Putting together a client - advice?

[Mahoney]

Hi all,

I'm interested in putting together a client for Sage. I've worked out certain components I want:

* Gigabyte 7600GT passively cooled
* 512MB RAM
* Samsung SpinPoint P80 40GB HDD

I'm struggling on the motherboard and case.

Motherboard:
* Must accept PCI-E graphics card
* Must have decent onboard audio
* Must be socket 479
* Must have gigabyte lan
* Must do Wake on USB
* Must be quiet - no fans!

Case:
* Must be reasonably attractive livingroom style
* Small as possible, but accepting the 7600GT graphics card and the motherboard
* Must have integrated MCE receiver

Any recommendations? Price is an issue, I've spent far too much on SageTV already...

Also, any advice on the processor? I'm choosing between the Celeron M380 and the Core Duo T2300; the latter is £100 more expensive, but if the M380 is not going to be able to cope with 1080i (in conjunction with the 7600GT and PureVideo) then I'll take the Core Duo.

I presume I need XP Home rather than Linux to benefit from PureVideo?

[Mahoney]

Further thoughts!

How does this (much cheaper) spec look?

A Open XC Cube EX761 - 275 watt PSU
Sempron 2600+

I reckon I can mount the external MCE IR receiver in the 3.5" floppy bay. Only question is whether a 2600+ Sempron is up to the job of dealing with HD video in conjunction with the 7600GT and PureVideo. All told the client, including all software, could come out at £450, which isn't cheap but isn't too bad either.

[paulbeers]

I use a sempron 2600+ with a passively cooled 6600 in overlay with no problems with only using 50% processing power. With that much more powerful vid card, I see no problems.

[Mahoney]

Are you playing back HD? If so, sounds like I have a workable proposition at least.

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by Mahoney

* Must be quiet - no fans!

Uh, I believe that the passively cooled cards requires some sort of case fan at least, they relies on air being drawn into the case pulled across the cooling fins from a neighboring open PCI slot or air movement from the cpu or power supply fan. Regardless, you need some method of getting the heat away from the hot components. There are heat pipe cases that draw cpu heat into the case sides etc, but you still need to get the heat away from the graphics card. Otherwise, your making a little oven in there. I destroyed all my sisters easy bake recipes years ago, so unless you still have yours I'd definitely plan on some sort of fan. I'd bet that the A-Open bare bones kit you spec'd has one for at least the CPU, though often those small cases are ducted.

As far as HD, I have a 3200+ single core and a 6600GT. It all works in overlay mode, but not well in VMR9. It's hard to say if you'd have problems with VMR9 with the 7600GT and a 2600+. I have a friend who has the 7600GS, and he loves it. He isn't using SageTV so I doubt if he knows whether he is using overlay or VMR9.

If you can wait another month, Intel will be launching their new platform. Rumor has it that the next day there will be a big price drop on the older chips from both Intel and AMD. So you’ll likely be able to get more CPU for your money by the end of July.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Mahoney

Are you playing back HD? If so, sounds like I have a workable proposition at least.

Yes. I am outputtin 1080i to my big screen (CRT rear projection).

[Mahoney]

Thanks for the advice on the chips - "no fan" was a stupid thing to say, perhaps "minimal noise" would be better.

I'm quite interested in the nVidia 6150 chipset, as that does everything possible for SD using onboard graphics and is able to do HD just without some of the nicest features. Unfortunately I can't find a barebones system using it that provides a PCI-E slot for future upgrades and somewhere to house the MCE IR receiver.

[Mahoney]

Thaks for the confirmation, paulbeers.

[src666]

Well, I'm very happy with my Shuttle PC as a client. It is almost totally silent, except for the DVD drive. The only time you hear fan noise is during a reboot, since the fan spools up to full speed until the system can monitor the temperatures. I'm not sure I would put it in my bedroom (I'm very noise sensitive, and it isn't totally silent), but I would say that the normal operating noise is under 35 dB