new HTPC build

Scoobsheister · Post by **Scoobsheister** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:16 am

I will be upgrading my desktop machine this summer and have been toying with the idea of building an HTPC with the old components.

I have been looking at the Silverstone and Origen AE HTPC cases and love their style. Would anyone have a specific recommendation for a Silverstone/Origen AE case that fits a full ATX motherboard? (Ideally would be after one with a VFD in it)

I can't find any reviews of the Origen AE cases anywhere - does anyone know if these are just new to the market?

Anyway i would like to keep costs down as this would effectively be a second system. Here are my thoughts so far.

CPU: Athlon 64 3000+

CPU Cooler: Thermalright XP90 (maybe copper)

PSU: Seasonic S12-430

Fans: Nexus (size depends on case)

TV Card: Hauppauge WinTV NOVA-T-500 (dual DVB-t, due out may)

Graphics Card: ? looking for cheap fanless AGP solution here

Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo Platinum

Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster Live / Audigy 2

Memory: 2gig Samsung DDR 2700

Hard Drive: 30Gb 2.5" drive

Optical Drive: spare DVD-ROM lying around the house

Wireless card: Netgear

I already have the CPU, Mobo, Sound Card, Memory, Hard Drive, Optical Drive but will be looking to buy in the other components (possibly ebay).

Any thoughts welcome

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:44 am

Scoobsheister wrote:Graphics Card: ? looking for cheap fanless AGP solution here

Mobility Radeon 9600 or Radeon 9550 are the coolest current cards.

Optical Drive: spare DVD-ROM lying around the house

My spare DVD-ROM drive is rather loud.

Edit: I see you already had the sound cards.

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:05 am

Scoobsheister wrote: I have been looking at the Silverstone and Origen AE HTPC cases and love their style. Would anyone have a specific recommendation for a Silverstone/Origen AE case that fits a full ATX motherboard? (Ideally would be after one with a VFD in it)

I'm in much the same position of looking for a decent HTPC case, although mine will be built around a 6150 micro-ATX motherboard, probably either Asus or MSI. So far everything I've looked at falls short one way or another, or is phenomenally expensive...

The Silverstone LC-20 seems to tick all your boxes, and it's actually quite cheap (relatively anyway), but I'm not sure as to how widely available it is yet...

Ekner · Post by **Ekner** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:28 pm

My choice woould be http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc17.htm , more than enough room for more harddisks and 2 dvdplayers. Good size to fit in with the rest of the audio stuff and room enough (if needed) for extra fans.

Scoobsheister · Post by **Scoobsheister** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:00 pm

I think the 2 external drives are a bit much, would never use both and so the unused drive just makes the fron tlook untidy.

Have actually been moving towards the Origen AE X11, the equivalent of the X15 but withoiut the touch screen (therefore has good cooling and only needs one fan). Now it's just a matter of finding someone who stocks it.

exit2studios · Post by **exit2studios** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 1:06 pm

Is it me or does anyone else see these Silverstone PSU vents to be a problem? It appears they take the air from outside the case and run it through the PSU versus removing heat from within the case.

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:59 pm

exit2studios wrote:Is it me or does anyone else see these Silverstone PSU vents to be a problem? It appears they take the air from outside the case and run it through the PSU versus removing heat from within the case.

It's a problem if you think the PSU fan should be helping to cool the case. For quiet machines, SPCR's standard PSU recommendations are to ensure that...

1) the PSU not add any heat into the case
2) the PSU fan not speed up (and get noisy) due to heat in the system being evacuated through it.

These Silverstone cases' PSU vents are intended to isolate the PSU heat from the heat of the rest of the system. A PSU with a well-designed fan controller will keep itself running considerably cooler and quieter with such a setup than in a conventional setup where it's taking in hot air directly off the CPU area. This works perfectly well with adequate airflow and vents for the main motherboard chamber.

The Zalman HD160 has a similar setup, and functionally, so does the Antec NSK2400/Fusion. The first case to have a thermally separate zone for the PSU was the Antec P180.

exit2studios · Post by **exit2studios** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 7:17 am

Mike,
Thanks for clearing that up.

I'm looking for a horizontal oriented machine so I can put it in my recording rack. It would be a DAW, not a HTPC, but the same criteria is required. Quiet and well cooled.

I'm thinking Core 2 duo with a passive vid card.

Do you think the LC17/LC20 would be a good match?

The fact that silverstone offers rack mounts is one selling point.

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 7:37 am

exit2studios wrote:Mike,
Thanks for clearing that up.

I'm looking for a horizontal oriented machine so I can put it in my recording rack. It would be a DAW, not a HTPC, but the same criteria is required. Quiet and well cooled.

I'm thinking Core 2 duo with a passive vid card.

Do you think the LC17/LC20 would be a good match?

The fact that silverstone offers rack mounts is one selling point.

You're welcome.

How well the LC17/LC20 would work in a rack would depend at least partly on your rack. Do you have unblocked access for good airflow from the side to the back of the rack? If not...

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:01 am

I have an OrigenAE X11 and it's a very good case for its designed purpose. It will set no cooling records and the fans are much too loud @ 12V (but who runs fans full speed anyway?).

After modding the fans to 5V they are inaudible from 7ft away, but the case will most likely not run very well in a closed rack system, as the airflow is just not there.

The isolation mounts for the harddrive are not that effective and there isn't really any room for suspension. But if you pick your drives carefully, you may not hear anything from your couch/workspace.

The OrigenAE cases use IRTrans for the IR Receiver/VFDs but if you're not that interested in those features, I would suggest trying the Silverstone cases without those features and saving $70. However, if you do like that feature then the IRTrans software is compatible with many 3rd party apps and XP MCE, and is very customizable. It works very well with my Logitech Harmony remote. The Silverstone's will not be as good for mixing and matching as their Imon system is not as flexible and is not compatible with most learning remotes, due to the use of a "mouse" function, and their remote has no learning capablilties. So you end up with yet ANOTHER remote on the coffee table.

Hope that helps.

exit2studios · Post by **exit2studios** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:56 pm

Do you have unblocked access for good airflow from the side to the back of the rack?

no...it's an enclosed rack. Hence my dilema. Any suggestions here are much welcome.

Do the conroes really run cool enough to negate some of the heat issues?

minibeardeath · Post by **minibeardeath** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 9:46 pm

the silverstone LC20 actually has room for 2 92mm front hdd fans (none of the pics on their site show it but this page http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2006/05 ... ase/3.html shows the mounts. these 2 front fans pull air up through bottoem front vents and in combination w/ the 2 rear fans should provide ample cooling (unless the rack has front doors or a rear panel) if the rack is enclosed on all 6 sides then you might look into removing to back of the rack or keeping the doors open when the machine is running (but that would defeat the purpose of doors right?)

hope this helps and isnt just confusing you

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:00 am

I think MikeC asked the question whether he had an open layout for the back, and he replied no.

The only option is to get whatever case you want and wire up a couple quiet 120mm fans to the back side of the rack (maybe cutting holes?) to exhaust the warm air out of the rack.

minibeardeath · Post by **minibeardeath** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:00 pm

but the reason he asked if the side was open is cause all "official" product pics of the lc-20 only show the side and back vents, but if the rack is open in the front then it would be pretty easy to mod the back of the rack to allow for good air flow.

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:08 pm

Well that true, however if you design the enclosure with a exhaust fan or two you'd create a negative pressure case which would most likely draw in enough cool air through gaps in the rack. It the same principle most people use for their negative pressure cases. No intake fans are necessary in most cases as the negative pressure will suck in enough air from wherever it can (usually the front intake, as it's the least restrictive).

Beyonder · Post by **Beyonder** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:10 am

Scoobsheister wrote: PSU: Seasonic S12-430

Go with the S12-330 and save yourself $35. There's no way this system is going anywhere near 330 watts, let alone 430. I'd much sooner put this money towards a decent video card or a larger hard drive.

Graphics Card: ? looking for cheap fanless AGP solution here

Something like this would be ideal, although it's maybe a little on the pricey side. Here's a list of a bunch of cards that would probably meet your needs.

Hard Drive: 30Gb 2.5" drive

If you're doing any PVR stuff, you're going to want a lot more space than this. I had a 250 gig drive that was filled amazingly fast with a single tuner HTPC. With dual tuners, you could saturate ~20 gigs (which is realistically how much space you're going to have after formatting, install, etc.) in a matter of days.

new HTPC build

new HTPC build

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PSU Vents

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lc20

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