Quiet PC Streacom FC5-Z68 Fanless Media PC review

The more spacious chassis gives further flexibility, too. The motherboard has two vacant DIMM sockets, and there’s a single PCI Express x16 socket free, although the only way you’ll fit a graphics card in is via a riser, and even then it will have to be a small card. That’s exactly how the TV tuner is installed, which means it stretches over several other motherboard slots. On the rear there’s a similar port selection to the Tranquil, with eSATA, two USB 3 ports and HDMI and DVI outputs, along with additional DisplayPort, D-SUB and USB ports.

It’s also customisable at purchase, with another 8GB of RAM only costing £34. Upgrading the 64GB SSD to 128GB will set you back £67, a 240GB OCZ drive is £192, and a mammoth 512GB Crucial SSD is an extra £513. Swapping out the 2TB Samsung hard disk for a 1TB drive saves £42.

Quiet PC offers a 2.6GHz Pentium G620 processor for £66 cheaper, but we’d advise against it – although it’s relatively new, there’s no Hyper-Threading, and it has a weaker graphics chip than the Core i3 in this system. For longevity, we wouldn’t recommend anything less than a Core i3 these days anyway.

You can also get rid of the TV tuner or remote control, and you might want to look at cutting at least a few components when you see the price. At £1,526, the Quiet PC is almost twice as expensive as the £779 Tranquil. True, it offers Blu-ray, a separate hard disk and a TV tuner, but you can add all of these things to the Tranquil if you need them, either internally or via USB.

Even reducing its specification to the Tranquil’s level gives a £1,121 price, and considering its larger size and lower reliance on clever miniaturisation, that’s far too much. It’s a nice PC, and it has a degree of flexibility, but if you’re after a passively cooled media machine, buy the Tranquil and pocket the extra cash.