Help a noob plan their first HTPC!

Thanks bluray! I'll probably be buying all the parts sometime soon and I'll be sure to post some follow-up pics and impressions once everything's set up.

Thanks to everyone for their help. I really appreciate it.

(2012-03-25 01:05)magpieswarble Wrote:  Thanks bluray! I'll probably be buying all the parts sometime soon and I'll be sure to post some follow-up pics and impressions once everything's set up.

Thanks to everyone for their help. I really appreciate it.

No problem, and good luck!

Quick question, is this the right Sata cable I need to hook up that 32GB internal sata drive when building my HTPC?

Here

check ideas for keyboards and remotes in my HTPC guide.

Thanks Eskro. I'll definitely look into that.

Could you comment on the Sata cable I posted above? I'm not sure what extra cables I'll need while building this system.

sata cables?

well, your motherboard should come with 2.

so use one for your SSD and the other for an Optical Drive if ever,,,

Well, I got all the parts and was excited to build this thing today.. until I discovered that the CPU I bought (blu-rays build) has a heatsink that sits so high that I can't install the PSU back in.

Wow.

This sucks. If you buy this case, please be sure to get a CPU/heatsink combo that sits low enough that the PSU can have some space to go back in on top of it.

Also, I'd recommend just not getting this case in general. Even if you get a CPU/heatsink that fits, you'll have maybe an inch of space so the CPU fan will blow straight into the bottom of a PSU. Awful, awful design.

I should have read those reviews on Amazon more carefully.

So, I'm coming to ask.. what would you do? Get a new Heatsink that is slimmer that won't interfere with the PSU... get a new PSU that is.. slimmer (but might not be compatible with the case), or get a new case altogether?

I'm leaning towards getting a new case because this design is just so awful. Any thoughts?

@magpieswarble-

Even you get the correct CPU cooler, I have a feeling that you don't like MI-008 case anyway. Since you're going to live with it for a long time, would as well replace it with something that you like. This one is very popular in this forum- SilverStone Aluminum/Steel Micro ATX Media Center/HTPC Case ML03B (Black) + SeaSonic SS-300ET Bronze 300W ATX12V V2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - OEM.

Amazon should be able to replace the MI-008 with ML03B for you.......

Hey bluray. I'm okay with the case, just not this power supply location. It's a real head scratcher.

I actually borrowed my friends dremmel and sawed off the 4 little rubber feet that the screws pass through on the fan's heatsink. It will still screw into the heatsink just fine but it lowered it just a few more MMs.. enough to get the PSU to sit RIGHT on top of it. Absolutely no space left at all.

But I have the PSU's intake fan meeting right on to the heatsink's fan, so half of the head is going to blow up through the heatsink and into the PSU and out the PSU, the other half will just blow out as normal since half of the heatsink fan isn't being covered by the PSU. If that makes sense. Confusing to describe.

Anyway, just had to come on here to complain for a bit. You know how nerd-rage goes.

(2012-04-03 04:29)magpieswarble Wrote:  I actually borrowed my friends dremmel and sawed off the 4 little rubber feet that the screws pass through on the fan's heatsink. It will still screw into the heatsink just fine but it lowered it just a few more MMs.. enough to get the PSU to sit RIGHT on top of it. Absolutely no space left at all.

Sometime, you have to improvise to make it fit. I cut, solder, drill, etc all the time. Most AMD APU users replaced the original CPU cooler due to noise. You can try it "As Is". If you are okay with the CPU cooler fan noise and the CPU temperature is operating within spec, you should be good to go. Worst case, you can replace it with a quieter and lower CPU cooler. What is the overall height of the original CPU heatsink/fan?

(2012-04-03 04:29)magpieswarble Wrote:  But I have the PSU's intake fan meeting right on to the heatsink's fan, so half of the head is going to blow up through the heatsink and into the PSU and out the PSU, the other half will just blow out as normal since half of the heatsink fan isn't being covered by the PSU. If that makes sense. Confusing to describe.

Here is how you should installed the case fan in MI-008-