Re: Watching media PC to TV

In <6d9f5a98-ddab-4bee-b13c-d3817cf34358@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
ric <publicmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I've an Xbox running XBMC and it comfortably outclasses *any* other
media device I've seen. It's really that good.

The full skinny on (original, not 360) Xbox noise:
1) XBMC is capable of spinning down cooling fans and under normal
operation will run them at under 10% of full load, which is pretty
quiet as standard.
2) Xboxes come in 3 variants, depending on how old they are. None
have CPU fans, all have a 70mm case fan. V1.1 had a noisy 40mm GPU
fan, versions 1.4 and 1.6 changed this to a passive cooler.

Mine has a passive GPU cooler.

3) The GPU fan, if fitted, can be swapped for an old northbridge
passive cooler and some thermal adhesive tape, which makes it much,
much quieter. Pull off heatsink and fan, clean thermal paste off GPU,
stick on thermal tape and press on a 3 quid northbridge cooler - job
done.
4) The 70mm case fan can be swapped for a drop in quiet replacement,
or with a bit of jiggery pokery with a dremel can be swapped out for
a standard silent 80mm case fan.

You can't use any old 70mm fan (not that they're very common anyway)
unless you shave off one of the corners or something.

I've a v1.1 with passive GPU cooling, quiet case fan and it's about as
quiet as my Sky+ box in operation with XBMC. If you're really
sensitive to noise, you can ask the HDD to spin down during playback,
too. If you're upgrading the HDD then it'd make sense to get a quiet
5400rpm drive to put in there.

Strange you should compare it to a Sky+ box, because one of the reasons
I was going to bring up for an XBox not actually being any good at all
for a media box is that it can't receive TV. Maybe it can stream it from
a PC, but I want a one-box solution.

The other reason I wouldn't use it for a media centre except perhaps in
a bedroom with a rarely used 14" TV is the atrocious picture quality.

--
TH * http://www.realh.co.uk

.

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