1st HTPC Project - Need Help!

(2012-06-18 18:45)Meatfeast Wrote:  So yeah, pretty much identical setup to yours (sorry!) I was Close to buying an OCZ Agility 3 or a corsair GT Force but the M4 ran out the winner due to reliability.

Hope there aren't too many nasty surprises ahead!

Nothing to be sorry about, it's flattering! If there are any problems, we are all here to help!

Let me know how this goes once you assemble. I'm quite interested in this build.

Yeah, we want PICS!!!!

Sure thing guys. Will post photos and a boot up video once its all built and set up.

Recieved the case, ram & PSU. Still waiting on the rest. Seems to be taking an age for everything to ship!!! I'm usually a very patient guy, but i'm really looking forward to the build and finally having it set up and ACTUALLY getting round to watching some content!!!!

Are there any BIOS tweaks i should be aware of for this kind of setup?

I copied a lot of ur stuff and the system is now built. It comprises:
Asrock A75M A75
AMD Quad-Core Black Edition A8-Series
Corsair 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 1866Mhz
OCZ 60GB Agility 3 SSD
X-Case Q100 + 500watt PSU
I gotta say this thing is really impressive. It breezes through everything and menu's are super smooth. I upgraded from an Acer R3610 and it used to judder on MQ3 skin. Movies playback flawlessly as well hooked up to my Sony AV Receiver (1080p MKV)
The stock CPU cooler is quite load so I'd defffo suggest getting a better one. I'm looking at the Scythe BIG Shuriken 2 (SCBSK-2100) but it might have to wait until payday. Whole deal cost me £301.42 ($468.94).
The case was a little bigger than i thought it would be which is only down side.

(2012-06-25 12:52)angel129116 Wrote:  I copied a lot of ur stuff and the system is now built. It comprises:
Asrock A75M A75
AMD Quad-Core Black Edition A8-Series
Corsair 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 1866Mhz
OCZ 60GB Agility 3 SSD
X-Case Q100 + 500watt PSU
I gotta say this thing is really impressive. It breezes through everything and menu's are super smooth. I upgraded from an Acer R3610 and it used to judder on MQ3 skin. Movies playback flawlessly as well hooked up to my Sony AV Receiver (1080p MKV)
The stock CPU cooler is quite load so I'd defffo suggest getting a better one. I'm looking at the Scythe BIG Shuriken 2 (SCBSK-2100) but it might have to wait until payday. Whole deal cost me £301.42 ($468.94).
The case was a little bigger than i thought it would be which is only down side.

Are you based in the UK too? I totally agree about the Xcase, i wish i could have warned you but i only recieved mine last thursday. It is a bit on the large size but it does look good and the build quality isn't too shabby either. Especially at that price point! Superb delivery service too! I think i might swap it out eventually for the widely used (on here) Silverstone ML03 It is more suitably sized to accompany other AV equipment and has 2 front mounted USB 3.0 ports. I'll see how the Xcase fairs first though!

I have also been looking at a CPU cooler and the Shuriken 2 is a bit pricey for my liking so i've been sniffing around the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 pro

What did you choose for storage out of interest? Also what retailers did you use? (If you are from the UK)

I am from the UK as well mate (Nottingham). I used Ebuyer to get all my stuff (barr the case obviously).
The only hard drive in the case is the OCZ 60GB Agility 3 SSD. I've a custom built windows 7 PC that act's as a media server in my hall cupboard that has 7TB's of media storage. This fuels the house with media via a gigabit 6e Ethernet setup.

Hope you're not a Forest fan!!!!

I'm from Bristol and My beloved City play Forest at the city ground 1st game of the season!

If you're not into footy or forest, feel free to ignore my previous comments!

Sounds like a sweet setup & something i will look into when i move into my new place.

I use ebuyer & amazon alot but discovered technextday.co.uk who provided a super quick turnaround even on the saver free delivery option! 2 days from order!

Another site i used for the first time was morecomputers.co.uk very impressed as i went for free delivery and it arrived the next day. (i think it states upto 5 days)

Glad your build went well and you're pleased with the power & speed of your new machine. Any pictures for us?

I'm going to pop some pics up, just need to sort the cpu cooler. Sooner the better as the stock one is really annoying me.
There are some pics of my equipment here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...pid1127986
I'm quite impressed how it all works actually. :o) Feel like a proper techie household. hehe.

(2012-06-25 13:59)Meatfeast Wrote:  

(2012-06-25 12:52)angel129116 Wrote:  I copied a lot of ur stuff and the system is now built. It comprises:
Asrock A75M A75
AMD Quad-Core Black Edition A8-Series
Corsair 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 1866Mhz
OCZ 60GB Agility 3 SSD
X-Case Q100 + 500watt PSU
I gotta say this thing is really impressive. It breezes through everything and menu's are super smooth. I upgraded from an Acer R3610 and it used to judder on MQ3 skin. Movies playback flawlessly as well hooked up to my Sony AV Receiver (1080p MKV)
The stock CPU cooler is quite load so I'd defffo suggest getting a better one. I'm looking at the Scythe BIG Shuriken 2 (SCBSK-2100) but it might have to wait until payday. Whole deal cost me £301.42 ($468.94).
The case was a little bigger than i thought it would be which is only down side.

Are you based in the UK too? I totally agree about the Xcase, i wish i could have warned you but i only recieved mine last thursday. It is a bit on the large size but it does look good and the build quality isn't too shabby either. Especially at that price point! Superb delivery service too! I think i might swap it out eventually for the widely used (on here) Silverstone ML03 It is more suitably sized to accompany other AV equipment and has 2 front mounted USB 3.0 ports. I'll see how the Xcase fairs first though!

I have also been looking at a CPU cooler and the Shuriken 2 is a bit pricey for my liking so i've been sniffing around the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 pro

What did you choose for storage out of interest? Also what retailers did you use? (If you are from the UK)

Just a word of warning,... DO NOT buy the CPU cooler I linked in this post! It is HUGE and will not fit in the already big xcase Q100.

Your fan will need to be low profile. Eskro has some linked in his guide. Scythe ones are available on ebuyer.