Building silent HTPC

[Thomas]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning building a HTPC that would also double as a web server.
I've been looking at my options and I'm having trouble deciding on the
following. Could someone who has done any of the below setups comment on
them?

My main requirement is low power consumption and silent operation. Since
the box is going to be running 24/7, I dont want it to make a lot of
noise or building an insane electricity bill

Options:
a) Barebone PC: Asus Pundit-R, doubled with Celeron processor
b) Micro-ATX mobo+case, Celeron processor
c) Micro-ATC mobo+case, Athlon XP-M (mobile) processor

all of the above would with be fitted with some 3"1/2 harddisk and a DVD
drive.

I'm also going to get a TV-Tuner card: Should I just go for PVR-250 or
350, or are USB2 options viable (guess they don't have MPEG2 encoders).

Asus Pundit comes with it's own PSU. What size PSU should I get for the
other two options? Quiet options?

I would be running either Windows 2000 or 2003 OS in the box. I've read
that this might be an issue with the Pundit as it uses ATI IGP chipset?
Is this true?

Would the Athlon XP-M work with any Socket A mobo that supports bus
speed 266 and 0.13 tech? I've found it really difficult to find any mobo
that would explicitly say that they support XP-M.

Thanks for your help!

 

[David Maynard]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning building a HTPC that would also double as a web server.
I've been looking at my options and I'm having trouble deciding on the
following. Could someone who has done any of the below setups comment on
them?

My main requirement is low power consumption and silent operation. Since
the box is going to be running 24/7, I dont want it to make a lot of
noise or building an insane electricity bill

Options:
a) Barebone PC: Asus Pundit-R, doubled with Celeron processor
b) Micro-ATX mobo+case, Celeron processor
c) Micro-ATC mobo+case, Athlon XP-M (mobile) processor

The mobile Athlon is going to have the best performance/power ratio.

all of the above would with be fitted with some 3"1/2 harddisk and a DVD
drive.

I'm also going to get a TV-Tuner card: Should I just go for PVR-250 or
350, or are USB2 options viable (guess they don't have MPEG2 encoders).

PCI tuner card. DO NOT get an 'all-in-wonder' as you can't stream from and
to an AGP (nor PCI) card at the same time. And the ATI cards also use non
standard chipsets that limit your software choices.

Asus Pundit comes with it's own PSU. What size PSU should I get for the
other two options? Quiet options?

I would be running either Windows 2000 or 2003 OS in the box. I've read
that this might be an issue with the Pundit as it uses ATI IGP chipset?
Is this true?

Would the Athlon XP-M work with any Socket A mobo that supports bus
speed 266 and 0.13 tech? I've found it really difficult to find any mobo
that would explicitly say that they support XP-M.

It's unlikely you'll find explicit support because 'desktop' motherboards
aren't 'mobiles'. Generally, if it'll run a Barton XP then it should run
the mobile, although it may be shown as an 'unidentified' processor like on
my DFI NFII Ultra Infinity, but you should check posts/articles for which
ones have been shown to work.