I have just set out to upgrade my fanless music server for my HiFi, which is hidden behind the TV.
I am using an old Fractal Design R5 case, as it is nice and quiet.
I currently have a Q9550 cpu on an Asus P5K mobo running 8Gb of ram, which I am thinking of upgrading.
I want to transfer my Zalman FX70 across to cool the new CPU, and use a couple of quiet Noctua fans that I have to shift air through the case.
Sound card wise I have an Asus Xonar Essence card upgradraded with Burson Audio V6 vivid Opamps.
There is also an old Asus HD6950 (?) Direct CU graphics card, that I either want to replace or get rid of with onboard graphics, as I don’t use the PC for movies.
So a few question, what is a good mobo/cpu combo with a low TDP for my needs?
Is there a reasonable quality, but cheap passively cooled graphics card that has VGA and HDMI out?