FYI: Media Center Upgrade in progress

Mike

Senior Member
FYI: I am testing the performance of a MCE machine from 2.533Ghz P4 with 533 MHZ FSB to a 3.0Ghz P4 with HT and an 800MHZ FSB. I expect good things but will report in a few days (hopefully) when I have been able to put it in).

My xbox 360 extender is a bit sluggish when things are recording, I suspect this will improve it greatly, but will report. I am also expecting to add another tv card at some point.
 
Wondered if any performance increase? Mine is a 2.8 w/ 1gb ram.. I get stutter problems every once in a while, but not that bad.. ( I don't do any DVR)
 
I took this a bit further and am waiting for a new case to arrive. It is a silverstone, which I found some possibly problematic (tight to work with) issues, but wont get it until next week I think.

When I'm done it will be a 3.0Ghz P4 with HT and 2GB of RAM. The memory was different which I missed originally. I noticed it was getting close to using 1GB of ram when monitoring extender resources so went for 2gb.

I think I get the case next monday (shipping was much slower than I expected) and will hopefully have the machine upgraded a few days after that (depending on how cramped the case is).

I will report back...
 
I bought the Ahanix MCE302 model, which only accepts low profile cards -- well that makes just about everything more complicated - from finding a low profile fan for processor, video card, etc..
 
Well the case came a week early. No complaints here. I got it set up, well basically. A temporary video card is in (I realized I had enough parts to put another one together if I bought another piece or two).

I need to try the larger video card from the other system. The question being would be does it nullify the center 3-drive bay due to the length of the card. Other than that, it is not as bad as I thought.

Will test it out and get MCE loaded on that one tomorrow.

I chose this one as it had space (note above possible concern) for 6 internal slots and 2 optical drives and a floppy. And it looked cool. MCE = Plan for lots of hard drives. Having more than one MCE machine means more than one place to put drives...
 
Well the case came a week early. No complaints here.

I really like the looks of the Silverstone cases and was thinking of getting one as well.

Which model did you get?

Also, after you get it in use, I have a few questions.

How is the noise level and what Power Supply are you using?

How does it look with other black A/V components (if that's what you have)?


Thanks in advance.
 
I have the SilverStone SST-LC03, and am not too excited about it. Some of the fans are really loud already, the piano black finish shows fingerprints, so make sure you use gloves when you handle it. If I ever have to replace this case, I will probably just put the system in my server room, and run the video/audio/IR over cat5. Hopefully the MCE302 model will be better (mine is several years old).
 
I just moved my PVR [1] machine to a new case. I would put it in my "server room" - home office - but there isn't enough room in there. So, it sits in the living room where most of my AV distribution stuff is anyway.

It was in an inexpensive case that worked alright, but looked kind of ugly (I don't care that much), had a pretty loud fan, and not enough room inside - difficult to put in 2 hard drives and a CD/DVD drive, but large enough for full height cards.

I just swapped the case for an Antec NSK2400. For more pictures, see Newegg: NSK2400 at www.newegg.com. It's a simple steel case with a plastic front, although it doesn't look particularly "plasticky." The only two openings in the front are for 5.25" drives, so if you want a display or anything else, it will either be in one of those or you'd need to cut a hole in the plastic.

The interior layout is divided into different sections - power supply/5.25 bay, hard drives, and motherboard. There are 2 120mm fans on the side and the power supply fan. With the fans on low speed, it's very quiet. My CPU fan makes more noise than the case fans. It only works with microATX motherboards, but can handle full-height cards.

The only problem with it is that it is big. It's 17.5 inches wide - and you need more room for the vans/vents on the sides. 17.5 inches is too wide (by about 0.5") to fit in a normal rack-mount shelf. A normal component will be 17" or less in width. It's also almost 17" deep - and the feet are close to the front and back.

I have a 3.5 foot (or so) high rack in the living room so the case sits comfortably on top of the rack rather than on a shelf. I'd like it to be on a shelf, but it won't work without some shelf customization - a project for a later date, maybe.

It uses blue LEDs for power (around the switch) and hard drive use, but they are not nearly as intrusive as most blue LEDs. I was going to replace them with green, but I don't think I'll bother.

I was also planning to paint the silver front panel black, but the silver doesn't look that bad so I might keep it that way. The "Antec" label on the front is unobtrusive, so I don't mind having that there.

[1] All it does is record tv programs (SageTV) so I don't want to call it an HTPC. I don't even use it to play back the recorded programs.
 
The one I am looking at is the SST LC-17-B.I'm hate to buy things like this without actually touching them, so I thought Mike might have a similar case. I will check out the other ones mentioned; thanks for the input.
 
electron said:
I have the SilverStone SST-LC03, and am not too excited about it. Some of the fans are really loud already, the piano black finish shows fingerprints, so make sure you use gloves when you handle it. If I ever have to replace this case, I will probably just put the system in my server room, and run the video/audio/IR over cat5. Hopefully the MCE302 model will be better (mine is several years old).
The MCE302 looks like a stereo component, thus the reason why I bought it.. I didn't buy the factory powersupply, I got an upgraded one -- the other built in case fan is ultra quiet..

I would agree about the finish, fingerprints galor...

www.pcalchemy.com has decent prices and really good service, so if you need something they are a great place to shop -- if you email for support they always have great answers... I bought my case / powersupply from them..

I bought a cheap socket 478 cooler; and the fan is the loudest part of my system.. Need to purchase a new one..

I can snap some pics if anyone's interested...
 
I got my system from cyberpower, biggest mistake ever, so I am sure that has something to do with the build quality as well. I do like the smaller footprint of the MCE302, but make sure you got room for all your tuners, soundcard, modem etc).
 
I got the LC20 in black. It looks real nice. I have not put it in with the other equipment, although the rest of my equipment is black as well (just not finished yet).

This one:
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc20.htm

The front is the brushed black alumninum and looks real nice. The feet are like those on av equipment and the rest of the shell is nice, but not the brushed aluminum.

I have to test if the middle drive cages are knocked out, but it was fine with a shorter card (although that one is an ATI card which has problems).

It comes with no fans. I used a cooler master 600w power supply I had gotten a good deal after rebate on as a spare a few weeks back ($30 after rebate or something like that) as it is annoying if one goes (and for $30 for a decent one...). It has a big fan on it and I mounted the power supply with the fan facing the side of the case. I can hear it (120 mm fan) and will flip it so it blows inside.

I ordered a few vantec stealth fans that I will put in tomorrow on the back (two slots for them) also more slots in front of the drive bays for 80-92mm fans. I'll see how the temps are (it is already a bit higher than my tower units, but it also has no fans in it right now other than a cpu fan). Not at dangerous levels though.

I like the possibility for 6 internal drives, 2 optical and a 3.5 (for multi function reader/floppy).

I had to play with the wiring as the panel wiring needed to be rerouted a but to fit properly, but not anything too crazy.

There is another model with a VFD in the front and another with a touch screen (around $600 for that one).

So far I like the case, will look nice. Only drawback is the video card knowcking out the middle cage (if it does that). It may be close. I'll post when I get to testing it.
 
Were you looking for external, internal, or placed in the rack type pictures? I waiting for rounded cables to come and I'm done (for now at least).
 
Back
Top