Quote:
Even the compact design will require good cooling therefore the need for a case fan, HSF that will provide this.
|
I have three fans in the box:
1. The Seasonic PSU fan, which runs at an almost silent speed under normal conditions (I have to place my ear next to the PSU exhaust grille to hear the fan. The PSU fan is located at the bottom of the PSU housing and draws heat from the case.
2. The CPU cooler fan, which using Q-Fan in the BIOS and a
fancontrol script I wrote, runs at about 1035 rpm under normal conditions and is inaudible outside the case.
3. A S-Flex SFF21E 1200 rpm chassis fan that with my fancontrol script, runs at about 568 rpm under normal conditions.
As I shared in a previous post, my CPU, MB, and HD temps are quite low. I think I have sufficient cooling.
Quote:
What about adding a chipset cooler fan since you seem to suspect the northbridge on the original MB?
|
I have thought about the idea. The chip set does have a built-in heat sink that runs hot but I can touch the heat sink with my fingers. Thus, hot but not terribly hot. Nonetheless, a fan focused directly over the heat sink might help. Too bad there are no sensors in the chip set to monitor temps.
Quote:
What chassis/case do you have for the 'HTPC'?
|
Unlike many people who choose horizontal cases, I chose a larger
Antec Solo case. The case uses a piano black finish which looks nice in the living room. The primary reason I chose that model is almost all of the horizontal models provide only one external drive bay, which is intended for the DVD player/burner. I wanted flexibility for removable hard drives. I figured that although my video collection today fits comfortably on one 640 GB hard drive, eventually that collection would grow. I did not want to be running additional hard rives in the box months at a time when I seldom watched most of the videos. By using a
mobile SATA hard drive bay and several
spare trays, I can insert "library" hard drives and watch those seldom watched videos without wasting lost of energy in between.
The Solo case is large with respect to how most people perceive an HTPC project, but my TV stand has open side shelves that allows me to place the system there without being an eye-sore. Another nice thing about the larger size is better heat dissipation. Yeah, I know, sounds contradictory after a failed motherboard, but at this point I'm willing to shrug off the event as "just one of those things." Motherboards do fail.
You can read more about my HTPC project
here. The project is on-going and I have two more journal entries in the queue to publish. I also will be posting about the failed motherboard. As you will discover if you read the articles, this project has been overly challenging and often frustrating to the point of cuss words and tears. Hopefully the information will help others to avoid those emotional roller coaster rides.