coolest (temp) cpu for Shuttle XPC SB61G2BV4 Socket 478

Info & chat about quiet prebuilt, small form factor and barebones systems, people's experiences with vendors thereof, etc.

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danbran
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 9:38 am

coolest (temp) cpu for Shuttle XPC SB61G2BV4 Socket 478

Post by danbran » Tue May 17, 2005 9:49 am

I am building this SFF PC (my second, but I wasn't concerned about noise in the first) to rip all my CDs to. Then I will put it in the living room stereo cabinet. I do not need any TIVO like capabilities but would like to use my HDTV as the display for selecting playlists in Windows Media Player.
Obviously I would like it to be as quiet as possible I am thinking of using a intel Pentium 4 2.53 Northwood 533MHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 478 Processor, is this a good performance vs. heat choice for the CPU?

Video card - I would like to drive the component HD inputs on my sony XBR - I need a video card that can do this but would like to get one that does not need a GPU fan - any suggestions.

Sound - finally since this will be used to play lossless rip CDs is onboard sound good enough - or is it worth the extra thermal load to put in an Audigy?

TIA
Dan

wsc
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2003 9:25 am
Location: Oklahoma

Post by wsc » Tue May 17, 2005 2:10 pm

CPU - there are better choices. Winchester core AMD being the first to come to mind, followed by Pentium M if you have the money to spend. There is one Pentium M SFF system, EY855 I believe, and several socket 939 SFF systems. Interestingly, you could go with the Northwood chip and use it in a ST62K which has the external power brick, surely a very quiet solution. IMO your worst source of noise is going to be PSU followed by HD when dealing with a SFF system, so the Northwood + ST62K could be a workable idea. There's alot of options here, if you spend time enough investigating your options and budget, you will come up with something workable.

Video - you may want to check out avsforums.com and dig through the HTPC forum for a good video card. I think most ATIs can do component output.

Sound - if you get a SFF with optical out, I'm sure that would be fine... I'm none too impressed with creative labs' sound cards personally. You could always try the optical out and see just how good/bad it really is before dropping the cash on a new sound card.

All IMHO, good luck and welcome to SPCR :wink:

wsc
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2003 9:25 am
Location: Oklahoma

Post by wsc » Tue May 17, 2005 2:17 pm

Oh BTW, I dont know how you feel about buying used gear, but you can snag Northwood core mobile P4s on ebay for DIRT cheap. Better thermal performance than the desktop chips...

danbran
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 9:38 am

coolest (temp) cpu for Shuttle XPC SB61G2BV4 Socket 478

Post by danbran » Tue May 17, 2005 2:24 pm

I already have the Shuttle XPC SB61G2BV4 Socket 478
So I am stuck with the socket 478 Do you know if the mobil core Northwoods fit a socket 478? Newegg has 2.53 GHz Northwoods for $150 which isn't bad - I also see an ATI 9550 that has no GPU fan wit adapter that can drive HD TV component. I'll get the Segate 250 GB IDE drive the reviews I have been able to find say it is quiet. Thanks again for the info

@TOMMY@
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Post by @TOMMY@ » Thu May 19, 2005 8:12 pm

wsc wrote:
Sound - if you get a SFF with optical out, I'm sure that would be fine... I'm none too impressed with creative labs' sound cards personally. You could always try the optical out and see just how good/bad it really is before dropping the cash on a new sound card.
Will there be a large difference in sound quality b/t a good sound card (eg. m-audio revolution)'s optical out and a momo's optical out

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