Quiet! Pentium M - Media Center Edition - Help me build it!

knrj · Post by **knrj** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:31 am

OK... so im doing a list of components i want for my new silent MCE project, and thogth you guys would have tons of advice regarding that matter.

I'll start of with the requirements

Noise:
I'm living in a small apartment in copenhagen denmark so i can not hide the system anywhre so it have to be very very quiet!

Processor:
Pentium M cabaple of playing 720P absolutely smoothly

Memory:
Dual channel something fast?
2 x 1 GB?

Video:
have to play 720p videos, have 1 x VGA output and 1 x DVI output (capaple of displaying 1366 x 768 with both 50 and 60 hz for my future LCD tv with a 1:1 pixel mapping)
-
I will never play a game on this maschine! (I will never play a single game on a PC again (just so tired of updates drivers and ****) i will get an xbox360/ps3 for that
-
Picture quality have to be stunning (only 720P thou)

Sound:
5.1 at least
I was thinking about the new creative x-fi sound card

TV-tuner:
Dual tuner

Harddrive:
FAST 200 GB or so (i always delete thing i've seen once, (never to return to then) storage is only for mp3's. VERY QUIET!

Network:
Wireless and Ethernet

Case:
Stunning looking AV styled case! with a high WAF (Wife acceptence factor)

Powersupply:
fanless powersupply? watt?

Remote:
MCE compatible remote control

Speakers:
B&W C4 (already have those)

TV:
LCD TV with support for xbox360 and MCE PC

Did i miss something?

The list so far: (i will edit this post and update the list with your sugestions)

AOpen I915GMm-HFS motherboard (that takes care of the ethernet part)

knrj · Post by **knrj** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:49 am

Added powersupply to shopping list!

sgtpokey · Post by **sgtpokey** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:34 am

i don't know what your a) budget or b) build experience is but have you taken a look at this Austiran comapny:

http://www.mcubed-tech.com

They have Aopen P-M specific fanless heatsinks that will work with your mobo choice, the all-black looks great, and it should fulfill your noise criteria.

I have one sitting at home, waiting to be built with the Aopen P-M ATX board and a variety of stuff...

You can even save *some* money if you then think about overclocking a cheaper P-M and still keeping it fanless (with the BORG heatpipe systems)

knrj · Post by **knrj** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:52 pm

keep em comming

cotdt · Post by **cotdt** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:56 pm

you need a monitor and good speakers or good headphones

knrj · Post by **knrj** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:01 pm

Updated post with speakers and tv.

CoolGav · Post by **CoolGav** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:22 am

I'd suggest a Samsung hard drive, suspended of course. The new ones are available with 200 and 250GB.

For the graphics, you might want to look at Matrox. See if they can do what you want. Perhaps an older G500 would be OK. I don't game and find they're very good for what I need. I had a Nvidea card that couldn't do TV output with widescreen...

slipknottin · Post by **slipknottin** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:16 am

Do you have another computer in the house? It might be better to put all the MP3s on that, and just play the songs over the network when you want to listen to them. That way you could get a 2.5" drive, which are far quieter.

For some of those questions, vid card, etc. you might be better off browsing the AVS forums, they often want low noise stuff as well. I can play 720p stuff pretty smoothly, and Im only on an AMD 2400+ with a ATI 9800pro. The CPU is definatly the limiting factor in me being able to play 720p and 1080 stuff. So with any halfway decent card, you shouldnt have any issues. I am doubtful you need 2 gigs of ram though, one should be plenty.

For sound card, perhaps consider the montago beach DDL
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... &CatId=107
Because with traditional cards, you get a constant clicking when switching from dolby digital, to 2 channel, etc. Im not entirely sure if the DDL solves that problem, but its a good possibility. Expensive though.