Hi,
I am planning to build a quiet MythTV/home server box based around this biostar board:
[couldn't post link]
Biostart TA690G AM2
This is the only AM2 board I can find with an onboard s-video out (no HD required, just connecting to an analogue tv).
I will be putting in a 45W Athlon X2 (whichever is on offer) or a 35W if I can find it (can't find any online UK stores with a 35W part - can anyone help with that?).
I am planning on using the Antec Solo. The Sonata Designed with the 500W power supply seems a lot cheaper than buying seperately, but I think 500W is really overkill.
All I would have in the machine initially is a couple of SATA drives and a Nova-T freeview card and DVD drive, although I would like the option of adding a sound card (probably an old m-audio delta 44), additional sata card and up to 6 hd's in future.
I was looking at the sparkle 250W supply in the recommended section - would this be enough to power all that? Is there anywhere in the UK I can get the sparkle 250W? Would it be a lot better than the 500W in the Antec Designer package? Is it as quiet?
Budget is also quite tight which is why I'm going for the cheaper low end AMD parts, which I'm sure will give enough processing power for my needs (mythtv SD, bittorrent, file server etc.)
Thanks,
quiet low power media centre
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
I doubt it'll be any quieter than the one that comes with the Antec case. I believe the PSU it comes with is the Antec Earthwatts 80+. Which is also on the recommended PSU list.
The thing you have to remember about PSU's, is while you may not need all that extra power, PSU manufacturers dont currently produce PSU's to stay quiet for the entire power range. So typically people here will buy a 500-600w PSU for a 200w computer, so that the PSU fan never ramps up and it stays quiet even under heavy load.
So while yes the 250w psu would power your system just fine, the fan may ramp up and end up being louder than a higher rated power supply.
The thing you have to remember about PSU's, is while you may not need all that extra power, PSU manufacturers dont currently produce PSU's to stay quiet for the entire power range. So typically people here will buy a 500-600w PSU for a 200w computer, so that the PSU fan never ramps up and it stays quiet even under heavy load.
So while yes the 250w psu would power your system just fine, the fan may ramp up and end up being louder than a higher rated power supply.
OK - thanks for the input.
I guess I was thinking in terms of efficiency (I read the power supplies are only efficient above 20% load) but I suppose that is less important to me than noise. And the Sonata Designer bundle seems the easiest option and quite good value.
Just wish it came in black - I think the standard black solo looks a lot better than the silver one you get with the designer.
I guess I was thinking in terms of efficiency (I read the power supplies are only efficient above 20% load) but I suppose that is less important to me than noise. And the Sonata Designer bundle seems the easiest option and quite good value.
Just wish it came in black - I think the standard black solo looks a lot better than the silver one you get with the designer.
A system like yours would pull MAYBE 100watts at load, and probably around 50w at idle.
The 500w psu is 80+ rated, so it will be at least 80% at 20% load. Which is 100w. At 50w it may drop down into the 70% range, but at that point your power draw is so low, the difference would be minimal.
50watt power draw at idle with 80% effeciency from the 250w psu and with say 70% effeciency from the 500w psu.
62w vs 71w. Less than a 10w difference.
Now if a 10w difference is worth the add'd cost of buying another PSU is worth it to you, then go for it.
The 500w psu is 80+ rated, so it will be at least 80% at 20% load. Which is 100w. At 50w it may drop down into the 70% range, but at that point your power draw is so low, the difference would be minimal.
50watt power draw at idle with 80% effeciency from the 250w psu and with say 70% effeciency from the 500w psu.
62w vs 71w. Less than a 10w difference.
Now if a 10w difference is worth the add'd cost of buying another PSU is worth it to you, then go for it.
Thanks,
In fact I think 10W different probably is worth it. 10W is 87.6 kWh a year if the machine is on all the time - which in the UK will probably cost me in the region of £15... ($30) and with power bills over here going up 20% a year it will probably save a lot more over time.
Anyway I don't like the white case with the designer so I think I will buy the standard solo and a seperate power supply anyway - so it's not an extra expense.
I've put my final parts list in a seperate post for review here viewtopic.php?p=414071&highlight=#414071
In fact I think 10W different probably is worth it. 10W is 87.6 kWh a year if the machine is on all the time - which in the UK will probably cost me in the region of £15... ($30) and with power bills over here going up 20% a year it will probably save a lot more over time.
Anyway I don't like the white case with the designer so I think I will buy the standard solo and a seperate power supply anyway - so it's not an extra expense.
I've put my final parts list in a seperate post for review here viewtopic.php?p=414071&highlight=#414071
Have you considered going with the Hauppauge media MVP instead and using a client server system? I'm sure you have an older machine that you could make quiet and put in a closet. Word is that the MVP has better SD video quality than a computer.
Just a suggestion...
Also, i don't agree with the bigger power supply theory that Aris has. Your system is just about as low power as they get with standard components and 100W would be the tops even with multiple harddrives. Larger power supplies have their most efficient points higher up on the power scale. The 250W sparkle is a good unit but hard to find. Most users go with 400-500W power supplies because that is all that is available. Read the power supplies fundamentals post and you will gain some insight into power supplies.
Just a suggestion...
Also, i don't agree with the bigger power supply theory that Aris has. Your system is just about as low power as they get with standard components and 100W would be the tops even with multiple harddrives. Larger power supplies have their most efficient points higher up on the power scale. The 250W sparkle is a good unit but hard to find. Most users go with 400-500W power supplies because that is all that is available. Read the power supplies fundamentals post and you will gain some insight into power supplies.
Your forgetting though that it would require an additional up front cost. So while it may save you $30 a year, its gunna cost you at least $60 up front. So you'd have to use the system, 24/7, for more than 2 years before you even started see'ing any sort of savings whatsoever. 3 years to save $30 dollars instead of 1.thrope wrote:Thanks,
In fact I think 10W different probably is worth it. 10W is 87.6 kWh a year if the machine is on all the time - which in the UK will probably cost me in the region of £15... ($30)
I'm not sayin you wont keep it that long, but you have to think realistically how long are you actually going to use the system for. Most people i know upgrade their computer at least once ever 3 years. I know a couple people who "never" upgrade, and they upgrade about once every 5 years.
But I need a power supply anyway so it isn't really an additional cost...
The case alone is about £55 and the 'designer' combo with Antec PSU is about £90, so it's not like that one is free. I've decided I don't want the white case that comes with the designer so I'm going to buy a Solo and a seperate power supply...
So anyway I appreciate what your saying but I think the additional cost for buying the 250W from the US vs. a quiet 80+ 300 or 350 (or 500) here in the UK is going to be not so much. In the UK a decent PSU is going to be £40-£50 and I can get the 250W sparkle for $50 plus $40 postage so it's more or less the same price. Might get stung with a bit of duty but I don't think that can be more than 20%. So I agree there is an upfront cost but I think it is much less than the first years savings... I guess there aren't many power savings over 300W bought locally, but I don't think theres that much extra cost.
Actually I was thinking about the pico 120W, but I don't think it would give much better savings (I don't think the AC/DC adaptor will be much more than 80% efficient, and the sparkle should be 80+ in the region I'll be drawing from) and I'd rather have the extra headroom (again cost isn't really a factor, but the pico with a brick is probably a bit more expensive even than shipping the sparkle from the states).
My current computer is about to hit 5 years, and the only reason I'm getting a new machine is because it's too noisy to put in the living room and the P4 in it is too thirsty to leave on all the time... plus the case is a bit wobbly since it's been shipped back and forth to the states a few times (I lived there for a while). I really want a mythtv box and I can't afford seperate backend/frontend business so I just want a single low power budget system for the home - other than that we have laptops.
Autoboy, I hadn't considered the MVP. It looks quite nice, but I really want a DVB card with mythtv to record freeview (digital tv over here) and it doesn't look like the mvp could do that. And the layout of my apartment (aerial socket is by the tv in the living room) makes in impracticle to have the mythtv back end elsewhere (too much cabling required - don't think the wife would be too keen on that) even if MVP does work with mythtv (wasn't clear from my brief look). Also it looks like you have to transcode everything to mpeg which is another pain - just want to be able to download torrents and watch (similar to what I do now with xbox and xbmc - except that's too loud and can't record!)
So I'm think I'm pretty much set on what I want to do. Just not sure completely about the best freeview card and whether the 4850e is better than some of the older BE chips (but I think it is and the price difference is negligible).
Thanks again...
The case alone is about £55 and the 'designer' combo with Antec PSU is about £90, so it's not like that one is free. I've decided I don't want the white case that comes with the designer so I'm going to buy a Solo and a seperate power supply...
So anyway I appreciate what your saying but I think the additional cost for buying the 250W from the US vs. a quiet 80+ 300 or 350 (or 500) here in the UK is going to be not so much. In the UK a decent PSU is going to be £40-£50 and I can get the 250W sparkle for $50 plus $40 postage so it's more or less the same price. Might get stung with a bit of duty but I don't think that can be more than 20%. So I agree there is an upfront cost but I think it is much less than the first years savings... I guess there aren't many power savings over 300W bought locally, but I don't think theres that much extra cost.
Actually I was thinking about the pico 120W, but I don't think it would give much better savings (I don't think the AC/DC adaptor will be much more than 80% efficient, and the sparkle should be 80+ in the region I'll be drawing from) and I'd rather have the extra headroom (again cost isn't really a factor, but the pico with a brick is probably a bit more expensive even than shipping the sparkle from the states).
My current computer is about to hit 5 years, and the only reason I'm getting a new machine is because it's too noisy to put in the living room and the P4 in it is too thirsty to leave on all the time... plus the case is a bit wobbly since it's been shipped back and forth to the states a few times (I lived there for a while). I really want a mythtv box and I can't afford seperate backend/frontend business so I just want a single low power budget system for the home - other than that we have laptops.
Autoboy, I hadn't considered the MVP. It looks quite nice, but I really want a DVB card with mythtv to record freeview (digital tv over here) and it doesn't look like the mvp could do that. And the layout of my apartment (aerial socket is by the tv in the living room) makes in impracticle to have the mythtv back end elsewhere (too much cabling required - don't think the wife would be too keen on that) even if MVP does work with mythtv (wasn't clear from my brief look). Also it looks like you have to transcode everything to mpeg which is another pain - just want to be able to download torrents and watch (similar to what I do now with xbox and xbmc - except that's too loud and can't record!)
So I'm think I'm pretty much set on what I want to do. Just not sure completely about the best freeview card and whether the 4850e is better than some of the older BE chips (but I think it is and the price difference is negligible).
Thanks again...