Relocating the PC

[Lambda]

The limit on most cables is 15 feet, including HDMI and USB.

This might be the specification but is far from the realty!
I have Used 25m HDMI Cables with no problems many times.
Also There are HDMI "repeater" and HDMI over CAT6 converter.

And for USB you can Buy Activ cables or Just use Activ hubs every view meters.

 

[Berwhale]

I guess I'll need to wait for Thunderbolt 4 to come to AMD then build a new system that can be relocated.

Thunderbolt 4 is an Intel (and Apple) technology. AMD seems unlikely to adopt it, although I guess board partners could add support for it. I think AMD are more likely to support USB 4 which support Thunderbolt 3! We appear to have a future filled with a never ending game of leap frog between USB and TB standards!

 

[JWAmerica]

HDMI isn't a great option for audio with a PC as the source. GPU manufacturers just don't care.

Also, spend a few bucks on quiet fans rather than go fanless. Noctua makes some that you cannot hear from 6' or less. Fanless is only a solution for low power rigs and if you're concerned about heating the room up, fanless is probably not a good idea for your system. At the very least it will be much larger than active cooling.

 

[Lambda]

HDMI isn't a great option for audio with a PC as the source. GPU manufacturers just don't care.

Wat makes you think this?
How is it not as good?
compared to what?

 

[JWAmerica]

Wat makes you think this?
How is it not as good?
compared to what?

The implementation is very poor. Handshake issues and such. When it works it works, but it frequently doesn't.

 

[Chromatischism]

HDMI isn't a great option for audio with a PC as the source. GPU manufacturers just don't care.

Also, spend a few bucks on quiet fans rather than go fanless. Noctua makes some that you cannot hear from 6' or less. Fanless is only a solution for low power rigs and if you're concerned about heating the room up, fanless is probably not a good idea for your system. At the very least it will be much larger than active cooling.

I recently built an AMD system for a friend using a Cooler Master NR200 and Noctua NH-U12S with a Corsair SF450 power supply that turns its fan off most of the time. The computer may as well be silent because I can't tell when it's on.

 

[JWAmerica]

I recently built an AMD system for a friend using a Cooler Master NR200 and Noctua NH-U12S with a Corsair SF450 power supply that turns its fan off most of the time. It may as well be silent because I can't tell when it's on.

A quiet PSU is often overlooked. Good point.

 

[Lambda]

The implementation is very poor. Handshake issues and such. When it works it works, but it frequently doesn't.

"works for me"
Never experienced an problem with it.

 

[JWAmerica]

"works for me"
Never experienced an problem with it.

Google it. Many such cases! Sad!

For many the options are toslink (only compressed surround codecs, no bitstreamed surround ie newer Dolby or DTS), sound card analog outputs, or live with flaky HDMI audio.

 

[Chromatischism]

Thunderbolt 4 is an Intel (and Apple) technology. AMD seems unlikely to adopt it, although I guess board partners could add support for it. I think AMD are more likely to support USB 4 which support Thunderbolt 3! We appear to have a future filled with a never ending game of leap frog between USB and TB standards!

Why Asus just made the first Thunderbolt 4 motherboard for Ryzen CPUs

Asus tells us why it made a Thunderbolt 4 for Ryzen CPUs, and why you might want the feature

www.pcworld.com

Remaining hopeful.

 

[dasdoing]

if you are not a gamer a big CPU cooler will make your PC silent if you have a quality PSU and SSD.
just make the fans stop in UEFI setup below 60 degrees or so.
my fans never kick in unless I put it under stress

 

[Count Arthur]

Fanless is only a solution for low power rigs and if you're concerned about heating the room up, fanless is probably not a good idea for your system.

The PC will release the same amount of heat into the room regardless of whether its actively or passively cooled.

 

[Lambda]

The PC will release the same amount of heat into the room regardless of whether its actively or passively cooled.

But a modern PC CPU has higher efficacy and makes less heat per flop.
Also if the CPU is not sufficiently cooled it will automaticly reduce power. so passive might in reality release less heat into the room because thermal throttling.

The same amount of Power will heat the room in the same way. but never heard anyone questioning this.

I think what JW wanted to say is if the PC makes so mush heat that it relevantly significant incenses the room temperature. than its not a good idea to try passive of this PC.

 

[JWAmerica]

The PC will release the same amount of heat into the room regardless of whether its actively or passively cooled.

If his current system is noticeably heating the room, passive cooling is not going to be adequate because his system generates a considerable amount of heat. Once again, passive cooling is for low power systems. To say nothing of the longevity of other components like RAM and disk drives that are degraded by heat. Even SSDs don't like heat. Quiet fans are the way to go.

 

[Chromatischism]

I've calculated it to be a couple of degrees F contribution to the room temperature.

 

[JWAmerica]

Without knowing the size of the room I can't ballpark how many watts of heat are being dissipated, but with a quiet PSU and a suitably large CPU heatsink you can get by with one fan on the intake, one on the CPU heatsink and one for exhaust. Noctua is pricey but there are other sub 20db fans to pick from, especially if you can fit 120mm fans. Anything 1500rpm or lower should be inaudible.

 

[Chromatischism]

It's my media room which is a bedroom of roughly 17x11x8. So when you have a PC, amps, plasma TV, bodies, etc, it can really add up. If I could relocate the AVR I would do that, too, but there are issues with running Audyssey and accessing it when I need to for HDMI REW measurements. And, I don't feel like making miles of speaker cables.

After all of the feedback here – which, thank you everyone so far – where my thinking is going is that Thunderbolt over optical is the only way to go if you are going to be running all of these peripherals and monitors beyond 1080p since ethernet doesn't have enough bandwidth. Since my current PC doesn't do Thunderbolt, it's looking like I may build a new machine next year, ideally downstairs so it can be hardwired to the router, but we'll see if that will be doable.

Current thinking:

PC -> Thunderbolt over optical -> Thunderbolt dock -> Monitor, DAC, mic, keyboard, mouse, camera, card readers, etc. Laptop can also plug into the dock to use the monitor.

 

[KellenVancouver]

You actually have gone performance oriented with components more than dB. Just saying it can be done even for less money with Arctic or Be Quite (silent wings 3). Or better for approximately the same (based on assumption you use A25 series Noctua) Artic P CO series (close to Noctua iPPC series).

Not quite the same, but will vouch for both Noctua and Be Quiet fans. Upgraded last year running Be Quiet Pure Base 600 as well as Noctua NU-U14S fans, and they truly are practically silent.

 

[Sputnik]

Looks like you mostly want a more powerful media server. The solution to use your main pc for everything isn't ideal (heat, noise, cost, headache). Finding the right tool for the job is usually better than trying to force something else into a job it's not suited for.

If I was you I would consider getting get a Nuc (i5 is probably plenty), keep the nas purely for network storage, use the Nuc for its compute (media server, htpc).

It will also be more energy efficient than running your pc 24/7.

 

[Deleted member 46664]

It's my main rig but will also become my media server as I retire the NAS and bring all media into one case for improved performance and convenience. Normally when I fire up the home theater, even just for music, I normally put the PC to sleep to save on heating and lower the noise floor. This of course isn't going to work if it's to serve up my music.

I'd like to put the PC somewhere else in the house - where it won't warm the room and where I don't have to hear it running.

I should be able to pipe everything I need from the PC to my Thunderbolt 4 dock either via Ethernet or TB4 cable. The latter of which is dramatically expensive because of the cost of optical Thunderbolt cables.

Whatever ends up working as far as cables go must allow me to run a monitor from the dock. I guess that limits me to Thunderbolt. My DAC, microphone, and other peripherals can all work via USB so I'm fine there.

Any experiences out there?

First, if you are thinking to cast your PC into a server role... Load it up with 10TB NAS drives and you can stick it almost anyplace in the house and run an ethernet cable to it from a router. Then the whole house can access your files via file sharing.

There's nothing especially demanding about music and movies... almost any network setup can handle it easily.

Then you can pick up a relatively inexpensive "hockey puck" mini-pc to serve as your active head unit inside your home theatre, with a wireless keyboard to control it. Toss in a couple of media players, add a couple of streaming apps and you're off and flying.

One example .... HERE ...there are a ton of others ....