Hi DaRuSsIaMaN, I second xan_user's post - what are you trying to cool here and what is it's TDP? I'm guessing that it will be quite low if it was supplied with or you are intending to use a 60mm heatsink. I recently had a lot of success improving the performance of a passive NT01-E heatsink by usin...

Hi aylai, Thanks for the info. power button on GD04 was stuck with goo when I received it. Had to take apart that part of the case to clean it out; couldn't even power on the computer I had the exact same thing. In fact, mine was permanently in the 'on' state so applying power would see the computer...

Hi micah161, I've recently built a combined mythfrontend/backend using an AMD 5050e (Dual 2.6) and an NVidia 6200LE Video card. I originally started with the 780g chip and the ATI drivers (both proprietary and open source) gave me no end of grief, hence the cheapo Nvidia card. The 5050e is able to h...

Hi all, All installed and working. :D As indiciated below, I installed a FanMate2 with 2 Cable Splitters . I stopped the fans completely, then with the fanmate at the slowest setting kept increasing the power until they started on their own. Then, to ensure they would start ok from cold, I started/s...

Hi teejay, hybrid2d4x4 and Riffer, Thank you very much for your responses and all your great advice. I did as advised by hybrid2d4x4 and found an old molex-molex connector and swapped round the 12v and 5v cables allowing all 3 fans to run at 5volt. As recommended by Riffer, I made sure to try them f...

Hi Riffer, NeilBlanchard and hybrid2d4x4, Thank you for all your replies. I'm also relieved to learn that slowing things down is the way to go, rather than replacing all three fans. In case you didn't know, the way the GD04 is set up is that each 120mm fan has a standard 3 pin fan connector (not PWM...

Hi, As documented here , I've recently bought a Silverstone GD04 and have been very pleased. However, I am starting to notice the noise generated by the 3x120mm fans that come as standard (described by Silverstone as 1200rpm, 20dBA). The noise isn't so much a mechanical whining sound, it's more of a...

Hi, I would be interested to learn more. As to my own experiences, I've now had chance to build up the GD04 and I'm pretty impressed. Pros - It has a nice finish. It's quite sleek and unassuming (no flashing screens/lights) - the 3x120mm fans are filtered (so the case should dust-up less often) and ...

Hi all, Having thought about it over the weekend, I've been brave and have placed an order for the GD04. I misread the specs when I posted last, in that it actually takes 2x3.5HDDs, not 1 as I had previously believed. I'm still not 100% sold on the looks as I do think the GD02 looks nicer, but the s...

Hi MikeC and JamieG, Thanks very much for your comments - those links you have suggested were really useful. I am quite tempted by the GD04 which had largely passed me by. At first, I wasn't sure on the styling, and I'm not sure whether it is plain or sleek. The idea of the 3 x 120mm slow fans sound...

Hi psiu, Thanks very much for your reply. The NZXT Duet does look quite a nice case, and it's just a shame that it's discontinued. I'm sure that your media center looks excellent in it. We (GF and I) spent a lot of time looking back through the Silverstone site and have developed quite a soft spot f...

Hi all, I have a media center that I built a little while back, and I'm now on the hunt for a decent case. It's an AMD 5050e with the stock CPU cooler, and the motherboard is of a Micro ATX Form Factor - 24.3cm x 24.3cm, although a fullsize ATX case could be an advantage as it increases future upgra...

Hi Remco_t, I'm not going to be able to help you with complex convection maths, but I do have one thought. When I was building a fileserver recently I wanted to go fanless. So, I explored all sorts of avenues, and either the build became more expensive, or I had to buy lesser components. I know you ...

Hi Teek5449, Does the motherboard need to be small? Would you consider a fullsize board if it were cheaper, or have you got your heart set on a small board? I'm no expert, but I believe some underclocked fullsize motherboard/CPU combos can give excellent results, and you wouldn't need to sacrifice t...

Hi audiojar,

Thanks.
I've been a bit rash and have ordered the bits.

Thanks for your help,

MG

Hi quicksilver, I've recently been building a similar system, mainly going for performance per £, but with low electricity usage and quietness being a plus. I've only ordered the bits last night, so it's too early to tell, but in case it helps take a look at http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/vie...

Hi Audiojar and PartEleven, Thanks for your responses. I've priced up a system below and would love any comments before I order. I had not considered the i5, but have since had a look and think it could be a winner. The chip is priced well, and all the reviews seem to put it ahead of the 755. The hi...

Hi Klusu, Thanks for your reply. As a result, I've done some reading around and have found that you are absolutely right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DVI_Connector_Types.svg shows the different types, and it needs to be capable of DVI-A for the little adapter I suggested to work. So, as I unde...

Hi, You aught to consider MythTV. Depends how technically savvy you are and how prepared you are to tinker. I knew nothing about media centers, but within a month or two part time I had a fully working MythTV installation. Occasionally I get the occasional glitch, but it's pretty good and FREE! Alte...

Hi again, What software do you intend to run on this machine? If it's Linux, my advice would be to avoid the ATI chips. I bought the 780g chasing after the power efficiency, but the Linux drivers (open source or proprietary) were just not there and resulted in an unstable system. I ended up buying N...

Hi all, I'm building a new system (combining 2 into 1) and so will have two LCD monitors which I'd like to use at the same time - dual head. I've been trying to find a video card that will support two monitors at once, however as soon as I filter by "dual" in ebuyer - every single card has a fan on ...

Hi roystarman and dhanson865, Thank you both for your replies. Roystarman - you are right. I was taking a too narrow approach by just looking at the cost of the chips. Dhanson865 - Thank you for your recommendation. I have considered tricore chips, however discounted them as I read that software wri...

Hi Tsh, Apologies - just spotted this reply. In the end I gave up with the ATI - just couldn't get it working reliably. I went for the cheapest NVidia card I could find (around £20) and it's been like a totally different machine - stable for a few months now. Thanks once again, and I hope your buil...

Hi, Take a look at: http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=53664 . I'm in the UK and have recently used these bits to build a media center that I was very happy with. I have 3 freeview tuners. I've been able to record 3 streams, run a job to check for adverts, and be playing back a pro...

Hi all, Slightly off topic. I'm wanting to build a 'power pc' which I will use for software development and maybe the odd bit of media (not gaming). - I'm thinking Quad core - This machine will not be on 24/7, but will likely clock up quite a few hours, so power usage is important - and it helps to ...

Hi, I don't really know a lot about GPU's etc, but I wonder if it is a simple heat issue. I read that you have "enough cooling", but it was this sentence that stuck out at me - "The fan runs 100% all the time and the card can’t control the speed but that was easily overcome". Perhaps worth reverti...

Hi Jenspm, I can't comment so much on the hardware side of things as these guys can, but I can tell you that I recently built a HTPC from a 780g and 5050e combo. To keep costs down, I went the Linux route and put on MythTV - http://www.mythtv.org/ . I have personally found the MythTV software to be ...

Hi Zimer, You going with the stock CPU cooler / fan? If so, that will probably be the loudest thing in the machine when it's loaded up. I have a 5050e with the stock cpu cooler and have to say that it's pretty quiet. Of course, it's not on the scale of what these guys are used to - I'm sure you can ...

Hi loimlo, Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UDP I guess your motherboard choice need to be responsible for higher idle power draw as well. Budget motherboard tends to draw less power than premium motherborad Is the thinking in this forum that Gigabyte are 'budget' motherboards? I always saw them as being pretty ...

Hi Mariner, Without meaning to offend at all - (as you say you are experienced and have built more PC than I have!) - is the motherboard fitted correctly so as not to be shorting on the case somewhere? I'll accept that if it were shorting, it shouldn't take a few weeks to show up, but it really is a...