2011-11-28, 00:41
Been working on this for a few days, and I think I've worked out most of the details. I've done a fair deal of research on each part, but I would like a second opinion before pressing 'buy'.
HDD:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
Item #: N82E16822152185
Going to see if I can find a better deal on a bigger HDD, but for now this isn't bad.
Motherboard:
ASUS M4A88T-I Deluxe AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Mini ITX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131659
This motherboard worries me a bit. It came highly recommended and apparently can use the integrated graphics along with a seperate video card to increase the performance. It looks to be a laptop motherboard though, using laptop memory... that worries me.
PSU:
Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power ...
Item #: N82E16817371033
This PSU works well with the case (verified by several owners).
Remote:
D-Link DSM-22 Boxee Remote for PC & Mac
Item #: N82E16833996124
Friend has one of these, works well.
CPU:
AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - C3 Revision HDZ555WFGMBOX
Item #: N82E16819103846
As far as I know, PS2/Wii emulators will only utilize 2 cores, so I didn't see the need to go with something more powerful. I can't help but think I'm cutting corners with this though.
Memory:
G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-8GBSQ
Item #: N82E16820231342
Cheap laptop memory.. still worries me (see above, motherboard)
ODD:
SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B123L/RSBP LightScribe Support
Item #: N82E16827151232
Case:
SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum skin reinforced plastic front panel, 0.8mm SECC body MILO Series ML03B Micro ATX Media Center ...
Item #: N82E16811163174
Case looks simplistic and small yet has enough room for a few components without being too cramped. I'm fairly settled on this.
GPU:
HIS H675F1GD Radeon HD 6750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Item #:N82E16814161379
Doesn't explicitly say 'low profile' on it, but it looks thin enough.. think it will work fine with the case. Not 100% sure on it's performance, but it looks good.
Software:
GeeXboX
A Linux distribution dedicated to XBMC. Looks awesome, but I have no experience with it.
I'm not looking for a great deal of help, but if anyone sees something here that may be a concern, please let me know.
Thanks for reading,
Jeremy
HDD:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
Item #: N82E16822152185
Going to see if I can find a better deal on a bigger HDD, but for now this isn't bad.
Motherboard:
ASUS M4A88T-I Deluxe AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI Mini ITX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131659
This motherboard worries me a bit. It came highly recommended and apparently can use the integrated graphics along with a seperate video card to increase the performance. It looks to be a laptop motherboard though, using laptop memory... that worries me.
PSU:
Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power ...
Item #: N82E16817371033
This PSU works well with the case (verified by several owners).
Remote:
D-Link DSM-22 Boxee Remote for PC & Mac
Item #: N82E16833996124
Friend has one of these, works well.
CPU:
AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - C3 Revision HDZ555WFGMBOX
Item #: N82E16819103846
As far as I know, PS2/Wii emulators will only utilize 2 cores, so I didn't see the need to go with something more powerful. I can't help but think I'm cutting corners with this though.
Memory:
G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-8GBSQ
Item #: N82E16820231342
Cheap laptop memory.. still worries me (see above, motherboard)
ODD:
SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B123L/RSBP LightScribe Support
Item #: N82E16827151232
Case:
SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum skin reinforced plastic front panel, 0.8mm SECC body MILO Series ML03B Micro ATX Media Center ...
Item #: N82E16811163174
Case looks simplistic and small yet has enough room for a few components without being too cramped. I'm fairly settled on this.
GPU:
HIS H675F1GD Radeon HD 6750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Item #:N82E16814161379
Doesn't explicitly say 'low profile' on it, but it looks thin enough.. think it will work fine with the case. Not 100% sure on it's performance, but it looks good.
Software:
GeeXboX
A Linux distribution dedicated to XBMC. Looks awesome, but I have no experience with it.
I'm not looking for a great deal of help, but if anyone sees something here that may be a concern, please let me know.
Thanks for reading,
Jeremy