Quiet PC Streacom FC5-Z68 Fanless Media PC review

£1526
Price when reviewed

We don’t often have totally silent PCs turning up in the PC Pro Labs, but we’ve now had two in short order. Tranquil PC’s impressive MMC-12 is this month followed by up the Quiet PC Streacom FC5-Z68 – another PC that focuses on offering a media experience without the noise usually associated with a Windows PC.

The Streacom chassis is bigger than the Tranquil – 450mm wide rather than 392mm, and 71mm tall instead of 40mm – but it’s been designed along similar lines. The smart, brushed aluminium black or silver chassis is as minimal as it gets: the front is tarnished only by a power button, hard disk light and a slot-loading optical drive. Each side edge is made up of a row of metal fins, with the right-hand row used to dissipate heat from the CPU inside.

It might look like it belongs in a hi-fi stack, but remove the roof and you’ll find a fully featured PC inside. Screwed into the base is a Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 motherboard, and its LGA 1155 socket has an Intel 3.3GHz Core i3-2125 processor plugged in, complete with the most powerful integrated HD Graphics 3000 core.

Quiet PC Streacom FC5-Z68 Fanless Media PC

That’s an advantage it holds over the Tranquil, which had a low-power Core i3 with a lesser graphics chip. Thus, the Quiet PC scored 0.76 in our benchmarks, compared to the Tranquil’s 0.62, and it easily played back 1080p footage from a local disk as well as top-quality streams from YouTube HD and BBC iPlayer. An average of 38fps in our Low quality, 1366 x 768 Crysis test won’t set the gaming world alight, but it’s enough for light entertainment.

As you’d expect with those large fins, the Quiet PC kept its components cool despite the absence of fans. Its processor peaked at a very healthy 64°C – a full 13°C cooler than the Tranquil – and we measured the top panel of the chassis at 41°C, compared to the Tranquil’s 52°C. Both systems clearly have some headroom when it comes to cooling, but the one area where the Quiet PC is beaten is in power consumption: its 117W peak draw is much higher than the miniaturised Tranquil’s 44W.

Given the space left inside, Quiet PC has sensibly included a BlackGold BGT3650 DVB-T/T2 TV tuner. There’s also 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and you get both a 64GB Crucial SSD and a 2TB mechanical hard disk, which puts it way ahead of the Tranquil for storage. ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 5 is included for Blu-ray playback, and although you get Media Center as part of Windows 7, the system doesn’t boot straight into its front-end in the same way as the Tranquil.

Warranty

Warranty2 yr return to base

Basic specifications

Total hard disk capacity2,064GB
RAM capacity8.00GB

Processor

CPU familyIntel Core i3
CPU nominal frequency3.30GHz
Processor socketLGA 1155
HSF (heatsink-fan)Streacom proprietary passive

Motherboard

MotherboardGigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3
Motherboard chipsetIntel Z68
Conventional PCI slots free0
Conventional PCI slots total1
PCI-E x16 slots free1
PCI-E x16 slots total3
PCI-E x1 slots free0
PCI-E x1 slots total1
Internal SATA connectors4
Wired adapter speed1,000Mbits/sec

Memory

Memory typeDDR3
Memory sockets free2
Memory sockets total4

Graphics card

Graphics cardIntel HD Graphics 3000
Multiple SLI/CrossFire cards?no
3D performance settingLow
Graphics chipsetIntel HD Graphics 3000
DVI-I outputs1
HDMI outputs1
VGA (D-SUB) outputs1
DisplayPort outputs1
Number of graphics cards1

Hard disk

Hard diskCrucial M4 SSD
Capacity64GB
Hard disk usable capacity58GB
Internal disk interfaceSATA/600
Hard disk 2 make and modelSamsung Spinpoint F4
Hard disk 2 nominal capacity2,000GB
Hard disk 2 formatted capacity1,862
Hard disk 2 spindle speed7,200RPM
Hard disk 2 cache size64MB

Drives

Optical driveSony Optiarc BC-5600S
Optical disc technologyBlu-ray reader/DVD writer combo

Additional Peripherals

Sound cardRealtek HD Audio

Case

ChassisStreacom FC5OD
Case formatSmall form-factor
Dimensions450 x 332 x 71mm (WDH)

Power supply

Power supply rating150W

Free drive bays

Free front panel 5.25in bays0

Rear ports

USB ports (downstream)4
eSATA ports1
PS/2 mouse portyes
Electrical S/PDIF audio ports0
Optical S/PDIF audio output ports1
Modemno
3.5mm audio jacks6

Front ports

Front panel memory card readerno

Operating system and software

OS familyWindows 7
Software suppliedArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 5

Noise and power

Idle power consumption42W
Peak power consumption117W

Performance tests

3D performance (crysis) low settings38fps
3D performance settingLow
Overall Real World Benchmark score0.76
Responsiveness score0.88
Media score0.78
Multitasking score0.63

Disclaimer: Some pages on this site may include an affiliate link. This does not effect our editorial in any way.

Todays Highlights
How to See Google Search History
how to download photos from google photos