MSI Cubi

[CA_Steve]

Computer Base has a review up. No SPL measurements, but some qualitative stuff.

in Googlish:

MSI has been exemplary as last Asus and Intel fans including the fan control. While the CPU is a maximum of 69 degrees Celsius, the fan does not rotate at more than 3,400 U / min. He is only at close range minimal audible - and precisely even at full load in a game or video conversion. At idle or video playback there are only 1,600 to 2,000 rev / min, which are barely audible.

$150 for the Broadwell Celeron barebones, $200 for Pentium, $280 for i3.

One odditity according to Lon Seidman: can only boot from the mSATA drive...the first few minutes of this review are a useful walkthrough - the rest is yammering. [8/19/15 edit: It can be booted from a 2.5" SATA drive. Proved on my build.]

Kitguru review.

[CA_Steve]

Expert Reviews:

The Cubi isn't passively cooled, meaning it is possible to hear the fan whirring inside, but only in a completely silent room; it's so quiet that we had to put our ear right up against the exhaust vents to hear it in the office. It also got warm to the touch after an hour of benchmarking, but not uncomfortably so.

Matt at kodi.tv forums was able to boot with 2.5" SSD rather than mSATA.

Noise testing at Hardware.info:

The processor cooler fan is off by default, and under load it produces a barely audible sound.

[CA_Steve]

KitGuru:

This is an absurdly quiet PC. You can hear the cooling fan when the system is working hard however it is quieter than a buzzing insect and more akin to a refrigerator in the next room. Mount the Cubi behind your display and you will probably be unaware it is even running.

[CA_Steve]

For those in the US, a Sears marketplace reseller has the White barebones Celeron for $106 and the Pentium for $160. I broke down and ordered the Pentium version.

[Abula]

For those in the US, a Sears marketplace reseller has the White barebones Celeron for $106 and the Pentium for $160. I broke down and ordered the Pentium version.

Tempting..... =)

[Quinnbeast]

I broke down and ordered the Pentium version.

That almost sounds as if you had some sort of emotional episode outside the store. I guess we all get a bit like that sometimes.

[CA_Steve]

I kept hoping the Baytrail PC I had would work well enough under Win10 to do what I wanted it to do as it was being crushed by some TV network's Flash sites under Win7. After spending a lot of hours trying to get Win10 to boot on it, I guess I did "break down" and opened up my wallet for an alternative.

[Quinnbeast]

I can identify with that. Throwing money at the problem is sometimes the only way to go. I'll be keeping an eye/ear open as to how you get on with this little fella. At some point I'll want to retire my trusty C2D box, but I'm swithering between an ITX system or a NUC type thingy with separate storage. Options options!

[CA_Steve]

Review up.