Recent content by negaprion

For a mini ITX case, mini-box's M350 is a popular choice. It's not the prettiest case but it's cheap at $39.95 shipped and can accommodate a Scythe Kozuti heatsink. For the motherboard I would go with Intel's DQ77KB for a few reasons. Its biggest advantage is that it is one of the...

Wow kappa7, those are some great power consumption figures! I've been getting around 11 watts with a ULV Core2Duo (U7700) based laptop I've been using as a makeshift file server and your build has two more cores, much more RAM, and a DVD drive as well. Now I'm torn whether to make a similar...

Yeah there's plenty of AVerMedia TV tuners available for mini PCIe slots and they go for pretty cheap off eBay. The only problem is that they use a u.fl/IPX connector and tracking down an u.fl/IPX to F connector cable is somewhat difficult. I found a Chinese company that will build one to custom...

Mini-Box's M350 is the archetype of the minimal mini-ITX case: Hard to beat for $39.95 shipped. A Scythe Kozuti pairs nicely with it:

Yeah, there are a lot of variables that you can't control that will determine if powerline adapters will work for you or not. I'd buy a set from a place with a good return policy to see if it works acceptably for streaming in your place. Another idea for a lot of local storage in a small...

How about using powerline ethernet adapters so that you can access a NAS tucked somewhere out of the way? If you check various deal sites they seem to be on sale every so often for about $40-$50.

Very cool build. From your first post, it sounds like you will be using an external power brick. How are you planning on powering the drives?

Thanks for the information! If you do end up buying a DH77DF, I'd be interested in seeing the power consumption figures you get.

This thread over on a German computer forum is a good read for real world power consumption measurements. Looking at the first table, it shows the total system power draw of various video cards using an i7 2600K running at 4.5 ghz as a test base. The majority of the cards tested kept the total...

ATX power supplies just don't make sense to use in small form factor systems where power requirements are much lower and space is at a premium. TFX supplies are ~$30 at Newegg. Wouldn't you pay that much to have a smaller enclosure?

Fractal should have skipped the ATX power supply in favor of a TFX supply like this recently reviewed Seasonic. Mount it lengthwise along the front of the case and there would be plenty of room to have a 120 mm front fan. A TFX power supply would allow the depth of the case to be shortened as...

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, the problem with that test is that he didn't use the same power supply for each motherboard. It's not possible to draw a conclusion that one board is more efficient than another when you add another variable to testing. What's frustrating is that he could have...

Lian Li seems to be dropping the ball lately. I have to point out the stupidity of using solid aluminum mounts on their latest cases like the following: These small form factor cases are likely going to be sitting on a desk, not on the floor. For desk use you want a mount that isn't going to...

If power consumption is a consideration, why not go with the DQ77KB or DH61AG? They both have a DC jack on the backplane so that you can use an external 19V power supply. I believe the power supplies Dell use for their laptops are directly compatible.

I found this post from a Fractal representative that said that it isn't possible due to the power supply. Here's a rough Google translation of it: