Bummer. I eventually gave in and bought the PCIe riser - I figured it was useable for the HDMI card now, and potentially for a PCIe tuner later on. Or the alternative is a flexible PCI riser like http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/index.php?redir=http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_image_products.php?inpu...

This might be out of left field (and I haven't done the research) - but what about the Gigabyte S3H? It's not uATX, but the case'll take a full size board. And I seem to remember reading that the S3H has the power control that the 2H doesn't. There's a discussion here somewhere comparing the two...

I haven't tried inverting the CPU fan - might give that a shot on the weekend. But all the airvents (both on top and sides) are so restricted that there's very little air gets through. I tried putting a nexus 80mm fan hard up against the vent holes on the left of the case, and even with the fan goin...

Yeah, the limited air is definitely its biggest problem. I fell in love with the looks and size of the case ~18 months ago, and have been trying to get it to work efficiently every since! I haven't been game to do much external drilling/cutting - my skills aren't up to doing it neatly. What I have d...

After much deliberation and tinkering I've finally got my new system configured and stable: E6400 (stock speeds @1.0V)7700-AlCu, Nexus fan mod G33M-S2H 2x2.5" HDs 3xdigital tuners PW-200-V, 80W brick Antec NSK1300 with 120mm Yate Loon fan. With this configuration it idles at 1.6GHz ~62W, Orthos load...

I've got an LC02 (see my sig) and have struggled to keep it cool enough. It just doesn't get enough air, despite significant modding. I mostly run it with the top off the case :( I'd recommend doing anything you can to keep heat out of your case - make low power consumption your mantra with all comp...

I've got this board in my SilverStone LC02 case. It's OK, but I'm very limited in the heatsink I can use due to the placement of the CPU on the board - it's a long way away from the back of the case, and interferes with the DVD drive. It needs a very low-profile heatsink that'll fit under the drive....

You were wondering earlier about running all those drives off the PSU. I don't have that board, but am running 2 sata 2.5 "drives, a 5.25" DVD drive , 2 PCI TV tuner cards and a USB tuner from a 120W Pico PSU and 80W brick with no problems. That might give you a point of comparison.

For future reference for anyone who stumbles across this - don't forget shipping costs. I'm in Australia, and short-circuit was considerably cheaper than mini-box once I took shipping into account.

well, from that link you posted your current fan is a 15x70x70mm. You won't find a good quiet one of those dimensions, but that's the same size that I replaced with a standard size 25x80x80mm case fan. If you've got an 80mm fan around, play around with it and see if you can work out a way to attach ...

If Fresh's results can be applied to the S2H it seems like it'd be a good solution, although that review is a bit of a worry. I'll get that board ordered and hope for the best. thanks for the help! You didn't mention whether you wanted or needed the DVI/HDMI output of the S2H. A low-to-mid range vi...

I've only recently put the Pico in my server (last weekend) - it seems to be holding up fine, but yes, I need to work out what its limits are - I may end up swapping my old PSU back in. I think the HTPC draws less because the chip (an old socket 754 sempron) was economical to start with, and it unde...

Well, I'm running 2 systems: Server: E6400 (stock speeds @1.0V)|7700-AlCu, Nexus fan|GA-965P-S3|Nvidia 6200LE|WD1200BEVS|3 digital tuners|PicoPSU120, 80W brick|Antec SLK3000B|4 external HDs - idle ~70W at the wall. HTPC: Sempron 3100+ (0.8V @ 800MHz, 1.2V @ 1.8GHz)|Asus K8N-E Deluxe|7000-AlCu, Nexus...

Can you do some sort of ghetto fan swap on your existing heat sink? Not sure what your current one is like, but I successfully swapped the fan on a stock AM2 sink for an 80mm nexus fan. The holes didn't quite line up, but I used cable ties instead of screws, and some weather stripping to fill in the...

My recent build idles at ~ 30W with CnQ enabled but no other undervolting:
AMD X2 4000+ 65W CPU
ASUS M2N8-VMX
2x512MB RAM
1x 2.5" 80GB HD
pioneer DVD burner
pico PSU

The server in my sig idles at ~70W, and the HTPC ~50W - all measured at the wall with a killawatt.

My digital tuners use between 3-8W (different brands) so that'll account for some of it. But you're right, it does sound weird. I built an X2 4000+ system recently, without tuner, a notebook HD, 2x512 RAM, and Asus mobo with basic onboard graphics, which sucked ~30W at idle with a pico-psu. Could th...

If Fresh's results can be applied to the S2H it seems like it'd be a good solution, although that review is a bit of a worry. I'll get that board ordered and hope for the best. thanks for the help!

Yeah, I think the Pico should do it, even with the 80W brick. Both systems in my sig are running off 80W bricks. But the HTPC wouldn't start with the PICO, but has no problems with the PW-200V. I worked out it was the 6600 that was the problem, but I never worked out why - it only draws ~50-70W even...

Has anyone had any experience with the GA-G33M-S2H board? I need to replace my GA-965P-S3 mobo, which seems to be causing lots of flaky problems in my system. This board seems to have everything I need feature-wise, but I'd be interested in any opinions, esp on undervolting, power consumption, etc. ...

Sempron 3000+
800MHz @ 0.8V (Mobo limited)
1.8GHz @ 1.2V
(Using CrystalCPUID)

e6400
Stock speeds at 1.0V
(bios - I can't get RMClock or CrystalCPUID to work on this system)

I've got 3 of the 80W bricks (model EA10953A), and I'm on 240V. From my figures, it would appear 230V isn't your problem. All figures measured with a killawatt. All 3 of my bricks measured within a watt of each other. Power spike on plugging in only the brick ~10W. Brick only draw after spike 1~2W [...

Sounds like mini-ITX has come a long way in the last couple of years. I looked at it a while back but went back to the larger form factor because good DVD output was still pretty iffy at that point. Maybe it's time to have another look.

2.5s are much quieter - and cooler which helps reduce the need for fans, too. But you can do a lot to quieten down 3.5 drives. Have a look in the silent storage section - lots of ideas there. Soft-mounting makes a huge difference - not bolting them into the case means the vibration noise almost disa...

I'd be doubtful about the video capabilities of the Epia too. If you can stand to go a little bigger (which you might need to anyway to fit the tuner), how about a cheap AM2 mATX system with a passive external brick-style PSU? With onboard video, notebook HD, and slim DVD they don't generate much he...

I'm almost satisfied - noisewise at least. My server is getting a pico-psu in the next few days to replace the s12 (for efficiency as much as noise issues), and I'm on a longer term plan to replace my 2 remaining 3.5" external hard drives with 2.5" models. After that I'm into upgrade-itis and loweri...

WELCOME TO SPCR! It sounds like you're on the right track. Just do some reading about that onboard video, make sure it's up to doing HD - I'm a bit out of touch with it at the moment. There are a number of components that you could switch around which would really help with making it quieter. (1)I'...

I'd say you've gone overboard on your video card - you could save some $$ there if you wanted to - as well as reduce your heat/noise generation. The video card won't help you process video - your CPU and RAM are the critical issues there http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/systemreqs/ . The video...

Any way of hooking up an external drive housing to your notebook to hold the new drive temporarily? Then you could ghost or whatever straight from one drive to the other, swap them over, and reboot.

2. My local PC store can replace the Silverstone PS's fan with a Vantec Stealth fan though soddering it in, and they guarantee I'll be impressed with the results in terms of quieting the PS. nooooooooo!!! the vantec stealths suck ass. like VWG says, sell the old PS and get Seasonic S12. Yeah, I wou...

And you can often (not always, though) plug a 20pin PSU straight into a 24pin socket and it works fine.