Read more.Quote:
HTPC friendly low-profile cooler features direct touch heatpipes and an 80mm fan.
Printable View
Read more.Quote:
HTPC friendly low-profile cooler features direct touch heatpipes and an 80mm fan.
*ahem*Quote:
The whole unit, at just 23mm tall is said to be “likely the best choice and the only choice for slim sized cases utilizing LGA 115X processors,”
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/northq-3392-cpu-vga-combo-low-noise-copper-coolerplusam2-775-and-nvidia-ati-graphic-cards
OK, 27mm tall rather than 23mm, but I'd like to see a case with only 23mm of cooler clearance (isn't a standard IO section taller than that?), and at only £6 it's a bit of a bargain, and it fits pretty much all current and previous sockets, not just 115x... ;)
Looks neat but what about AMD APU sockets? They make the most sense for small form factor HTPCs. Well, in my opinion anyway...
Similar price, a few mm taller but not as wide:Quote:
Originally Posted by MustardCutter
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/zalma...m3-am2plus-am2
Reviews say the 120W rating on the Zalman is rather optimistic, but as long as it is quieter than the stock Trinity or FX fans I have tried so far in my ITX build I will be happy. Should get to fit it tonight.
The NorthQ one I linked is very quiet even on its fastest speed (it comes with a bundled fan controller :D). Haven't done any serious load testing yet, mind, but based on the compatibility it should do up to 120W, and I'm hoping it'll handle 65W on its lowest speed, which is probably what you'd want for an mITX HTPC. Only issue I had during fitting is that the retention bracket is a bit loose when you screw it into the standard AMD backplate on FM1 (note: AM2/3/3+/FM1/2/2+ all use the same mounting holes), but once you get the cooler on its perfectly stable (and I suspect it'd be easy enough to pad the backplate to make it fit better, but my case is desktop orientation so doesn't really need it...).
Another good thing about the NorthQ is that it's assymetric and rotatable, so you can orient it whichever way you have most room on the mobo. In fact, it's a really nice cooler for £6. I should be getting commision from Scan for this ;)
I looked at the NorthQ, but the 60mm fan put me off. Stock fan at 72mm is too small.
I think the take home message here is we both think the Silverstone isn't impressive :)
Kind of fell into ending up with an ITX server, but trying to make the most of it now. It needs to move under the TV in the living room though, so I want it really quiet. I can see me changing the case if the Zalman doesn't work.
I was a little worried about that, but the noise profile is massively better than the stock cooler - it really is night and day :)Quote:
Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix
In fact, once I get the server finished (need to remove the rattly 40mm fan on the PSU ASAP as that's now the loudest component by far!) I'll probably do a build log/components review. Hmmm, perhaps this is a good opportunity to purchase a sound meter... ;)
This is a complete waste of space.
HTPCs should be silent not merely "low noise"
If you have the money then pick a passive cooling case and a sub 65W TDP processor: Streamcon do some nice designs as do HDPlex (which I use). i5-4570T would give you lots of power and 35W TDP.
Until recently AMD just did not have a powerful enough and low enough TDP processor to compete unless you were on a budget, but the new A10-6700T looks very interesting, and I expect it to be better (and cheaper) for the HTPC market than and i5 or i3 T variant.
What I would really like for the HTPC is a mobile Haswell varient, 15W TDP!
Alternatively, and much cheaper, use Raspberry Pi and XBMC, although that requires more technically knowledge and I am not convinced it has the power to transcode Blu-Ray sufficiently quickly to rip my blu-ray library (although clearly enough power to stream it from Hard disk)
Not convinced by that. Since I replaced the AMD stock fan with a big-ass Zalman, the noisiest thing in my HTPC is the optical drive, and I can't hear that above the speakers when playing DVDs. An HTPC only needs to be quiet enough to not be heard above whatever media you're playing through it, so it can be a long way from silent and still function perfectly well. Another key factor in HTPC is surely cost, and completely silent will generally cost a fair bit more than simply very very quiet: after all, if you want silent you'd also have to forgo mechnical hard drives as well as the optical drive, limiting the amount of storage you can fit at a reasonable price...Quote:
Originally Posted by cjs150
Agreed it needs to be quiet enough, silent is stupidly expensive and any passively cooled components I have had in the past have had short lifespans. For me quiet usually means no whining noises or excessively turbulent airflow.
That Zalman fan is a big improvement over the stock fans, now my biggest problem is a drumming from the twin WD Red drives that make up the RAID 1 array. I think it is a beat frequency of the difference in the drive speeds, and to think parallel SCSI fixed that decades ago. That's progress for you...
Scaryjim et al:
Silent is expensive, but not by that much. Streamcom fanless case is about £50 more expensive than its equivalent case for fans and you save in not buying a cooler and usually a decent fan. So actual difference in cost is fairly low. Pair it with some Samsung low voltage RAM and you are most of the way there.
Most silent cases allow for a normal hard drive - given that HTPC are usually "always on" maybe have OS and main programs on an MSATA and a 3TB hard drive. Personally I keep my media stored on a separate NAS.
As for the noise of the optical drive I totally agree. There will always be noise from an optical drive, even if just air movement but, particularly when using laptop or slim drives no case designer (either for low noise or silent cases)seems to have ever given any thought to dampening the noise a little bit
Perhaps it matters how far away you are sitting from the PC.
There will almost always be something in the room louder than the PC. The PS3 sounds like a hairdryer in comparison yet I still find that an acceptable Blu-ray player.
See, this is what I don't get. The optical drive and hard drive are the loudest things in my HTPC. So why pay £50 more on a "silent" case, when it'll actually have around the same noise level as the PC I've already got?Quote:
Originally Posted by cjs150