If you don't want to spend more money than necessary, any i5 on facebook marketplace, craigslist or what-have-you will totally suit your needs. Can probably get an awesome deal if you find one with a broken screen or something. i5 processors operate with passive cooling but can toggle fans on and off to optimize cooling for power efficiency (aka fan noise). If noise reduction is important to you, I'd stay away from anything Intel beyond the I series. Intel processors are way louder than AMD, which are kings in terms of noise reduction/power efficiency.
You can go cheaper than 275, and I would do Amazon and never ever Ebay which is obviously risky and slow. This info is nearly a decade out of date. I have owned some of each, currently on an aircooled i7 12700 and its perfectly quiet and still shreds. In fact, my fx8370 ran hotter and anything beyond that, in that line of AMD CPUs, ran so hot, that it actually required watercooling. Says so in the specs. Also, any manufacturer can use any fan they wish, so I don't see how you said AMD are kings of noise reduction. They buy 3rd party coolers. This is all coming from a former AMD enthusiast because of the lower prices.
Don't care to argue but I'll just clarify: its not about the fan, its about the architecture of the chip. Intel chips consume more power. By using more power you get more heat, and with more heat you need more cooling. Intel chips offer slightly more performance on the high end and that's just how the chips are designed. The difference in noise reduction is present even when both processors are idle, whereas the benefit of having slightly greater performance at the very highest of cpu strain is negligent - and even then, can AMD chips can mitigate that by overclocking (But that's another conversation ). I'm not an AMD or INTEL fan. I don't give a crap. I'm just someone who understands the nature of the chipsets as i work in the industry. GL OP!
I just spent the extra money to get quality fans on my desktop. I never ever hear its fans running. Laptops always sound like jets, so noisy. Desktops are where its at
That's the issue of this price point: buy used and not know what kinda shape the machine is in, or buy new and not know what spyware/cruft will be loaded on to the machine. Also: amusing that it's 2024 and there is still sh*ttalk about different processor manufacturers. <lulz> Thanks for the topic OP, the recent bugs/whatever with full screen mode/alt-tabbing have really made me consider a 2nd machine for the times I 2box.
That's some very weird "advice". Processors don't make noise, fans do. You can make almost any system whisper quiet by dropping the power budget and using the right cooling solution. You can easily turn off Turbo on Intel CPU in the bios and make any CPU fan run whisper quiet at a very low RPM. This is also useful for laptops where Turbo often uses a disproportionate amount of battery for often little gain. Intel also has low power T series CPU that use only 35 watt and don't even need active cooling and can simply use a heatsink without fan. They give you 70-80% of the performance of a regular CPU but at a minuscule power budget. You can also cool a regular 65W i5 (like an i5 11400/12400/13400) with a passive solution like a Noctua NH-P1.
I appreciate all the great advice here! I have a fully passive intel PC already with a big Noctua cooler. I've built more than a few PCs, and they have all been nice, but they are big and expensive, or at least much bigger than EverQuest needs.
I bought one of these in 2022 and it's adequate for EQ. Right now I'm getting some stutters due to the latest round of 'bug fixing' by DP. FYI I play with spell effects only for my group activated, and PC names turned off. This isn't available anymore but it gives you an idea of what stats you need minimum. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09DCJ457F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
As someone who buys and sells on ebay regularly your information is simply wrong. To be clear nothing wrong with buying on Amazon, either. At this price point it's less risky to buy used and get far more for your money. He specifically asked for a quiet mini PC that runs EQ. That's what I recommended.
Made a mistake and bought laptops for the kids recently. Worst...mistake...ever. But hey! I got the premium support package! /facepalm
I have never ran EQ on such a PC as the OP asked about. Seems interesting but I wouldn't want to risk wasting the money on it. Would be great if someone had such a PC did a review on it. Unless on a tight budget, I would look at building with the mITX form factor if you want a small PC. I have a 2015 macbook pro. It works at a somewhat tolerable performance with a single instance of EQ but really slows down if I try to load 4 accounts even just standing still. EQ is very processor dependent. You can make a pretty small mITX if you don't include a graphics card. However, It's nice to have a dedicated graphics card. You don't need anything fancy. Any graphics card just gets the extra load/heat away from the CPU.
I honestly don't understand these huge towers anymore. Always go smaller imho. These computer desktops really need to be smaller as we evolve. I now go for laptops... but I agree, IF I am going to build, it is going for small form factor.. pick your cooler and gpu and go for the smallest form factor you can get. Micro or Mini ITX all the way. Also, I love water cooling. GPU CPU. Ebay has great results on customer service.
For an unrelated use case, I bought a used Dell Wyse 5060 thin client computer on Ebay for $25. I got curious, so I threw in a slightly larger SSD I had laying around and loaded up Windows 10 and EQ on it. And it ran... fine. I turned off spell effects and didn't try to raid on it, but I could run around zones and kill stuff on it just fine. I'm not saying you should go out and get a thin client to press it into service as a gaming system. I guess the point is, EQ runs on a potato. You don't need to spend a ton of money on a suped up mini pc. ANY mini pc made in the last like 10 years will run it fine.
The better question would be does anyone know of a new computer in the last 20 years that can't run EQ?
Yes. New minimum specs require that the video device can render DX11. You can NOT play EQ official servers without DX11 now. But, point taken, there are many, many computers over the last 14 years or so that CAN play EQ.
