Hi all!
I'd like to bulid a box for general HTPC usage, highest priority is to make it quiet as the wife won't have a noisy comp in the livingroom. Sadly it also have to be sorta cheapo since having kids turned out to be quite expensive!?
I'm a newbie to silent PC's but I've been reading a bit in this forum and I think I know what I want/need to do. A Celeron 2,4 GHz or Sempron 2200+, running at around 1 GHz should be enough computing power to do all that I need and more. From what I have learned the schyte HeatlaneZen or the Thermalright XP-120 should be able to cope with this? I will use a 300W PSU with 120 mm bottom mounted fan to draw air over/through the cpu cooler.
For graphics I will use a passivly cooled Matrox G400 Max
Any thoughts on this? Parts recommendations? Or am I just horribly wrong and this sucker would burn right away?
Thanks for all and any help!
Single fan underclocked HTPC - need comments
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
If you can afford an XP-M, ti's much more flexible with underclocking as it has an unlocked multiplier. It means you can still have a high FSB while you lower the CPU speed.
Make sure you get a Motherboard with a range of voltage settings etc (I can personally recommend the DFI Infinity) so you can undervolt.
What PSU?
Make sure you get a Motherboard with a range of voltage settings etc (I can personally recommend the DFI Infinity) so you can undervolt.
What PSU?
Go with Athlon XP-M. They can be had for cheaply and can be undervolted easily.
A thermalright XP-120 is overkill for your planned system. It's not clear if you want to go completely fanless or not, but I can tell you that you can get a fan-based cooling system to be quieter than a hard drive. The Zalman 7000-AlCu is highly recommended for this.
And speaking of which you should pay attention to the hard drive you plan on using in your HTPC. This can easily be the noisiest part of your system
On the HTPC side, though I commend you for wanting to use a Matrox G400, and I don't know absolutely, I believe that it won't directly display to a TV. In other words, when you boot up, you won't see the Bios screen or the boot-up process on the TV.
A thermalright XP-120 is overkill for your planned system. It's not clear if you want to go completely fanless or not, but I can tell you that you can get a fan-based cooling system to be quieter than a hard drive. The Zalman 7000-AlCu is highly recommended for this.
And speaking of which you should pay attention to the hard drive you plan on using in your HTPC. This can easily be the noisiest part of your system
On the HTPC side, though I commend you for wanting to use a Matrox G400, and I don't know absolutely, I believe that it won't directly display to a TV. In other words, when you boot up, you won't see the Bios screen or the boot-up process on the TV.
Thanks for your input guys!
Seems XP-M is only 10 -15 bucks more than the celerons and semprons I have been looking at. Will definatly go with that. Had no idea that they were socket A, makes life much easier
I was planning to use a seasonic super tornado or silencer 300 or 350 watts.
I was hoping to be able to build with passive CPU cooling, that's why I went for the biggie heatsinks.
Yes, the G400 does not show bios on the screen but I was planning to use linux with DirectFB so it wold start to show on screen almost as soon as bios is finished and bootup messages will be seen. I am also planning on building a nice LCD interface to display various info, including boot messages if TV is not turned on (for using mp3 archive).
Seems XP-M is only 10 -15 bucks more than the celerons and semprons I have been looking at. Will definatly go with that. Had no idea that they were socket A, makes life much easier
I was planning to use a seasonic super tornado or silencer 300 or 350 watts.
I was hoping to be able to build with passive CPU cooling, that's why I went for the biggie heatsinks.
Yes, the G400 does not show bios on the screen but I was planning to use linux with DirectFB so it wold start to show on screen almost as soon as bios is finished and bootup messages will be seen. I am also planning on building a nice LCD interface to display various info, including boot messages if TV is not turned on (for using mp3 archive).