William Wong
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ED Online ID #20164 |
November 19, 2008
Seagate Pipeline HD Seagate’s Pipeline HD hard disk (Fig. 6) is available in capacities up to 1 Tbyte. One half this size is hiding inside the AMD Live! system I tested. It is designed for high-definition DVRs with the ability to support up to 12 simultaneous streams. This might seem a bit much for the AMD Live! platform until you consider that it may be the center of your media distribution system. For example, the motherboard can handle multiple ATI Theater 650 Pro TV Tuner cards as well as multiple media extenders.
The SoftSonic motor technology delivers a 19-dB audio limit, which is on par with the processor cooling system. The power consumption can be as low as 4.7 W, so the system fans will not be running at full tilt. A 1.4 million hours MTBF means the drive should last the life of the system.
The Seagate Secure technology is designed for content security in a system digital rights management strategy, although I hope I never have to use that.
Obviously I have not had a chance to run one of these for a long time but right now it is faster than what I need, quieter than the rest of the system, and has enough capacity to handle HD video—the biggest space consumer for some time to come.
Noise Limit SilentFlux Noise Limit’s SilentFlux Media Cooler heatsink and fan (Fig. 7) is designed to deliver maximum cooling with minimal noise. It’s matched to work with the AMD Live! platform I evaluated based on the MSI MS-7411 motherboard—although it will work equally well with any similar AMD platform. The technology is available in other versions as well.
The SilentFlux technology uses a hermetically sealed system similar to heat pipes and water cooled systems but its performance exceeds those systems. Heat creates bubbles that then flow through the closed loop system to the large radiator/condenser where the heat can be dissipated. The bubbles then condense and are recirculated.
The unit that works with the AMD Live! system weighs only 325 grams. The cooling fan is 92 by 92 by 15 mm. It is designed to work with any AM2 socket. The noise limit is 21 dB.
Even with a quad core Athlon the system ran very cool and very quiet.
NMedia HTPC 1000B The NMedia HTPC 1000B metal chassis is available in black or silver. It matches the best multimedia components such as receivers and set-top boxes. The front panel flips down to reveal a range of connections including audio ports, eSATA port, 1394B port, USB ports, and flash memory slots. There is a USB-based, 2 line 20 character LCD status panel with Windows drivers.
It has four 3.5-in. slots for lots of hard disk expansion. The 5.25-in. external bay has a flip down metal door that will likely hide a Blue-Ray or DVD player/recorder.
The box is designed to house Micro-ATX motherboard with up to four slots. It also handles a regular ATX power supply. There is a pair of 60-mm fans on the back and a 90-mm case fan to provide plenty of ventilation without running the fans too fast.
The one item that is missing is a built-in IR receiver. This is where AMD’s Diamond USB IR transceiver (Fig. 8) comes in. The small USB dongle requires an extension cable so it can be aimed towards the remote. Then again, these days the movement is towards radio remotes and then a front panel IR receiver is unnecessary. Otherwise, the system meets or exceeds my requirements for the ideal HDTV PC chassis.
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