2011-07-05, 15:04
My build isn't exactly new, so please keep in mind, that it was built about 2 years ago and that at that time there weren't any ION boards available and SSDs were highly overpriced. However it turned out to be right what I needed. But more on that later.
About two years ago I got myself two old PowerMacs: one G3 (B/W) and one G4 (QuickSilver). I removed all the hardware as I wouldn't have had any fun with 450 and 733 MHz.
So I put the following parts in the G4 case (the G3 case is my spare case, maybe for another project?):
My goal back then was to build a cheap Hackintosh (run OS X on it) and run Plex on top of it. The parts were chosen with that idea in respect, as not every hardware would run that OS flawless. However I soon found out that I could only control this system with an Apple Remote (which I already had from my MacBook) as there is no working LIRC implementation in OS X and therefore typical MCE remotes won't work. After a short intermezzo with Windows 7 (I already knew about XBMC at that time) I happily switched to XBMC Live.
Well, XBMC Live alone was set up and running great in a few minutes, but after some time I wanted more and began to install some nice emulators for SNES, N64 and so on. I bought a cheap PS2-to-USB converter for my PS2 gamepads and that was done too.
In the last weeks I decided to update my system, as recent development (ION, SSDs) lowered the noise level of such HTPCs even further, though my PC was quite silent already. So I lowered the clock of my CPU to 1,6 GHz and the core voltage to rockstable 0,75 V. You've got to know: a C2D knock-off like the CPU I used is still way faster than a dual core Atom at the same clock speed so my CPU's been bored big times most of the time.
The lower voltage allowed me to remove the fan of the CPU. However I didn't like the small stock heatsink and changed it for the stock heatsink of a Intel QuadCore CPU (which is about twice the height and has a copper core).
A resistor was used to lower the speed of my case fan from 950 to 760 rpm (9 volts), which made it dead silence. At last the fan in my already quite silent PSU was exchanged with a be quiet! Silent Wings USC 120 mm fan (running at ~ 4 volts because of the low power consumption), so the only two fans I now have aren't noticeable any more, while they produce enough air stream to cool the components.
Of course there are better cases (in fact the PowerMac cases are pretty bad regarding air flow!) and there is better hardware today, but I am still satisfied with my setup and I've always liked the G4 cases.
Plus on top of it I can run anything on this machine, unlike Atom boxes.
Some last facts on my setup:
About two years ago I got myself two old PowerMacs: one G3 (B/W) and one G4 (QuickSilver). I removed all the hardware as I wouldn't have had any fun with 450 and 733 MHz.
So I put the following parts in the G4 case (the G3 case is my spare case, maybe for another project?):- Intel Pentium DualCore E6300 (2,8 GHz)
- GigaByte G31M-ESL2
- Corsair DDR2 1 GB
- MSI 9400 GT 512 MB (passive)
- Samsung EcoGreen 1 TB
- LG DVD drive
- Corsair CX400 PSU
- Enermax T.B.silence 120mm fan
- Philips SRM 5100 remote
My goal back then was to build a cheap Hackintosh (run OS X on it) and run Plex on top of it. The parts were chosen with that idea in respect, as not every hardware would run that OS flawless. However I soon found out that I could only control this system with an Apple Remote (which I already had from my MacBook) as there is no working LIRC implementation in OS X and therefore typical MCE remotes won't work. After a short intermezzo with Windows 7 (I already knew about XBMC at that time) I happily switched to XBMC Live.
Well, XBMC Live alone was set up and running great in a few minutes, but after some time I wanted more and began to install some nice emulators for SNES, N64 and so on. I bought a cheap PS2-to-USB converter for my PS2 gamepads and that was done too.
In the last weeks I decided to update my system, as recent development (ION, SSDs) lowered the noise level of such HTPCs even further, though my PC was quite silent already. So I lowered the clock of my CPU to 1,6 GHz and the core voltage to rockstable 0,75 V. You've got to know: a C2D knock-off like the CPU I used is still way faster than a dual core Atom at the same clock speed so my CPU's been bored big times most of the time.
The lower voltage allowed me to remove the fan of the CPU. However I didn't like the small stock heatsink and changed it for the stock heatsink of a Intel QuadCore CPU (which is about twice the height and has a copper core).
A resistor was used to lower the speed of my case fan from 950 to 760 rpm (9 volts), which made it dead silence. At last the fan in my already quite silent PSU was exchanged with a be quiet! Silent Wings USC 120 mm fan (running at ~ 4 volts because of the low power consumption), so the only two fans I now have aren't noticeable any more, while they produce enough air stream to cool the components.
Of course there are better cases (in fact the PowerMac cases are pretty bad regarding air flow!) and there is better hardware today, but I am still satisfied with my setup and I've always liked the G4 cases.
Plus on top of it I can run anything on this machine, unlike Atom boxes.Some last facts on my setup:
- CPU core temperature is ~ 36° celsius on idle and playback (5-10 % CPU usage)
- GPU core temperature is ~57° celsius on VDPAU playback
- power consumption (wall plug) is ~ 51 watts
