Media Centre PC - 2.5â€

pwnolan · Post by **pwnolan** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:56 pm

Hi,

Iâ€™ve just finished building a mini-itx based media centre PC using a Travla C158 mini-itx case and a 2.5â€

Xuestor · Post by **Xuestor** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:28 pm

The Greenpower is pretty much noiseless, I have one suspended, and it is near dead silent. The performance, I would say is enough for a Media Center build. Not like the F1 drives, but it's enough.

suzyj · Post by **suzyj** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 4:25 pm

I went with a 500GB 2.5" drive for my HTPC. It's really quiet, compared to all the 3.5" drives I've used, and uses about 1/4 the power. They're slower, sure, but you don't need a terribly fast drive for video.

The only reason I can see for using 3.5" drives is cost. They're about half the cost for a given capacity.

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:31 pm

I suspect WD GP drives enclosed in Scythe Quiet Drive enclosure (if you have the space inside the case) will be practically silent once inside. And being 5400 RPM hard drive there probably won't be any heat issues either.

leem · Post by **leem** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 6:40 pm

Hi suzyj, what model 500Gb 2.5" drive did you go for, and are you pleased with the performance?

It would be great to see an updated SPCR review of 2.5" vs 3.5" drives... I am only really interested in noise and power draw.

Are 2.5" drives really that much better?

suzyj · Post by **suzyj** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:11 pm

leem wrote:Hi suzyj, what model 500Gb 2.5" drive did you go for, and are you pleased with the performance?

I have a Hitachi 5K500. It's a bit thicker than most modern 2.5" drives, at 12.7mm. It's very low power, and quieter than any 3.5" drive I've heard, though it's got a noisier seek than most 2.5" drives that I've heard, so you can go a lot quieter if you want, though probably not in the 500GB size.

I use it in a media-centre PC, and am very happy with it. I'm considering replacing the Seagate Barracuda (very loud and very hot) in my desktop PC, but space isn't an issue there, so I'll probably just go for a WD GP 3.5" drive, because they're really cheap, even in enormous sizes.

Malvar · Post by **Malvar** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:23 am

Initially I went with the 500GB GreenPower disk, but found it was too noisy in my mediacenter. So I swapped it for a 80GB Samsung 2.5" and put it inside a 3.5" Scythe quiet drive. Which also made mounting it a lot easier.

It's now nearly silent (sensitive ears..) in open air, but I can't discern it when it's inside the case.

mimwdv · Post by **mimwdv** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:22 pm

I've got a WD10EACS hard-mounted in my server. It's currently sitting on the coffee table about 50cm from my head. As long as the drive is only doing one task at a time (ie streaming a movie) I can't hear it.

However, if the drive is really busy - streaming, plus encoding something else in the background and recording a couple of different channels - I can hear the drive running. But it's not an annoying sound, and blends into the background easily, even on a quiet night.

I'd put this around the same quietness as most 2.5" drives - and it beats some I've owned.

The fact that it runs cool is an added bonus.

leem · Post by **leem** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:36 pm

Thanks for the advice, and seems the WD Green Power are much quieter and cooler than most 3.5" drives...

But in general are 2.5" drives still better than 3.5" in terms of noise and power? and are there any recent reviews of 2.5" vs 3.5" drives?

thanks

mimwdv · Post by **mimwdv** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:53 pm

Yeah, I think so. Take an average 3.5" and an average 2.5" and the 3.5 will suck more power, generate more heat and be noisier. I haven't been following it closely enough recently to point you in the direction of specific comparisons, but http://www.silentpcreview.com/article29-page1.html will give you info on noise on various models, while storagereview.com will give info on power, performance, etc.

yamahaSHO · Post by **yamahaSHO** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:13 pm

I went with a suspended 2.5" drive and still think it was one of the best moves I've made.