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**ashlar** · (This post was last modified: 2010-12-02, 18:12 by ashlar.)

I want to give an XBMC Ion box to a friend, as a gift, and I know his receiver does not accept audio over HDMI.

This leaves out the fanless Shuttle XS35GT series.

So, what are the quiet alternatives? Reading around the net I don't see many enthusiastic comments on what's available, as far as noise produced is concerned.

What about the ZBOXHD-ID11-E, the classic ASRock ION 330 or the Lenovo IdeaCentre Q150?

Something coming with a built-in remote sensor would be much appreciated as well.

prae5 · 2010-12-02, 18:05

Revo 3610 is pretty quiet. I've got a Zotac coming in the next few days - should be able to give you some feedback on that soon.

For quietness the Shuttle cant be beaten - have you thought about using it with a usb spdif dongle?

rbrohman · 2010-12-02, 18:08

Zotac IonITX F-E is fanless and has SPDIF out (1 coax, 1 optical). There's a mail in rebate from Zotac right now, so it's a pretty good price.

I got mine from NewEgg Monday. I'll let you know once it's all setup.

Geeba · 2010-12-02, 18:11

In the same boat and hoping for prae5's help! LOL! Wink

Got my eye on this...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ZOTAC-ZBOX-HD-ID11...20b166acae

seems a really good price.

**ashlar** · 2010-12-02, 18:23

rbrohman Wrote:Zotac IonITX F-E is fanless and has SPDIF out (1 coax, 1 optical). There's a mail in rebate from Zotac right now, so it's a pretty good price.

I got mine from NewEgg Monday. I'll let you know once it's all setup.

I'd be interested in the whole build (case, memory, disk, remote, etc.), thank you!

rbrohman · 2010-12-02, 20:00

ashlar Wrote:I'd be interested in the whole build (case, memory, disk, remote, etc.), thank you!

Case: Apex MI-100
Memory: 1 x 2GB DDR2
Disk: Seagate 1TB
Remote: Rosewill MCE Remote

I needed svideo out, so I also got an 8400GS card with passive cooling.

All this and the motherboard, with shipping (to Canada) and taxes was $360 when I bought it during newegg's and NCIX's Black Friday sales.

I had it all put together in about an hour (wasn't too tight at all, but I've got small hands). I was able to boot from a USB drive with no trouble (using http://www.pendrivelinux.com/ and http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) and ran SeaTools DOS. That's as far as I've gotten so far.

The only fan is the one on the PSU, and it's very quiet. "Quiet" is subjective, but I had the box sitting right beside me on the desk and didn't notice the fan at all. I'll let you know what the temps get like once I've run it through the gears.

>>X<< · 2010-12-02, 21:37

Just thought I'd mention the Asrock has a very nice DTS encoder I bought my parents one and they don't have the greatest amp so I have all 5.1 tracks come out in DTS 5.1 and stereo tracks come out in DTS NEO 5.1

poofyhairguy · 2010-12-02, 23:53

rbrohman Wrote:Zotac IonITX F-E is fanless and has SPDIF out (1 coax, 1 optical).

Lets not jump the gun there. That board is NOT fanless-it comes with a fan. And I will say right now that if you don't have a fan somewhere near it circulating air it will overheat. You can not use that board in a completely fanless unit, I have had one for a while and I have tried.

I vote for a Shuttle with USB optical...

rbrohman · 2010-12-03, 00:17

poofyhairguy Wrote:Lets not jump the gun there. That board is NOT fanless-it comes with a fan. And I will say right now that if you don't have a fan somewhere near it circulating air it will overheat. You can not use that board in a completely fanless unit, I have had one for a while and I have tried.

I vote for a Shuttle with USB optical...

It seemed to me like the fan was an afterthought, or only for poor airflow cases, as there's no dedicated mounting for it, you just screw it into the fins of the heat sink. The writeup in the manual made me laugh - "if your system working in a torrid room, you can append a fan to heat sink". Didn't think I had to worry about torrid conditions up here. Big Grin

The PSU fan in my case ended up being pretty much right on top of the heat sink. Maybe I'll get lucky? I guess I'll find out soon enough.

poofyhairguy · 2010-12-03, 00:31

rbrohman Wrote:Maybe I'll get lucky? I guess I'll find out soon enough.

That case you bought has a PSU that purposefully cycles the air around the CPU. If you didn't know that going in you are lucky, that is why I always recommend those Apex cases (as in that one and its less shinny sibling) to Mini ITX builders....

Geeba · 2010-12-03, 00:31

Is USB SPDIF any good? can you get 5.1 working out of it... or is it just another problem that you have to crack the code open for?

rbrohman · 2010-12-03, 00:47

poofyhairguy Wrote:That case you bought has a PSU that purposefully cycles the air around the CPU. If you didn't know that going in you are lucky, that is why I always recommend those Apex cases (as in that one and its less shinny sibling) to Mini ITX builders....

I was due to get lucky. With 3 young kids in our house it sure doesn't happen often! Smile

nc88keyz · 2010-12-03, 03:26

i picked up a lenovo q150, for 179.99 shipped after 150 lenovo coupon through corporat perks.

The 150 off 300 coupon was from overwhelming offers mastercard site.

Nice price and comes with the lenovo multimedia kb, mouse remote.

How can you go wrong.

BORIStheBLADE · 2010-12-03, 03:36

Fanless with a internal connection for S/PDIF.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

**ashlar** · 2010-12-03, 16:50

nc88keyz Wrote:i picked up a lenovo q150, for 179.99 shipped after 150 lenovo coupon through corporat perks.

The 150 off 300 coupon was from overwhelming offers mastercard site.

Nice price and comes with the lenovo multimedia kb, mouse remote.

How can you go wrong.

By not telling me it is quiet. Rofl