New PC PVR - Looking for Hardware Tips

[rob_writer]

Lots of questions, but all centered around trying to build a PC PVR on a budget, especially with regard to keeping things cool and quiet.

I have a pci Nova T-500 dual tuner which I'm happy with, but pretty much everything else will be new.

My plan is to get a fairly cheap mATX socket AM2 motherboard and a low energy consumption dual core Athlon. This is pretty firmly decided, as they both come to ~£70. The only potential saving here is buying a worse CPU, but I think the dual core is worth £10 more. I'll add to that 1GB ram for now. If I make sure the mobo has passive cooling, I should be able to get a fairly cheap yet quiet CPU fan for the low wattage Athlon? Does anyone know a good one? Is passive cooling an option on these chips?

I can use an old DVD drive for the moment, and have an old HDD that I can put windows on, but Ill need a new SATA drive to hold the recordings - can anyone recommend quiet drives?

I'll probably build the machine initially in an old case, but I'll need a new PSU. Can anyone recommend a quiet PSU that isn't too expensive.

Finally, I'll make sure the motherboard has a PCI-E slot. Which is the best (and quietest) budget PCI-E card to use with GBPVR? Gaming performance is irrelevant but DVI/HDMI output is a bonus.

Hope that makes sense, if you can help on any of the points please get in touch!

[McBainUK]

For good cool and quite advice go to here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/

[TornadoTJ]

I have a very large CoolerMaster Vortex 762 on mine, and it's silent.
https://usm.channelonline.com/ntw/hinesi...M004129462

I have the Maxtor 500gb SATA drive, and except for a VERY slight clicking when recording, you can't hear it at all
http://www.maxtorsolutions.com/en/catalo...index.html

Can't tell you about the PSU, as my Antec case came with the PSU. I can't hear it. It has an "80+" PSU in it. Probably mostly about the power savings, but it is quiet.
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=92480

Using the ATI 2600XT HDTV card in mine, PCI/e, has HDMI output.

Also, I don't remember which model it was, but I found an Abit motherboard with optical audio out for cheap. Works fine so far. I don't use the onboard video.

[Deusxmachina]

You can do passive cooling on many CPUs. Definitely need to do a little research to make sure you know what you're getting into, though. Should be able to find some specific numbers by looking up reviews for the BIG heatsinks people use for overclocking. You know, the ones that look like a skyscraper. Tuniq Tower 120 and things like that.

The problem with that is if you are firmly set on a micro board, that probably means you intend to put the micro board in a small case. But a cooler good enough to cool passively may not fit in a small case, so then there'd be less reason to consider only micro boards.

But, a good but slow-moving fan can help a lot, and if it's a silent one and/or undervolted to run slower than normal, even that should help quite a bit over just passive. It could be a 20 degree difference even just using a quiet one. And use big fans when possible, of course. A good 120mm moves a ton of air but is basically silent.

Other than that, McBain already gave the golden link for this subject.

[chunkymonkey909]

You could look at the Asus M2A-VM HDMI motherboard as this has on-board ATI 1250 graphics including an HDMI socket.
Just installed a very quiet hard drive - Western Digital WD5000AAKS.

[K.S.]

a good budget way to go would be:
- GigaByte MA69GM-S2H (DVI/HDMI output with HDCP support onboard, so no money spent on extra GPU), passive cooling
- AMD BE2400 (might not have enought horse power for HDTV!!!)
- CPU Cooler either Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro (quiet enough) or something better
- get a SAMSUNG SATA HDD, they are quiet (no clicking, no whinning, no nothing ) & don't tend to overheat. i have 2 SAMSUNG drives built in, they run at ~35°C (my brother-in-law has a box with 2 maxtor drives used as raid1 array & no case fan. they both run at >50°C, no wonder the first has started to throw SMART errors... after dumping the faulty drive & attaching a case fan the remaining one still run >45°C)
- Seasonic S12II-380 should have more than enough horsepower & is quiet & 80+
- get some quiet case fan like the Noctua NF-S12-1200 or Nanoxia FX12-1250 (have fans of both flavours at home, they are barely audible, especialy when run at lower speed with the provided voltage adapters. they both provide silicon vibration compensators for mounting)

i won't go the fanless way on a budget setup, especially not when using 2 HDDs. your setup will tend to overheat, that's gonna lower the lifespan of your box. better to mix budget components with lower power consumption with good & quiet cooling (CPU, PSU & case fan). special fanless systems (like hush or HFX), allways have a special way to get rid of the heat (expensive & unflexible heatpipe solutions, heatsinks integrated in case) & they are almost allways impossible to extend.

[rob_writer]

Thanks for all the replies guys, certainly a lot of good advice and I'll check out those products mentioned.

[toboR]

You could look at the Asus M2A-VM HDMI motherboard as this has on-board ATI 1250 graphics including an HDMI socket.
Just installed a very quiet hard drive - Western Digital WD5000AAKS.

I was just looking into that motherboard for a client PC. How is the performance? Any temperature problems?

toboR

[chunkymonkey909]

Only had it a couple of weeks. Its housed in a Antec Fusion case and is running cool with both case fans set on low and processor fan spinning slowly. The small silver heatsink on motherboard gets quite hot though. Read a review some where that said the same thing.