Aah nice, they look like the old Shuttle cases I used to buy back in the day.
I'm not that concerned about the price, I just want small and as quiet as possible.
You recommended AMD for my PC, would you also recommend it for HTPC's as well or should I look at Intel?
Whether AMD or Intel always depends. Here in the states it's almost always cheaper to buy a prebuilt mini PC, or cheapest of all, a refuribished old business desktop, to use as an HTPC. Most who build themselves, usually for the advantage of being able to pick the case design/size, and with the goals you've named, so that it will be as quiet as possible, still try to keep costs down. HTPC tasks aren't very demanding, and so in the past these builders have gravitated towards i3's or even Pentiums on the Intel side, or whatever APU AMD was offering on their side. And buying a few generations back is fine.
Ultimately, the lowest TDP, and the best performance-per-watt, become much more desirable for HTPC processors. If cost isn't the primary criterion, then this only becomes even more of a priority. Because you're working with much less space where heat can build, and when heat builds, the fans kick up, and when that happens, you get more noise.
Intel actually makes processors with this specific goal in mind for the desktop space. They are the "T" processors (ex. i7-14700T). They tend to come at a stiff premium largely because not many are made. I don't even see any available in the AUS markets.
However, those T processors are really only something that builders tend to chase if they are trying to build a really powerful gaming comp in a
very small form factor case. One accepts you will pay a huge premium for that goal. Because the 4600G, 5600G, or that 12th gen i3-12100 are all processors that produce a small amount of heat, respectively, compared to the most powerful processors out there. And as I said, they are already overkill for media playback.
That's why I recommended the 4600G. It does what you want. You could get the 5600G, or even the much newer 8600G/8700G. But even the 4600G is overkill. And any processor above the i3-12100 on the Intel side won't add much. Because the 12100 already has the Intel UHD 730 for the integrated graphics. Even the 14th gen i3's still use that. The i5-12500 kicks it up to the Intel UHD 770, but again, the UHD 730 is already more than enough. And the CPU performance is more than enough. So you just end up spending more money to add more heat.
