[Jagermikester]

Hi,

I've been running xbmc for a while on a very old pc and the time has finally come for me to replace it with a new SFF HTPC that can handle 1080p content and looks a lot nicer in my tv cabinet. The problem is that I have never built a pc from scratch before so after much reading on this forum I would really appreciate some advice and feedback from you knowledgable folks before I order the parts. I would like my htpc to:

- Play SD & HD media in avi/mkv/iso formats from my Qnap NAS
- Play & rip DVDs & Blu-rays (3D not required yet but possibly upgrade in a year or so)
- Be able to run games console emulators (latest pc games won't be necessary)
- Go into S5 state from on/off button on remote
- Be able to play You Tube/Netflix/Love Film content

Here is the list of components I was thinking of purchasing:

Case: Streacom F7C Evo (£80)
Case Fan: Fractal Design Silent Series 80mm Case Fan (£6.75)
Mobo: Asrock H77M-ITX (£80)
CPU: Intel i3-3225 (£112)
Memory: Kingston 4gb DDR3 1600mhz (£23)
SSD: Samsung 830 series desktop kit 64gb (£53)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (£80)
ODD: Streacom Sony BC-5600S Slot Load Blu-Ray Drive (£130)
PSU: picoPSU 160W picoPSU and AC/DC adapter block (£90)
IR & Remote: Streacom Internal IR Receiver and Remote Control (£25)

In an effort to understand how things work by reading more forum threads, I discover more and more possibilities which opens the flood gates to further forum reading and more and more questions/confusion . So far I'm unsure on the following:

1. Will either of those mobos be suitable for my needs and the cpu/case?
2. Will the HD4000 be powerful enough to run the emulators?
3. Do I need to purchase the Gelid cpu fan above or will the stock cpu cooler be ok? I'm assuming that the cpu comes with a fan.
4. Will the PSU be powerful enough?
5. The Streacom F7C Evo case doesn't include a cooling fan. Can anyone please recommend a quiet one?
6. I would like to keep the IR receiver internal if possible but have read that some of the buttons on the Streacom remote don't play nice with xbmc. If I can get it shipped to the UK I'm thinking of going with option 5 on this thread but am unsure if it will work with my current remote or if it's the best option?
7. Is there anything that I have missed?

If possible I would really like to get this system working in the next month or two so any help with this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
Jagermikester

[DavidT99]

Hi,

I've been running xbmc for a while on a very old pc and the time has finally come for me to replace it with a new SFF HTPC that can handle 1080p content and looks a lot nicer in my tv cabinet. The problem is that I have never built a pc from scratch before so after much reading on this forum I would really appreciate some advice and feedback from you knowledgable folks before I order the parts. I would like my htpc to:

- Play SD & HD media in avi/mkv/iso formats from my Qnap NAS
- Play & rip DVDs & Blu-rays (3D not required yet but possibly upgrade in a year or so)
- Be able to run games console emulators (latest pc games won't be necessary)
- Go into S5 state from on/off button on remote
- Be able to play You Tube/Netflix/Love Film content

Here is the list of components I was thinking of purchasing:

Case: Streacom F7C Evo (£80) or Wesena Mini ITX7-2 (£100)
Mobo: Asrock Z77E-ITX (£103) or Asrock H77M-ITX (£80)
CPU: Intel i3-3225 (£112)
CPU Cooler: Gelid Solutions Slim Silence iPlus (£20)
Memory: Kingston 4 - 8gb DDR3 1600mhz (£23 - £34)
SSD: Samsung 830 series 64 - 128gb (£53 - £80)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (£80)
ODD: Streacom Sony BC-5600S Slot Load Blu-Ray Drive (£130)
PSU: picoPSU 160W picoPSU and AC/DC adapter block (£90)
IR & Remote: Streacom Internal IR Receiver and Remote Control (£25)

In an effort to understand how things work by reading more forum threads, I discover more and more possibilities which opens the flood gates to further forum reading and more and more questions/confusion . So far I'm unsure on the following:

1. Will either of those mobos be suitable for my needs and the cpu/case?
2. Will the HD4000 be powerful enough to run the emulators?
3. Do I need to purchase the Gelid cpu fan above or will the stock cpu cooler be ok? I'm assuming that the cpu comes with a fan.
4. Will the PSU be powerful enough?
5. The Streacom F7C Evo case doesn't include a cooling fan. Can anyone please recommend a quiet one?
6. I would like to keep the IR receiver internal if possible but have read that some of the buttons on the Streacom remote don't play nice with xbmc. If I can get it shipped to the UK I'm thinking of going with option 5 on [urforum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=111310]this thread[/url] but am unsure if it will work with my current remote or if it's the best option?
7. Is there anything that I have missed?

If possible I would really like to get this system working in the next month or two so any help with this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
Jagermikester

I think generally the build looks OK except I would check that the ODD will fit into either case as to me the button looks to be in the wrong place, also the ODD looks really expensive.

Either mobo will be good but save money and get the H77M as you won't gain anything with the other board.

The CPU will be all you need for video playback and try the OEM CPU fan, you might be suprised how quiet it is.

The memory looks good as does the SDD, for Windows 64gb is plenty.

David

[bluray]

1. Will either of those mobos be suitable for my needs and the cpu/case?
2. Will the HD4000 be powerful enough to run the emulators?
3. Do I need to purchase the Gelid cpu fan above or will the stock cpu cooler be ok? I'm assuming that the cpu comes with a fan.
4. Will the PSU be powerful enough?
5. The Streacom F7C Evo case doesn't include a cooling fan. Can anyone please recommend a quiet one?
6. I would like to keep the IR receiver internal if possible but have read that some of the buttons on the Streacom remote don't play nice with xbmc. If I can get it shipped to the UK I'm thinking of going with option 5 on this thread but am unsure if it will work with my current remote or if it's the best option?
7. Is there anything that I have missed?

If possible I would really like to get this system working in the next month or two so any help with this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
Jagermikester

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Intel stock CPU cooler is all you need for HTPC
4. Yes
5. SilenX EFX-08-12 80mm Case Fan
6. Your existing MCE remote is all you need to control XBMC

[Arkitket]

7) For the Samsung 830, get the desktop kit instead of just the drive.

[DavidT99]

7) For the Samsung 830, get the desktop kit instead of just the drive.

What do you get in the desktop kit? I didn't get the desktop kit and didn't need anything that I didn't already have.

David

[Arkitket]

7) For the Samsung 830, get the desktop kit instead of just the drive.

What do you get in the desktop kit? I didn't get the desktop kit and didn't need anything that I didn't already have.

David

I think the additions to the desktop kit is a SATA cable, a power cable, and Norton Ghost 15

[Jagermikester]

Thank you for the quick replies. I have updated my original post with all your recommendations.

DavidT99, yeah the ODD is expensive and good call regarding eject buttons. I should find out if it fits properly before shelling out £130 for it. I've emailed Streacom to find out if it will definitely fit their F7C Evo case and not just the F7C case. Hopefully I'll hear back from them and be able to post an update in the next few days. I went with the ODD above as it was still the recommened one for the case on www.quietpc.com. I've removed the Gelid CPU fan from my list and will go with the stock fan.

Bluray, cheers for the link to the SilenX EFX-08-12 80mm Case Fan. I couldn't find it for sale in the UK but I've found one with the same 12 dBA noise level, I hope this one will be ok. Also, regarding my remote, did you mean that it should work ok with this internal IR receiver or with the internal Streacom IR receiver?

Arkitket, I didn't notice the desktop kit for the SSD but will go with that one as the extra bits will come in handy and it's the same price, thanks.

Thanks again all.

[sectial]

Jagermikester, what fan did you buy then?
An keep us updated (if possible with pictures) :^)

[Jagermikester]

Jagermikester, what fan did you buy then?
An keep us updated (if possible with pictures) :^)

I found this fan Be Quiet Shadow Wings SW1 80mm. Once I hit order on all of the parts and start the build I'll post some pics

[Jagermikester]

DavidT99, yeah the ODD is expensive and good call regarding eject buttons. I should find out if it fits properly before shelling out £130 for it. I've emailed Streacom to find out if it will definitely fit their F7C Evo case and not just the F7C case. Hopefully I'll hear back from them and be able to post an update in the next few days. I went with the ODD above as it was still the recommened one for the case on www.quietpc.com. I've removed the Gelid CPU fan from my list and will go with the stock fan.

OK, so I've already heard back from Streacom regarding the ODD and this is what they said:

"hi,

the F7C EVO eject button is universal, which means its compatible with every ODD in the market

Thank you
streacom"

I've checked the F7C Evo manual and there is what looks like a long eject bar under the ODD slot on the inside of the case, page 3 image on the right. So I'm thinking that I will order everything except the ODD for now and have a look at the actual case myself when it arrives. Hopefully the universal eject button will work with an ODD like this Sony BC-5640H-03 Slim BD Combo Slot Loading Internal Drive which is half the price of the one I was going to order.

I'm impressed with the speed of Streacom's response and gives me more confidence ordering their components.

[bluray]

Jagermikester, what fan did you buy then?
An keep us updated (if possible with pictures) :^)

I found this fan Be Quiet Shadow Wings SW1 80mm. Once I hit order on all of the parts and start the build I'll post some pics

Unfortunately, that is not 12dBA fan. It is nearly 17dBA fan. If you cannot find SilenX fan, you can opt for this fan in UK- Fractal Design Silent Series 80mm Case Fan . It is 11dBA....

[Jagermikester]

Jagermikester, what fan did you buy then?
An keep us updated (if possible with pictures) :^)

I found this fan Be Quiet Shadow Wings SW1 80mm. Once I hit order on all of the parts and start the build I'll post some pics

Unfortunately, that is not 12dBA fan. It is nearly 17dBA fan. If you cannot find SilenX fan, you can opt for this fan in UK- Fractal Design Silent Series 80mm Case Fan . It is 11dBA....

Sweet, I'll go with the Fractal Design Silent Series 80mm Case Fan. Thank you Bluray.

[dunnsept]

Jagermikester:

If you look at the thread http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=140833 that details my build of my next htpc [number 5]. Not that it is stellar or anything, but I am building it with an Asrock H67M-ITX. Fairly similar boards (the one you selected has a few more options

Mine has an i5 quad core in it and I would have to say that it seems so far that for playback, it's overkill. Watching a movie today put 8% load on one core and that was it
I think your build will do fine

[odysseus_nz]

Hi, funny, I've just assembled exactly the same case, cpu, and mobo, but different ODD and I use Linux. Don't get the Streacom ODD, it's an older slower model, there's faster models on the market for half the price. I've ordered and am waiting for this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007H...02_s00_i00 which is a 6x BD burner for half the price. Shop around for the case, I found it cheapest on Overclockers.

---

Oh, and invest in a silent CPU fan, the Intel is waaay too noisy. Also get the Streacom IR and MCE remote as it fits the case nicely and can be wired so the power switch is operated by the IR.