Ultimate silent HTPC for XBMC
#1
Hey all!

I'm planning to buy a new HTPC to replace my current XBOX 360. As you could guess... the reason for this is to get rid of the noise that fucker makes. Can you guyes point me to some solutions that will work for me? I don't need a HDD, I'll run ubuntu on a USB stick. Main requirements:

- needs to be able to play HD content
- SILENT!!!

That's all I need. There are about a 1000 solutions/devices on the market, but after picking the wrong one for 3 times now, I'd like an educated advices.

Thanks a LOT!
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#2
popcorn houre 100 is silent..

or you really want aXBMC pc?

p5e-vm
e8200
be sure to get a SILENT CPU cooler and a SILENT psu.. (powersupply)

no dvdrom cause that will make noise..
no external videocard cause it will have a fan which will make noise..
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#3
Thanks. I really want XBMC. I'm done enough fucking around with 2nd best solutions incl. apple TV. CPU + mainboard are not an issue. Can somebody point me towards a silent case+PSU?
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#4
dignus there are power supplies without a fan.. but cause depend on how much juice you need...

also how much many do you want to spend..?
psu: zalman ZM600-HP would be really silent..

case doesn't 'really' matter...
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#5
Just thought I might mention that you can get a decent silent graphics card. I am currently using and can highly recommend the GIGABYTE GV-NX86T256H with a GeForce 8600 GT GPU.
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#6
You can have a silent graphic card if it has a heatsink instead of a fan. Mine is a Nvidia 8500 GT. No noise at all.
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#7
right.. and what would be so much better about THOSE except MORE heat... ?

onboard video is the way to go.. keeps it cooler... and smaller.. BUT get a motherboard with the OPTION for a videocard.. that way if you really want to upgrade it for _some_ reason you can...
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#8
More heat? So what? If the system isn't overheating and is running fine I could care less if one solution is warmer than another. The fanless 8x series NVIDIA cards work well and are cheap. Onboard is fine if it has a decent chipset otherwise just get an add-in card and call it a day.
Openelec Gotham, MCE remote(s), Intel i3 NUC, DVDs fed from unRAID cataloged by DVD Profiler. HD-DVD encoded with Handbrake to x.264. Yamaha receiver(s)
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#9
do a search for silent htpc on google and you should get plenty of hits for silent cases, PSUs, and whatever else you might need.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
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#10
More heat means you need to run the case fans at a higher rpm, hence more noise. Heat is always bad for noise.
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#11
I'm very glad with my setup. Its pretty quiet. And powerful.

Spec:

Antec 2480 case replaced two case fans with Scythe KAZE-JYUNI "SLIP STREAM" 120mm Case Fan

ASUS P5E-VM HDMI mother board.

Qx9650 CPU paired with Mini Ninja fanless.

4x1G OCZ Platinum RAM

Toshiba 120G 5400RPM SATA notebook hard drive. (Which I got from a SimpleTech external HD)
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#12
sandos Wrote:More heat means you need to run the case fans at a higher rpm, hence more noise. Heat is always bad for noise.

Only if it's overheating.

BTW for notebook drives the WD USB external drives, the small ones, have nice SATA laptop drives in them for cheap. Mine was a 320Gig drive I think.
Openelec Gotham, MCE remote(s), Intel i3 NUC, DVDs fed from unRAID cataloged by DVD Profiler. HD-DVD encoded with Handbrake to x.264. Yamaha receiver(s)
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