[mythtv-users] Fanless Media Players

[Tapani Tarvainen]

On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 04:24:50PM -0800, Kevin Ross (kevin at familyross.net) wrote:

> > From: Robert Dyer
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 3:50 PM
> > 
> > Also of interest is that they are just selling a Zotac board with
> > memory and a case.  If you remove the hard drive, it is still almost
> > $400!  You can build your own for much less!
> 
> It isn't "just" a case, it comes with a heat pipe to use the lid of the case
> as a giant heat sink for the CPU/GPU, so a dual-core Atom can be run
> fanless.  The case/heatpipe combo is $150 on its own.

Heatpipe cooling is definitely the way to go if you want
a fanless solution, but cost tends to go up, even if you
build it yourself, and ready-made solutions cost even more.
US$150 for a case with all necessary heatpipes isn't much.

For reference, my mythtv box is like this (except earlier model with DVD):

http://www.tranquilpc-shop.co.uk/acatalog/T2e_330atom_nocd.html

Works like charm, only HDD seek can be heard at quiet moments.

For people who like building their own or just want more powerful or
otherwise custom designs, I've good experience with these:

http://www.mcubed-store.com
http://www.atechfabrication.com

Cheap they aren't, however.

-- 
Tapani Tarvainen