I have also seen this behaviour with a pico 150. It will not allow my tuner to receive one of the channel groups. All tune fine with normal PSU.

The Luxa2 LM100 mini does just about everything you want, bar the card reader. A bit pricy, but nice looking. Not sure about noise, or the ability to cool a GTS250, but I wouldn't really think any miniITX case could do that properly.

Yeah, since posting this, I have got a few more HDD's and I am now using the 4 in 3 that came with the case as well as another 2 4 in 3's that I purchased. The one that came with the case is pretty good, I swapped the rubber plugs over for some antec ones I had lying around. The new 4 in 3's I bough...

I wanted a media center PC for the bedroom, so I could watch all my stored video's, DVD's, TV series and recorded TV. All my media is stored on my WHS, so I planned a small, quiet extender type device. I intially had planned on a media center extender, but limited formats and high prices meant I cou...

Any PSU with a 120mm (or 140mm) fan for intake will work in this arrangement. The design of this case is such that the NT06 cooler sits just below where the PSU fan is. Doesn't matter what PSU you use, as long as it is not an inline design (ie 80mm fan opposite the exhaust vent).

From what I have seen, the PWM fan with the shuriken doesn't play nice with that mobo. I have one, and it can sometimes go flaky and stop. I now have the fan connected to a molex instead and it is fine, but no temp controls that way. For a 2480 you can't go past a mini ninja, maybe not passive with ...

In the notification area of the taskbar on the bottom right, there should be an icon for your HD sound controller. Mine is realtek, but your soundmax should be similar. Double clicking on this should allow you to change between default outputs and manage your speaker config. Also, in media center th...

Yeah, the mini comes with fan clips for 80 and 92mm, but I didn't have a 92 lying around, only 80mm.

Hard-mounting 7 hard drives would make a lot of noise. I can handle a bit of fan noise, but the irregular buzz of hard drives makes me nuts. Easy as to suspend drives in 5.25 bays. The CPU HSF is a Mini Ninja, so the 120mm won't fit, but the 80mm runs at about 1000rpm off the Fanmate, so doesn't mak...

This is my Windows Home Server rig. I think it is now in pretty much a finished condition. Still room for a couple more HDD's when the need arises though. Components are: Coolermaster Centurion 590 case Corsair HX620 Gigabyte GA G31M-S2L Intel E7200 with Ninja Mini 2x1GB Kingston RAM SiI 3114 SATA c...

From all I have read, the onboard Nvidia 9400 on that motherboard should be more than capable for what you want. On the other hand, if you want to buy a dedicated graphics card, you probably should go with something like a basic ATX mobo that will give you more connectivity options and more space to...

I have the same case, and am just about to replace the PSU with a picoPSU (or more likely a pw-200-m). The plan is to then move the intake fan to the PSU intake hole, giveing the left side of my board, and my tuner cards some much needed airflow. I have found that in that case, there is very little ...

I am wondering about clearance from the motherboard with the 120mm fan on the side. I am thinking of pulling out the PSU, using a picoPSU and a DG45FC with something like a scythe shuriken on it. The only thing is, I think that a shuriken will overhang the motherboard by 2-3mm, so if the motherboard...

Thanks guys, this is great stuff. I will keep you all posted on my progress.

Thanks mate, thats not a bad idea. Does the 200-V need any special adapters to work with the 24plug mobo? I assume I would need to solder the 4 pin 12v plug on?

Definately something to think about.

Is there a difference between the 200-v and the 200-m asides from the shape?

I just want to get my HTPC perfect. My problem at the moment is that I need a new motherboard. I have a G35 board, which won't play all Bluray discs properly without skipping, so I want to upgrade to a Nvidia 9000 series mobo. Great. But.... these are new, there are not many around, and none that ha...

Feet are removable, front ones are held in by a single screw, back ones are stuck on with glue, but there are quite a few screws sticking out underneath, so you would need something underneath to stabilise it. More importantly, there are quite a few intake vents underneath, which suck air into the H...

I have a 590 that I use for my file server, and I have all my hard drives suspended in there. what I have done is remove all the toolless 5 1/4" drive bay locks and thread some 1" elastic in the holes. Make a loop through the drive bay, then cross it around the drive to make a loop around the drive....

Don't know about that model but they do have a new WD10EVCS model, that they call their "AV" drive, aimed at 24-7 use in AV equipment like set top boxes etc. This drive is a retail drive, so maybe the "V" in this one stands for video or something?

PSU is wider than the 5 1/4 inch drive cage. No go that way. I have a Sonata III, which I think is pretty much the same inside as the II, and the only way the PSU is coming out is by taking out the mobo.

The fan was still working. It wasn't really a matter of not working, waiting for a while, then working again. It was more of a random working or not working situation. Sometimes it would work fine for a day or so, no matter how often the PC was turned off and on, and others it would not turn on at a...

I checked out all the capacitors on the motherboard and in the PSU, and couldn't see anything visually wrong with them. They do make a mess inside the Earthwatts PSU's with the glue they use though. Got sick of this happening, and still figured it was probably the PSU, so I decided I was worth a new...

It really depends on what you are intending to use it for. You say you are not a gamer, and if you don't do anything that is too CPU intensive that would be fine. I run my system (E6750 with ninja - no fan, 8600GT with accelero S2, 320GB 2.5" HDD, Corsair HX520, Sonata III) using only a Nexus at 800...

I am pretty sure the outlet is fine, other stuff plugged in to it does not go out at the same time as the PC. I did have a quick look at the board, but I will have a close look, and also have a look inside the PSU. It is an Antec PSU, only about 6-8 months old. I didn't know about the problems with ...

Hi guys, thanks for the quick response. It is not an overheating or overload issue. Upstairs is the same temp as downstairs, around about 20 degrees C. CPU temp idles at low 30's, and maxes at high 40's. GPU idles at low 40's and maxes high 50's. Exhaust air from PSU and rear case fan are both cool....

First of all, system specs: Asus P5K, E6750, Ninja, 2GB corsair 6400, 8600GT, AC S2, 320GB Seagate, 500GB WD, Antec Sonata III with 500W Earthwatts. System has been running for only 6 months. About 2 weeks ago I moved the PC into a new room upstairs, and after setting it up, it started randomly shut...

I stuffed two HDD's into one of the bays with soft packing foam in the bay in a "W" shape. This means that the drives are effectively isolated from the case, and you can fit two per bay. I soft mounted the stock fans, and got a passive GPU. Everything else is as stock, and it is easy quiet enough fo...

I have a pretty similar system to what you are proposing. Sonata III, E6750, Ninja, P5K, 2HDD, Optical, 8600GT with Accelero S2. It is pretty quiet all around. I have changed the fans. I have a Nexus exhaust, a Nexus intake to give a bit of air over the VGA, although I don't think I really need this...

This is good. I have the same problem you do, my TV stand is too narrow, and I don't get good ventilation through the sides. I have about 8mm or so on either side of the case. At the moment I am running both side fans into the case instead of out, and I have strapped an 80mm exhaust onto the back ve...

Yeah, the lapping of the HS doesn't tend to give that big a change, usually 1-2 degrees. In general, most HS manufacturers tend to make the bases slightly convex, beacause the CPU is slightly concave. So when you lap the HS, the CPU is still concave, so the contact is often not much better. If you l...