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Super Low Power/Small Form Factor Computer build

R

RyanGreener

Senior member
Hello everyone. My main question is the following: Would it be better to build or just buy a premade PC for this usage?

My goal is to have the most power in a computer that can use an AC Adapter instead of an actual power supply, and I want it to have a very small form factor and minimal sound. Budget can be whatever but I doubt it will be expensive because I will not need a fancy graphics card or PSU. I haven't been in the computer game for awhile and the general guide doesn't cover this niche. Thanks !
 
That depends on what sort of Price / Performance you're after. mini-ITX builds can be done by yourself, but much smaller computers can be had in the form of micro systems like NUCs that use much smaller, proprietary builds (though there are board kits if you want to design your own enclosure). They're also not that expensive.

Intel Compute Sticks are like really large flash drives that connect to an HDMI Port, but I don't generally recommend them anymore because Intel hasn't updated the line in 2 years.

On the AMD Side, there's a variant of the Zotac MA551 coming with Raven Ridge APUs (2200G and 2400G) which would make a great micro-desktop with enough GPU horsepower to do basic e-Sports gaming or have compatibility with Netflix and Playready 3.0 (someday, still waiting on that Driver).
 
This sounds like it could be a job for a notebook. They're already built with low power components and already take DC input. Obviously they're generally lower performance than systems with desktop components, but for basic web and office tasks even a mid-low end notebook will do the job. I survived a couple of months on a system like this plugged into proper mouse/keyboard/monitor and it was serviceable...

If you're building yourself I'd look into a mini-ITX build, ideally you can find a case designed to work with DC input and a picoPSU. And with something like a 150W picoPSU you could use almost any modern desktop CPU (with iGPU). Though I haven't looked at specifics, it might not even make financial sense to build in a niche like this when there are options like the Brix or ZBOX lines mentioned above.

Edit: Read OP again properly, changed post accordingly.
 
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Could look into a thin client box too. They typically run a custom version of Windows that RDPs into the server, but think they're essentially just very low power x86 machines so you could probably put Linux or whatever OS you want on it. I don't think it's possible to build something that small/low power.

If you are planing to use Linux a Raspberry Pi might also work. They use around 5 watts.
 
I'm having quite a bit for trouble deciphering what is being asked and more importantly why?

Exactly what is this small powerful box going to be used for?

Why does it need to have "the most power in a computer"? Is this a theoretical question?

An AC adapter is a power supply so you must mean that you want an external AC adapter rather than a built in power supply. Thing is external AC adapters are not limited to just one size. On my laptops they have ranged from a tiny 45 watt "wall wart" up to a big heavy 200 watt unit. One crazy thing I saw had two external AC adapters for a total wattage north of 600 watts. Of course most of that power was going to feed dual monster video cards, which you say you don't need.

I"m doubting that you really need "the most power in a computer". It seems to me that size and quietness are your priorities as I'm taking "minimal sound" to mean minimal noise.

How small does it need to be and why? Does it need to bolt on the back of a display like you can do with a NUC? Is a mini-ITX too big?
 
Agreed, what are the real-world tasks it will be used for?

My next music jukebox will be either a fanless mini-ITX I build, or a smaller fanless prebuilt NUC like the Zotac Nano: https://www.anandtech.com/show/12775/zotac-launches-zbox-ci329-nano-fanless-quadcore-gemini-lake

For music playback, and even video playback without transoding an atom, pentium or celeron is fine.

For heavy web browsing or desktop app use the Atom and possibly the others would be slow compared to a mobile or low-power i3 or i5.
 
I'm with the others here on the suggestion that you might as well get an ultrabook or notebook at this point if low noise and dc power are your biggest priorities.
 
twelfth said:
I'm with the others here on the suggestion that you might as well get an ultrabook or notebook at this point if low noise and dc power are your biggest priorities.
Click to expand...

You have to be careful about that for the noise part. I have a Surface Pro (first version) for testing touch use at work and the fan on it is loud enough to be noticeable. Laptop and quiet do not always go together.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Oh I forgot about the NUCs, I think this would be your best bet. I think they take an external power supply brick like a laptop.
Click to expand...

intel's own NUCs have fans in them, but Zotac, ECS and others make fanless NUCs for some CPUs.

I'm a bit surprised that intel doesn't make at least their Atom NUCs fanless, perhaps they like to hear the whirring sounds. (Or more seriously, they don't want to get the blame if someone used their fanless NUC in a setting with high temps and no airflow.)
 
You could easily modify it to not have a fan though, but you would need to put a huge heat sink and make sure passive cooling is adequate. 120mm fans running on 5v are super quiet though, I would just do that. Should be enough as long as it's not pegged at 100% cpu.
 
If you really are looking to see how much "power" can be crammed into a small space:

Intel NUC NUC8I7HVK Mini PC, Intel QuadCore i7-8809G Upto 4.2GHz, 32GB DDR4, 512GB NVMe SSD, AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH, Wifi, Thunderbolt 3, 4k Support, Windows 10 Pro (32GB Ram + 512GB SSD)
Price: $1,689.99 & FREE Shipping

412uPePUQhL.jpg
 
lakedude said:
I'm having quite a bit for trouble deciphering what is being asked and more importantly why?

Exactly what is this small powerful box going to be used for?

Why does it need to have "the most power in a computer"? Is this a theoretical question?

An AC adapter is a power supply so you must mean that you want an external AC adapter rather than a built in power supply. Thing is external AC adapters are not limited to just one size. On my laptops they have ranged from a tiny 45 watt "wall wart" up to a big heavy 200 watt unit. One crazy thing I saw had two external AC adapters for a total wattage north of 600 watts. Of course most of that power was going to feed dual monster video cards, which you say you don't need.

I"m doubting that you really need "the most power in a computer". It seems to me that size and quietness are your priorities as I'm taking "minimal sound" to mean minimal noise.

How small does it need to be and why? Does it need to bolt on the back of a display like you can do with a NUC? Is a mini-ITX too big?
Click to expand...

You know, my lack of knowledge of external AC adapters is probably what caused the confusion in this post. I was under the assumption they were all super low wattage values.

I just want a desktop that can stay on 24/7 because I want to use this for a home security system and nothing else. I figure some of the camera software requires a CPU that isn't a complete slug, but who knows. I don't want it to consume much power and definitely don't want it to be noisy. I don't want a laptop as they cannot really be worked on easily if something gets damaged/broken.

Thank you all for replying!
 
For your build, how big of a case is too big?

Check the S4 mini specifically but also take a look at the Dancase, Ncase M1:
https://www.sfflab.com/collections/enclosures

Bigger, but similar footprint as the S4

Fractal Node 202:
http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/node-series/node-202

A lot bigger, but can use full size parts:

Corsair
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categ...Series™-250D-Mini-ITX-PC-Case/p/CC-9011047-WW

NZXT
https://www.nzxt.com/products/h200i-matte-black

Some of these cases like the S4 mini don't have space for 3.5in HDDs. Do you need them?
 
azemsiB said:
You know, my lack of knowledge of external AC adapters is probably what caused the confusion in this post. I was under the assumption they were all super low wattage values.

I just want a desktop that can stay on 24/7 because I want to use this for a home security system and nothing else. I figure some of the camera software requires a CPU that isn't a complete slug, but who knows. I don't want it to consume much power and definitely don't want it to be noisy. I don't want a laptop as they cannot really be worked on easily if something gets damaged/broken.

Thank you all for replying!
Click to expand...
If it's for CCTV then I think you can use a NAS for this
 
Got a slightly-used ASRock Deskmini I could let you have for relatively cheap.

Or you can assemble your own. The Chassis / mobo / wifi card is fairly cheap, ~$140 or less on sale from Newegg. (Check their ebay site too.)
 
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