Re: Old horizontal HTPC case (full ATX)
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 9:59 am
After looking for a cheap Windows 7 or 8.1 license and not finding anything, I took the leap with a Windows 10 license.
So far the OS does not seem ideal but not too bad.
I stress tested with Prime95 and Furmark. With Prime95 at maximum settings, the computer pulled about 134 watts at the plug and the CPU temperature seemed to stabilize around 64° C with the "silent" fan profile but at least one fan ramped up because the noise level clearly increased. Furmark only drew about 125 watts at the plug and while it looked like the GPU temps were climbing, the test ended before the fans started to ramp noticeably.
My idle draw is around 34 watts so slightly disappointing although hibernate is around 3 watts.
All in all, I think it is pretty good. The GPU is underpowered for gaming (GTX750 non-ti) so it will be dealing with much more GPU soon but I'm not predicting problems.
The Macho 90 just barely fit but seems to be doing a fine job.
My PSU is a 450 watt 80+ gold which should be much more appropriate once I get a powerful GPU.
The noise is hard to judge because my test spot has a high noise floor with a ticking clock, attic exhaust fan and some not quite silent electronics.
The only times it was noisy was installing software off the BD drive and the Prime95 burn in when a fan ramped up. I was worried about the case lid vibrating and transmitting noise but that never was a noticeable issue even without screwing the lid to the chassis.
I'm going to call this a successful experiment, an "obsolete" horizontal HTPC case can be close to silent if the layout is decent and you get parts that will work well inside it.
My Gigabyte Motherboard does not have the most advanced fan control but with low speed fans that does not seem to be an issue, "silent" mode is actually pretty quiet.
So far the OS does not seem ideal but not too bad.
I stress tested with Prime95 and Furmark. With Prime95 at maximum settings, the computer pulled about 134 watts at the plug and the CPU temperature seemed to stabilize around 64° C with the "silent" fan profile but at least one fan ramped up because the noise level clearly increased. Furmark only drew about 125 watts at the plug and while it looked like the GPU temps were climbing, the test ended before the fans started to ramp noticeably.
My idle draw is around 34 watts so slightly disappointing although hibernate is around 3 watts.
All in all, I think it is pretty good. The GPU is underpowered for gaming (GTX750 non-ti) so it will be dealing with much more GPU soon but I'm not predicting problems.
The Macho 90 just barely fit but seems to be doing a fine job.
My PSU is a 450 watt 80+ gold which should be much more appropriate once I get a powerful GPU.
The noise is hard to judge because my test spot has a high noise floor with a ticking clock, attic exhaust fan and some not quite silent electronics.
The only times it was noisy was installing software off the BD drive and the Prime95 burn in when a fan ramped up. I was worried about the case lid vibrating and transmitting noise but that never was a noticeable issue even without screwing the lid to the chassis.
I'm going to call this a successful experiment, an "obsolete" horizontal HTPC case can be close to silent if the layout is decent and you get parts that will work well inside it.
My Gigabyte Motherboard does not have the most advanced fan control but with low speed fans that does not seem to be an issue, "silent" mode is actually pretty quiet.