Fri 23 May 2003
Weakness for Toys
Posted by Chip under Geek Stuff
It finally happened. I broke down and purchased all the fun PC upgrades I’ve been wanting. After I get the parts, I’ll be able to upgrade my main PC, and have enough parts left over to built the HTPC. Here’s a quick rundown of the new toys:
- Abit NF7-S nForce2 motherboard for my main PC
- AMD AthlonXP 2600+ CPU
- 2 stick of 256MB PC2700 DDR RAM
- ASUS A7N266-VM nForce motherboard for the HTPC
- Coolermaster ATC 610-GX1 microATX case for the HTPC
- Swiftech MCX462+ heatsink for the HTPC
- Pair of Antec TruePower PSU’s, one 330W for the HTPC, one 430W for the PC
- An 80mm Vantec Stealth fan for the HTPC
The Antec PSU’s seem like they should be pretty cool. They have thermally controlled fans apparently, along with special fan power connectors so that your case fans can also benefit from the thermal control. Should work out nicely in the HTPC. I got one for the main PC too, since it’s PSU kindof sucks. It doesn’t have a bottom fan, so I tend to get a lot of heat buildup above the CPU.
I was tempted to replace all my case fans with the Vantec Tornado fans (note the 55dB vs the 20dB for the Stealths) in order to compete with Matt in the World’s Loudest PC arena. However, I decided that my hearing was worth more than that title.
So, probably in about a week I should have a bunch of fun new toys to play with. I plan on throwing Gentoo onto the HTPC, and initally testting it out with just running Xfree86 or something. I would like to use the MythTV interface to it, since it is very very slick.
June 3rd, 2005 at 12:00 am
“I was tempted to replace all my case fans with the Vantec Tornado fans (note the 55dB vs the 20dB for the Stealths) in order to compete with Matt in the World’s Loudest PC arena. However, I decided that my hearing was worth more than that title.”
THAT’S RIGHT!!!! I 0NWZ J00!
Hehe. Nice, so, will I be seeing this HTPC complete by the time I get home? Or at least shortly there after?
June 3rd, 2005 at 12:00 am
The parts should be together, not sure if I’ll have all the neat software stuff done. I’m planning to add an X-10 interface to it later on, so it can control my lights and stuff too. It should be able to at least play some games by the time you’re back up north.
June 3rd, 2005 at 12:00 am
oh good lord….I’ll never see you again! but then again…. we can play old school mario right right? what’s this thing going to look like? is it in one of those little boxes like you use at work? I think you showed me something but it was a while ago. You’re such a geek!