powerful, but efficient CPU.
I have a Core Duo Q9550 at the moment, running at around 3GHz. The main reason for wanting to upgrade was the lack of USB3.0, but I recently learnt that I could use the spare PCIex4 graphics slot to fit a PCIe card in. I never knew that....

So for €15 I have USB3.0 in an old Asus P5K motherboard. It seems to work well, so I may put off the possible upgrade until something decides to release the magic smoke within.

So the current spec is:

Asus P5K with 8Gb of ram.
Q9550 cooled with a Zalman FX70 - this seems to be working really well!
2Tb WD blue for system files
2Tb WD Black for music
2 x Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM fans
2 x Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 140mm fans (which I plan to change to something quieter)
Asus Xonar Essence STX II with Burson Audio V6 Vivid
EVGA SuperNOVA 550 G2 PSU (which scores very highly on the JonnyGuru reviews (http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=440) )
Asus Radeon HD6850 Direct CU 1Gb graphics card - which I plan to replace with a passively cooled card.
XCsource USB3 PCIe card.

Sure, the PSU is not a linear supply, but that would cost more than my complete PC is worth for a marginal gain. I may look at a cheap Linear PSU for the sound card.

It's an old PC, but it seems to do enough for a music server. If I was going to go for an i7 powered model, then I would probably upgrade my main system which is a Skylake i7 6700k, so a few years old, but powerful enough for what I use it for.

[CageyH]

I have just picked up a azotates GT710 2Gb passively cooled graphics card for €30.
I am almost done with the build now, just need some quieter 140mm fans to push air through the case and it can be classed as almost finished.

[Smegger68]

I have just picked up a azotates GT710 2Gb passively cooled graphics card for €30.
I am almost done with the build now, just need some quieter 140mm fans to push air through the case and it can be classed as almost finished.

Can recommend these, almost silent in my HTPC :)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ARCTIC-F14-Silent-Ultra-Quiet-Configuration/dp/B01J4FUU7Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1548758778&sr=1-1&keywords=artic+140mm

[CageyH]

Thanks. I looked at those and ended up going for Nanoxia DS 140mm 1100 rpm fans.
They are supposed to be even quieter.

[CageyH]

Due to a motherboard failure on my main PC, I have upgraded my main PC to an i7-9700k with a Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master, complete with Sabre DAC.

This has left me with a spare i7-6700k. So I have picked up a second hand Asus Z170 Maximus VIII Ranger. I have just fired it up to make sure the CPU was still fine, as I was not 100% sure.
I am now going to delid the I7-6700k as I think the TIM compound has dried up a bit (core temperatures were creeping up).

To upgrade the music system, I am only missing some DDR4 RAM. The question is, is it worth fitting RAM with a frequency above 2400 MHz to play music, and stream TV?
I assume that 4Gb will be enough, and 8Gb ample? Actually, I may get some 2666 MHz as it is actually cheaper than the 2400 MHz, but I assume it is not worth going any higher than that?

[CageyH]

I have bought 16Gb of DDR4, 3000MHz, CL15. It was only slightly more expensive (€85 vs €60) than 8Gb.

[CageyH]

It turns out that the motherboard is actually a Maximus VIII Hero.
The music server is rebuilt, and sounds splendid. Is it a proper upgrade, or just the emperor’s new clothes? I have no idea, but I am happy.

Now I just need to work out how to underclock my i7-6700k, and see if I can remove the fan (Fitted as a precaution) from the Zalman FX70 heatsink.

[Techno Commander]

Sorry for bumping an old thread.
Have a look at the PC cases from HD Plex (https://hdplex.com/) they have decent heatsinks and heat pipes to eliminate cooling fans.

[CageyH]

Thanks.
With the Asus Q-fan control, the fan hardly ever Kicks in.