CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

**AnalogRocks**

I am doing a new project.

I need to build a PC that will run WinXP home. Just barely.
A slow processor doens't matter.

I want it to use the least power available as it will need to be on 24/7.

Quiet is a must too.

What would you recommend?

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

Intel atom processors on a mini itx system
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101079
http://www.mini-itx.com/

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Does it need a display? If it's running XP Home you really can't run many services (like Terminal Services / Remote Desktop) on it, but you could install VNC or similar and only access it remotely. Then minimize the RAM you need, maybe run a solid-state drive instead of a mechanical disk? Or if you run a mech disk, can it spend most of its time parked and shut down?

ecrabb · Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 7:13 pm Post subject:

I know some of you guys are totally anti-Mac, but for 24/7 duty with low power consumption, check out the new Mac mini. It's drawing <13w at idle. It's very small, very quiet (almost silent), and very low-power. It's basically a notebook in a tiny box. It's not dirt cheap at $599, but it's very full-featured with built-in gigabit ethernet, 802.11n, BlueTooth, FireWire 800 and Nvidia 9400M graphics. The nice thing is it's a 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo, so even though it's very low-power sitting idle, you still have plenty of horsepower on tap when you need it for CPU-intensive tasks.

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

SC

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 5:15 am Post subject:

No Mac's need apply. Wayyyyyyyyyyy to expensive!

Thanks though.

I'll look at the Mini ITX systems. I'll only need graphics to set it up. I was thinking of using an 8GB CF card for a drive.

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 6:23 pm Post subject:

The Zotac is a little pricy plus it's SATA only. I need an ATA slot of CF slot so I can plug in the CF card.

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

You get 6 usb slots onboard... you cant get a COMPACT FLASH reader card w/ usb??? Wink

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 6:55 pm Post subject:

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 7:07 pm Post subject:

Yes I am, it'll be on 24/7 so speed isn't an issue.

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

Here's a SATA to CF adapter...39.00

I'd rather slap a cheap SATA hard drive in there....

http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/adsacf.asp

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 7:32 pm Post subject:

I'd rather use a CF card, no moving parts and it doens't make any heat. Plus if I can find just the right board it'll already have a CF reader wired into the IDE port.

ecrabb · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 7:34 pm Post subject:

Absolutely! When the notebook drive in my old PowerBook G3 home automation computer finally dies, I'm going to slap an ATA CF card adapter in there, throw an 8GB CF card in and have a low-power, no-heat, totally silent boot drive in there. The computer has a tiny fan, but it never runs. The drive is getting noisy now, but when I put the ATA card in there, it will be perfectly silent... Silent as in literally zero sound emission.

Here's an SATA2CF adapter:

There are the same for PATA, too.

SC

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 7:41 pm Post subject:

Yep I know. I was just thinking if I can find it all on the motherboard the co$t would lessen. I'm aiming at $300-350 looks like. Less is better.

It's kind of fun specing something that doens't require 4 gb ram and 1 gig video super uber fast everything in a sexey case. In this case ( pun ) less is more. Silent, cool running with a low speed, or no speed fan and a huge heat sink would be just what the audiologist ordered.

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

I have hade 2 USB flash drives "give up the ghost" in less than 2 weeks... but you guys know i'm just a novice.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 7:51 pm Post subject:

Yeah I don't trust USB drives for long term storage. I had 2 years of vacation video's on one 8gb drive. They played twice, then when I went to play them 3 moths later they were toast.

I had other copies plus the orgional tape but I would have thgought that flash drives would be more robust.

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

When you guys are using CF drives for your boot (and C:\ ?) drives, are you doing anything to minimize writes to the "disk" ? Flash drives have a limited lifespan of writes, generally around 100,000 or so. You can burn through 100k writes real fast if your OS thinks it's talking to a regular hard drive.