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[Rods2]

I always leave my computers running 24/7 as they are much more reliable. Starting, stopping and heat cycling all have a negative effect on reliability.

HD drives use 'fluid' bearings, in this instance the fluid is air, so there is no contact between metal surfaces.

[TheBoy]

TB - how quiet is that case with a modern low power CPU etc in it?  I have a couple of (now quiet aged Atom based) Asus EEE PCs (EB1502P) which are getting a little bit noisy as the fan etc gets tired and they bug me, especially in the bedroom.. I'd love a silent setup but then you start talking serious money

Only 2 fans are in psu.  Mine must be 8yrs old, and fans still fairly quite.  The HDD spinning up when it wakes from s3 is noisier

From what I've read, you seem quite techie so try this. Most HDD makers have a firmware settings tool you can play with. When I ran a PC as a media centre, I ran the drives at either 3800 or 4200rpm instead of the 5400rpm my storage drives were normally. This extends the life of the drive, reduces heat and makes you AV PC a lot quieter for no cost. The downside is data transfer is slower, but you never really thrash a media centre PC anyway.

PLEASE NOTE - These tools are not for the faint hearted. Only do this if you know the implications, I accept no responsibility, ever!

Its not really enough to worry about TBH.  Its not even so much the spin-up noise, but the head movement when it spins up - this current drive clearly (like many others) has some kind of head movement test as part of its power up sequence.

Now the DVD drive...  ...but I use software to control that's speed to a max of 2x when playing video

[TheBoy]

i've got a similar problem - my compro e700 twin tuner is about to expire.  can anyone recommend a twin tuner - has to be pci express and has to be twin terrestrial tuner preferably hdtv?

this one 361155942947 on ebay looks possible, a TBS 6281.

i vaguely recall there is a catch with some tuners but can't remember what it is.  no hd tv in the uk or not compatible with mce perhaps?

I use a pair of BGT3620 twin HD tuners for up to 4 simultaneous recordings under Media Center (other software can, I believe, record all channels on a single mux with each tuner). I think these are obsolete, so will be replaced with one of these...

http://www.blackgold.tv/portfolio-item/pc-tv/#tab-id-1

Beware, though, Linux support seems very patchy.

[TheBoy]

I've just retired a hard drive that's been spinning since 2009, excluding the odd power cut. Still perfectly healthy. I think they survive better if they are just left running.

I agree.  When consider how many disks must be in all the servers I support at work (we must be talking several 10s of thousands of disks, not including SAN or NFS arrays), the number of disk failures in a given week is very low.


OOF disks get thrashed 24/7 (other stuff runs on the same physical server, accessing the same disks), and (touch wood) seem resistant to failure (kiss of death on that now then!).


My Media Center appears to use about 30-50W when on, depending what its doing, and SFA when in S3 standby. Worth letting it go into standby for that, as its only on for a few hours a week.

[Kevin Wood]

The other thing to remember about hard drives is that they are sensitive to shock, especially when operating. Not so bad if they are bolted into a chassis that doesn't get moved around a lot, but if you're transporting them in a caddy or as an external USB drive, they are quite easily damaged. This doesn't make it a good way to transport backup data off site, IMHO.

Most USB drives are just a bare drive with a plastic case snapped round it, after all.

Most modern machines seem to achieve similar power consumption. I know my i5 is around 50w when idle but you can add another 100w when the CPU is busy! It's not a total disaster if the drive in your media centre isn't quite as long-lived, after all.

I have what I'd regard as a home made NAS which I got down to 24 watts with 2 drives spinning but it wouldn't have the grunt to work as a MC. If you're using a conventional PC power supply they tend to set the minimum power consumption at 30 or 40 watts anyway, because they are invariably designed to deliver 400 W and quite inefficient when lightly loaded.

[tigers_gonads]

Oh well, i've taken the plunge and ordered this one.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elonex-Artisan-LX-Media-Centre-PC-windows-bargain-/321770527622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4aeb049b86

Should be here around Tuesday then the fun really starts 

Thanks for the advise lads 

[TheBoy]

Most modern machines seem to achieve similar power consumption. I know my i5 is around 50w when idle but you can add another 100w when the CPU is busy! It's not a total disaster if the drive in your media centre isn't quite as long-lived, after all.

There are 2 main classes of Intel I-Core CPUs, esp i3 and i5 - the normal variants everyone has (usually between around 30 and 80W), and the more expensive, less capable low power ones (not to be confused with the Mobile variants). For eg, my Media Center's i5 is only dual core, but hyperthreaded, but TDP is 35W.

[TheBoy]

Oh well, i've taken the plunge and ordered this one.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elonex-Artisan-LX-Media-Centre-PC-windows-bargain-/321770527622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4aeb049b86

Should be here around Tuesday then the fun really starts 

Thanks for the advise lads 

You'll find this thread useful I suspect...  (certainly the first few posts)

https://forums.ebuyer.com/showthread.php/665-Elonex-Artisan

[tigers_gonads]

Oh well, i've taken the plunge and ordered this one.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elonex-Artisan-LX-Media-Centre-PC-windows-bargain-/321770527622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4aeb049b86

Should be here around Tuesday then the fun really starts 

Thanks for the advise lads 

You'll find this thread useful I suspect...  (certainly the first few posts)

https://forums.ebuyer.com/showthread.php/665-Elonex-Artisan

Will do 
Cheers TB 

[omega2018]

ive ordered one of these to replace my non hdtv compro twin card.  £56 delivered but from singapore http://www.buydvb.net/tbs6281-dvbt2tc-dual-tuner-pcie-card-p-104.html

the elonex looks amazing value,  but the description is a bit vague on whether it comes with OS and tuner or not.  i think you could add the above card if you wanted twin hdtv.

[TheBoy]

the elonex looks amazing value,  but the description is a bit vague on whether it comes with OS and tuner or not.  i think you could add the above card if you wanted twin hdtv.

Its bare bones, so needs CPU, RAM, graphics card, Hard disk, DVD drive and tuners.

[omega2018]

seller's pics are showing what looks the connector end of a tuner, video card and of two graphics cards - dvi and vga.  plus the vga and audio on the mb. plus separate sound outputs.  plus some card with an antenna on it.

[Taxi_Driver]

seller's pics are showing what looks the connector end of a tuner, video card and of two graphics cards - dvi and vga.  plus the vga and audio on the mb. plus separate sound outputs.  plus some card with an antenna on it.

It clearly states this in the add tho' .....

elonex media centre great for pc/media centre builders


 barebone unit contains

motherboard
power supply
and windows remote
 in original box

please note these are partial build you are getting what is stated above

[omega2018]

yes hence the ambiguity

[TheBoy]

yes hence the ambiguity

No ambiguity, its a barebones

The images are the old Elonex material.