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Rate new build

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Ulrezaj

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 29, 2004
Messages
65
I'm aiming to build a combo silent htpc/media server that'll be on 24/7. I chose the following parts based on power consumption and noise output. Does the build look reasonable? Any suggestions for improvement?

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e
<2GB of 1.8v ram by whoever's cheapest at the time>
2x WD Caviar GP 1TB
<random DVD writer>
Antec Fusion 430
Vista Home Premium

No tuner because I don't intend to do any recording.
 
I would get a sythe mini ninja cpu heatsink and try running it without the supplied fan. Also replace the 2 120mm sidefans that come with it, with noctua fans. Depending on your level of skill (not much needed) i would replace the power supply fan with something quieter.......make sure you run the drives with acoustic management turned on, then you will truly have as near silent as you can get.

Of course try running it with what you have first as you may well find its already silent enough for you.
 
Pretty much the exact same build I'm going to be doing except I'm going for a much cheaper case, less hard drive capacity and a blu ray drive instead.

Ulrezaj, so you can use the scythe mini ninja as a fanless cooling solution for the 4850e?
 
in the Antec fusion case and in the NSK2400 cases you can run the mini ninja fanless since the two side fans are 120mms blowing right on it. Depending on other cases you may be able to do the same.

So go with toytown's suggestions about silencing everything and you're good to go. Its much like my HTPC build except I went with a 5000+ BE since it was $80 and came with 2gb of g.skill ram for free. I also opted to use my desktop as a media server with shared folders and used a 2.5" hard drive as my OS drive to make it quieter and less heat and power.
 
Pretty much the exact same build I'm going to be doing except I'm going for a much cheaper case
Click to expand...

Dont try and skimp on the case unless it does everything you need already. The antec case mentioned above has different areas for the components and has all the right mountings for the harddrive to try and make them as silent as possible, without doing any of the small mods i mentioned above.

Theres nothing like having a kickass HTPC let down by it being too noisy. either through the fans or the way the drives are mounted.

Ulrezaj - I would add the 2 following components to the build
Sythe Mini Ninja heatsink
Vista Media Center Remote Control (If your using Vista Media Center)
 
Thanks for the feedback.
Yeah I forgot about the CPU heatsink, and the Scythe noise ninja seems like a good choice. I was indeed playing around with the idea of using just the case fans for cooling.

As for the remote, I've never used one before so I have no clue what they're capable of... Do they act as mice essentially? Or are they just more sophisticated, programmable versions of traditional remotes?
 
As for the remote, I've never used one before so I have no clue what they're capable of
Click to expand...

Depends on the software you are going to be using, but if your using Vista Media Center, then i really recommend that you get the VMC remote. It will completely replace the keyboard/mouse on the HTPC, otherwise your going to be stuck to using mouse to swap between your media.

I cant seriously see my HTPCs ever being used/accepted without a remote.
 
I'd go for the NSK2480. Its what I use and its great. Same thing as the Fusion except that it doesn't have a knob and the 380watt PSU is more than enough for a even a gaming rig.
 
Would I be running a serious sound risk if I went with that over, the Antec NSK2400
Click to expand...

Typically the crappy PSU's tend to have no thermal management and just run the fans at the highest speed, which can create a lot of noise, as they also tend to go with the cheaper fans.

Personally i would spend the extra on the case and get the NSK2480.
 
I would recommend this motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H

Basically the same board you chose but with some changes to fix issues with the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H. Such has adding a beefier heatsink to the NB chip, beefier power stage, and it adds Sideport memory which will give you a slight boost to the IGP graphics and reduce the amount of shared memory needed.

Note I just had a Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H blow its power stage transistors after 3 months of HTPC duty. Replaced it with the GA-MA78GPM-DS2H. The GA-MA78GPM-DS2H is only $20 more.
 
Good call on the DS2H, I'll definitely go for that instead. And thanks for the advice on the NSK2480 - I'll definitely choose that based on the cheaper fans likely being ran at high speed 24/7. Gotta love the [H].
 
One thing I forgot to mention for a difference between those 2 boards.

For some reason the S2H has DTS Connect and the DS2H has Dolby Digital Live. Those 2 techs basically do the same thing, not sure why they went to Dolby Digital Live for the DS2H. Not really a big deal either way unless you have a receiver that does not decode DTS, I think all receivers that decode DTS can also decode DD.
 
DTS is not Dolby, it was probably a licensing thing for Gigabyte to switch.

Thanks for mentioning they switched between the two versions.
 
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