[kelesh]

Home Theater PC - D.vine 6 SQ Series

This is super sexy! A bit pricey, but it would look sweet when my HD300 tube amp and banana holder for my HD650's arrives.

My only worry about these types of PC's is cooling. An athlon xp cpu would die in there, but an athlon64 of p4 would be okay. Hard drives heating up would be a concern of mine.. I would definitely mod it to at an 80mm fan to blow on the hard drives.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Wow, there's a lot of computer case talk going on lately. Yes the DVine is a very nice looking case but the cooling is inadequate unless you have an external watercooling rig to send cool water inside. Also the price really isn't bad compared to other HTPCs.

 

[kelesh]

Quote:

Originally posted by highflyin9 ...the cooling is inadequate unless you have an external watercooling rig to send cool water inside.

Can you explain this in greater detail?

I'm getting this to replace my Koolance water-cooled case. I've had it with water cooling and with ugly cases.

My only concerns are the processor and the hard drives. A top of the line Heatsink/Fan on the processor and an 80mm fan blowing on the hard drives won't cool it enough? Is the case temp *that* hot?

 

[ServinginEcuador]

It comes with one 60mm fan on the rear, with an option to add a second. They tend to be louder and move a bit less air than the 80mm+ standard fan size. Nice looking, and a definite plus for anyone who is a fan of NAD or Marantz gear.

 

[meat01]

That does look really nice, but $229 for a case does seem pricey to me.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

60mm fans only move a little more than half of an 80mm fans CFM, with two of these (probably 30-36 outgoing cfm tops) and you have no incoming air, not even any vents to benefit passively through Bernoullis principal, then you have a PSU, a hard drive, graphics card and processor (which are getting hotter ever day due to smaller micron processes) all producing a large amount of heat in a relatively small enclosure. This is not a good thing, especially if you have any interest in overclocking or the longevity of your hard drive (a hard drives life decreases by half every time you increase its temperature by ~3 degrees above 30C). There also appears to be no room to use a hole saw to enlarge the 60mm holes to 80. Personally I'd buy two 120mm aluminum fans and cut a hole on each side so air can move in and out at about 80cfm, which should be sufficient.

 

[bundee1]

How about using it as a music only rig with a small LCD and remote capability? Would the cooling be adequate then?

 

[kelesh]

Quote:

Originally posted by ServinginEcuador It comes with one 60mm fan on the rear, with an option to add a second. They tend to be louder and move a bit less air than the 80mm+ standard fan size.

I would buy 2 60mm fans with good noise/sound ratio's. They wouldn't be loud, but they would push a little less air. The alternative is to somehow attach an 80mm fan to the inside or outside.

The lack of intake vents seems troubling though.

 

[kelesh]

Quote:

Originally posted by bundee1 How about using it as a music only rig with a small LCD and remote capability? Would the cooling be adequate then?

Yes, I will not be gaming. Music listening with foobar 2000 and resampling (esp with slow mode) can really get the cpu going, though. If you have an athlon xp or other hot cpu, this case might be a problem. As far as I'm concerned, an Athlon 64 will be okay, as well as a P4(they don't run hot, do they?). My real concern is how the warm case would be bad for hard drive lifetime. Especially if you have 2 or 3 crammed next to each other in a case with poor ventalation.... it seems like a bad idea.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Quote:

Originally posted by bundee1 How about using it as a music only rig with a small LCD and remote capability? Would the cooling be adequate then?

It should be fine in that scenario, I'd keep the processor speed to a minimum though, and see if you could pick up one of those little hard drive mini fan attachments for like $8, there would be nothing more annoying than having a hard drive go bad full of music. You could also use a slot fan, since the model has four PCI slots you can probably afford to give one up and that would increase airflow by 10-20CFM.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Here's what I use for keeping my VGA card cool:

http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/pro...cool/index.htm

It works quite well and helps that tiny and useless fan on my ATi 9700 keep the card a lot cooler.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

I think something like this may be more ideal for a HTPC as it's actually sending air out rather than recirculating hot air through the case.

http://www.svc.com/vanfancarsys.html

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally posted by highflyin9 I think something like this may be more ideal for a HTPC as it's actually sending air out rather than recirculating hot air through the case.

Where were you last month when I bought the Buss Cooler instead of this little and cheap unit. I'll have to look into getting one of these to cool my video card if I get the new case I'm looking at. Thanks!

 

[needgoodphones]

I'm suprised that none of the computer talk of late have mentioned the new completely passive cooled case:
Zalman Passive Case

 

[dsavitsk]

Quote:

Originally posted by needgoodphones I'm suprised that none of the computer talk of late have mentioned the new completely passive cooled case: Zalman Passive Case

or these http://www.hushtechnologies.net/