Planning my next project already

fonetech · 23 Sep 2007 at 22:19

Seeing as the Mozart PC 360 is coming along nicely and shouldnt be too long before its finish i have been thinking a lot about my next project.

Well I want to completely build my own htpc set up including the case from the ground up.

I have plans for it to have a graphics card with hdmi, be capable of playing both blu ray & hd dvd.

Obviously that means 2 drives but I think I can make them look nice, now it will be made of black plexi glass and polished aluminium.

Heres basically what I have in mind and get your ideas and views

I want it to be 90% silent, I can get fanless graphics & psu but think the hsf will get me so will have to use a fan somewhere, maybe 2 x ultra silent nochua 120mm.
Now heres a question, whats the quietest hard drive

Will be running windows media centre

Will be made from polished aluminium & black plexi glass

Will have polished aluminium power buttons

I am starting the design and once completed I will post pictures.

I do plan to try and get some sponsors for this, hopefully once the PC360 is completed some companies will help me out.

SGWills · 23 Sep 2007 at 22:29

bungee mod a spinpoint, keeps them rele quiet

Matt7613 · 23 Sep 2007 at 22:31

Sounds good!

Can't wait to see your current project finished though first!

-Matt

fonetech · 23 Sep 2007 at 22:34

Matt7613 said:
Sounds good!

Can't wait to see your current project finished though first!

-Matt

Mozart PC 360 is high priority as its my new main rig so theres no chance of the words back burner on this project.

This new project is something I have been planning throughout Mozart PC 360 and will not be started until thats completely finished.

vincent1989 · 23 Sep 2007 at 22:45

well you better hurry up then cos this sounds as if it may be as good

Matt7613 · 23 Sep 2007 at 22:46

Matt7613 said:
Sounds good!

Can't wait to see your current project finished though first!

-Matt

I wasn't saying it, in a don't forget your prioritys way btw. I was just trying to say I can't wait to see it done.

I'm just exciting to see the end result on both projects now

(if the second goes head.)

Anyways good luck, with them both.

-Matt

Darg · 24 Sep 2007 at 00:12

Sounds great. If I ever have the money for a htpc I am definitely going to take apart an old VCR and use that for the case. Obviously it would only really fit one drive so maybe not perfect for your case but something you can keep in mind.

benji182 · 24 Sep 2007 at 00:12

SGWills said:
bungee mod a spinpoint, keeps them rele quiet

my spinpoint is virtually silent and its only got rubber washers for sound dampening so i'd imagine a bungee mod samsung spinpoint would be as silent as a hard drive could be.

if you really wanted something to do as like a project 1.5 you could finish my server case mod while i'm at uni

Darg · 24 Sep 2007 at 00:15

The new WD AAKS drives are fast but they do tend to "chirp" a lot when getting pretty busy. If the spinpoints are supposed to be quieter then I'd go with that.

pcAnywhere · 24 Sep 2007 at 13:26

Re: HSF / Cooler

You may be able to run a lower power Core 2 with a passive heatsink... I remember reading about "under clocked" CPUs being run passively (although that may have been single core athlons...)

An alternative is to look at a mobile CPU and mini-ITX mobo; more expensive than standard CPUs but these are designed to run silent & you can get mini-itx boards with PCI-E slots..

Darg · 24 Sep 2007 at 14:07

pcAnywhere said:
Re: HSF / Cooler

You may be able to run a lower power Core 2 with a passive heatsink... I remember reading about "under clocked" CPUs being run passively (although that may have been single core athlons...)

An alternative is to look at a mobile CPU and mini-ITX mobo; more expensive than standard CPUs but these are designed to run silent & you can get mini-itx boards with PCI-E slots..

Depending on the size of the case you could fit one of the 'massive' heatsinks in without a fan. So long as there is pretty good airflow through the case and you're not overclocking it then it should work fine. I know that the E6320 in my office computer is incredibly cool. It idles around 22-25 which is just a few degrees over the ambient room temperature. That's with the Noctua HSF and fan. Without the fan I can't see it going over 40~ idle and maybe 60 load. Oh and I have it overvolted and overclocked. It still has been as low as 17C when I left the window open all night and my office was an iceblock in the morning

V|per · 24 Sep 2007 at 14:21

fonetech said:
I have plans for it to have a graphics card with hdmi, be capable of playing both blu ray & hd dvd.

Obviously that means 2 drives but I think I can make them look nice, now it will be made of black plexi glass and polished aluminium.

I do believe you can get an optical drive that plays both you know...

Darg · 24 Sep 2007 at 14:49

V|per said:
I do believe you can get an optical drive that plays both you know...

Really? I haven't heard of that. Honestly I'd be surprised that either side would license the product to be used in the same drive as the other what with the competition between them at the moment.