Wifey is letting me get a new toy!

[CHHAS]

I'm seriously considering getting one of these: http://www.coolermaster.com/case/p620.htm

Reviewed at Dan's Data here: http://www.dansdata.com/atc620.htm

Not only is it nice looking, it is fairly roomy, hides the ugly drives and uses a standard ATX PSU.

[RedRed]

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/netpc/netpc_detail.asp?model=Hermes_651

Chhas
This is the case I have used for some European projects....

They seem very simillar.... just colour differences, I think

we had to mod the case to quieten the screamer fan (the subjects complained)

apart from that it was fine (but really not quiet...)

[The Rock]

What about video? If you want a home theatre PC, I sure hope you can pack an ATI card in that shuttle case because there is NO other choice for a good home theatre. ATI DVD/movie playback rocks.

[az]

Matrox TV out no good?

AZ

[Guru]

Originally posted by RedRed
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/n...del=Hermes_651


Chhas
This is the case I have used for some European projects....

They seem very simillar.... just colour differences, I think

we had to mod the case to quieten the screamer fan (the subjects complained)

apart from that it was fine (but really not quiet...)

Strange the barebones we have sold have been real quiet!

[The Rock]

Matrox TV out no good?

I was referring more to ATIs DVD playback, which is the best on the market.

[az]

You know, Guru, different people have different definitions of "quiet"

Some people stubbornly state that their 10k rpm SCSI drives are quiet, others find a Barracuda ATA V just bearable.

If you intend to use this as a HTPC and living room PC, and sometimes like to listen to music with great dynamic range and quiet passages, like some classical pieces, or sometimes hear no music at all in this room and prefer to surf the web and enjoy the silence, and you or your wife happen to be a little noise sensitive (which is not a bad thing at all, shows you're not too spoiled by our too loud world, IMHO), I think you WILL find shuttle boxes, or even stock big computers, too loud.

AZ

[RedRed]

Strange the barebones we have sold have been real quiet!

When the hermes boxes were shipped to us they had a nasty fan in the side (covering PSU and Heatsink). This fan was powered from a 4pin (hard disk) power socket - we changed the fans to a regular 3 pin (motherboard controlled) and tidied up the ducting... a couple of small spacer felt washers between fan and bracket and 'hey presto' - barely audible....

It might have been the spainish partners in the project who fitted the fans in the first place - I have no way of knowing now....


Paula (my wife) likes the look of the MSI XPC model too (oh decisions).
I have to try to source one now.... I dont know what the price delta is on them... I will let you know...

It will either have a Matrox 7 or a quiet ATI.... (depends on availability, price etc....) I will probably go with the onboard sound initially (only one slot free after the AGP card...)


RedRed

[az]

If the onboard sound has S/P DIF out and it works, all is well

AZ

[VJ]

I noticed these home theater PC cases over on 2CPU:

http://www.kanam.co.kr/html/htpc.htm

They seem nice...

edit: there also is a slim version:

http://www.kanam.co.kr/html/htpc_slim.htm

Jörg

[Guru]

Originally posted by RedRed
When the hermes boxes were shipped to us they had a nasty fan in the side (covering PSU and Heatsink). This fan was powered from a 4pin (hard disk) power socket - we changed the fans to a regular 3 pin (motherboard controlled) and tidied up the ducting... a couple of small spacer felt washers between fan and bracket and 'hey presto' - barely audible....

It might have been the spainish partners in the project who fitted the fans in the first place - I have no way of knowing now....


Paula (my wife) likes the look of the MSI XPC model too (oh decisions).
I have to try to source one now.... I dont know what the price delta is on them... I will let you know...

It will either have a Matrox 7 or a quiet ATI.... (depends on availability, price etc....) I will probably go with the onboard sound initially (only one slot free after the AGP card...)


RedRed

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1090

While playing with the Hermes, I really came to appreciate just how quiet the system was. During operation it was barely audible over the ambient office noise, even when under load! That's certainly quite a nice change to the usual delta screamers I work with day in and day out. MSI claim that the Hermes will only generate 28.6dB of sound while idle, and 35dB under load. I could not measure the decibel rating, but I'd be willing to bet this is one of the quietest PC's on the market.

[CHHAS]

Well, if he's used to Delta fans anything else is quiet.

[Rimfaxe]

Originally posted by RedRed
Pretty, thats a must

preferably with some nice modern equipment (I rarely get a chance to try new stuff these days I have the window - I want to go for it

I want it to be an MP3 station, and pump out DVD's to my TV. (the kids tried to post a crayon into my last player ... I would like it to play some AVI's of movies that i might 'borrow' from DC++

I might like to play the odd game (decent - not blistering performance - I am a g400 & a Nforce user and)

use it to surf.

I will have a 15' TFT mounted beside the sofa (cant surf on a tv -ug)

I will be useing Wireless Trackball and kbd

If it is the only thing your are using the new comp for I still would recommend that mini-itx. What people use that setup is for quiet setups for mp3, DVD and TV. About that "people has warned me about VIA CPU" It was a time when the CPU was not performing good. However, to listen to mp3, watch DVD the power of those CPU's are enough (if not choosing the slowest one ), period!
I recommend to read this to understand, give you an idea of what you can do with this, it's kewl!
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/pictureframepc/

But, as I said, the HUSH is good looking too and NO fans. Install a PCI-graphic card if you arent pleased with the performance of DVD-output and you are ready to go.

[az]

www.dansdata.com has some honest and well-written reviews of VIA mini-itx stuff - I'd go over there and read some

AZ

[KeiFront]

MSI's MEGA651 review at Tech-report.