Been an ongoing project for a few months but finally got around to getting some pics. Some are a bit blurry, sorry about that.
Cabinet its in:
http://www.users.on.net/~nperin/Mediaportal/htpc002.jpg
Closeup (love the bluetacked on ir repeater on the foxtel box
):
http://www.users.on.net/~nperin/Mediaportal/htpc003.jpg
Front open (still trying to get a silver faceplate for that burner):
http://www.users.on.net/~nperin/Mediaportal/htpc004.jpg
Open:
http://www.users.on.net/~nperin/Mediaportal/htpc005.jpg
Basically had to do a few changes to get the system silent (in a silent room its only audible from approx 1.5m away)
*Changed the stock sempron hsf to a TT Silent boost, its got a different 80mm fan on it which does about 1400rpm.
*Changed the Abit active chipset cooler to a Zalman passive chipset cooler.
*Gigabyte 9250 VIVO cooler had to be the loudest fan in the case (30mm running at like 5000rpm) which I swapped for a Vantec copper chipset cooler. The fan in the copper cooler on does about 1000rpm which is fine for a video card which doesnt see any intensive work. Barely warm to touch after its been on, dont see the point of that 4k rpm fan on there.
*Removed the dual 60mm exhaust fans (tried 6 different brands and all of them are too loud/whiney) and one 80mm exhaust (which faced a bad vent essentially making noise but moving no air). Hasnt effected temps too much, full load is about 44C for CPU, 32C case temp and hdd temp about 33C.
Outside:
http://www.users.on.net/~nperin/Mediaportal/htpc006.jpg
On the outside thats a non-standard 80mm fan. The hdd is placed in such a way (can see in last pic) that it receives no ventillation. Considering how much a htpc uses the hdd, 55C for hours on end cant be good for it. Had to jigsaw that hole in the side, and drill some holes for the screws.
That 80mm does about 1400rpm and pushes air directly over the hdd. Dropped the temp to about 30C.
System specs
Coolermaster Cavalier 3 desktop ATX case (300w generic PSU)
AMD Sempron 2600+ (w/ TT Silent boost)
Abit NF7-S V2 (zalman chipset cooler)
768mb DDR400 Ram
Seagate 120gig 8mb cache 7200.7 HDD
Gigabyte 9250 VIVO 128mb Video card (vantec copper cooler)
Onboard NForce2 soundstorm
Onboard Nforce2 10/100mb NIC
Hauppauge Nova-T 90002 DVB-T tuner card
Hauppauge Wintv 150MCE analogue tuner card
Belkin 125MB 11G wireless card
Liteon 16x 1673S DVD burner
Panasonic 1.44mb FDD
Future upgrades
Looking at getting another Nova-T as soon as this dual dvb card problem is sorted. Perhaps also putting a LCD/VFD into the front of the folding door.
Cabinet its in:
http://www.users.on.net/~nperin/Mediaportal/htpc002.jpg
Closeup (love the bluetacked on ir repeater on the foxtel box
http://www.users.on.net/~nperin/Mediaportal/htpc003.jpg
Front open (still trying to get a silver faceplate for that burner):
http://www.users.on.net/~nperin/Mediaportal/htpc004.jpg
Open:
http://www.users.on.net/~nperin/Mediaportal/htpc005.jpg
Basically had to do a few changes to get the system silent (in a silent room its only audible from approx 1.5m away)
*Changed the stock sempron hsf to a TT Silent boost, its got a different 80mm fan on it which does about 1400rpm.
*Changed the Abit active chipset cooler to a Zalman passive chipset cooler.
*Gigabyte 9250 VIVO cooler had to be the loudest fan in the case (30mm running at like 5000rpm) which I swapped for a Vantec copper chipset cooler. The fan in the copper cooler on does about 1000rpm which is fine for a video card which doesnt see any intensive work. Barely warm to touch after its been on, dont see the point of that 4k rpm fan on there.
*Removed the dual 60mm exhaust fans (tried 6 different brands and all of them are too loud/whiney) and one 80mm exhaust (which faced a bad vent essentially making noise but moving no air). Hasnt effected temps too much, full load is about 44C for CPU, 32C case temp and hdd temp about 33C.
Outside:
http://www.users.on.net/~nperin/Mediaportal/htpc006.jpg
On the outside thats a non-standard 80mm fan. The hdd is placed in such a way (can see in last pic) that it receives no ventillation. Considering how much a htpc uses the hdd, 55C for hours on end cant be good for it. Had to jigsaw that hole in the side, and drill some holes for the screws.
That 80mm does about 1400rpm and pushes air directly over the hdd. Dropped the temp to about 30C.
System specs
Coolermaster Cavalier 3 desktop ATX case (300w generic PSU)
AMD Sempron 2600+ (w/ TT Silent boost)
Abit NF7-S V2 (zalman chipset cooler)
768mb DDR400 Ram
Seagate 120gig 8mb cache 7200.7 HDD
Gigabyte 9250 VIVO 128mb Video card (vantec copper cooler)
Onboard NForce2 soundstorm
Onboard Nforce2 10/100mb NIC
Hauppauge Nova-T 90002 DVB-T tuner card
Hauppauge Wintv 150MCE analogue tuner card
Belkin 125MB 11G wireless card
Liteon 16x 1673S DVD burner
Panasonic 1.44mb FDD
Future upgrades
Looking at getting another Nova-T as soon as this dual dvb card problem is sorted. Perhaps also putting a LCD/VFD into the front of the folding door.