bburtin wrote: The minuet looks pretty sweet, but if I remember correctly, it won't fit my full-height PVR-350 card. I was hoping to set up a single-box client and server system to keep things simple. Can anyone suggest a mini-ITX case that accepts a 3.5" drive and has a riser for a full-height PCI card? I'll keep digging on my own in case I'm venturing into uncharted territory...
I'm using a MII12000 sitting inside a gorgeous silverstone LC06 http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc06.htm case.
Its got room for 2 PCI cards (I have a PVR-350 and 250 inside).
Its got a full size HDD and DVD inside. It has composite and S-Video out plus digital audio and 5.1 out.
I'm using it as a combined front/back end.
I use the S-video out plus digital audio straight to my AV receiver/amp (*very* nice sound quality with DVDs and CDs).
It comes with an 80w external power supply - a brick. So immediately you have *no* power supply noise or heat. The CPU, on the other hand, does come with a noisy fan.
With the 2 cards, I was getting heat buildup, so here's what I did:
- I took the small CPU heatsink + fan off and put a bigger heatsink on.
- I cut a round hole in the case (sacrilige!) above the CPU and north/south bridge and put a slimline silent 120mm fan pulling heat up out of the case. I run that fan pretty slow and quiet. It had to be slim cause there isn't much room.
Lastly, I found that on boot, the machine would sometimes fail. Often the network would fail first. I had heard that the machine can hit > 80W on boot, so I built a 100W power supply (just a 240->12v transformer). There have been no boot issues since I did that. Idle seems to be 25W, full power at about 70.
Lastly I have added another two external disks (400 + 320) - one via firewire and one via USB2.
With the R5C7 release, this has been as solid as a rock (nice work cesman et al and the mythtv people).
If I was to do it again:
I'd look for a bigger case. I wanted small and silent. I've pretty much nailed the silent requirement but its been a lot of work. (you're only seeing the summary above). I've since realised that small isn't a good idea because:
a) its much easier to deal with heat in a big case
b) you can add more disks internally and cheaply
c) my AVR receiver/amp is much bigger than my PVR.
Silverstone has some equally gorgeous big cases, like their LC10 http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc10.htm
I really like the EPIA mobos - I like the incredibly low power usage and ability to run with minimal (or no) fans. But you need to make some comprimises:
- always store DVDs in full quality because you dont have the grunt to convert
- dont transcode tv programs
- mythstreamtv doesn't seem to work because it doesn't have the grunt to drive VLC fast enough.
Hope this helps.
Paul.
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Unfortunetly, I have to give that puppy back.