balancing CPU Power vs Keeping Cool & Quiet

[MrCarl]

Im looking at getting a Asus Pundit-R as the first stage to my HTPC and initially run it without a PVR-250 at first and just get it of the ground as a music/picture library using the tv-out of the Pundit-R.

I was unsure of what CPU to go for though as I want to keep it running Cool & Quiet so was thinking of a Intel Celeron® D320 2.4GHz. But what I need to know is when I do add the PVR-250 and try and convert it into a full PVR system will that CPU have enough power to do all the timeshifting etc?

It will have 512mb of memory & a 7,200rpm 120gig Drive by the way too...

[capone]

Most of what you are doing is no more intensive than watching a video, so excessive heat/noise won't be an issue. You'll just get heat/noise from normal use, mostly.

[MrCarl]

I have also been looking on ebay for CPU options... Do people think id be better with a:

Intel Celeron® D320 2.4GHz

or a cheaper P4 1.7GHz of ebay??

and which would run coolest??

[sjwaste]

If you want to keep cool/quiet, I would suggest going for a Pentium M or Athlon XP-M. The Athlon mobile chips are cheaper than the equivalent P-M's, so that's likely your best bet. These are normal Athlon cores, but they run the stock speed specs at lower voltages. Use as large a heatsink as you can fit, and one with an 80 or 92mm fan. The bigger the fan, the more air it can move at a given RPM, so it can spin slower. I believe Thermaltake makes a fan duct that connects between the fan and heatsink, to move the fan farther away. This reduces noise and cools more effectively by removing the fan's "dead spot" and high pressure.

[dmorley00]

Here's what I'd buy:

-AMD Sempron 3100+ (Supposedly better than the lower MHz versions)
http://www.bzboyz.com/store/product2350.html

-ZALMAN Copper CPU Cooler
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=FAN-7700CU&c=pw

-MSI K8N Neo-FSR
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdes...1c3grabb3r

-ASUS nVIDIA GeForce 6600 (non-GT)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDes...197&depa=1


Total(Before Tax & Shipping): ~$367

With a processor as fast as the Sempron 3100+, you can probably underclock it a bunch lowering the voltage as much as possible, and still end up with a decent system. Although, I don't own it, so I wouldn't know...
I am currently running a P4 2.4Ghz with a PVR-150, and I only use ~4% cpu power while recording, so the 3100+ should be overkill, but it couldn't hurt.

[sjwaste]

dmorley - I agree with everything you said except for the 6600. That's a bit much for a PVR. I see a lot of people using geforce fx 5200's for the TV out, or even a radeon 9200. Of course, if you're building a dedicated PVR, the Xcard might be a nice option. also that's a good motherboard, but man that might be overkill for a PVR. great board, though. it wouldnt hurt anything to use it.

tipstir - the OP is trying to build a quieter system. i doubt he'd want to overclock, as the necessary additional cooling will definitely make noise. plus, for a PVR you really don't need a ton of CPU unless you're using cards that rely on software encoding.

[Torque]

I'm using an old AMD XP 2100+ with a Speeze heatsink that has an 80mm fan on it. The CPU is PLENTY fast for PVR duties. The MSI motherboard I bought from new egg has an embedded video chip with S-video out and passively cooled Northbridge heatsink. Works perfect and was very cheap ($68 US for the motherboard). Oh and 768MB of RAM (32MB of that is shared with the embedded video).

[dmorley00]

dmorley - I agree with everything you said except for the 6600. That's a bit much for a PVR. I see a lot of people using geforce fx 5200's for the TV out, or even a radeon 9200. Of course, if you're building a dedicated PVR, the Xcard might be a nice option. also that's a good motherboard, but man that might be overkill for a PVR. great board, though. it wouldnt hurt anything to use it.

-Hey, who said it has to be specifically PVR based? When I finally get around to building a HTPC of my own, it will be completely(or darn near) passively cooled, from the PSU to the CPU. Zalman has a really nice looking(but relatively expensive) fanless water cooler. Might be worth it, but an air cooled fan like I posted above might be just as quiet with the right case noise insulation.

[hasso]

I'm also trying to make my PC nice and quiet, and have found the following to work pretty well:
- AMD XP2400 Mobile Chip (less power and runs cooler than normal XP chips).
- Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu CPU Cooler, running in silent mode.
- Thermaltake Fanless 350W Power Supply (expensive, but works well).
- SilenX 80mm case fan running at 7 volts.
Quiet enough (to be in the same room as the TV) and powerful enough for GBPVR.

[Paulp33]

If you can find one the 2.4 P4 with the northwood core (I think it has a 533FSB) runs much cooler than the prescotts. The arctic cooler cpu fan is extremely quiet (the fan tends to stop spinning cpu is idle, kind of scary until you get used to seeing it) and cheap. The zalman PSUs are quiet and good quality for a reasonable price.