Need a totally silent HTPC...

ewildgoose · Post by **ewildgoose** » Mon May 03, 2010 7:52 am

Hi, I need a recommendation on MB and case for an HTPC which needs to be EXTREMELY quiet (only because I hate even faint fan noises in my living room)

The story is: until a few days ago I had a fullsized mCubed fanless box, with 3Ghz E6850 core2, fanless PSU and a "green" HD in a vertical silence box. However, once again it just "melted", as it has done about every 12-18 months... (I think the issue is that the temps stay high, the MB seems to go "bad" (probably caps dry), then this usually does something bad such that the MB kills the PSU first, followed by the MB itself soon after)

So, I quickly tried an Atom board to see if I could live with it and the conclusion is that it lacks the horsepower I need for this particular HTPC project (however, likely other people will be very happy with it!!)

So I'm back to mATX (or larger), a Core 2 (or equiv) and silent cooling... I'm toying with:

- mCubed case (reused)
- Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H mATX (includes nvidia 9400 onboard)
- Core2 E6850 3Ghz (reused from current setup - 65W TDP)
- 1TB 2.5" drive
- Full size DVD burner, but will consider slimline thing if I can figure out how to fit into mCubed?
- PicoPSU 150XT

However, I'm not sure if the picopsu will be beefy enough for a full size DVD drive? I will also have a couple of USB DVB-T cards and a PCI soundcard in the system.

Any thoughts on an alternative (smaller and lighter!!) enclosure than the mCubed? Ideally I want to keep the picopsu, however, I might like enough headroom to use an nvidia gt240 (70W ish...) at some future point...

I have considered:
- Da Box
- Antex NSK1380
- Antec NSK2400
- Silverstone SG01
- Silverstone SG04

I have an 18cm height limit in my rack, and the question really is down to what box can I most easily get absolutely inaudible from 2m away?

My cheap SPL meter measures my ambient noise at around 32dB during the day. This is the bottom of it's range though and it gets quieter at night. I guess I am looking for low 20s dB levels...?

Thanks for any thoughts

ewildgoose · Post by **ewildgoose** » Mon May 03, 2010 8:55 am

Having researched this a bit I think I may want a mobo that satisfies:
- mATX profile
- Core 2
- Takes an nvidia gt220 pcie graphics card
- PCI slot
- Minimal power (eg least power onboard graphics possible, or better yet can be disabled?)

Any suggestions please

Maelwys · Post by **Maelwys** » Fri May 07, 2010 9:14 am

DVD drive uses a minimum of power - that's not your biggest concern with the Pico. Discrete video will likely be your greatest challenge once you have the rest of the system running as you like it.

Regarding the motherboard, since you want to support Core 2, an Nvidia 9300 or G41/45 would be best bets. The Nvidia 9300 will fill most HTPC requirements with the IGP; a G41/45 board will probably need some help from a discrete solution. The Asus P5N7A-VM would fit the bill, but they aren't particularly easy to find.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Asus_P5N7A-VM

ewildgoose · Post by **ewildgoose** » Fri May 07, 2010 9:36 am

I have now looked everywhere I can find online and there don't appear to be any more Asus or Gigabyte mATX boards with onboard nvidia 9400/9300 for sale...

If anyone knows of someone stocking something with reasonable delivery to the UK then please let me know?

However, I have kind of moved on from there now. I ordered instead a reasonable Asus ATX board, BIG shuriken cooler and a fanless GT220. This will go into my old Claritas case (from Stands Unique). It's a nice looking case, but rubbish for cooling or quietness... Will see how we go

Cheers