Set top pc??
 

Noisy pc's bug me...A while back i would put up with the noise if the performance increase by overclocking was worthwhile...But not anymore.

I've managed to get my pc down to a reasonable noise level with the aid of thermal switches and speed adjustable everything...But there are times that even quiet isnt quiet enough.

I live with my parents, and as most of you have probably guessed i spend a lot of time online...And since theres no day or night when it comes to the internet im generally awake all sorts of weird hours....So late at night i cant have the tunes cranked up to mask the noise of my pc. Headphones work, but arent much use when my girlfriend stays over, or have friends around...

I've thought about building a low cost, low noise pc using second hand bits sourced from swapmeets, with a modified power supply and huge heatsinks on everything...But it would most likely end up being another big ugly box to hide away somewhere...

I generally dont read many docs on low performance pc's, but i just stumbled across this...Its a tiny all-in-one ITX board. A 500mhz fanless cpu is available, and the cost for the mobo and cpu would be less than $200 australian. Add another $50 or so for 256mb of sdram.

The reason im interested is because of its size....I did a search, and found one of those boards stuffed into a playstation case...power supply, hard drive and all.

It comes with tv out, lan, audio and all the regular stuff...And would easily fit into the shell of an old vcr..

I have a 300 watt atx power supply sitting here doing nothing, along with an MS Optical cordless mouse and a 20gb hard drive...plus a bunch of bits and pieces.

Since the power requirements are extremely low (probably around 60 watts) i could modify the power supply so its silent...Just set the fan so it only spins at around 500rpm. And it doesnt really need a monitor, it could just be hooked up to the tv. I'd probably grab a cordless keyboard, so it could be controlled from my bed.

So for the cost of the board and cpu, a stick of ram, a cordless keyboard and a vcr thats died, i could have a dead silent, but fully functional pc to use as a web browser/server/mp3 jukebox/divx movie box, that could sit on top of my tv.

Sound like a good idea??

That right there spells disaster all over it. Also, from experience, a cordless keyboard is going to cost you a ton of money each month in batteries; be prepared. Lastly, the idea sounds kewl, but it doesn't ring right to me, however that's just my opinion and I believe that's all you asked of me; I'm not forcing my ideas on anyone. However, I know exactly what you mean about a noisy computer. I have three and in addition to the noise, my room stays a constant 85°F in the summer, even with the A/C. :igor:

I'm all in favor of anything that makes technology more accessible. Tom's Hardware has done a couple reviews of Shuttle's mini-PCs (here's the latest. They reviewed several others, essentially covering the entire evolution of the product, all the way from the first model, to the present one I just linked). Read them over, and you might get some ideas. Keep in mind, the biggest problem is cooling. Also, look for flexATX mobos. They are the smallest standard form factor around.

If you are looking for a fanless CPU, look into Transmeta Crusoe chips, or the Via C3, and Via Eden mobos (which are about as small as flexATX mobos).

rm: This is smaller than flexATX...and it is a via eden mobo.

aj: Heres the tech sheet about the eden cpu's

http://www.via.com*****en/Products/Eden%20v1.15.pdf

These are insanely low power, low heat cpu's. The c3 usually requires a fan, so its out.

Seems like theyre halfway between a pda's cpu and a desktop's.

Ok, they'll probably work fine and not cause a burnout, but would it be enough power to do movies/graphics 'n stuff? How much are you willing to trade off?

flexATX is better though... it is a standardized form factor, so you will be assured that it will fit into any case mountings you will ever come across (although I don't think that will be an issue if you are using a VCR case :igor: ). You also have more flexibility in terms of how you can upgrade it.

The Via chips are nice... but very low powered. There are even worse then Celerons, making fullscreen divx playback virtually impossible. When I get around to making my own miniPC, I will probably use a Duron, in conjunction with a heat pipe.

there's those zalman flower CPU heatsinks that you get, that don't require a fan, and look damn pretty to boot...

Considering im not junking my workstation, im willing to trade off quite a bit of performance for silent operation.

I was originally thinking of underclocking a celeron 300a...but this would give more than double the performance...

It would basically be close to the performance of a p2/p3 at a given clockspeed....I'd most likely use the 466mhz version, which will be more than adequate for TCP/IP routing, web browsing, the odd movie and playing mp3s. I'd most likely run NT4 or 2000 pro on it.

A friend of mine does that with a 300mhz k6/2....And it has no probs.

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Rm: The vcr case came to mind because with a cordless keyboard and mouse it would just look neat...and i dont wanna cut up my playstation just yet...

Vcr cases usually have slots cut in the top for airflow, and since id mount the psu externally (wouldnt fit in), there wont be any forced airflow through the it.

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