Would like some opinions on my Build.

Hello, I am going to be building a xbmc box in the next couple of weeks.
This will be hooked up to a 50" 1080p Plasma screen and I would like for the video playback to be perfect.

I would like to spend around 300-400$ but don't have crazy money to spend, less money spent the better.

I made this build after reading a few tutorials and would like to know your guys opinion.

MOB: ASRock A75M-ITX FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Mini ITX AMD Motherboard - 104.99$
CPU: AMD A6-3500 Llano 2.1GHz (2.4GHz Max Turbo) Socket FM1 65W Triple-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 - 79.99$
RAM: Team Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model TED38192M1333C9DC - 39.49$
CASE: APEX MI-008 Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply - 62.99$
DISC DRIVE: LITE-ON Black Internal 12X Blu-ray Combo SATA Model ihes112-04 - OEM - 59.99$

Total: 347.45$ + shipping.

( I already have a Hard Drive)

Please note I am in Canada so I am limited to Canada site pricing and shipping areas etc..

I am looking to play back 1080p movie files , blu-ray discs and watch netflix movies flawlessly without any chopyness.

Thanks so much!

34 views, anyone have experience with these parts? Just want to make sure they'll be good for what I need them for.

Most users intstalled the memory below in their A6-3500 HTPC....

RAM- Crucial Ballistix 4GB

you should buy an other cpu cooler because the stock cooler isnt really silent. but you have less than 5cm without riser and bluerays ram is better for you because the igpu works faster with more bandwith. the rest seems to be ok.
thats what i learned in this forum threads.

or you look at this

Alright , thanks so much guys. Is there a specific CPU cooler I should get? Is there a specific name for a CPU cooler small enough to fit into the case?

(2012-08-06 15:08)mattymcc Wrote:  Alright , thanks so much guys. Is there a specific CPU cooler I should get? Is there a specific name for a CPU cooler small enough to fit into the case?

Scythe SCBSK-2100 120mm Sleeve BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B CPU Cooler

(2012-08-06 16:56)bluray Wrote:  

(2012-08-06 15:08)mattymcc Wrote:  Alright , thanks so much guys. Is there a specific CPU cooler I should get? Is there a specific name for a CPU cooler small enough to fit into the case?

Scythe SCBSK-2100 120mm Sleeve BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B CPU Cooler

Great thanks! Do you know if a 1tb Western Green Drive will fit into the case? It says it has a 3.5" drive bay but will it actually fit with everything in the box?

The standard height of a Intel i3-2100 stock cooler is 2 1/8" (54mm) (source) while the Scythe Shuriken is 58mm tall (source). The stock Intel cooler touches the bottom of the Apex MI-008 power supply (source see pic #9) so with the Shuriken being 4mm taller, it will not fit without replacing the power supply with something like a picoPSU.

Also, in mini-itx builds, the Shuriken blocks the PCI slot so consider that if you're planning to use the slot.

See this thread for MI-008 / Big Shuriken discussion: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=130120

Wow! Thanks so much for all the help! Cheers

Agreed. That's not a good recommendation for a cooler in that case.

I have used that case literally many dozens of times now and know it well.

BTW that's my "Frankenstein" build that Dougie referenced in those pics.

I have pics and measurements in my hardware guide of all of this too, fwiw.