What Socket is This Mobo?

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Hi there.

I have a kinda makeshift media center and I want to upgrade the CPU heatsink and fan, could you guys help me with identifying the socket of this computer please? I would also like to buy some sort of silent or near silent PSU for it, but I notcied it only has a 20 mobo connector and most these days seem to have 24, any help with which PSU to buy would also be very welcomed.

Microsoft Windows XP
Media Center Edition
Version 2002
Serive Pack 2

Intel(R)
Pentium 4 CPU 2.60GHz
1.00GB RAM
Geforece FX 5200
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
RealTek Ethernet
300 Watt PSU 20pin
2 x NOVA-T DVB TV Cards

I am trying to get it to be quite so I am looking for a silent fan. The reason for the upgrades is that I want to ejext this pc from its current case and put it into an HTPC case.

I would also take advice on a GPU upgrade, I know my current GPU is not nearly good enough. So an AGP GPU suggestion would be cool too :)

Thanks for your time in advance

Switch
 
Download cpuz, it should tell you the socket.
I would think its 478, but it might be 423. It should be fairly easy to upgrade the heatsink as long as its 478.

As for the 24 pin connector, most psu's with a 24pin connector come with an adaptor to convert to 20 pin. If not, these can be bought separately.

If its not playing games the fx5200 ought to be fine, and i'd guess its probably passive aswell which means silent.

For fans, you can get the akasa ambers from here and under volt them, or get the king of silent fans the nexus 120mm fan. Try and find an htpc case which will take 120mm fans, as these make silencing far easier.

For psu's, the nexus ones are bound to be silent. I think Seasonic also have a reputation for silence and quailty.

You may also want to look at harddisk silencing. The Ocuk silent max enclosure would do (scroll down).

SPCR is a good place to start when silencing a pc.
Heres a list of SPCR recomended psu's.
 
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Thank you Joe42, thats the 2nd time you have responded to my yell for help :)

Well ok I ran cpuz and it is a Socket 478.

So I can go ahead with the ThermalRight SI-120 Which is great but then I need to find a full sized HTPC case that take a 120mm fan which is going to be hard unless you know of one? Would x 80mm intake and 2 x 60mm out take fans do the job aswell like the Silverstone L10-M or the Thermaltake Bach? I am aware that these little 60mm fans are going to be noisey but I cannot find a case that takes a 120mm fan.

The hard drive silencer you mentioned would definately be something I will be considering.

This looks like the PSU for me Thermaltake Purepower Series 560w

THe Gpu is needing an upgrade, don't get me wrong it works. The bad thing is I think that it prevents me from watching a recording program while recording another, in this situation it make the recording very jittery and unwatchable. I put this down to the GPU as the rest of the computer seem to have fair specs for a HTPC.

I guess I need a 128mb gpu working at 256mbit, but I cannot find a website that suggests good gpu's for media centers, only one I came across was the x700.

Thanks for your help, much apriecated

switch
 
As you say, finding an htpc case with 120mm fans is a rarety.
Try and avoid 60mm fans at all costs, its not a very standard size and therefore difficult to find silent ones.
The akasa amber 80mm fans are probbaly your best bet then, but they will have to be slowed down with something.

While that psu is probably silent, its way too powerfull. Your system is unlikely to use more than 300 watts, as mine barely uses that (see sig).

I don't know if the gpu would be the cause of the problems you describe or not, but assuming it is, you probably want a 6600 or 6600gt.
I've used one of these in a system and found it to be ok. Gigabyte website down atm, i'll put a link in later.
 
Ok I looked at the 6800 and this looks good to me, you might say this is a little overkill being a 256mb and 256mbit but I don't plan on upgrading for a long time to come after this pc is set in to it's HTPC case so I want to try and get the best for my money that I can now.

Now that you have mentioned the PSU I looked at might be to powerful for the system I looked at the Seasonic 430w which looks good and hopefully quite silent.

So as of this moment.

Nvidia Point Of View 6800GX 256mb
Seasonic 430w PSU
2 x OcUK Silentmaxx Aluminium Hard Drive Enclosure

I will have to look for an alternative case now as it seems my selections all have 2x60mm fans.

Any suggestions would be welcome

Switch
 
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Linking to competitors of ocuk is not allowed on the forums unfortunately, better remove that.
Thats a good card, but its unlikely to be silent. You will almost certainly need an ac silencer for it.
I'll investigate the fans for you and see if there is such thing as a silent 60mm fan.

Edit: These are available in a 60mm size. Google acoustifan to find them in the uk.
Ocuk also have a sanyo denki 60mm fan here
Not sure if either of these will be silent tho.

SPCR recomended fans list
 
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OK the 6800 that you were looking at, was that a 128mb version that has a heasink on it so there for silent? If so I may consider this. Just need find somewhere that sell them. (edit I found somewhere that sell the 60mm fans already, fairly cheap at £10 each) The reviews for the acoustifans are pretty good.

OK so far.


Nvidia Point Of View 6800GX 256mb
Seasonic 430w PSU
2 x OcUK Silentmaxx Aluminium Hard Drive Enclosure
2 x 60mm Acoustifan

Now to choose a case. it's between the following.

D.Vine D4 here
Silverstone L10-M here
Thermaltake Bach here

I am open to suggestion as per usual :)

And again thanks for all your help.

Switch
P.S. Thanks for the heads up on the disallowed links.
 
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Joe42

I tried to PM you but it says I do not have the required privlliages, do I have to post a certain amount of times before beign able to pm people?

switch
 
As far as i'm aware, no 6800 series card has a quiet cooling solution, although if you think you've found one, its worth a try. The problem is fitting a new cooler voids the warranty, which is unfortunate.

You will need to check that your desired cpu heatsink will fit in these cases with room for airflow and a fan on top.

I think its best to see what the stock 60mm fans are like first before buying the acoustifan ones unless they are very cheap. A fan controller like this (bottom one) with a y splitter cable to controll both fans ought to keep noise to a minimum.
Same with the harddisk enclosures really, if the case has some good rubber mounts it will probably be noiseless.

Have you considered any antec cases?
There are 3 near the bottom which look good, although 2 are micro atx.
If i were building an htpc, i would use the antec aria, but its micro atx.
The powersupplys in them are likely to be very quiet, i have one and its dead silent.
 
megatron said:
I believe its to stop linking to competitors quite so conveniently.
Click to expand...
Judging by the severe problems that were being had with the server being overloaded due to the sheer size of the forum, i expect reducing the server load was the primary concern. And what ever it is they did seems to have helped dramatically, as we have gone from 15,000 to 18,000 users and it now feels much faster at busy times that it did before. I think they must have disabled a few of the rarely used features such as pm in forums where it isn't really needed.
 
Joe42 said:
Judging by the severe problems that were being had with the server being overloaded due to the sheer size of the forum, i expect reducing the server load was the primary concern. And what ever it is they did seems to have helped dramatically, as we have gone from 15,000 to 18,000 users and it now feels much faster at busy times that it did before. I think they must have disabled a few of the rarely used features such as pm in forums where it isn't really needed.
Click to expand...
Pms were disabled quite a while ago, but they have still had outages and slow times since.

I mean why did PMs come up in this thread in the first place, weren't they just discussing links? One of which is still against the forum rules.
 
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feriso said:
BTW- read the FAQ's, PM is disabled on this forum, this is to reduce server load.
Click to expand...

Thanks for you reply to the PM issue.

Pms were disabled quite a while ago, but they have still had outages and slow times since. I mean why did PMs come up in this thread in the first place, weren't they just discussing links? One of which is still against the forum rules
Click to expand...

I want to ask joes advice on something via a pm, it's fairly standard practice. I wonder could you tell me which link is against the forum rules and I will adjust it.

Thanks

Switch
 
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