[mythtv-users] EPIA SP8000E questions

[R. Geoffrey Newbury]

On Mon, 3 Oct 2005 08:39:27 +0100, Andrew Morley wrote:

>At 11:46 -0500 2/10/05, R. Geoffrey Newbury wrote:
>>I have the SP13000 board. For the small difference in cost, go to the
>>SP13000. Go up to 512M memory. You only have one DIMM slot so make you
>>decision now.
>
>I don't think the small difference in cost is the issue- it is the 
>small difference in fans - the 8000 has none and the 13000 has one 
>which is unacceptable for some people (including me). I'm considering 
>getting an EPIA-based system myself, and don't want a fan on all the 
>time.  Admittedly, I'm proposing using it for front end only....

The fan on the board is not very loud. I bought a Silverstone case LC11M
and replaced the 80mm extractor fan in the case with a model from Silenx.
While buying that, I bought a 40mm Silenx fan for the CPU, but that was
basically a waste of money. The power supply is basically silent on this
box. The DVD makes a LOT more noise than the mother board does.

At the moment, the Silverstone case is on top of my credenza, where I am
typing this. It's closest corner is roughly 18 inches from my left ear. My
desktop box is on the floor at the end of the credenza, so it is
approximately twice as far away as the fans of the Silverstone box. The
desktop box has its fans at the back, venting towards the wall... and the
desktop box is noisier than the Silverstone box. The noise the Silverstone
box produces is mainly from the 80mm extractor fan, NOT the cpu fan.

So find yourself a good case and don't worry about the motherboard being
noisy. I was playing a DVD yesterday and started wondering about how long
it would take to copy the DVD to the hard drive, before playing it,
because the DVD player is that much louder than the box. If you are going
for a frontend, without a DVD and the box is under/beside the TV you will
have nothing to worry about. And a frontend, with or without DVD doesn't
necessarily have to be nearby or in the open. If a remote IR sensor is
difficult there is always the ATI usb radio remote which can easily live
at the end of a few metres of USB cable.... The 'no-box' solution...
Geoff

R. Geoffrey Newbury                          newbury at mandamus.org
Barrister and Solicitor                         Telephone: 905-271-9600                 
Mississauga,Ontario, Canada              Facsimile:   905-271-1638