12. Closing Thoughts

Looking back on this build, the heat management issues were my biggest problem. The potential of my new HTPC was immediately hobbled because I needed to keep the CPU from working too hard and building up excess heat. Becoming a babysitter was definitely not part of my original HTPC plan, and constantly monitoring the temperature of the CPU made the resulting system much less fun to use and a lot more annoying.

To be fair, the side-to-side heat transfer strategy that MSI used would probably have been effective if I had not needed to add an expansion card in the AGP slot. In order for the cooling system to function adequately it needed the airflow that was being blocked by the AIW 9600. I think that MSI was hoping that the integrated GPU would be sufficient for most builders. But on the other hand, why add a slot that effectively can't be used?

Lessons learned:

SFF cases can be very proprietary. This limits your options when it comes to designing your own cooling scheme or adding extra peripherals. Small cases need to have a very well designed heat transfer system. There is a large potential for overheating in a SFF case like the MEGA 180. Be cautious when buying a SFF case since the manufacturer might crank up the case fans to louder levels in an attempt to disperse the heat more efficiently. As I learned from my first HTPC, loud fans are a bad idea in a home theater. Have a look at this article for another take on the challenges involved in building an HTPC in a SFF case. Good wire management is essential when dealing with tight spaces that need good airflow. Modification options are limited in a small form factor case. All the components are usually packed together so tightly that even adding an extra fan can be out of the question. Passive cooled components are preferred to those that are actively cooled. Whenever it is feasible, silence should be a priority over performance. Avoid Northbridge fans! They're nasty little buzzing things. Learn to hate them as I have! I still was not able to completely avoid the incompatibility issues with the AIW 9600. All In Wonder cards perform well and are very convenient, but not as widely supported as I would have liked.

Since I actually spent money on the MEGA 180 HTPC instead of just scrounging in my closet for parts, I was determined to make it work. So I ended up using it for quite a while before I upgraded again.

In November of 2005, the Northbridge fan on the MEGA 180 began to make a noise like a dying animal. (Northbridge fans frequently seem to be the first thing to get noisy in a PC.) It was loud and obnoxious, and since the fan was a proprietary size and couldn't easily be replaced, I used it as my excuse to build a new HTPC. This time I was going to do it right though; I knew exactly what I wanted and I was going to achieve HTPC perfection once and for all. In Part III of this series, I finally succeed in building the quiet, cool, classy, powerful, and multifunctional HTPC of my dreams. Stay tuned.

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