HTPC/Shuttle build component advice.

AlmightyCushion

Hey guys. I'm planning on building a new HTPC for myself and I'm having trouble deciding what to get. Being a HTPC keeping noise to a minimum is important. I already have a 9600GT for the graphics card, hard drive, 4GBs DDR2 ram, optical drive, windows and a 550w corsair psu if I need it. I might be able to get a amd x2 6000 off a friend so ideally I'd like to go am2 but if the right setup was there I'd go socket 775 and spend a bit extra on cpu.

So all I really need is the case and motherboard. I'd need two usb ports on the front and about three on the back, gigabit ethernet and optical out. With regards the case I'm limited to 40cm deep. Can't remember what I'm with height/width but it's enough for me to not be too worried.

I tried looking at some shuttle bare bones builds but it's hard to find reviews on them and the ones I have found reviews on usually complained about noise. The problem with looking at a separate case and motherboard are that it's also hard to judge noise. Can anyone help me out here. Hell even if you can point me in the right direction to look for cases would be great (I've checked pixmania and hardwareversand but more options would be great).

Ideally I'd like to keep this under €250.

uberpixie

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I tried looking at some shuttle bare bones builds but it's hard to find reviews on them and the ones I have found reviews on usually complained about noise. The problem with looking at a separate case and motherboard are that it's also hard to judge noise. Can anyone help me out here. Hell even if you can point me in the right direction to look for cases would be great (I've checked pixmania and hardwareversand but more options would be great).

Ideally I'd like to keep this under €250.

Having used an amd64+ shuttle for over 2 and a half years back in the day: noise @ idle is pretty low, noise at full tilt playing a game was very loud.

I don't remember noise being terrible playing movies back on it either.
They are a very neat little unit and there were a good few options for fan control in the bios including fixing the fan speed to low.

OCUK are stocking a socket 775 and an amd2+, both are £200 plus Irish tax though so that is prob a little above your budget.

AlmightyCushion

I'm looking at this one here on pixmania (http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/1518349/art/shuttle/sn78sh7-barebone-pc-am2-s.html) which fits the bill. It has an nvidia 8200 which should handle 1080p with ease and help keep noise down (especially seeing as I more than likely won't need the 9600gt in there). There would probably be no games played on it, maybe some old megadrive or snes emulators but that's about it. Once again though can't find out anything to do with noise on this model.

As a matter of interest what do you have in yours?

Solitaire

No complaints about noise on its reviews over on newegg but apparently its fussy about the DDR2 modules you feed it

And its the same price on eBuyer (already checked; got distracted by a weird piece of gadgety fun along the way! )

uberpixie

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

As a matter of interest what do you have in yours?

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article222-page1.html
(old review)

3500+ AMD64
200 gig seagate HD
1gig of DDR1
X800XT PE (single slot with pimping blue leds )
250W PSU.

Tis still ticking: handed down to my little brother. Harddrive is the only part thats gone a bit duff.

AlmightyCushion

Solitaire wrote: »

No complaints about noise on its reviews over on newegg but apparently its fussy about the DDR2 modules you feed it

And its the same price on eBuyer (already checked; got distracted by a weird piece of gadgety fun along the way! )

Yeah I decided to go with that. Just ordered it a few hours ago. My friend is planning to use his cpu for a HTPC as well which means I gotta find one. If anyone sees a decent am2/am2+/am3 processor going cheap let me know.

Solitaire

How cheap? You can find AM3 tricores as low as €60-65 in places.