Final setup ... any last changes?

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lirsch

Member
May 19, 2010
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Hi All,
After two-three months of digging in many forums, reading some magazines this is the final setup I've came up with for my HTPC.

Main Uses (while connected to 42" LCD and Onkyo TX-SR607)
- Play smoothly any new audio/video format and support bitstreaming
- Play mid-level graphic games
- View/Edit raw/jpg photos using photoshop etc ...
- SILENTTTTTT (most important)
- Low power consumption
- Nice aesthetic design

Setup
(you are welcome to comment, if a component should be replaced, down voltage etc ...)

CPU Intel Core i3-530 Tray
CPU Cooler SCYTHE SHURIKEN Rev.B
MOB Asus P7H55D-M Evo
GPU Sapphire Radeon HD5550 1GB GDDR2 Ultimate-Passive PCI-E
SSD OCZ VERTEX 30GB
HDD WD 2TB 7200RPM 64MB GREEN SATA2, WD20EARS
PSU Enermax Modu87+ 500W
Case Silverstone Grandia GD05 (3x120mm original fans but might be exchanged to silent ones)
Memory G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333, 1.35v, 7-7-7-21, CL7 240-pin DIMM
DVD Asus External DVDRW SDRW-08D1S (BLACK)
Mouse/Keyboard LOGITECH BLUETOOTH KEYBOARD DINOVO EDGE

Thank you all in advance ...
smile.gif
 
lsv

lsv

Golden Member
Dec 18, 2009
1,610
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71
Looks solid, but aren't the EARS (Caviar Green) WD drives 5400 RPM ? I'd say go 5400RPM anyway, it's quieter and you have an SSD in there.

Definitely change those 120mm fans for much quieter fans.
 
L

lirsch

Member
May 19, 2010
53
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0
lsv said:
Looks solid, but aren't the EARS (Caviar Green) WD drives 5400 RPM ? I'd say go 5400RPM anyway, it's quieter and you have an SSD in there.

Definitely change those 120mm fans for much quieter fans.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply.
Do you have any recommendations for silent 120mm fans?
 
Brainonska511

Brainonska511

Lifer
Dec 10, 2005
29,733
15,341
136
lsv said:
Looks solid, but aren't the EARS (Caviar Green) WD drives 5400 RPM ? I'd say go 5400RPM anyway, it's quieter and you have an SSD in there.

Definitely change those 120mm fans for much quieter fans.
Click to expand...

The Green drives have a variable speed to balance power usage and speed. I have two 500GB Green drives in my desktop - work quite nicely and haven't seen any issues with them.
 
F

FishAk

Senior member
Jun 13, 2010
987
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0
Noctua NF-P12

Also consider the Corsair H50. It's a few db quieter, and takes the place of a case fan. For quietness, I would exchange the stock H50 fan with an NF-P12.
 
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FishAk

Senior member
Jun 13, 2010
987
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Thats 40db@ 2200 RPM, and 88CFM I think. Still, the NF-P12s should be a little quieter at the same CFM due to the blade design.
 
lsv

lsv

Golden Member
Dec 18, 2009
1,610
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Brainonska511 said:
The Green drives have a variable speed to balance power usage and speed. I have two 500GB Green drives in my desktop - work quite nicely and haven't seen any issues with them.
Click to expand...

I know, I have 2. But I thought they were 5400rpm and only that speed.

FishAk said:
Thats 40db@ 2200 RPM, and 88CFM I think. Still, the NF-P12s should be a little quieter at the same CFM due to the blade design.
Click to expand...

I'd imagine they would run a lot slower than 2200rpm in his setup:)
 
Brainonska511

Brainonska511

Lifer
Dec 10, 2005
29,733
15,341
136
lsv said:
I know, I have 2. But I thought they were 5400rpm and only that speed.
Click to expand...

Maybe you're right. I don't know. I thought it was variable between 5400 and 7200. I haven't had any issues I've noticed with it. I guess if I was doing stuff that required lots and lots of hdd access, I'd get an SSD or something to work off of.
 
E

Emulex

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2001
9,759
1
71
30gb ssd is pretty weak. i'd pony up for a x25-V man. i might be biased since i get advance swap free next-day-air on intel defectives - and have had to use it once on one of our fleet of x25-M already. thank god. waiting sucks.

i just built a similar design

core machine:
core 2 q8300 @ 2.5-2.7 (turbo key), antec micro fusion 350 case, 8gb ddr2,gt220 can drive two monitors @ 2560x1600 (important to me), windows 7 ultimate, x25-V,1TB 7200, onboard toslink audio, lenovo remote, microsoft oem vista media center remote and ir blaster. spent a little much was about $542 all in all. i do have this funky asus case leftover and a keyboard/mouse, and wifi card pci-e i can donate to goodwill.

i am moving the 1TB downstairs into the nas as the subwoofer is causing it to mis-seek and this will fail the drive - you just can't have a 12" sub 6ft away from the cabinet with hardwoods - the vibes kill the drive.

7 media center with hulu desktop and xbmc with navi-x; netflix plus; the lenovo remote is 100% worth it for the cash unless you can afford something exotic.
 
L

lirsch

Member
May 19, 2010
53
0
0
Emulex said:
30gb ssd is pretty weak. i'd pony up for a x25-V man. i might be biased since i get advance swap free next-day-air on intel defectives - and have had to use it once on one of our fleet of x25-M already. thank god. waiting sucks.

i just built a similar design

core machine:
core 2 q8300 @ 2.5-2.7 (turbo key), antec micro fusion 350 case, 8gb ddr2,gt220 can drive two monitors @ 2560x1600 (important to me), windows 7 ultimate, x25-V,1TB 7200, onboard toslink audio, lenovo remote, microsoft oem vista media center remote and ir blaster. spent a little much was about $542 all in all. i do have this funky asus case leftover and a keyboard/mouse, and wifi card pci-e i can donate to goodwill.

i am moving the 1TB downstairs into the nas as the subwoofer is causing it to mis-seek and this will fail the drive - you just can't have a 12" sub 6ft away from the cabinet with hardwoods - the vibes kill the drive.

7 media center with hulu desktop and xbmc with navi-x; netflix plus; the lenovo remote is 100% worth it for the cash unless you can afford something exotic.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip and the informative description of your setup :D
Unfortunately, I've already bought the SSD on eBay (here, in my country it's very expensive). either way, I'm not going to use the SSD for anything besides OS (Win7) and some applications, so it's enough I guess ...
 
L

lirsch

Member
May 19, 2010
53
0
0
1. Case Fans - Check if the case's 3x120mm fans are silent enough, if not, replace with the following (+under voltage):
- Noctua NF-P12 (5V)
- Noiseblocker M12-P (5V)
- Gentle Typhoon DC1225C12B5AP-15 (7V)
- Scythe SY1225SL12VBL (5V) or Scythe SY1225SL12L (7V)

2. GPU - Check the performance of the i3-530, If bitstreaming and mid-level graphics performance is not that good add a GPU
which might be:
- Sapphire Radeon HD5550 1GB GDDR2 Ultimate-Passive PCI-E (my original setup)
- HIS HD 5550 Silence (DirectX 11/ Full HD 1080p) 512MB (128bit) GDDR5 PCIe (new optional GPU)
- SAPPHIRE HD5550 1GB GDDR5 HDMI (remove the fan) + VGA Cooler heatsink (like ZALMAN VNF100)
- HD 5670 or higher paired with an aftermarket passive cooler like the Accelero S1
* Important - verify each one of the above passive GPUs fit inside the case while its heatsink won't overhang adjacent slot's

3. DVD-Drive - Consider buying an internal, silent dvd-drive like Pioneer 216D DVD-RW
 
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