[voip-ninja]

Okay, my parts are ordered... I chickened out at the last minute on doing the ITX-6 Wesena case... the guy selling it wanted $26 for shipping, which is just outrageous for a tiny aluminum case that probably costs $10 to ship. I can understand people wanting to make an additional SMALL profit on shipping, but not charging me 3X what it actually costs to send it out.

I will go with a budget case/psu for now and if I determine that I can fit the build into a smaller/nicer case I will just flip the case in a couple of months after I know I am happy with everything... this will also help me in determining if the build will fit in something tinier.

It's also worth noting that prices at Newegg went up on many of these parts in the past 24 hours, such as elimination of free shipping on the Asrock motherboard (now $9 to ship), A4-3400 price went up $10, etc. I saved about $25 on my build going with other retailers. It's the first time in 10 years I have done a new PC build and not used Newegg for at least part of it.

1. A4-3400 - $75
2. Scythe Kozuti cooler (I might need this for later if I transplant into a new case with a low height, plus it should run a little quieter than the stock cooler) - $33.
3. Asrock A75M-ITX FM1 - $89
4. 2X2GB Crucial PC3-10600 DDR3 - $27.
5. Patriot Torqx 2 32GB - $45 (after $25 MIR)
6. Apex MI-08 - $49.99
7. Scythe Kama 900RPM 120mm case fan - $15
8. Windows 7 64 SP 1 Home Premium - $92

So, total price is about $425 including OS, which is not bad, as the Mac Mini I was going to buy was going to be $750. If I am not happy with the case size (I have a spot I think it will work where I won't even see it in my home theater) then I might have to dump another $150 on a nicer MITX case and pico PSU.

[Djangostar]

are you going to stick with the Psu that comes with the case ? the reason i m asking , is that I'm afraid of the clearance between CPU heatsink and PSU , even with the Aftermarket Heatsink , I think it might not be enough

[voip-ninja]

are you going to stick with the Psu that comes with the case ? the reason i m asking , is that I'm afraid of the clearance between CPU heatsink and PSU , even with the Aftermarket Heatsink , I think it might not be enough

Should be more than enough. The low profile cooler I ordered is only 40mm and in the review Silent PC did, they did not really have fitment issues. I will find out I guess later this week.

[prongATO]

oh well, i dont know about Linux support....

im so sold on Windows that i dont care about Linux

I have one HTPC running windows and another running xbmc live. I can tell you the linux box has WAY less problems than the windows box. Granted, I only use the xbmclive/linux box as a media appliance, no browsing etc. The windows box I need a little more flexibility.

If you want JUST xbmc, I'd always go the linux route. You save tons of money on licencing and in terms of stability and hardware requirements, Linux wins hands-down.

Regardless of the fact that linux only plays well with nvidia, I wouldn't touch an ATI product. I've had horrible experiences with them. I went with a fanless ati card for my windows HTPC and CCC is a piece of junk.

I'm currently working on a base spec for a small form factor, low cost xbmc client. I have the prototype built and working flawlessly on a Atom d525/next gen ion platform. Full 1080p playback and runs Aeon Nox without breaking a sweat. I have a small build log here: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=104468

[eskro]

yepp, hope all goes well with the Scythe Kozuti cooler,,,
u still need an 80mm fan for it tho,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6835226021

best would have been with the Scythe Big Shuriken... backorder everywhere,,, :/

[bluray]

I have one HTPC running windows and another running xbmc live. I can tell you the linux box has WAY less problems than the windows box.

what kind of problem do you have with your windows htpc? my askrock e350m1 and intel e7200 and the other two htpc's w/ windows can playback bd iso/m2ts/mkv and bd index.bdmv directly on bd-rom with dts-hd\truehd audio fine so far. with proper configuration, windows simply the best!

not to mention, surfing the net and hd internet streaming (netflix, vudu, amazon, etc) are fine too!

[Djangostar]

yepp, hope all goes well with the Scythe Kozuti cooler,,,
u still need an 80mm fan for it tho,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6835226021

best would have been with the Scythe Big Shuriken... backorder everywhere,,, :/

yeah i would have went with the Big Boy , but case limitation ..Apex Mi-008 for me . But in regards to the Kozuti , i thought it came with the fan?

[eskro]

Scythe Big Shuriken fits in the APEX....

and no, Scythe Kozuti doesnt seem to come with a Fan,,,

[voip-ninja]

Scythe Kozuti has a fan, what is confusing you probably is that the fan is UNDERNEATH the wave grid on the top of the heatsink.

Silent PC did a review of the Kozuti and definitely indicated it came with a fan.

[eskro]

+1 voip-ninja

By introducing the newly developed S.F.M.S, a super mini cooler - no taller than 40mm - is achieved by mounting a fan directly under the fins, which is compatible with more small form factor PCs, such as Mini-ITX case, slim case, etc.

hope its not noisy

[Djangostar]

If this works, i think it should be standard for the Mi-008 case , for people that want to keep the PSU and not go PICO. If you re going with an AMD setup , not a lot of choices out there , The big shuriken would be 2 tall, 58mm.

[eskro]

lets see how the Scythe Kozuti will do,,,
i wonder if it'll block 1 RAM SLOT on that Asrock A75M-ITX FM1 mobo,,,

[voip-ninja]

+1 voip-ninja

By introducing the newly developed S.F.M.S, a super mini cooler - no taller than 40mm - is achieved by mounting a fan directly under the fins, which is compatible with more small form factor PCs, such as Mini-ITX case, slim case, etc.

hope its not noisy

According to the SilentPC review, it is very quiet if it is backed off to under 6V and is more than capable of cooling 65TDP processors when dialed back this way.

If I can't set fan speed in the BIOS I will buy a fan regulator, or I might even have one lying around somewhere.

In the Silent PC review it did not block 1 RAM slot, but if it did, I would just switch from 2X2GB to 1X4GB, I don't believe there is much tangible difference with dual channel vs. single channel on AMD Fusion setups from what I have read.

[eskro]

well, maybe not HTPC wise, but,
these new APU's might benefit from DUAL-CHANNEL ram
in other circumstances like GAMING and such,,,,
Keep us updated!!

Also, the FAN will be noisy at full blast,,,
i dont see why you wouldnt be able to control its speed
in the BIOS or using SpeedFAN software,,
i'd set it to %50 and see how it goes,,,

like u said, if for some reasons you cant control the speed,
you can use also a Speed Reducer Fan cable

[evanesce]

I'm about to order one of these. Should I go with the quad core? I will be doing a little more than just xbmc on it, ie, torrents, magicjack, maybe some virtual machines, irc BNC, etc...

Edit, I see newegg has a 65w triple core available, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103951 = compromise? same wattage with extra core?