Silent Home Server Build Guide

You’ve seen system build guides on other tech web sites before. They are usually shopping lists of components recommended for the "Ultimate Gaming Rig" or "Mini PC" or what have you. There’s nothing wrong with these types of guides — otherwise we would not be proposing to do them ourselves — but there’s no question they can be improved. The unique selling proposition (to borrow a phrase from marketing 101) of our Silent System Build Guides is that not only will we provide suitable lists of up-to-date recommended components for a particular type of computer, but we will actually build these computers, and run and test them acoustically under tough actual-use conditions in our anechoic chamber.

SPCR has been focused for many years on reviewing components and systems for acoustics, power/heat, with a nod to performance and value. The periodically updated Recommended Silent Product Lists are central to the site, as they summarize the choice quiet pickings in each computer product category at any given time.

Now, we’re adding another category of articles: Silent System Build Guides. You’ve seen build guides on other tech web sites before. They are usually shopping lists of components recommended for the "Ultimate Gaming Rig" or "Mini PC" or what have you. They justify the product choices with a sentence or two, offer some alternatives, and umpteen links to web sites that sell the products. There’s nothing wrong with these types of guides — otherwise we would not be proposing to do them ourselves — but there’s no question they can be improved.

The unique selling proposition (to borrow a phrase from marketing 101) of our Silent System Build Guides is that not only will we provide suitable lists of up-to-date recommended components for a particular type of computer, but we will actually build these computers, and run and test them acoustically under tough actual-use conditions in our anechoic chamber. We will walk you through the entire selection and build process, and even show you at the end, what kind of impact component substitutions will have. It’s the closest thing to being in the SPCR lab with us while we build a custom silent computer for a given purpose, whether that purpose be general use, a media PC or a gaming rig.

This is our first build guide — the Fall 2010 Silent Home Server Build Guide.

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