Would love to see some power consumption figures if you have them. I'm considering a similar build (different case though) and want to know what I can expect.

Wow, that looks amazing! As an aside, for best performance of a passive heatsink, you'd normally want the fins to be vertical (for thermo-buoyant flow), not horizontal. It probably doesn't matter much in your case because you have such huge (overkill, in a good way) heatsinks (and you've been succes...

Hey steve, Pretty nice small box you build =) Btw since you are into this type of PCs, i wanted to ask you, I have a TV that its not a SmarTV, so i want to add Netflix, Hulu, playing on lan movies, and the ability to monitor my IP cameras, so was thinking on adding your the Celeron MSI Cubi, specia...

I use a FLIRC + my old Tivo remote to control my HTPC (I use xbmc too). I believe FLIRC looks just like a keyboard to the PC, so it should be able to do Ctrl+F1 (or whatever key combo your mobo uses) to wake from sleep. I have not tried this on my system, though. Some say FLIRC is pricey, but I have...

No browser. So, no access to the free side of Hulu, or any of the networks that provide streaming access. Fair enough :) I tried doing things that way for a while, watching shows like The Daily Show from their streaming site via browser on my HTPC. But they annoyed me so much with the same ads play...

Curious why you went this route instead of something like a Roku3? My main pc does double-duty as my HTPC (small apartment, so I can run cables to my display and receiver pretty easily). I use xbmc for my ripped tv/movie collection and love it. I use a FLIRC IR receiver with my old Tivo remote and i...

Nice, I'm thinking of building something similar. I'd be very interested in power consumption figures if you have them.

Wow, thanks Abula, what a great response! I was originally thinking matx so I could re-use my current case, but am considering mini-itx as well if I find a case I like. Since this is my main + HTPC, I keep a lot of movie files so I have a 3TB drive on board, so I never really considered a NUC due to...

Resurrecting an old thread here... I'd like to put together a low power consumption machine like the ones mentioned above (15W-ish) as my next main PC + HTPC (one machine has to do double duty). I'm tempted to just recreate what was done above, but it's now 2 years later... surely there are better c...

Do you have any comments, on these temps and the test? Do I miss some interesting conclusion? I'm surprised your idle power consumption is 44W with that setup. I've seen some others here with similar configs (no discrete VGA, only 1 spinning platter, i3 or low i5) idle at 15W. Wonder what the diffe...

Until batteries offer substantially better energy density we should settle for electric cars with short ranges rather than ruining them with massive batteries. That is what the Volt is basically doing... providing an electric car with a smaller (lighter) battery, plus a range-extending generator so...

Most of this concern with noise seems to be about the idle noise. Actually, no, it's not. I only have a few data points as I've only been in two gas cars since getting my Volt. One friend has a 2011 Nissan Rogue, another has a 2007 Mazda3. In each case, I found engine noise and vibration annoying t...

If I go 75mph, I get 38mpg when purely on gas. One time I could only go 45mph due to heavy traffic for about an hour and got 45mpg on that stretch. My old car (2001 Nissan Altima with 2.4L 4 cylinder) was getting about 25mpg at 130k miles... it used to do a little better. If you're a traveling sales...

Because the Volt allows me to drive just like a normal gas car when I need to. I have hobbies that cause me to travel 80-100 miles roundtrip about once a week. A Leaf, with it's max 100 mile range, would not work for me (too close to its max range, which would be reduced if I had other errands that ...

It's great on the highway! Well, going 70+mph kills range a bit when in electric-only mode, but it's still eerily quiet. I'd say road/tire noise dominates over wind noise (they did a lot of work on aerodynamics for this car). Perhaps some luxury gas cars might sound similar, but I don't have any exp...

Buy an electric! I bought a Volt two months ago and have been loving it... when using the battery it's eerily quiet and has no vibration. I call it my magic carpet ride because it's just so smooth. The gas generator (which is only needed after 40 miles or so) can be noticeable at lower speeds, but I...

Where can I get the PINOUT for a RM112, and compare to a standard ATX connector to verify? Has anyone tried an HP slimline adapter with a dell? I modded an RM112 a few years ago (still use it, works great). IIRC, the wire colors match the normal ATX PSU wire spec. I verified each with a voltmeter w...

I'm interested in building a similar system (same cpu and mobo) but would like some more info on loaded power use. I have a modified Dell RM112 psu I would like to use and just want to make sure the loading is acceptable. cbutters (or anyone else with a similar setup), if you're still around, would ...

If you're worried about power consumption alone, replacing components is unlikely to pay off either financially or environmentally for decades. There's no point in big outlay for even (if you're lucky) a 20W difference. I've done the math... going from 40W idle to 20W idle would save me over $50 / ...

The EcoGreen recording has a reasonably pleasant sound (to me) but loud seeks, the WD Red 3TB is pretty loud in comparison (I think) but the 1TB again has a nice character, so 2TB would be in between. My 3TB Red is the quietest drive I've ever had. When I was setting it up I had it in one of those ...

I had some spare time and scoured the WD site up and down. There is no notice or information to suggest that the Red drives were somehow unsuitable for desktop drives. The only notice there is is concerning the use of consumer drives in RAID installations versus RE enterprise drives. Hmm, ok, good ...

What are the contraindications to use the Reds as INTERNAL drives in a DESKTOP? None, afai can see. I'm actually planning to replace a 2TB WD Green in the newer of my 2 desktops with one of these 3TB Red samples. The older Green's seek noise is starting to bother me. I think I will see a little boo...

I use a FLV Downloader that is found at http://www.flv.com/flvdownloader.html . It is free and works great. It is easy to use if you aren't particularly computer savvy. If she is sending files they might need to use a FLV player which can also be found on that site. Thanks for your $0.02, but I thi...

Do you recommend replacing the 120mm rear fan that comes with it? How about the front fan spot, fill it or leave it empty? For the HDD I'm not sure if a foam block, suspension in a 5.25" bay, or trying to stick some rubber grommets in there is the best way to go. I replaced the rear fan without eve...

I use a 341 for my main computer and I like it. It doesn't rattle at all. I looked pretty hard 1.5 years ago when I built it and it was really the only one i could find that I liked. Like you, I didn't want a drive cage in the lower front, though I do keep my hard drive there (resting on foam and so...

Stock electronic components are often mounted in ceramic or epoxy shells. IF they did not conduct enough heat, they would die. Hmmm... perhaps despite having a low thermal conductivity, they still manage to move the heat to the heatsink? Ceramics used for electronic components are nothing like cera...

As a mechanical engineer, I don't know where to start... You clearly have a tinkerer's spirit, which I can usually admire. But your logic in this case is horribly flawed and potentially dangerous. The reason your mod "worked" had nothing to do with the pieces of tea cup you glued onto the heatsinks....

Note that to take full advantage of the MB973 and similar devices (and eSATA connected peripherals as well), your system must be setup to support SATA hotswapping. The SATA controller used must be set to the AHCI or RAID in the BIOS/UEFI and the operating system installed has to have the proper dri...

FYI, the link in the first post is incorrect/broken. It should be http://www.silentpcreview.com/intel-gig ... therboards.

I use this and it works ok. I connect it from the vga out of my 785G mobo, it converts to S-video that I feed to a 480p projector. It's not perfect, it cuts off a little from all sides, but it's acceptable for how I use it (mainly videos I download). I haven't tried tweaking it too much so maybe the...