2012-02-19, 18:50
After the second time i spilled a glass of wine over my Toshiba, she was beyond repair. When i was over it, it was time to get rid of the thing, but not before i had removed it's cpu, a core2duo T 7200 and a few other things.
Some time later i found the Broadcom Crystal solution, a HD acceleator on a mini-pcie-x1 card. I had been looking for a motherboard for my T7200 cpu and Jeroen Lebbink from LCS Automation (Netherlands) had helped me with a suitable refurbished board. A mini-itx board from Aopen that feeds on a laptop power adapter (19V). http://global.aopen.com/products_detail.aspx?Auno=2158 . At first Jeroen could not find the backplate. But didn't i want a mini-itx case that goes with the board? In the end i purchased the motherboard, power adapter and case for a very reasonable price.
I could afford to invest some more and started looking for some hardware accelerator or graphics card for the mini-pci slot. What i found was the Broadcom crystal for a mini-pcie-x1 slot. But my board only has a standerd pcie-x1 slot, so soon the pcie-x1-to-mini-pcie-x1 adapter came into view. And then, when it became clear the adaper and broadcom card would stick above the case cover, the pcie-x1 riser card was there.
Broadcom crystal mounted on pcie-x1-to-mini-pcie-x1 adapter.
But it didn't stop here. Would be nice if i could passively cool the system. The sides of the original case slide into a sort of corner pillars. So it's fairly easy to replace the cpu-side of the case with a heatsink. I found an aluminium heatsink on Ebay. Mcubed HFX 'micro cpu bridge' has the right components for my case. Passiv cooling is not cheap, but it is a very big plus for any system to be completely silent.
The CPU cooler is the upper one. I had to cut some pieces of the persplex holder to make it fit.
Off course: slim-line dvd and ssd.
Riser with adapter and broadcom crystal, fitted with one of the motherboard screws.
The end result. Not bad hey? I may still add a remote control to the system.
Openelec XBMC recognizes Crystal HD accelerator. By the way: Openelec also supports Intel Enhanced Speedstep. So when not too busy, the cpu will run at 1000 in stead of 2000 Mhz.
If you like this solution, please respond and state what you would have in a 'kit' (i.e. always case, board, riser, adapter and the smaller and better broadcom with or without the passive cooling). CPU, passive cooling, memory, ssd, dvd will always be possible as a side-order.
I am not a merchant but could be the middleman to get a good price by volume ordering.
I expect the basic kit without cooling is possible around 150 euro. With cooling it will be around 200.
Some time later i found the Broadcom Crystal solution, a HD acceleator on a mini-pcie-x1 card. I had been looking for a motherboard for my T7200 cpu and Jeroen Lebbink from LCS Automation (Netherlands) had helped me with a suitable refurbished board. A mini-itx board from Aopen that feeds on a laptop power adapter (19V). http://global.aopen.com/products_detail.aspx?Auno=2158 . At first Jeroen could not find the backplate. But didn't i want a mini-itx case that goes with the board? In the end i purchased the motherboard, power adapter and case for a very reasonable price.
I could afford to invest some more and started looking for some hardware accelerator or graphics card for the mini-pci slot. What i found was the Broadcom crystal for a mini-pcie-x1 slot. But my board only has a standerd pcie-x1 slot, so soon the pcie-x1-to-mini-pcie-x1 adapter came into view. And then, when it became clear the adaper and broadcom card would stick above the case cover, the pcie-x1 riser card was there.
Broadcom crystal mounted on pcie-x1-to-mini-pcie-x1 adapter.
But it didn't stop here. Would be nice if i could passively cool the system. The sides of the original case slide into a sort of corner pillars. So it's fairly easy to replace the cpu-side of the case with a heatsink. I found an aluminium heatsink on Ebay. Mcubed HFX 'micro cpu bridge' has the right components for my case. Passiv cooling is not cheap, but it is a very big plus for any system to be completely silent.
The CPU cooler is the upper one. I had to cut some pieces of the persplex holder to make it fit.
Off course: slim-line dvd and ssd.
Riser with adapter and broadcom crystal, fitted with one of the motherboard screws.
The end result. Not bad hey? I may still add a remote control to the system.
Openelec XBMC recognizes Crystal HD accelerator. By the way: Openelec also supports Intel Enhanced Speedstep. So when not too busy, the cpu will run at 1000 in stead of 2000 Mhz.
If you like this solution, please respond and state what you would have in a 'kit' (i.e. always case, board, riser, adapter and the smaller and better broadcom with or without the passive cooling). CPU, passive cooling, memory, ssd, dvd will always be possible as a side-order.
I am not a merchant but could be the middleman to get a good price by volume ordering.
I expect the basic kit without cooling is possible around 150 euro. With cooling it will be around 200.
