The MiniQube is impressively diminutive but offers the advantage of being able to accommodate 64GB memory, up to two drives and large PCI Express cards, as well as being equally attractive!

Good things come in small packages

The MiniQube offers an unbeatable blend of style and substance. It can accommodate full-size PCI Express cards and up to two drives. It uses a conventional fully-featured mini-ITX motherboard. And because we offer the latest power-frugal processors, it is cooled without any fans. The power supply is a fully integrated unit so there are no black “bricks” to have lying around behind the PC. We offer an affordable extremely quiet fanned PSU as well a fully fanless power supply for customer looking for total silence 100% of the time.

Intel 10th Gen and 11th Gen differences

The 500 series motherboard available with this system is compatible with both the 10th gen and 11th gen Intel processors, which is good as it gives flexibility and choice. The down-side to this is that the motherboard limits its features if a 10th gen processor is installed. We have therefore produced the table below to give you an idea of the what those differences are. This will hopefully allow you to gauge the best suitable processor for your needs. Do you go for the feature rich 11th gen, or opt for a 10th gen with limitations, but more attractive from a price point of view.

PCIe Version - As you can see from the table above the PCIe port, which is generally used for a graphics card, changes from PCIe 4.0 to 3.0 if a 10th Gen CPU is installed. In regards to performance of the graphics card and PCIe 3.0, you will not notice any major difference in frame rates running at PCIe 3.0 speeds.

M.2 PCIe 4.0 port - A M.2 drive offers extremely fast transfer rates and this is bolstered by PCIe 4.0, which gives speeds up to 64Gb/s (8000MB/s), compared PCIe 3.0 which is 32Gb/s (4000MB/s). This means using an 11th Gen processor along with a Samsung 980 Pro will allow you to achieve the maximum transfer speeds the drive can achieve. Please also note that the PCIe 4.0 M.2 port will be disabled if a 10th Gen CPU is installed. If you do opt for a 10th Gen CPU you will still be able to populate the other M.2 ports on the motherboard but the transfer speed is 32Gp/s, so the Samsung 970 EVO Plus or a slower drive is recommended.

HDMI Version - This is self explanatory, an 11th Gen CPU supports HDMI 2.0 which provides resolutions up to 4096 x 2304 @ 60Hz. A 10th Gen processor supports HDMI 1.4 which provides resolutions up to 4096 x 2304 @ 30Hz. The DisplayPort resolution is not affect by the CPU. Therefore if you 100% need a 60Hz 4K resolution from the motherboard’s HDMI port then the best choice would be an 11th Gen CPU.

Choosing the correct CPU cooler

As mentioned above, this system can be configured with either Nofan’s 80-EH IcePipe or Noctua’s NH-P1 CPU cooler. It is important to note that the Nofan cooler is not compatible with any K-suffix (over 65W TDP) processors, they just output too much heat. Therefore if you would like to configure the system with a K-suffix processor then the Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU cooler must be selected. The table below shows which CPU cooler is recommended for different TDPs.

Nofan 80-EH, Noctua NH-P1 CPU Coolers

Motherboard Features and Options

This particular computer utilises either the B560 or the Z590 series chipset, so expect the improved connectivity, like USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 for USB speeds up to 20Gbps. The 500 series chipsets also features PCIe 4.0, M.2 connectors, premium audio, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs and support for up to 64GB RAM. Below are images of each motherboard available in this system with a table that shows some of the specification each motherboard offers.

ASUS B560 motherboard

ASRock Z590 motherboard

ASUS B560 rear motherboards ports

ASRock Z590 rear motherboards ports

Storage considerations

When specifying your new PC’s storage options using our system configurator below, you will be offered a choice of drives which vary by price and capacity. There are two primary types of storage. A conventional hard disk drive (HDD) offers huge storage capacity for a low price, but it won’t be especially fast and it will generate a certain amount of running noise since it contains a constantly-rotating spindle. A solid state (SSD) or a M2 drive on the other hand, offer tremendous speed and absolutely silent operation, but they cost more than an HDD for any given capacity.

So if you need a lot of storage space (for videos or large quantities of digital photos for example), then we would recommend an HDD. On the other hand, if you prefer silence and speed (especially boot-up speed), then an SSD or M2 drive would be a better choice. Of course you can have more than one drive, so you could have the best of both worlds by choosing one of each! We recommend that customers chose an SSD or M2 drive as a boot drive that contains the operating system and important programs and a conventional HDD to store other data, but remember that if you intend to have a totally silent PC you might want to forgo the HDDs all together as they will make some noise due to their moving parts.

Clean Build™ Promise

The price of many pre-built PCs these days is often supported by cash kickbacks from software companies who pay hardware manufacturers to pre-install limited or trial versions of their software and then hope that the customer pays to upgrade to the full version. The downside to this approach is that the new PC comes pre-loaded with a lot of “junkware” which bloats the operating system and can cause severe performance degradation.

Here at Quiet PC we believe that customers have every right to expect the best possible performance from a brand new PC, so every system we build comes with our Clean Build™ promise. We install the operating system (if you order one), motherboard drivers, OS updates and Windows Security - that’s it. You won’t be pestered by pop-ups and nag screens and you can get on with using your new PC immediately without having to uninstall lots of junkware first. Your new machine will boot in super-quick time and will stay running quickly for many months and years to come.

Free hardware support and fully inclusive warranty

We offer free hardware technical support for as long as you own the machine. This support covers any hardware query or problem, including advice on maintenance and upgrades. We regret we can’t offer software support or training so we would recommend contacting the software vendor in this instance.

Our hardware warranty runs for at least two years and is “collect and return” meaning that you don’t need to worry about getting the machine back to us - we will instruct our courier to collect it from you on a day of your choosing, then after we have checked and repaired it we will send it back to you by express courier at our expense. In addition, unlike many other PC suppliers, we have an “open-case” policy which means you are free to open the machine and perform your own minor modifications or upgrades without worrying that your warranty might be affected.

PLEASE NOTE: At present, not all Intel 10th Gen CPUs are currently available to us. We will add more as and when we receive stock.