HTPC/ Small quiet PC for sale?

Matblack · 27-08-2007, 12:38

I'm seriously considering selling my HTPC to make way for a more powerful unit.

The system is ideally suited to front room deployment as it uses a very low profile case, a 2Ghz Pentium Mobile chip with low heat output and hence is capable of being very quiet.

Come with 1Gb of RAM, DVD/ CD Burner, 250Gb HDD and has both optical and standard sound outputs.

Case is a black Silverstone LC 11

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article228-page1.html

I've never had an issues with it as an HTPC unit, its not a games machine and uses on board graphics, but its great for pushing a picture to a TV/ Projector.

The only reason I want to upgrade is to get a C2Q for encoding.

The case alone cost over £100 but I would consider offers in the region of £250 for this unit. It comes with a legit XP on it and I will leave the office Suite, a copy of all the DVD watching software I have, basically all you need for a fully funtional PC, plus a few movies too

So, anyone?

MB

Stan_Lite · 28-08-2007, 04:54

Hmmmm.

Every rig I've built has been built with mega performance in mind, and as such, I've never bothered about the noise factor. I've been thinking recently that it might be an interesting project to build an ultra quiet system. I am also going to be running the TV aerial cable into my bedroom when I get back so I may want to have a quiet system to use as a TV receiver instead of using my loud gaming rig.

Do you have the complete spec for this rig Matt? (i.e. CPU, motherboard, RAM etc.). I'd be interested to see if I can make this almost silent. Maybe replace the PSU with a passively cooled one, underclock (

) the CPU and see if it can be passively cooled (or at least turn the fan down on the HSF), get low noise 5V fans etc.

Matblack · 28-08-2007, 08:05

Heres the CPUZ file, I think that will help

MB

Matblack · 28-08-2007, 08:17

mobo
http://www.trustedreviews.com/mother...motherboard/p1

CPU
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...oc.aspx?i=2129

Memory is
Samsung - DDR2, PC2-3200

Case
http://www.silverstonetek.com/produc...pno=lc11&area=

The software that comes with the PC allows over and underclocking the chip and its only rated at 27W anyway which means that with some fettling you could probably make it completely passive or at least very very quiet

MB

Stan_Lite · 28-08-2007, 10:07

Thanks Matt.

I found a review which used the same CPU you have in the board, which was helpful. The guy got the temps down to a reasonable level with the fan at 5V by undervolting the CPU to 1.10V. There was no mention of underclocking so I can only assume this was at stock speed. With luck, by underclocking to 1.5 or 1.6GHz, I may be able to undervolt to below 1V - which may make my passive cooling idea feasible.

A couple of questions before I commit:

One thing I picked up on from the reviews was that earlier versions of the board shipped with a puny, ineffectual heatsink, which was upgraded for later versions. Can you verify that yours has the newer, meatier heatsink? Apparently, the hole spacings in the motherboard for the heatsink are peculiar to AOpen and it is impossible to find another heatsink to fit without serious modifications.

One review I read about the case was that the loudest part of whole machine was the PSU exhaust fan.

Can you confirm this?
Is it a standard size mATX PSU or is it another "special"?

Having asked that last question and done a bit of Googling, it looks as if finding a fanless mATX PSU may be more difficult than I thought - I may have to do a bit of modding

Many thanks

Matblack · 28-08-2007, 10:39

I'm not sure about the mobo, the heatsink does come with the board and has a fan which attaches to the top of it, this out of anything is probably the source of any noise in the box but it could easily be changed with a 'funnel' style adaptor and a little imagination.

The PSU is a custom fit to the box and is quite small, you could however open it up and fit a quieter fan or make some adjustments.

The whole machine can be underclocked using the software which came with the mobo, it allows you to access all the multipliers on the fly and underclock as much as you want which could be handy.

If you want to mess with it then this is not really a project for the faint hearted but it works great as it is and with a few crafty mods would pay dividends as a media box, as I say though it is already a good unit and has given me very reliable service, downloading movies and feeding my projector

The box alone retails is ~£120 and the chip was never cheap (although obviously now outmode-ed).

Let me know what you think, if I can't sell it here I will probably just get a new mobo/ RAM/ CPU and utilise the box for the new build, although I might consider breaking if someone wants the mobo/ CPU/ Mem or the case

MB

Matblack · 28-08-2007, 11:52

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Its the MkII board

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article252-page6.html

Has the taller heatsink

MB

Stan_Lite · 28-08-2007, 12:11

In that case, I'm definitely interested

I think this will make an interesting little project. I want to have a TV receiver that I can record and store programmes on. With this, I should be able to have a virtually silent media box - all I need is a TV card, a set of half decent speakers and a bit of tinkering.

If you're moving to a quad system, maybe we could do a bit of a deal.
I don't use my Q6600 to anywhere near it's full potential, it sits in my gaming rig using less than 2 cores 95% of the time. I would manage just as well if I bunged the E6600 in there instead. I only really bought the quad for the Folding output - now that I've all but quit the Folding (for now, anyway), I don't actually have any practical use for it tbh.

Would you be interested in taking the Q6600 in part exchange? If not, it doesn't matter, I can keep hold of the quad but I'll still be interested in the HTPC.

Matblack · 28-08-2007, 12:25

I'm starting to wonder about the Quad core but depending on my rambling thoughts I might be interested.

This is going to be a media box again and I still want to keep the noise down as far as possible, I'm thinking that I probably won't need the power of the quad core and also wondering what difference it will make in the noise stakes to cool a quad core.

My research continues

MB

Stan_Lite · 28-08-2007, 12:33

The Q6600 runs a damn sight hotter than the E6600 - although, it only gets really bad when you start using all 4 cores. If you intend doing a lot of encoding, it could get a little toasty inside a small case. If it's for a media box, I doubt if you would find a quiet cooler which would be up to the job without going down the watercooling route.

As I said, if you don't want the quad, I don't mind, I only mentioned it because you did.

27-08-2007, 12:38	#1
Matblack Baby Bore Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Svalbard Posts: 9,770	HTPC/ Small quiet PC for sale? I'm seriously considering selling my HTPC to make way for a more powerful unit. The system is ideally suited to front room deployment as it uses a very low profile case, a 2Ghz Pentium Mobile chip with low heat output and hence is capable of being very quiet. Come with 1Gb of RAM, DVD/ CD Burner, 250Gb HDD and has both optical and standard sound outputs. Case is a black Silverstone LC 11 http://www.silentpcreview.com/article228-page1.html I've never had an issues with it as an HTPC unit, its not a games machine and uses on board graphics, but its great for pushing a picture to a TV/ Projector. The only reason I want to upgrade is to get a C2Q for encoding. The case alone cost over £100 but I would consider offers in the region of £250 for this unit. It comes with a legit XP on it and I will leave the office Suite, a copy of all the DVD watching software I have, basically all you need for a fully funtional PC, plus a few movies too So, anyone? MB __________________ "we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two"

28-08-2007, 04:54	#2
Stan_Lite Stan, Stan the FLASHER MAN! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: In bed with your sister Posts: 5,483	Hmmmm. Every rig I've built has been built with mega performance in mind, and as such, I've never bothered about the noise factor. I've been thinking recently that it might be an interesting project to build an ultra quiet system. I am also going to be running the TV aerial cable into my bedroom when I get back so I may want to have a quiet system to use as a TV receiver instead of using my loud gaming rig. Do you have the complete spec for this rig Matt? (i.e. CPU, motherboard, RAM etc.). I'd be interested to see if I can make this almost silent. Maybe replace the PSU with a passively cooled one, underclock ( ) the CPU and see if it can be passively cooled (or at least turn the fan down on the HSF), get low noise 5V fans etc. __________________ Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean I...

28-08-2007, 08:17	#4
Matblack Baby Bore Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Svalbard Posts: 9,770	mobo http://www.trustedreviews.com/mother...motherboard/p1 CPU http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...oc.aspx?i=2129 Memory is Samsung - DDR2, PC2-3200 Case http://www.silverstonetek.com/produc...pno=lc11&area= The software that comes with the PC allows over and underclocking the chip and its only rated at 27W anyway which means that with some fettling you could probably make it completely passive or at least very very quiet MB __________________ "we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two"

28-08-2007, 10:07	#5
Stan_Lite Stan, Stan the FLASHER MAN! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: In bed with your sister Posts: 5,483	Thanks Matt. I found a review which used the same CPU you have in the board, which was helpful. The guy got the temps down to a reasonable level with the fan at 5V by undervolting the CPU to 1.10V. There was no mention of underclocking so I can only assume this was at stock speed. With luck, by underclocking to 1.5 or 1.6GHz, I may be able to undervolt to below 1V - which may make my passive cooling idea feasible. A couple of questions before I commit: One thing I picked up on from the reviews was that earlier versions of the board shipped with a puny, ineffectual heatsink, which was upgraded for later versions. Can you verify that yours has the newer, meatier heatsink? Apparently, the hole spacings in the motherboard for the heatsink are peculiar to AOpen and it is impossible to find another heatsink to fit without serious modifications. One review I read about the case was that the loudest part of whole machine was the PSU exhaust fan. Can you confirm this? Is it a standard size mATX PSU or is it another "special"? Having asked that last question and done a bit of Googling, it looks as if finding a fanless mATX PSU may be more difficult than I thought - I may have to do a bit of modding Many thanks __________________ Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean I...

28-08-2007, 10:39	#6
Matblack Baby Bore Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Svalbard Posts: 9,770	I'm not sure about the mobo, the heatsink does come with the board and has a fan which attaches to the top of it, this out of anything is probably the source of any noise in the box but it could easily be changed with a 'funnel' style adaptor and a little imagination. The PSU is a custom fit to the box and is quite small, you could however open it up and fit a quieter fan or make some adjustments. The whole machine can be underclocked using the software which came with the mobo, it allows you to access all the multipliers on the fly and underclock as much as you want which could be handy. If you want to mess with it then this is not really a project for the faint hearted but it works great as it is and with a few crafty mods would pay dividends as a media box, as I say though it is already a good unit and has given me very reliable service, downloading movies and feeding my projector The box alone retails is ~£120 and the chip was never cheap (although obviously now outmode-ed). Let me know what you think, if I can't sell it here I will probably just get a new mobo/ RAM/ CPU and utilise the box for the new build, although I might consider breaking if someone wants the mobo/ CPU/ Mem or the case MB __________________ "we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two"

28-08-2007, 11:52	#7
Matblack Baby Bore Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Svalbard Posts: 9,770	AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Its the MkII board http://www.silentpcreview.com/article252-page6.html Has the taller heatsink MB __________________ "we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two"

28-08-2007, 12:11	#8
Stan_Lite Stan, Stan the FLASHER MAN! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: In bed with your sister Posts: 5,483	In that case, I'm definitely interested I think this will make an interesting little project. I want to have a TV receiver that I can record and store programmes on. With this, I should be able to have a virtually silent media box - all I need is a TV card, a set of half decent speakers and a bit of tinkering. If you're moving to a quad system, maybe we could do a bit of a deal. I don't use my Q6600 to anywhere near it's full potential, it sits in my gaming rig using less than 2 cores 95% of the time. I would manage just as well if I bunged the E6600 in there instead. I only really bought the quad for the Folding output - now that I've all but quit the Folding (for now, anyway), I don't actually have any practical use for it tbh. Would you be interested in taking the Q6600 in part exchange? If not, it doesn't matter, I can keep hold of the quad but I'll still be interested in the HTPC. __________________ Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean I...

28-08-2007, 12:25	#9
Matblack Baby Bore Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Svalbard Posts: 9,770	I'm starting to wonder about the Quad core but depending on my rambling thoughts I might be interested. This is going to be a media box again and I still want to keep the noise down as far as possible, I'm thinking that I probably won't need the power of the quad core and also wondering what difference it will make in the noise stakes to cool a quad core. My research continues MB __________________ "we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two"

28-08-2007, 12:33	#10
Stan_Lite Stan, Stan the FLASHER MAN! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: In bed with your sister Posts: 5,483	The Q6600 runs a damn sight hotter than the E6600 - although, it only gets really bad when you start using all 4 cores. If you intend doing a lot of encoding, it could get a little toasty inside a small case. If it's for a media box, I doubt if you would find a quiet cooler which would be up to the job without going down the watercooling route. As I said, if you don't want the quad, I don't mind, I only mentioned it because you did. __________________ Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean I...