The simplest answer is ASUS motherboards. The boards are designed to be stable when overclocking so they are super stable at normal speeds and they have terrific chipset cooling, that means they have a longer life. My last ASUS board lasted 10 years of non-stop 14 hour day use.
I like Antec cases, they are quiet and sensibly designed.
Crucial ram works for me, never had a problem in any of my computers in over 20 years. I agree on the M.2 drive, I use Crucial for that too. Computer boots in a heartbeat and system response is almost instantaneous.
Did my research and the Scythe Faze Flex 120mm case fan is the quietest and not very expensive. Use the Noctua NA-SAV2 fan mounts.
The stock Intel processor fan is just fine (as long as you don't overclock), it is quiet. I have a computer with an Intel i7-11700 processor at my feet and can barely hear it, the house AC is louder.
Now selections gets complicated real quick:
Not all motherboards have M.2 slot
Not all motherboards have VGA or DVI-D ports for a monitor
B460 and H410 chipsets are not supported by 11th Gen Intel processors
Intel i7-11700 has integrated graphics that will do 4K @ 60 Hz, comes with a fan, 65 watts, perfect for fanless cases
Intel i7-11700K
does not have graphics,
no fan included, unclocked, designed for overclocking, 125 watts,
cannot be used in a fanless case
Look for motherboards with PCIe 4.0.
PCIe x4 mode is for M.2 slot and only supported by 11th Gen and later processors, which is why I got a 11700 processor.
Are you planning to use computer as a music server? A low jitter power supply should be considered. The Streacom ZF240 power supply ($175) has 50 mV ripple on the 5 volt line and 100 mV on the 12v line.
I listed more options in my fanless music server build thread:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=177495.msg1867916#msg1867916In my music server I used an Intel Core i7-9700 Desktop Processor 8 Cores up to 4.7 GHz LGA1151 300 Series 65W. Didn't need the speed of an M.2 (I have one in my bigger main computer) but since I generally keep computers for 10 years I was thinking of a little future proofing, who knows what software will be available in the future. Plus if I want to play around with HQ Player I have the horsepower.
Next up: Windows 11.
Unless you are planning to move to the Apple operating system or Linux in 3 years then Windows 11 is in your future. Why?
Windows 10 End Of Life is Oct. 14, 2025, that means
no more security updates. Windows 10 will be 10 years old by then, plenty of time for hackers to find security holes and wait for the fools who don't update to 11.
If you are running Windows 10 now you can build a completely new computer and install either the Windows 10 or 11 ISO from a thumbdrive and the install will be legal because your Microsoft license is now registered with your Microsoft Account instead of the hardware as it previously was. You got to do a few thing first though, it's not automatic. I've posted how-to a few times here on AC and there are instructions all over the web.
