Hey, what's up? =)
I'm trying to figure out what to take into account when building a low-power, compact (pref. something you can hang up behind a 24" monitor), pref noise-less computer made for office/programming tasks. I did a search here on the forums but I can't really find anything (other than gaming-oriented mini-ITX systems, which is to be expected on a gaming fan forum). I would google, but being new to the concept I've hard time googling. Besides, most of the hits I do find when googling aren't all *that* related to what I'm looking for.
This isn't exactly a Help with build-type of thread, but more in the lines of discussion about the topic, to enlighten both myself and anyone finding their way to this thread in the future. While individual components could be suggested, I'm not really looking for suggestions on complete builds unless there are information coupled with it (like a tutorial explaining why these components were chosen, alternative components, etc).
So I was looking at different Pico-PSU's, but I don't exactly know where to get them here in Sweden, especially when taking my wish to order a complete system into account. I've also looked at different low-power mini-ITX boards, as well as CPU's/APU's, but the best site where I can order all components for a system seems to be in England (and since I have to go to a company dinner in a few minutes I don't have time to dig up the link, if this topic wasn't posted already it'd have to wait until I got back and could make a "proper, complete" OP).
Well, until I get back and can update this OP properly, anyone who can share reading information/youtube stuff on low-power mini-ITX systems? I was thinking of having an SSD in the system for the superior IOPS for database stuff (WAMP, huge excel documents, etc), as well as being as cheap as possible with as high as possible performance/watt while being strong enough to manage Windows 7 stuff, MySQL tables/Excel documents with 100k+ rows, youtube, etc without annoying delays. Another goal is to have it completely free from moving parts (ie fans, with an SDD, pico-PSU and passive cooling the only moving part would be the On-button), but having one or two low-RPM fans in exchange for a considerable jump in performance is okay as well.
Note that this is for 2D, text based work. No games will be played on this system. Low noise level is key due to sensitive hearing and a wish to have the system on 24/7.
I'll be back later this evening to update missing information / remove unnecessary info / ranting, etc. Due to my mistake with the enter key I had to pretty much wing it asap.
edit:
I accidentally hit enter instead of backspace when changing a typo in the title. And now I can't change the typo >.<