[MarvinMar]

I am upgrading my HTPC Setup.
First I had XBMC on Xbox 1 (Great for it's time, and I still have 3 of these in the closet)
Then I got an WDTV, then WDTV Live (And a WDTV in the car)

I have been reading and configuring a build for about 2 months, and today that all changed after reading eskro's thread.

What do you guys think of this configuration?




AMD A6-3650 Llano 2.6GHz Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6530D AD3650WNGXBOX
Model #:AD3650WNGXBOX
Item #:N82E16819103943

ASRock A75M FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Model #:A75M
Item #:N82E16813157260

Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX
Model #:KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX
Item #:N82E16820104173

APEX MI-008 Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply
Model #:MI-008
Item #:N82E16811154091


SilenX EFX-12-15 120mm Case Fan
Model #:EFX-12-15
Item #:N82E16835226042

IOGEAR GKM561R Black 2.4GHz Wireless HTPC Multimedia Keyboard with Laser Trackball and Scroll Wheel
Model #:GKM561R
Item #:N82E16823176018

[jbeemon]

I think you're going to have a hard time getting that Micro ATX motherboard in the Mini ITX case. Other than that, I just used almost that same setup yesterday building a HTPC (except for the case). It works great after ironing out a few minor problems.

[MarvinMar]

jbeemon,
Thanks for pointing that out.
I saw the case in another users build and just added it, didn't pay much attention to anything but the price and the size.

Any case you would suggest for this build?

[1QWK510]

I have almost the same build but with the a6-3500 and only 4gb of RAM. Most will agree 8gb is overkill unless your gaming. What are you going to do for hdd? Check out my thread my build is almost done.

[MarvinMar]

My budget is $400
I have a 160 gig 2.5 sata drive I rescued from a Western Digital Passport. The case died but the drive it fine. I figured I would start with that, or one of the regular 500 gig drives I have in my main PC until I can get a SSD.
I have all of my media on a 3TB external Western Digital drive.
I think I could live on 4 gigs of ram.
And I have a DVD/RW or Blueray Reader I can throw in there but I mainly use my PS3 for that.

I looked at the A6-3500 but thought for the extra $20 or so the 3650 would be worth it. May be overkill, I really will only be playing sd and 720P content, and sd netflix since my internet connecting is only 170kbps down.

Gaming will be emulators and casual stuff like angry birds, worms, peggle, mystery case files...Maybe PORTAL if that's not asking to much.

I am pen to changes since my budget went from $300 to $400 today, but It also got pushed back to around Feb 15th.
Just want to do it right the first time.

Before this build I was looking at
BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
With
AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX450WFGMBOX

THEN i was really set on this until today..
ASUS AT3IONT-I Deluxe Intel Atom 330 NVIDIA ION Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo

[eskro]

MarvinMar, MarvinMar, MarvinMar.... hehe


[CPU+iGPU] AMD A6-3500 3x2.1Ghz/2.4Ghz HD6530D FM1 65W ($90 + $0)
[MOBO] ASRock A75M-ITX FM1 CIR USB3.0 SATAIII UEFI mITX ($90 + $0)
[CASE+PSU] Apex MI-008 250W mITX ($50 + $0)
[FAN] SilenX EFX-12-15 120mm 1400RPM 74CFM 15dBA ($12 + $3)
[RAM] KINGSTON HyperX GENESIS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1866 CL9 1.5V ($45 + $0)
[SSD Patriot Torqx-2 32GB 2.5" SATAII Trim Read:270MB/s Write:230MB/s ($60 + $0 - $15 Mail in Rebate)
TOTAL: $350 - $15 Mail in Rebate = $335

EnJoY!!

[bluray]

ASRock A75M FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Model #:A75M
Item #:N82E16813157260

You can simply replace the Micro Atx mobo with this Mini-itx mobo "ASRock Socket FM1/AMD A75 FCH/SATA3&USB3.0/A&GbE/Mini-ITX Motherboard A75M-ITX". It'll work with everything in your list, and you'll enjoy your HTPC!

[MarvinMar]

Looks good eskro
Plus I get the SSD for the same price.
(And then add the keyboard)
I already have 2 Windows Media Center remotes I can use.

[eskro]

Ftw!!

[T12U]

Pretty similar setup to mine that I just built a week ago.
AMD A8-3850 $139.99 - $10 instant rebate from Newegg

ASRock A75M-ITX FM1 AMD A75 Motherboard $89.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $24.99

SAPPHIRE 100326LP Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 Low Profile Video Card was $99.99 when I bought it, now $89.99

MI-008 mini ITX case + 250 watt PSU $50 free shipping from Amazon

I already had a OCZ Agility 3 120GB SSD so the price for that was not included.

Total = $385 without hard drive.

From basic Windows 7 index rating, I get 7.2 for processor, 7.1 for both aero and gaming graphics, and 7.2 for the hard drive. I think memory was at 6.something. Since I ran the APU and discrete graphics card on crossfire, gaming so far on it has been really good. Albeit, I have only tested League of Legends on it with everything on very high maxed out settings running at 1920x1080 resolution with no lag at all. Excellent build. I have also played back Blu-Ray 3D discs and ISO's perfectly running to my D8000 Samsung so no issues there. The HD 6550D isn't bad when I ran LoL on it. but only with everything set to medium. If I set the video settings to high, I do get the occasional graphics lag but still very playable. So if you are not planning to game on it at all, you can sub the 90 bucks from the graphics card and pick up an SSD and it would still be around the same price.

[eskro]

T12U, PM sent

[MarvinMar]

Is there an alternate motherboard you would suggest?
ASRock A75M-ITX FM1 CIR USB3.0 SATAIII UEFI mITX only has 1 review from your link, and the board at newegg has a ton of negative reviews.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813157273

[MarvinMar]

I am between the A6-3600 & the A8-3850 now
The CPU Mark for the A8-3850 is the highest of all the builds.
I'm not dong 3D Bluray now but my next tv purchase will.
I also like the A8-3850 reviews for graphice power for some gaming.

Any reason to pick the A6-3600 over the A8-3850? $48 seems like a small price to pay for the apparent boost.

[Mini-ITX] A6-3600 (4x2.1Ghz/2.4Ghz) + HD6530D ($278) --> Average CPU Mark: 5247

[Micro-ATX] A8-3850 (4x2.9Ghz) + HD6550D ($322) --> Average CPU Mark: 5603

[eskro]

it all depends on the form factor your looking for....

[MarvinMar]

I would like it to be small, but it does not have to be tiny.

Here is where it is going
Either where one the the baskets are..



or on this shelf where the XBOX used to live


I am open to it being CUBE shaped OR more rectangular like the surround sound.

Since I wont get to do this again for maybe 5 years, I want to do it right this time.