Best case/mb/cpu for HTPC ? - completely quiet ?

mark.carline

Prominent Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2004
Messages
2,132
Reaction score
121
Points
617
Location
Chester, Cheshire
I built myself a HTPC based on vista about 2-3 years ago and now I am looking to update it to Windows 7.

I have been really pleased with it as it was based on an Intel Mobile CPU T7200 CPU and an ASUS m/b as per:

Asus N4L-VM DH i945G, S478 Mobile, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667, SATA I / II, SATA RAID, uATX, VGA - Scan.co.uk

My main problem with this m/b is that it does still have a fan on the CPU and also it doesnt have HDMI (dont really want to put a graphics card in).

I am now looking at Windows 7 and I am very tempted to build a completely new HTPC from scratch and wondered if anyone could recommend a case / motherboard / cpu.

A few years ago when I looked into this I did manage find find some cases that had aluminum cooling on the sides and a totally fanless system which sounds good - Have they moved on since then ??

EDIT: I found that case manufacturer I looked at a few years ago - They are called mCubed and i nearly got one from quietpc.com but there seems to be *alot* more available now...

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/htpccases
 
Last edited:
Mark

The mCubed Classic Case works really well providing you don't go mad with power hungry components.

I would be tempted to transfer your current setup into a Classic Case (15cm High Version). You would need a borg cooler for the CPU which you can re-use next time you upgraded your motherboard.

Either a 4350,4550,4650 or 4670 graphics card plumbed into the left heatsink with a Borg VGA heatpipes Cooler would give you your HDMI.

A Solid State Drive and a 300w Silverstone ST30nf PSU would have things pretty quiet.

The cases are not cheap but they work really well. I run three, my First a M745 Aopen 915Gmm-Hfs with borg cooled X800GTO setup has been running 24/7 for almost 4 years in a draw space with a 2cm gap around 4 surfaces.

Gavin
 
Last edited:
thanks - I am going to look into the classic ones a bit more. I prefer the idea of m/b with a couple of PCI slots (for when newer DVB-T2 cards are released) so i might do an upgrade in stages.

Are there any newer m/b that support the mobile cpu (t7200) that have built in HDMI ?
 
Mark

The only Socket M MODT motherboards for the 667 Yonah and 667 Merom
that I am aware of were.

Abit iL-90MV 945GT
Aopen i975Xa-YDG
Aopen i945GTm-VHL
Aopen i945GTt-VFA
Asus N4L-VM-DH
Gigabyte GA-81945GTMF-Y-RH
MSI 945GT SPEEDSTER

Of these, I think the only to have HDMI was the Abit.

Gavin
 
Fitting a Borg Cooler to the Asus N4L VM DH i945G Motherboard would prove tricky. As this Motherboard uses U Clips for the CPU Heatsink / Fan attachment. The Borg uses attachment through holes in the motherboard.

Gavin
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom