Aleutia H2 “Beast” is Just Ridiculously Fast

20 August 2009 in Uncategorized by michael | 3 comments

I’m blogging right now from said bad boy and it’s an outstanding experience, if completely underchallenging for the H2. Power consumption is holding steady at 36 Watts and running Windows 7 32-bit even though this only lets me use 3 of my 4GB of RAM.

We’ve combined an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200S processor (65W at peak) with a super quiet low profile heatsink and 1200rpm fan and managed to fit it into a case that is just 2.47 liters. Smaller footprint than a piece of A4 paper and just 6.5 mm tall.

Watched Dragon’s Den in HD on BBC iPlayer and CPU utilization was around 30%.

Noise level: 33dB though that’s measure with a (probably crappy) iPhone app. Soho is pretty noisy so it’s effectively silent for us but if you’re in a soundproofed study in the Highlands, you’re still just going to hear a single, quiet fan.

No case fans needed since the chassis is so ventilated and we’ve gone with an Intel X25-M 80GB Solid State Drive wth an absurd 230MB/s read speed, 70MB/s write speed.

  1. Sam’s avatar

    Sam on 20 August 2009 at 12:50 pm

    You dont need to be “in a soundproofed study in the Highlands” to fnd 33db obstrusive. just in your living room watching TV that is too noisy. 33db is the sound rating on the projector I currently have and it is noticeable – definitely affects and danages the home entertainment.

    You’d need to get this down to around 23 db or below before it will be acceptable to most people. In fact this is one of the several reasons that HTPCs are taking so long to catch on on a mass level – no one wants a noisy PC in their living rooom, but so far, short of a unique custom built the PCs capable of processing 1080p without choking are all too noisy.

  2. michael’s avatar

    michael on 21 August 2009 at 9:56 am

    Good points. Our H1 and Ion HTPC are both well below 23db since the single core versions are fanless (and still capable of playing 1080p) and the Dual Core uses a very quiet fan. But agree about 33db. If you’ve forked out for a 42″ LCD and a HTPC then any noise during an intense cinematic scene is too much noise.

    We could get this spec much quieter but in a much taller case that could accommodate an enormous heatsink. In theory it could even be passive but then it’d be maybe 30-40 cm tall.

  3. Steve’s avatar

    Steve on 9 May 2010 at 2:15 am

    Michael: Some of us would prefer silent and passive. The tall case would be worth it. The enormous heat sink would be a thing of beauty. I’ve been thinking about heating my office with a computer. Any word on the H3? dB?
    Many thanks.