mini ITX or mATX case for programmers Sandybridge build.

camelCase

camelCase

camelCase

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I plan to build a new PC for home based software development, the machine won't be used for gaming. My priorities are for a quiet MS Windows PC with dual monitors and USB3.0.

Will the following components fit and keep within thermal bounds in a miniITX case?

mini ITX H67 motherboard (possibly Zotax for its DVI and Display Port outputs)
i5 2500k CPU
8 Gig RAM
120 GB SSD
DVD Drive
 
You probably don't want to pair a k processor with H67, as while it has a slightly better graphics chip you wont be able to overclock it.

The main thing is finding a case with a reasonable power supply, though a 120W pico will probably do you fine and would certainly be quiet.
 
If you aren't going to put a graphics card in I'd recommend the Lian-li Q11. Pared up with a fanless Seasonic Modular PSU and a decent CPU heatsink you could get a pretty quiet and tiny build.
 
Thanks for your replies all. Since I have not built a PC since 2001 I am on a learning curve this morning. Here is some additional info plus some more questions:

1 - By quiet I mean something as quiet as my Jan 2010 vintage Apple mini mac or my Atom based Acer Revo that now lives under the main household TV. At 3ft distance in a quiet house with the central heating off neither of these two are silent.

2 - The Lian Li PC-Q08B case seems to be riddled with ventilation grills. Do people worry about emf radiation from PC cases these days?

3 - I doubt the rig mentioned in my OP would draw more than 120watts peak. Would I be right in thinking the custom build market is not well provided for at this point? I guess 120w is pushing it for a pico power supply after that there is a jump to expensive ATX gamer requirements in the +300w range.

4 - What is the standard over specification ratio used when selecting a power supply. Given 120w peak draw is a 200w rated supply a comfortable capacity?
 
Maybe something like the Antec ISK 310 would better suit your needs, it comes with a 150w power supply. It should be quite due to the tricool fan. As regards to radiation I haven't heard a peep about concerns over it. Plenty of cases have side windows and many cases have large mesh surfaces. Whether or not a psu should be rated above your requirements, i would say, largely depends on how gooder quality the psu is. Some good manufacturers overrate their psu's significantly i.e. some 650w units can pull 750w whereas other psu's cant even reach their stated maximum output. I think 150w should be plenty for your requirements given that antec is a good quality manufacturer.

edit: the psu also has a fan to cool it so im not sure how quite that would be.

edit:the "fans are very quiet indeed, especially if you put them on the lowest rpm. PSU efficiency isn't great as it's a very basic PSU. It won't even give you 80% efficiency as it's not certified. If you wan't a good PSU for your ITX system look for other options then. FSP has some nice low wattage PSUs with 80 plus certified efficiency." from the review I linked to, in comments. But I would say that just because it isn't 80% certified doesn't meant that it wont have over 80% efficiency . Antec basiq power supplies have over 80% , according to reviews, and aren't 80% certified either but they might not do 80% at all loads.
 
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One thought actually is how many monitors do you want to support? Onboard graphics chips will be limited to two as far as I know, and you may well want more than that.

The silverstone ST45SF would be overkill, a 120W pico with 19V FSP brick is very likely to be sufficient. I overrate power supplies by about 50%, but it's a fairly personal thing. Pico's have a continuous rating, and a peak (below 60s) overcurrent rating as well. The cpu TDP is 95W, which is something of a worst case scenario. SSD and ram are negligible, dvd drive might not be (I don't use one, so don't know what power they use).

The i5-2500S has a tdp of 65W at 2.7ghz or the i5-2500T has a tdp of 45W at 2.3ghz. I wouldn't go near either with a stick, as I'm certain they're the same as the i5-2500 but with a lower vid set and the multiplier turned down a bit. Even H67 boards should support sufficient undervolting to bring a i5-2500 down to the wattages used by the "low-power" chips. Though I haven't checked this with anyone who owns one.

emf is probably blocked by an earthed grill as effectively as by a sheet, though I don't know the range of frequencies offhand. Certainly no one seems bothered about it anymore.
 
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