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Thread: Small, quiet media PC?

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    hexus.zombeh! format's Avatar
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    Small, quiet media PC?

    So I've got lots of wages but not enough time to spend it so looking at getting a media PC for my flat when term starts again.


    Must be

    Small, reasonably aesthetically pleasing.
    Quiet (ish) reasonably low power consumption.
    Able to stream over home network/transfer files from other networked PCs.
    HDMI/DVI out.
    Audio out.


    Would be nice to


    Be able to torrent off it, run it 24/7 as torrent box along side media player.
    Be reasonably cheap


    Not really sure what a realistic budget would be for this but I'll start with around £350.

    I could pay more if that is unrealistic or if there are some things that are really worth having.

    If there are prebuilt solutions this to this, that'd be great. If I have to build it myself that's also fine.

    I've not really got a clue what would be best for OS/software for this.

    My aim is to have a Wii, 360, and this all running through one of these with a HDMI hub or something.

    Recommendations welcome


    Thanks in advance.
    ~'Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence--those are the three pillars of Western prosperity'~ Aldous Huxley




  2. #2
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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    Sounds like a job for one of these things: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=5&subcat=1436

    And a low-mid range Core 2 Duo.

    Stick it in a nice ITX chassis, and you're flying.
    Quote Originally Posted by Agent View Post
    ...every time Creative bring out a new card range their advertising makes it sound like they have discovered a way to insert a thousand Chuck Norris super dwarfs in your ears...

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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    Build a micro atx system. £350 is not very big budget if you have lots of wages to spend.

    Do you want to game off it? That will increase the price however...

  5. #4
    Moosing about! CAT-THE-FIFTH's Avatar
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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    This is what I would get this:

    Athlon II X2 250 ~£68

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166519

    Asus 760G ~ £52

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161330

    4gb PC2-6400 ram ~ £34

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166461

    Coolermaster Elite 340 ~£33

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129891


    Be Quiet 350w PSU ~ £30

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166784

    Passively cooled HD4670 512mb ~ £62

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512Mb...PCI-E-VGA-Card

    DVD rewriter ~ £13

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/101321

    1TB Samsung HD103UJ ~ £66

    http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    Why not get a 780G board and forget about the GPU card?.. It's not as if the HD4670 has any advantages over the 780G IGP for HTPC use.
    Quote Originally Posted by Agent View Post
    ...every time Creative bring out a new card range their advertising makes it sound like they have discovered a way to insert a thousand Chuck Norris super dwarfs in your ears...

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    Moosing about! CAT-THE-FIFTH's Avatar
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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    If the OP does not want to game I would go with the following 780G motherboard instead:

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150278

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  10. #7
    hexus.zombeh! format's Avatar
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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    Gaming would not be required at all tbh.

    Will respond at length soon, in a big hurry at the moment, thanks all for recommendations.
    ~'Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence--those are the three pillars of Western prosperity'~ Aldous Huxley




  11. #8
    finding nemo staffsMike's Avatar
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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    I like that PSU CAT.. looks good

    If you only need onboard from HD playback etcc you could go for mini ITX, like the silverstone SG05. Comes with a 300W PSU and a 120mm fan to cool it.
    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silve...00W-80plus-PSU


    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/JandW...X-HDMI-DVI-VGA

    or intel
    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Zotac...Board-Graphics

    Costs a bit more but looks more pleasing if it has to be out in the open.
    Last edited by staffsMike; 14-06-2009 at 10:09 PM.

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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    why not a pentium dual core E5200 along with a 750i Nvidia board?

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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    As above E5200 with a zotac mini ITX will be pretty good

    Actually use less power afaik.

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    Seething Cauldron of Hatred TheAnimus's Avatar
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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    If your after mini-itx.

    I've got a zotac 9300 mini itx wifi board and its very good.

    The only fault is it dosen't seam to have proper support for wake on USB, so i can't use the remote to wake it. Not a major issue for me, beceause i keep it switched off at the wall when not in use, but still its a nasty little niggle that i wish wasn't there.
    throw new ArgumentException (String, String, Exception)

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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAnimus View Post

    The only fault is it dosen't seam to have proper support for wake on USB, so i can't use the remote to wake it. Not a major issue for me, beceause i keep it switched off at the wall when not in use, but still its a nasty little niggle that i wish wasn't there.

    Yeah this has done its rounds on the internet and Zotac have said it will only be revised in a hardware change and not a bios update so you could end up being lumbered wiht an older 'defect' board if you buy one.

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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    Check out this thread about building an energy efficient PC for 24/7 use, scroll down to the bottom: http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...ving-pc-3.html

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  20. #14
    hexus.zombeh! format's Avatar
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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    This is what I would get this:

    Athlon II X2 250 ~£68

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166519

    ASUS M3A78-EM 780G ~ £60

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150278

    4gb PC2-6400 ram ~ £34

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166461

    Be Quiet 350w PSU ~ £30

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166784

    DVD rewriter ~ £13

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/101321

    1TB Samsung HD103UJ ~ £66

    http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx


    Edited the quote to include the motherboard with onboard, comes to around £270-80 accounting for price fluctuations.

    What'll be a quite and low profile HSF for the processor, and I'm not a big fan of that case, can anyone recommend something else for the above build?

    Cheers.

    Everything above looks good but I don't like the look of that case...
    ~'Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence--those are the three pillars of Western prosperity'~ Aldous Huxley




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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    How do you feel about the Antec NSK2400? The Scythe Mini Ninja is a very good fit for the case. It will also allow you to install two slow 120mm fans and remove then fan from the heatsink.

    Btw, I'm not sure whether the latest Athlon generation has good BIOS support. Something off the back of my head tells me that the full potential only unfolds on AM3 boards. Maybe a 4850e or 5050e is better choice for now. I doubt the less in performance will make a difference for a HTPC.

    You might also be happier with the latest EcoGreen F2 Samsung generation, which run very very quiet. At least the one platter 500GB model did.

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  23. #16
    hexus.zombeh! format's Avatar
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    Re: Small, quiet media PC?

    Is the NSK2480 much different? That looks decent. Would save money with built in earthwatts PSU too.

    I take it the mini Ninja works with an AMD processor? I've had Intel for a while so I've kind of neglected the AMD market. I will definitely consider a 5050e et al if it means better BIOS options etc.
    ~'Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence--those are the three pillars of Western prosperity'~ Aldous Huxley




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