Partition advice

[NicApp]

I am an IT numpty - is this spec good for a silent PC? It is my first custom build. Need something very small & silent for office work. No music/video editing - just word processing and Zoom.

I have a spare legitimate copy of Windows 10 Pro hence no operating system selected. What do you recommend for requesting partitions when I order?

Many thanks.

Case
Akasa Euler TX Thin Mini ITX Fanless Aluminium Case - Silent!
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-9400 (2.9GHz) 9MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H310T R2.0: (Mini-ITX, DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Storage Drive
1TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
Power Supply
120W External Power Supply
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 16 to 18 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £552.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-silent-pc/cVBNpwbNzx/

 

[Deleted member 17413]

Hi, whats your budget, what monitor are you gonna pair with it (do you also need to buy it yet, and is that separate budget or needs to come out of the same total as the build maximum) and is this strictly office use (so no gaming at all, you mention no video editing or anything)?

As for partitions... is there a reason you need any? Personally wouldnt bother unless you are setting up different user access for different partitions/files.

 

[NicApp]

Hi, Thanks for info about partitions. Just me so not needed I presume. I have monitor (AOC Q3279VWF) already, plus printer etc. So budget of about £550 for this silent PC. Is the processor etc over kill for just office work? Will this configuration let me add a second monitor if needed? Probably not, but just in case.

 

[ubuysa]

When you only have only one drive, which is a bad idea these days, there is some benefit in having two partitions; one for Windows and programs and one for user data. That allows you to reinstall Windows and not lose your data.

It would be immeasurably better to have two drives, a smaller SSD for Windows and programs and an HDD for user data.

 

[NicApp]

Good point, but second drive not possible with this PC - unless I have missed it.

 

[NicApp]

With one SSD what partition is needed for Windows 10 Pro and Office (not 365) etc?

 

[SpyderTracks]

With one SSD what partition is needed for Windows 10 Pro and Office (not 365) etc?

I would say roughly 250Gb for windows and programs and the rest for data.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Delving slightly off here but I had no idea there were fanless systems!! To my mind that is just crazy...how does the air move and the heat get dissipated?

The case acts as a heatsink. They’re actually very effective so long as you’re just using them for normal stuff like browsing and office apps.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Cool. Thank you...it's just very odd to me, in the same way that a case without an exhaust fan is odd to me

It's only on lower end components, so they draw a lot less power eg, less heat produced.

The case will actually have a block specifically placed onto the CPU which then translates the heat to the case exterior which is why you often see the fins throughout the case wall as on the OP's:

Those fins are actually heat exchangers that allow more surface area to be contacted by the air around the case, thereby dissaptating more heat. Very clever.

It's exactly the same principal that CPU aircoolers use just on a larger scale, except they add a fan to force the air through the heat exchangers.

But there's a lot of new research going into fanless CPU heatsinks, namely by Noctua:

Noctua Concept Fanless CPU Cooler: Up to 120W Of Cooling Performance

www.anandtech.com

Noctua Readies High-Performance Fanless Heatsink Building on 2019 Prototype

Noctua is reportedly working on a high-performance fanless CPU cooler building on a 2019 prototype that was exhibited at last year's Computex. The final product should launch within 2020, according to an Overclock3D report. As of now there's no word on whether the said cooler will look identical...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just to add to the above, this is where lower powered CPU's are actually incredibly exciting, because you can stuff them into small form factor builds like Mini ITX or even a passive cooled system like this.

The R9 3900 (not the X version that we mainly advise in builds) as an example was such a breakthrough chip offering 12 cores 24 threads whilst remaining at an incredibly low 65W TDP. This means that you can actually stuff that much power into a micro case without too much worry as it's just not producing as much heat as it's 125W 3900x cousin.

There is nothing in the Intel world that could achieve this level of performance at such a low TDP, nothing even comes close.

This is another area where AMD are just streets ahead of intel and will be quite frankly until Intel reach 7nm in 2023. Intel have already admitted their 10nm designs are going to be no better than their current 12nm products.

Sorry to OP, just an intersting tidbit for those wanting to understand better

 

[ubuysa]

Good point, but second drive not possible with this PC - unless I have missed it.

I don't know about the case but the motherboard does, it has a 2280 M.2 and two SATA ports.

 

[Deleted member 17413]

Odd that the configurator doesnt have the option to have a M.2 then...
I suppose the OP could buy a 250GB M.2 seperately, just for the operating system, and have everything else on the SSD?
It would cost about £50 though...

 

[slimbob]

Thanks Spydertracks I was always confused about fan-less systems too, thanks for the explanation plus links, very interesting.

 

[Tony1044]

@SpyderTracks - When I was speccing my lab server a few years back, I encountered a company doing full blown i7 and Xeon fanless systems but they took up serveral U in a rack and were basically just humungous fins all around the cases.

The reviews looked pretty good but they all left out key details and focussed purely on how hot the CPU got...which wasn't enough to convince me for the rather high price. I wanted to know what the temperatures would be elsewhere - RAM, GPU, HDD's etc. and it just wasn't available.

They did look pretty funky though.

 

[ubuysa]

It is indeed an oddity...there must be a reason for it (much like the lack of anything above 16GB of 3600 RAM on AMD configurators) though can't work it out as the M2 drives are the same size as the other drives they use (2280)

Assuming that there can only be one drive in that build (which is odd) then I would partition the drive into Windows/Programs and User Data. How big to make the WIndows/Propgrams partition is a guess at first, somewhere between 128GB and 256GB probably. Once everything is installed you should be able to shrink (or expand) the Windows/Programs partition to a more reasonable size based on the installed software.