Best configuration for a simple small factor

[kataleen]

I just borrowed from one of my friends this case:
http://www.pcdiga.net/showthread.php?t=28421

I am not happy with it because it's too big and a bit noisy. I am still not sure if the noise comes from the PSU fan or the hard drive vibrations throughout the metal case.

I am searching for another smaller case designed for one 3.5 hdd plus a slim dvd. My plan is to house a standard 3.5 HDD in the slim drive bay.

I am also looking for an external PSU.

[Crossie]

I am not happy with it because it's too big and a bit noisy. I am still not sure if the noise comes from the PSU fan or the hard drive vibrations throughout the metal case.

I am also looking for an external PSU.

I wouldn't mind betting it's a bit of both but PSUs are notoriously noisy especially cheap ones - has it got a small fan?

Did you get to the bottom of the PSU rating requirement? Online PSU calculators suggested about 90W for my configuration so I was looking at 100-150W PicoPSU threews.mini-box.com/site/index.html (I cannot post links yet <5 posts) to have some headroom. I cannot find 150W in stock anywhere but 120W is available.

I will post here if I find a case that I like!

[kataleen]

I have no idea about the PSU. It came with the case, so I couldn't really complain about it. However, I did some research on the Atom 330 power consumption which should be around 45W loaded.
Check this thread that I started on the same subject and includes some power consumption posts.
http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/fo...thread/106375/
I am planning to do the same thing as you; calculate the overall loaded wattage and search for the smallest, possibly fanless and external PSU.

[Crossie]

Interesting that the thread you posted suggests the Silverstone SG05, I have been looking at that today and have emailed Silverstone to see if 2 x 3.5" drives will fit if the optical drive is not needed - a DIY bracket would be needed. I'll post reply.

I think it should be possible:-

http ://farm4.static.flickr.com/3332/3335710903_c521acf95b.jpg I still haven't reached the magic five posts needed for links!

[just-me]

I've just built a small machine to act as a home server. I used the Asrock A330GC a spare 500GB Samsung 2x512M sticks of RAM and a 2nd US Robotics GB network card in the PCI slot. It's got a single 92mm quiet fan and uses a 120W power supply I had laying around. The whole setup uses about 40 Watts. I'm really pleased with it except that the network cards are a bit grumpy with the older Linux kernel that my chosen distro uses.

I had extra fun buy using a case never intended to contain a computer.

:¬}

[Crossie]

Silverstone were quite helpful and suggested that I should easily manage to fit two 3.5" drives to the SG05 but were at pains to point out I would invalidate my warranty by drilling the case etc.

Anyway, I made a flat plate to fit in place of the disk tray provided by Silverstone and then mounted the two disks to that with some side plates. I might fine tune this by adding some strengthening to the edges of the plate due to the weight of the two disks and perhaps some holes for heat from the top disk to escape.

Ubuntu installed like a dream as did squeezecenter so overall really pleased. I will add some pictures when I get a chance.

The server is noisier than I had hoped and I suspect the main source is the 40mm chipset fan. Longer term I would like to replace this with a fanless solution - any thoughts on a suitable heatsink for a D945GC chipset?

I will probably have to replace the SG05 PSU with a PicoPSU in order to make space for any significant sized heatsink but this will get rid of the second fan and just leave a very quiet 80mm case fan.

[peterb]

Crossie Kataleen and just-me - welcome to Hexus Great to see new active members in the building and experimenting section - look forward to seeing some pictures! Good to see some more Linux users too - there is quite a lot of Linux expertise among members of the forum.

[Crossie]

Finally got the northbridge heatsink off and glued Zalman flower heatsink on with Arctic Silver.

Replaced case PSU with picoPSU 150W.

Pictures to follow - Sorry but I'm splitting my post to get my magic fifth posting in to enable links ;-)

[Crossie]

[just-me]

Here are a few pictures of my home server box. I may make a new front panel as this one was just a quick job to fit it all together.





:¬}