computer building thing (1 Viewer)

[the bongo]

hello all,
thoughts please:

i want to build a small pc (as small as possible), has to be fast - at least 2.8Ghz, a fair whack of memory, and it has to be silent (as inaudible as a dead mouse in a lead box at the bottom of the sea during a storm).

it must be silent, and it must have one of these:
http://www.matrox.com/imaging/products/helios_xcl/home.cfm (or one like it)

this is for hard disk recording of high-def video. the fastest, best, and cheapest wins.

max 2Kyoyos.

also, what about running a pc off a battery? is it possible/not cripplingly expensive?

 

[pete]

i think your biggest problem will be finding a motherboard that supports PCI-X..... be careful you don't get flogged something by someone that thinks you mean PCI-Express

 

[pete]

http://www.tomshardware.com/firstlook/20040817/

 

[cookiemonster]

Peats stock a range of stuff from quietpc.com - i've a couple of the fans in my computer and i can't hear them from a foot away with the case open (doing that now!).
maplins have a lot of the same stuff too and they might be a bit cheaper.
enermax make good quiet PSUs; as for hard disks, i hear this one is pretty quiet, and komplett.ie stock it too.
http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?articleid=9
send me a PM/text if you need some advice or if you want a hand putting the machine together, i'm only up the road from you!

 

[pete]

i think the problem will be the fact that PCI-X slots are usually found on server or workstation boards, dual CPU jobbies and the like. As in stuff not necessarily known for smallness or quietness.

Oh and everything would probably have to be EMI shielded too.

 

[the bongo]

thanks gents, i would surely have stumbled over the pci-x vs. express bit.

the two versions i am looking for are as follows:

simpler:
a standard tower with all the gubbins inside sitting somewhere away from the camera and action tethered with a camera link cable. inside, all of the above and a very big raid array (a couple of TB probably).

the alternative, more difficult, but ideal:
a small footprint pc that can be carried (on a plate, shoulder wise or in a backpack of some type), with the functions as above, with nothing in it except a smaller array (two 250GB disks - to be dumped onto some other drives every now and then), the framegrabber card, some basic graphics card to output to a small lcd monitor, and, if it were possible, powered by battery.

i know the latter is speculative,but it can't hurt to ask. the raid array seems to be the way to go too, as this would be working with data rates between 71 and 200MB/sec.

if i can get the latter going for the right price then i'm off to the bank, the former i'd have to think about.

 

[Goodbye]

sorted

http://www.edit-hire.com/steenbeck2.gif

 

[pete]

thanks gents, i would surely have stumbled over the pci-x vs. express bit.

the two versions i am looking for are as follows:

simpler:
a standard tower with all the gubbins inside sitting somewhere away from the camera and action tethered with a camera link cable. inside, all of the above and a very big raid array (a couple of TB probably).

the alternative, more difficult, but ideal:
a small footprint pc that can be carried (on a plate, shoulder wise or in a backpack of some type), with the functions as above, with nothing in it except a smaller array (two 250GB disks - to be dumped onto some other drives every now and then), the framegrabber card, some basic graphics card to output to a small lcd monitor, and, if it were possible, powered by battery.

i know the latter is speculative,but it can't hurt to ask. the raid array seems to be the way to go too, as this would be working with data rates between 71 and 200MB/sec.

if i can get the latter going for the right price then i'm off to the bank, the former i'd have to think about.

to be honest i can't imagine you'll find a small form factor motherboard with RAID.... S-ATA RAID probably yes, but not "proper" SCSI RAID. And disk space may be dirt cheap these days, but SCSI disk space i'm not so sure about...

Oh and the only time i've ever heard of a (non laptop) pc being run off a battery, it was a car battery and involved lots of tomfoolery with fancy electronics to level out the power (car batteries being designed for giving big jolts of power to get a car started rather than a continuous, clean line)

 

[the bongo]

yeah, s-ata is fine. striped raid-0 i think.

hmmm, battery. it would be ideal. i guess i'll have to go looking for solutions.

damn these ridiculous projects!

 

[pete]

that pc running off a car battery was actually installed in a car.

There's an article about it in this month's Custom PC magazine.

 

[the bongo]

yeah, i just read something about a guy installing one in his car - in a toolbox mounted on the dashboard. tasteful.

there's a bunch at www.cyberpowersystems.com that do surge protectors and battery back-ups for pcs. i'm wondering if battery back-ups can be used as a straight power source. they had car battery things too.

an alternative would be some type of tablet pc without a screen. wear it on the back when hand-held, put it on a table when in a studio.

 

[pete]

yeah, i just read something about a guy installing one in his car - in a toolbox mounted on the dashboard. tasteful.

there's a bunch at www.cyberpowersystems.com that do surge protectors and battery back-ups for pcs. i'm wondering if battery back-ups can be used as a straight power source. they had car battery things too.

an alternative would be some type of tablet pc without a screen. wear it on the back when hand-held, put it on a table when in a studio.

i am reminded of the joke about the digital watch that ends:

"wow. you're right, that is an amazing watch. by the way, what have you got in those suitcases?"

"the batteries"

 

[the bongo]

not too worried about a big battery, sure that's what camera assistants are for. i read up and there are a few things you can do to get a battery power supply going.

the key thing is getting the right motherboard. lot's of big yokes around with the right bits, but small is desireable.

so, if anyone comes across a mini-itx board, pentium 4 or M support, sata drive slots (to run a software raid-0), and 1 pci-x slot, be sure and tell me. i don't mind if it's missing loads of other stuff. cheersy.

 

[Anthony]

something like this

 

[the bongo]

actually, a little smaller. i don't mind the lady attachment, some DoPs swear by them.

 

[Krocapile]

Do you need a monitor ?
I have a spare Compaq 17" CRT monitor , all yours for 60 squid ..

 

[the bongo]

no, thank you. i'll be needing a 7" touchscreen LCD monitor. if you can do that for 60yoyos, then you've a got a deal mister.

just help with the internal bits.

 

[cookiemonster]

Do you need a monitor ?
I have a spare Compaq 17" CRT monitor , all yours for 60 squid ..

i'll take the monitor though!
PM you about it later, off to catch a train now...

 

[the bongo]

okay then:

who knows how to make a firewire hard drive write data without a computer?

 

[pete]

did you ever get anywhere with this?