The most basic HTPC. . .

[soulprops77]

So I need some advice.

I'm getting tired of waiting for a media extender so I figured I'll make myself one.

Can anyone recommend the baseline system for playing back all of my sage content on a standard TV. I won't need a tuner card since it will only be a client box. I'd also like it to be tiny and quiet.

Any ideas?

[JUC]

I like shuttles for extenders/clients. You could probably pick up a cheap older used one somewhere, drop in a decent video card and a small hard drive, a stick of 512mb Ram and you should be all set. Small footprint and in most cases quiet.
JUC

[dagar]

quiet and shuttle?

FWIW I have 2 that are anything but that; acceptable when watching tv but that's only because I ripped out the 40mm screaming psu vortex fan and put in a 14db one and stuck a panaflo 80mm in place of the sunon grinder fan. The only problem with that solution is that it makes heat an even bigger issue.

I have an SN41G2 and an SK41G and like them otherwise.

[JUC]

I have had no issues with heat or noise in my sn85G4V2...I use speedfan to keep the fan down to around 2% and it is barely audible. Granted, when I had two hard drives, a video card and a capture card in there it would get a little hot. But, since I removed one HD and the capture card temps are good all around and speedfan rarely ever bringts the fan above 2%. Acceptable for my HTPC needs.

[dagar]

That's good. They are supposed to have the newer PSUs. It's the older ones ... and a 'new' PSU for them is ~$80 or so.

[JUC]

I remember hearing that they don't even sell--or the supplies are very limited on replacement PSU's....

Anyway, dagar, you are right about the new PSU's---they are quiter and I also remember people saying the old ones ran hot and were noisey so I guess if someone was looking at getting a shuttle they should make sure they have at a minimum the newer 240W silentPSU in it. So, I guess that defeats the purpose of looking for an older cheap one huh?!
JUC

[blade]

When it comes to acceptable noise level take what everyone says (including myself) with a grain of salt. What is quiet to someone else may be totally unacceptable to you. Sound is very subjective. I'd suggest checking out http://www.silentpcreview.com/ if you haven't already. They used to have some good information on their forums, but I haven't checked them out in awhile.

I have a Silverstone LC04 that I had bought to use for my client after reading good things about it. I never could get it quiet enough to satisfy me so it's just sitting gathering dust at the moment.

I'm using a standard mid-tower case tucked away out of sight in my living room. I have 80mm panaflo fans at 5v on the cpu, video card, and the case's front intake. Those I can live with. I can't hear them from more than 2 feet away.

For the PSU I've tried both yate loon and panaflo fans at 7v and both are far too loud for my taste. I could live with them at 5v sound wise, but they don't generate enough airflow. I think the only way I'll be satisfied with the noise is to get a powersupply with a 120mm fan and put a nexus at 5v in there.

[michelkenny]

When I was looking around for my 1st Sage client, I looked at a shuttle case that had an external brick-style power supply. While I didn't buy that model (or any shuttle for that matter), I found it a great idea! Having an external brick meant a) no heat from the PSU to warm up the rest of your computer and b) the brick is also fanless! You may want to consider a brick-style power supply if you want noise to a minimum.

[dagar]

found any bricks that'll work as 350W ATX PSU replacements? and that have some reasonable efficiency?

[michelkenny]

I don't think you can get bricks as a replacement for a real PSU. The shuttles that I was looking didn't even come with room for a standard PSU inside the case... there was just another plug in the back that took the special brick PSU plug. It was basically like plugging in a VCR with a removable power cord.

[dagar]

I haven't looked in a while. Soldam was supposed to have one out in the >=300W range. But as with all things Soldam, is spendy