I'm beginning to decide on parts for my next media center build. I'm looking at going with an Antec NSK2480 case (surprisingly expensive and difficult to find nowadays) and the Scythe Ninja Mini HS (also surprisingly difficult to find). I know from experience- my current primary media center uses an...

Thank you killer and lucas for the suggestions on the HSF. I have a Thermalright SI-97A in my current HTPC, but it looks like the HR-01 3U would run me about $50 with bracket, so I'll probably stick with the cheaper Ninja Mini. Just to throw it out there though, I hear the Scythe Shuriken SCSK-1000 ...

well, I'm either going to repurpose my e2160 CPU that I already have, making Intel a no-brainer, or start from scratch. If I start from scratch, I don't believe the 780G has 7.1 channel LPCM over HDMI. Of course, even the Geforce 9300 series doesn't Bitstream D-THD or DTS-MA :cry: I do appreciate th...

Hello, I have 2 questions regarding a planned HTPC build. 1. Would the Ninja Mini be the best low-profile cooler for an Antec NSK-2400 or similar case? Other options? I'll be using a basic CPU, like a Pentium e2160 clocked at 2.4ghz (currently in another machine rock-solid at 3ghz) or e5300 at stock...

I have run into the coil whine issue in the past with Antec and Seasonic power supplies. The whine manifests itself in some computers, but not in others. In fact, the only constant that I could determine was whether or not I was using the 4-pin CPU cable (but of course all systems not using one are ...

Thanks for the suggestion vortex, I'll have to check out RMClock. I did download CoreTemp, which reports temperatures for both cores individually. it shows temperatures as low as low 20's C at idle (CnQ enabled), and hits the high 40's per core at load; and at all times, the 2 core temps seem to be ...

I think you're right! :D edit: Do you by any chance have SpeedFan set to report Fahrenheit instead of Celcius? In that case, 73 idle 93 load would be normal.[/quote] I wish it was that easy, but nope, it's definitely Celcius. I ordered a Zalman zm-mfc2 fan controller, and once it comes in, I'll hook...

It's interesting that you mention the buzzing occuring during inventory sweeps and a countdown in Oblivion, Flintz. I recently noticed that if I scroll through the menus in MCE, I get a quick buzz for every menu item that shoots past- sounds pretty similar. I get the same buzzing though whether I'm ...

The Sonata does provide a good starting-off point for a quiet PC, but as you've found out, a reasonably quiet case doesn't mean a whole lot if the rest of your components aren't quiet. Dell uses motherboards with passive cooling (no fan on the chipset) and they use quiet cooling solutions on their p...

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I currently have an Antec SmartPower 2.0 350Watt, and was thinking about buying the Seasonic 330Watt. It sounds like maybe I should just stick with my current PSU for now. (Next step, getting a quieter hard drive, as that's curretly the loudest thing in my HTPC). Tha...

Quoting:"The end result is a power supply that is not the best in its class but is one of several quiet power supplies that become noisier when they are heavily stressed in a medium-to-high powered system"

What are some of the other comparible power supplies? Any of them cheaper?