[lysin]

Hi there.

I've been using XBMC for a couple of years now, and I'm looking to switch from an old laptop that I've been using as an HTPC to a full home assembled HTPC.

I've been lurking around for a while and I think I made up my mind about what to buy.

Bear in mind that I have a limited budget, and here in my country, things tend to get a little overpriced... Even without vat.

So, getting down to business:

[CPU] - Intel i3 "Ivy Bridge" 3225 ~140 €
[GRAPHICS] - HD4000 integrated
[CASE] - Apex MI-008 Black mITX 250W - 42 €
[MOBO] - ASRock B75M-ITX Motherboard (Socket 1155, Intel B75, DDR3, S-ATA 600, Mini ITX...) - 90 €
or
ASRock H77M-ITX Motherboard (Socket 1155, Intel H77, DDR3, S-ATA 600, Mini ITX... ) - 90 €
[RAM] - G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 4096MB (2 x 2048MB) DDR3 - 25 €
[SSD] - OCZ AGT3-25SAT3-60G Agility 3 60GB SATA III 2.5 inch SSD (don't really know much about SSD's) - 55 €
[HDD] - Seagate Barracuda 3.5 inch 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB 6GB/S Internal SATA Drive - 90 € (not a priority as I have a couple HDD's laying around)

Total: 442 €

I came up with this setup by comparing various threads here in the forum, and reading the advices given.

I'm looking for your opinion, advices and/or suggestions.

This is my first time trying to assemble anything, so please be gentle

Thanks in advance

[blargman]

Where did you find the 3225 for sale? I can't find it anywhere here in the states. Otherwise, the build looks obviously more than sufficient for just about anything you could throw at it.

[lysin]

Where did you find the 3225 for sale? I can't find it anywhere here in the states. Otherwise, the build looks obviously more than sufficient for just about anything you could throw at it.

It's available for pre-order on a store near me (in Portugal)

The price and model are the same as officially announced and I've shopped there before so I assume its legit.

[Arkitket]

Where did you find the 3225 for sale? I can't find it anywhere here in the states. Otherwise, the build looks obviously more than sufficient for just about anything you could throw at it.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=75430

[lysin]

Just ordered my first component... Ivy Bridge i3 on the way!

[hk007]

I have the same Motherboard (ASRock B75M-ITX Motherboard). I'm waiting to order i3-3225 from my preferred vendors (newegg/amazon).

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Where did you find the 3225 for sale? I can't find it anywhere here in the states. Otherwise, the build looks obviously more than sufficient for just about anything you could throw at it.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=75430

overpriced (as expected). The retail on this is supposed to be $134.99 right?

[lysin]

I have the same Motherboard (ASRock B75M-ITX Motherboard). I'm waiting to order i3-3225 from my preferred vendors (newegg/amazon).

---

Where did you find the 3225 for sale? I can't find it anywhere here in the states. Otherwise, the build looks obviously more than sufficient for just about anything you could throw at it.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=75430

overpriced (as expected). The retail on this is supposed to be $134.99 right?

I tought so also, but here in Europe the cheaper I found was 140€ (roughly 170$) ... And I searched a lot of retailers. lol

[Dougie Fresh]

For the same price I'd pick the H77 since it has 2 x SATA III vs. 1 x SATA III with the B75.

[lysin]

For the same price I'd pick the H77 since it has 2 x SATA III vs. 1 x SATA III with the B75.

Yep, they are the same price at amazon. I guess I'm going with the H77 then. Tks Dougie

Edit: I could swear that 2 days ago they were the same price. I guess not anymore. The B75 is 15$ cheaper.

[lysin]

Ok, this is my final build. I ordered some components and picked up the rest. The final price was 460 € (SSD upgrade 60 >120Gb)

[CPU] - Intel i3 "Ivy Bridge" 3225
[CASE] - Apex MI-008 Black mITX 250W
[MOBO] - ASRock B75M-ITX Motherboard (Socket 1155, Intel B75, DDR3, S-ATA 600, Mini ITX...)
[RAM] - G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL 4096MB (2 x 2048MB) DDR3
[SSD] - OCZ AGT3-25SAT3-120G Agility 3 120GB SATA III 2.5 inch SSD
[HDD] - WD Green 2TB

These are the components before I started assembling the computer (Disclaimer: the dog was not part of the build)



The case



The board with the cpu



The retail fan is a little bigger than I expected. The PSU sits right on top of the fan. I had to remove the PSU in order to mount the motherboard. No space left in between.

---

The 2TB HDD did not fit the 3.5' slot... I had to improvise a litle. The sdd has only one screw and the rest of the weight is supported by the cables. As I'm not thinking of moving the HTPC around I guess it wont do much harm...





Final resting place (it looks worst than it is really)



And that's it. It took me 1h30m to fully assembly all the stuff, double checking the connections and trying to do some damage control with the wires.

It´s working great so far.

Been checking the temperatures and my only concern is the CPU wich states it's at 54ºC in cpufan and aida64 (44-45ºC in bios and Asrock Tune Utility). However, even in high stress (playing 1080p, transcoding to ipad and downloading at 10Mb/s and extracting episodes), the temperature stays almost the same (+- 1ºC). The overall system temperature in CPUfan is 40ºC. I don't really known what to make of this...

All in all, I'm extremely happy.

PS: Incredible Windows 7 loading time... 5 seconds to desktop. woot

[solamnic]

Enjoy