[soultemptation]

Hi everybody!

Im going to build my HTPC and therefore I was reading through the forum alot.

What it should do:
- Play 1080p videos from NAS
- Renders/Navigates XBMC GUI fluently (I'm very picky on this one)
- Runs OpenELEC (at least in the beginning)
- Nice case
- BluRay player

These are my minimal requirements for the machine. But I want it future proof. So one day, I want to add the following features without buying new hardware:
- 3D
- HD audio (Bitstream DOLBY TRUE-HD & DTS-HD MASTER)
- Watching TV (recording, timeshift)
- Ambilight

I think for the TV stuff it requires then some other OS like Ubuntu or Windows. If so, it should still be a blast to navigate the XBMC GUI.

My homework:
I really did some homework. I promise! See my first build below.
Thanks to my teachers, eskro, bluray and Balinus for their threads. Helped me ... A FREAKING LOT!

EDIT: 04. March 2012


First build:

[CPU] Intel Core I3-2100 Dual-Core 3.1GHz (~$135.00 / CHF 122.00)
[MOBO] AsRock Z68M-ITX/HT(B3), Intel Z68, LGA1155, Mini-ITX (~$140.00 / CHF 126.00)
[GPU] Asus GT-430, 1GB DDR3, PCI-E x16, HDMI, low-profile (~$83.00 / CHF 75.00)
[CASE] HTPC-ITX7-Black ($80.00)
[PSU] 150W PSU 24 pin-250mm cable ($36.00)
[IR] IR receiver ($14.00)
[BD-ROM] Sony Optiarc Black 2X BD-ROM 8X DVD-ROM 24X CD-ROM Internal SATA Slim Slot Blu-ray DVD Combo ($145.00)
[FAN] Noiseblocker Multiframe S-Series MF12-S1 -750 rpm (~$21.00 / CHF 19.00)
[RAM] Kingston ValueRAM, 2x4GB Kit, DDR3-1333, [email protected], 240-pin DIMM ] (~$50.00 / CHF 45.00)
[SSD] 64GB Crucial m4 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s (~$121.00 / CHF 111.00)
[CPU cooler] Zalman CNPS 7000C-Cu (~$51.00 / CHF 47.00)
TOTAL: $876.00
(I'm Swiss. Hope you get along with the Swiss page. It supports english, but it needs to be selected on the homepage on the top. Sorry for the annoyance).

Just buy it... NOOOOT!
My thoughts on this build:

1. + Gorgeous case!
   
2. + Nice and compact.
   
3. + It will be able to handle all requirements.
   
4. - With a dedicated GPU, there will not fit any tv tuner cards in this case.
   

So I searched for another solution...

Second build

[CPU] Intel Core I3-2100 Dual-Core 3.1GHz (~$135.00 / CHF 122.00)
[MOBO] Asus P8H61-M PRO Rev.3.0, mATX (~$96.00 / CHF 88.00)
[GPU] Asus GT-430, 1GB DDR3, PCI-E x16, HDMI, low-profile (~$83.00 / CHF 75.00)
[CASE] MS-Tech MC-1200AN (with IR receiver) (~$134.00 / CHF 120.00)
[PSU] be quiet! Straight Power SFX-350W, 80plus (~$82.00 / CHF 75.00)
[SSD] 64GB Crucial m4 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s (~$121.00 / CHF 111.00)
[RAM] Kingston ValueRAM, 2x4GB Kit, DDR3-1333, [email protected], 240-pin DIMM ] (~$50.00 / CHF 45.00)
[BD-ROM] LG BH10LS(30) (~$99.00 / CHF 89.00)
[FAN] Noiseblocker Multiframe S-Series MF12-S1 -750 rpm (~$21.00 / CHF 19.00) -*-*- DOES NOT FIT -*-*-
[FAN] Noiseblocker BlackSilentPro-Series PE-P, 92mm, 1800 U/min (~$24.00 / CHF 22.00) (not added in the final price)
[CPU cooler] Zalman CNPS 7000C-Cu (~$51.00 / CHF 47.00)
TOTAL: $872.00
(These are the prices I will pay here in Switzerland. I'm sure on newegg you will find better prices.)

Just buy it... HELL YEAH!
My thoughts on this build:

1. + Gorgeous case!
   
2. + It will be able to handle all my requirements.
   
3. + Two free slots for TV tuner cards.
   

Yeah, I went for this build. See second post for images.

Kind Regards

[soultemptation]

See the assembling pictures in my picasa gallery. Watch the image captions for additional informations.

Image Gallery

Whats worth mentioning:

Case
I was pritty suprised about the case. I thought I buy the MC-1200 Rev. D, but I got the MC-1200AN. I like it alot! It has a ventilation grid on the top which helps the air circulation a lot!

Case fan
I bought an 120mm fan. But it does not fit. I will test an 92mm and 80mm and will keep you up-to-date.
Edit: The 92mm fan fits nicely in the case. But the case is built for an 120mm or 80mm fan. I fixed the fan through one hole in the case, the other through the ventilation grid. So its only fixed on 2 spots, not on 4. It works well for me.

6GB/s SATA connectors
The MOBO goes under the tray for the optical drive. For my MOBO, this is pretty annoying because the only 2 6GB/s SATA connectors are almost blocked. I got them mounted without pulling out the hole thing, but its a pain. See here

2.5'' SSD
There is no mount for an 2.5'' SSD/HDD. I mounted it on the bottom through the ventilation grid which worked very well.

3.5'' HDD/SSD tray
There are some rubber mounts for an 3.5'' HDD/SSD. See here (left of the SATA cable). I dont know how good they are because I use a 2.5'' drive.

Zalman CPU cooler / Mounting order
First you can mount the SSD and the BD drive. But then ---> MOUNT THE ZALMAN CPU CLIP TO THE MAINBOARD <---
I missed that one and could unmount everything because of it. It doesnt have to be the cooler itself. Only the clip.

MOBO
The Mainboard is a small-size micro ATX. Means it only has 2 RAM slots. I put 8 gigs of RAM in it which should be more then enough. If you ask people here, they recommend normaly 2 GB. But with the smaller size, you can fit the 92mm fan in it.

If you buy the MC-1200 Rev. D case, there is not ventilation grid on the top. I think a lower profile cooler would be better.

Powering on the computer with the IR remote ...
... works flawlessly.



So, I started up the hole thing and it worked. I couldn't enter the bios because.... looool... I have no keyboard to connect. We only have notebooks here
I will update this post with some temperatures when I got myself a keyboard.

[humferier]

Are you sure that Perfect Home Theater ships to Europe :

At this time, Perfect Home Theater ships merchandise to locations within the United States and U.S. territories, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands. Additionally, Perfect Home Theater ships merchandise to Canada, Mexico, Latin America and South America, but not to other international locations.

[eskro]

you might verify about the TV Tuner thing...
that case has only 1 xpension slot, and it'll be taken by the GT430 card...
you might have to use an external device such as HDHOMERUN.
but overall, that build is strong, and futur proof.

if it worked for balinus, it'll work for you.

to my knowledge, PowerON from off state, you'll need asrocks CIR receiver.

150W PSU is indeed strong enough for you build. but you need a 150W power brick too.
since your in Switzerland, you might have to buy your PSU + power Brick from a seller near you.

[amarschke]

Hi!

[MOBO] AsRock Z68M-ITX/HT(B3), Intel Z68, LGA1155, Mini-ITX (~$140.00 / CHF 126.00)

Why an AsRock Mobo and why an extra Graphicscard? There are some really nice media Boards from the folks at Intel that ship with HDMI output and do seem to have a fairly nice Graphicscard on board.
http://ark.intel.com/products/50092/Inte...ard-DH67CF for one has an HDMI output on board and if the performance of the onboard intel graphics chip is not of your liking you can still stick a small diskrete graphicscard in there. Also its not Atom based so it wont be too bottlenecked by the CPU.
Besides that: Since these SFF solutions are mainly with an "offsite" data store for your movies the 1000BaseT Ethernet card is (in my eyes) a definite plus if you want to stream massive BDs over your network from something like an HP N40L/N36L(Where I'd tend to the N36L since they are dead cheap since the release of the N40L and are not very different from its successor N40L in the important parts of their specs). And you get USB3.0 in the mix. So definitely something. Though I'd be carefull as I at times noticed minor hitches with intel cards under Linux(OpenELEC being a Linux Distro)

[IR] IR receiver ($14.00)

What is that for? Most of the newer Televisions support the CEC Standard but only call them differently. Therefore making a seperate Controller for your box relatively obsolete. Here is a list of names for CEC:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#CEC
See also libcec and opdenkamp's cec support for libcec which are both possible to be built with everything bigger Eden nightlies IIRC. I had that setup running on my box already. Also OpenELEC (which is supported by the folks who made libcec and cec-support possible) *should* run CEC out of the box. See also: http://www.pulse-eight.com/store/product...apter.aspx
Its an astonishingly small device that sits behind your box making life lovely.

In the interest of a proper Airflow I'd recommend something like a Dynatron G-199 too:
http://www.dynatron-corp.com/en/product_...&id=6&in=0 They are waaayyy flat they blast air out sideways which in my mind makes much more sense in a cramped small environment like an SFF. I would however look up how much noise one of them produces I'm not sure if they do or do not eminate a substantial amount of noise yet. Or if you do want to get really fancy maybe try something like a complete copper cooling body and stick the ventilation to the side.

Just a few thoughts

Have fun!

[soultemptation]

Thanks to everybody for helping me!

Hey humferier
Indeed. General Terms of "Perfect Home Theate" state no shipping outside us... But I'm able to select Switzerland in the checkout process and it gives me a price (even though its horrendous).
I wrote them a message and asked

Hey amarschke
CEC... interesting... never heard of it.
soo, I would connect the Pulse Eight "USB - CEC Adapter" to the USB of the HTPC. And from the adapter goes an HDMI to a CEC enabled device. And from there its spreaded to all HDMI connected devices. Have I got this right?

These are my devices:
PROJECTOR: Sony VPL-HW10
AVR: Denon AVR-1909
GAMEING/BD/DVD: old/big PS3
TV: Dreambox DM 800 HD PVR (Its connected AVR HDMI -> Dreambox DVI).
Only the slim PS3 supports CEC and I think CEC does not work with DVI. So only 1/2 from my devices support it.
Therefore I think its easier for me to simply add a CIR-receiver to my case. Then I will be able to control everything with my Harmony remote.
Or do you (or anybody else ) have another idea?
And in my reserches I saw alot of threads with CEC problems. I'm a little "afraid" I guess

Hey eskro & amarschke
Maybe I change my build to an micro-ATX board/case even though I really really really like the Wesena case.
But to be future proof, I like the idea of a micro-ATX board with some PCI(-E) connectors. So if time comes, I will assimilate the Dreambox into my HTPC.

So amarschke told me an Intel board with onboard graphics should/could be enough. Something like:
[MOBO] Intel DH67BL
Again, for me is a fluent XBMC with a Skin (e.g. Aeon) very important.
But I like the approach to add the GPU if its needed.
Is this mainboard worth a try with my other components?



I saw an interessting case here:
[CASE] MS-Tech MC-1200 Rev. D
Will a dedicated GPU card and one or two PCI-E TV tuner cards fit in this one?
Its not as beautiful as the Wesena case, but with the extra space a full size PSU, the HTPC should run much smoother...

The case comes with an remote and an "integrated usb" receiver. Does anybody know if its possible to powerON the HTPC with this?
If not, the Intel board should work with the Inteset CIR reciever no? Or will it be CEC in the end?



Maaaaaaaan, alot of questions. My head is crushing! Hope somebody is reading all of my trash here

[amarschke]

To the CEC: Even Stranger cuz somehow the Video still needs to get to your telly ay?
- HDMI from Board to Adapter (shipped with the adapter in extra short)
- USB from Adapter to board
- HDMI from adapter to Telly.
Telly searches for connected AnyNET+/CEC capable adapters, connects...
Bang its working. *magic*

The new MS-Tech Case not exactly my taste and maybe not so good for airflow. Havent looked close enough at it I guess

[soultemptation]

Are you sure that Perfect Home Theater ships to Europe :

Sent a mail to PHT. Here's the response:

There is a distributor and resellers in Europe, so please contact Streacom.com for more information.
We will NOT ship any chassis to Europe.

[eskro]

The case comes with an remote and an "integrated usb" receiver. Does anybody know if its possible to powerON the HTPC with this?

unLess someone's has it and can confirm it, we dont know.
however, u can ask their tech support! http://www.ms-tech.de/eng/index.php/contact

[kricker]

I am building a very similar HTPC for my Dad. I was originally going for the Mobo with a built in GT430. That left the one slot in that small case go for the Tuner card. Then I read the manual and realized the HDMI port on that mobo comes from the Corei3 graphics. The GT430 has a DVI and Displayport. The Displayport does do audio out as well, you'll just need a proper cable that convert that to HDMI. I began to worry about power needs for the GT430/Core i3/tuner card. The biggest picPSU I found is a 160w with 200w peak output. That seems borderline for running this if it ever hits full load for something. Now I'm thinking to go with a cheaper mobo, using just the Core i3 graphics.

The case comes with or without an IR adapter, you can choose.

For the remote question, check the Missing Remote review of the case, and the comments afterwards. I am also waffling on an IR remote versus a CEC adapter. For IR, I believe the best option is a mobo with a CIR port built in. Waking from a USB IR can work (I do it with a USB-uirt), but it will depend on your motherboard and IR adapter you choose.

[soultemptation]

So. Got some news

Think I got settled on these parts:


[CPU] Intel Core I3-2100 Dual-Core 3.1GHz (~$135.00 / CHF 122.00)
[MOBO] Intel DH67BL, H67 B3, LGA1155, mATX (~$114.00 / CHF 102.00)
[GPU] Asus GT-430, 1GB DDR3, PCI-E x16, HDMI, low-profile (~$83.00 / CHF 75.00)
[CASE] MS-Tech MC-1200 Rev. D (with IR receiver) (~$134.00 / CHF 120.00)
[SSD] Crucial m4 SSD 64GB, 2.5 Zoll, SATA-3 (~$124.00 / CHF 111.00)
[RAM] Kingston ValueRAM, 2x4GB Kit, DDR3-1333, [email protected], 240-pin DIMM ] (~$50.00 / CHF 45.00)
[BD-ROM] LG BH10LS(30) (~$99.00 / CHF 89.00)

Any comments? Does something does not fit?

PSU
eskro suggests an 400W PSU. Will a SeaSonic S12II 380B 380W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE work aswell? Or should it be >=400W?

Case cooling

The new MS-Tech Case not exactly my taste and maybe not so good for airflow. Havent looked close enough at it I guess

I think I have to admit it, you're right. One problem of the MS-Tech MC-1200 Rev. D case will be cooling. It has some openings on the bottom and on the back. But the back part will be blocked by PCI cards (GPU in my case and later one tv tuners). So proper airflow will be difficult to achieve.

This guy has an mini ITX board and an 120mm noctua fan next to it (on the bottom of the case). But I guess with an micro ATX, the 120mm fan will not fit.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17086160/HTPC/final.jpg

This one has no PCI cards and added an 70mm fan in the back.
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/2584/frontih.jpg
Another fan (think its 80mm) he put on the bottom of the case. Found it on a Dutch page which I had to English (lol).
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/9453/topnq.jpg

I think I will go with a 80mm fan (something like Noctua NF-R8-1800 80mm) and a decent PSU (which I hope helps a bit).

In the interest of a proper Airflow I'd recommend something like a Dynatron G-199 too:
http://www.dynatron-corp.com/en/product_...&id=6&in=0

amarschke told me about the G-199 which is not compatible with my Intel board. But the Dynatron K2 will fit. Can this cooler be placed so it blows the air out of the back of the case through the grid above the backpanel connectors? ---> see here
I think the K2 is just a little to flat. It will blow the air right on the backpanel connectors no?

Does anybody has some recommendations for a proper airflow?

IR receiver / Power on
So, I think the IR receiver should work. It needs to be connected to the same 2 pins on the motherboard like the power button of the case. MS-Tech ships an extra Y cable for that purpose. See here:
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5607/ph...8763aa.jpg
Blue/White cable comes from the power button.
Red/Black comes from the IR receiver.
Normally, the power button goes directly to the MOBO. But now its connected to the 2 pins of the red/black cable which goes to the MOBO instead.



So, I would like to know what you guys think about the parts in the beginning, the PSU and the case cooling/airflow.
Thanks alot for reading!

Kind Regards

[eskro]

PSU
eskro suggests an 400W PSU. Will a SeaSonic S12II 380B 380W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE work aswell? Or should it be >=400W?

380w is ok

[soultemptation]

I read that only a SFX sized PSU fits in the case.
Found one from be quiet!, but it has 350W. Still ok?

Ah, and I think I go back to the MOBO eskro suggested in his guide (or similar): P8H61M Pro
why? First the AsRock board I like the CIR headers. But with this case I dont need it. The Intel was nice because of its H67 chipset. But with an GPU I dont need the H67. The Asus board is a little smaller then the others. Instead it reduces the RAM slots from 4 to 2. I dont mind But then I can put a 120mm fan in this case.

I think I'll order today if nobody sees any problems with the PSU and the MOBO.

[eskro]

thats what i have 350W in my HTPC, more then enough.,

[Balinus]

Hello soul, nice to see your ongoing work in progress

Any reason why you absolutely need the i3 ? I ask because with an APU, you'll save the PCIe expansion slot for a future TV tuner. Which would mean that you could go ITX again. If that's an objective you're trying of course.

About the Wesena cases... look for the eject button on them. I got one with a left-eject button, which is non standard. Newer Wesena cases have right-eject.

the Ms-tech case is really nice. It was one of the case I wanted. But they are not available here in NA.