Changing PVR setup

[Pob]

SNIP
looking closer at the mobo specs it says it has a agp slot which doesn't sound right for an am2 board ... opps its not a am2 board

The OP has a good AGP card, which I guess is why he was looking at the mobo he listed. It is AM2, but not AM2+.
If he did not have a video card then, definately, one of the 780G boards (or GX should be out soon) would be ideal for an HTPC. But we all know that even the 780g boards are crap at games - the OP's GPU would be better...
The new kit I just put together was a LOT more expensive than that Tiger deal, twice the price infact (prices do not include VAT):
Item: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G Socket AM2+ onboard VGA 8 channel audio mATX Motherboard
Qty: 1Cost: £46.44

Item: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Socket AM2 (2.8GHz) L2 Cache 2MB (2x1MB) OEM Processor
Qty: 1Cost: £51.05

Item: Crucial 2GB kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4 Lifetime Warranty
Qty: 1Cost: £29.78

Item: Arctic Cooling (AC-ALP-64) Alpine 64 CPU Cooler
Qty: 1Cost: £5.22

Item: Coolermaster Elite 340 MATX Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU *SPECIAL OFFER*
Qty: 1Cost: £36.58

Item: Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache - OEM
Qty: 1Cost: £39.14
And I will probably still get a better discreet GPU, as I do occasionaly play games...
Pob

[Deusxmachina]

The OP has a good AGP card, which I guess is why he was looking at the mobo he listed. It is AM2, but not AM2+.

Good catch. I'd have a really hard time spending much of anything on an AGP board. The current video card may do the job, but the next time you need one might be harder to find and cost more than anticipated.

Anyway, I still say if hitting 60 degrees is the worst of its problems, let 'er run or maybe add some cheap fans. If it keeps going, which it should, no time or money was wasted, and if it somehow melts at 60 degrees, it was going to be junked anyway.

[gh_speedyg]

One of the things I'm trying to do with my setup is change some of the hardware. If you change your HDs and Optical drives to SATA drives, you eliminate a whole bunch of wires, which gives you much more airflow, especially in a small form factor case.

[big3b69]

I think what I may do is get a HTPC case, I found one that has up to 5 fans that might work, http://www.sundialmicro.com/silverstone_...2_701.html
I just have to figure out if my power supply is going to be able to handle all that. Thanks, Matt B.

[fluffykeith]

I agree with Deusxmachina - 60C is not a destructive temp. I have that temp in my Shuttle PCs with a similar processor and when I used one as a media PC i tried to make it quieter but failed as the PC just increased the fan speed as it got even hotter!
In fact I was hoping it would fail at that temp as I want a new Shuttle PC

My view is that these things are either protected against over temperature or if they have a reduced life the its no big deal as it will be out of date before I unwrapped it anyway!!

Adding more fans may help but at the expence of more noise, even if it is just air flow it's still not silent!

I like your idea of hacking out an old HiFi unit for a casing - my Zalman case cost a lot and its not much more than a PC case with a nice front - if I build another I'll use an old HiFi unit casing as well.