[Samu-rai]

OK, so based on the feedback I received on my previous design, I have drawn up the following provisional parts list for my build:

Case: FC5WS EVO Black No Optical Fanless HTPC Aluminium Chassis - £175 to £200
CPU: AMD A10 5700 3.4GHz Socket FM2 4MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - £91.34
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-F2A75M-D3H A75 Socket FM2 VGA DVI HDMI 7.1 Channel Audio mATX Motherboard - £65.40
RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3 1866MHz Vengeance Red Heatspreader Mem - £36.92
SSD: OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD - £69.99
PSU: Minibox 12v 160W picoPSU-160-XT - £38.49

Total Cost: £502.58 ($804.40)

What does everyone think?

I decided to go with Dougie's suggestion of the A10-5700 to base the build around as it seemed a good compromise.

One question I have is around the onboard sound capability of these motherboards. Are they any good? The mobo I have chosen is capable of providing 7.1 channel audio, but if the onboard audio is not up to scratch I could swap it for this which is £15 cheaper, and practically identical to the Gigabyte apart from the audio capability, and then purchase a sound card to go in it instead.

Is 8GB of RAM in a HTPC excessive? If it is I could cut down to 4GB and save some money here as well.

I am also considering holding out on buying that specific case to begin with, and going for a very cheap m-ATX jobie. The reason being, that I will be moving home at some point in the next 6 months, and it may be that when I do move (wherever that may be) I will be able to hide the HTPC away somewhere out of site and sound. If that's not possible however, the set up above will allow me to buy the pretty (yet expensive) case, and go silent.

[GortWillSaveUs]

Wow, now that's one cool looking case,...BUT,....it sure does look very slim.
I'd be very cautious and make you understand the height of the case and all of your components.

I'd say, if you're going with an A10,..then go with 8GB,..sure it's not needed for XBMC, but hey it's not that much more that 4GB right.
and if you play games or work with ripping DVDs,...it sure will help.

[Dougie Fresh]

I would confirm with Streacom that motherboard is compatible with the case. Since the case uses a passive cooler, it might need the CPU socket to be in the right place, memory not in the way of the pipes, etc.

For sound, if you are using HDMI to a receiver, then you don't have to care about the motherboard since the HDMI audio is part of the CPU (APU).

For plain HTPC duties, 4GB would be enough. But, since you want to do more with yours and it's not much more money, 8GB is good.

[Samu-rai]

Wow, now that's one cool looking case,...BUT,....it sure does look very slim.
I'd be very cautious and make you understand the height of the case and all of your components.

I'd say, if you're going with an A10,..then go with 8GB,..sure it's not needed for XBMC, but hey it's not that much more that 4GB right.
and if you play games or work with ripping DVDs,...it sure will help.

Yeah it looks pretty cool doesn’t it, but at $320 so it should!

It runs with internal heat pipes instead of a CPU fan so I don’t need to worry about that in terms of height, and the website says it will house a full size PCI-Express card (which I will likely use for my tuner).

I would confirm with Streacom that motherboard is compatible with the case. Since the case uses a passive cooler, it might need the CPU socket to be in the right place, memory not in the way of the pipes, etc.

For sound, if you are using HDMI to a receiver, then you don't have to care about the motherboard since the HDMI audio is part of the CPU (APU).

For plain HTPC duties, 4GB would be enough. But, since you want to do more with yours and it's not much more money, 8GB is good.

From looking at the specs and advise on the website it seems the main thing to look out for with this case when choosing a motherboard, is where the 24-pin ATX connector.

The site states:

'One important point to note when selecting a motherboard is that the board must not have the 24-pin ATX connector (shown in red in the image below or any tall heatsinks) located under the heatpipes otherwise the Pico PSU adapter will obstruct the them and it will prevent the CPU block from being fitted.'



From looking at both the motherboards I’ve mentioned they seem to fit the bill.

I will stick with the 8GB RAM. Your recommendation for the sound would be to have it fed to the TV through the HDMI, and they connect my surround sound to the TV?

[Samu-rai]

Also, has anyone had any dealings with Biostar products at all?

[bluray]

Total Cost: £502.58 ($804.40)

It's too expensive for a DIY box..this handsome and very powerful and very low power "Arctic MC101 Barebone (A10)" pre-built is still cheaper....

[bluray]

From looking at the specs and advise on the website it seems the main thing to look out for with this case when choosing a motherboard, is where the 24-pin ATX connector.

The mobo in your case should work, and this "AMD celebrates Trinity... in silence" built used "ASUS F2A85-M PRO FM2 AMD A85X"

I will stick with the 8GB RAM. Your recommendation for the sound would be to have it fed to the TV through the HDMI, and they connect my surround sound to the TV?

Since the price of an 8GB and 4GB is not that much different, I would go w/ 8GB too. To get the best video/audio connection is by connecting it this way- HTPC-->AVR-->HDTV via two HDMI cables....

[tutu]

I haven't measured it but I think you should choose low profile ram. Ebuyer sell some. I am building similar. Just waiting for pico psu to come!

[Samu-rai]

Total Cost: £502.58 ($804.40)

It's too expensive for a DIY box..this handsome and very powerful and very low power "Arctic MC101 Barebone (A10)" pre-built is still cheaper....

Hi bluray

I hadn't seen this before, it looks pretty nifty. How the hell do they get it to draw so little power?

I've had a look to see who's selling them in the UK, and can only find one supplier offering it at £520 including taxes. I would then need to purchase an SSD (£70) so this would total £590 ($943).

I could alternatively buy directly from Arctic. They would ship a unit to the UK for $551.04. I would then need to pay 20% tax at customs, and again add an SSD so we would be looking at a total cost of £483.73 ($774).

Which is still cheaper than my lists parts below, and includes a TV Tuner.

The only downsides/disadvantages I see are:

1) The tuner is DVB-T, and I really need a satellite one.
2) It isn't completely fanless
3) It doesn't look quite as cool as the Streacom case.

But 2 & 3 aren't really problems, that's just me nit picking

The only other point I need to consider is, as I said in an earlier post, I may in the near future be able to stash the HTPC away where it won't be noticed. In which case I can buy a standard case and save myself $290 or so.

I think given that you guys have advised that I shouldn't use the on-board audio, I will change the mobo to the Biostar TA75MH2 Socket FM2 VGA DVI HDMI 6 Channel Audio mATX Motherboard. I could also downgrade the CPU to an AMD A8 5500 3.2GHz Socket FM2 4MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor.

Making both those changes would bring the cost down to £473.27 ($756).

From looking at the specs and advise on the website it seems the main thing to look out for with this case when choosing a motherboard, is where the 24-pin ATX connector.

The mobo in your case should work, and this "AMD celebrates Trinity... in silence" built used "ASUS F2A85-M PRO FM2 AMD A85X"

Thanks for this. I looks almost identical to my revised build plan. Very reassuring should I take the plunge and go for it.

I haven't measured it but I think you should choose low profile ram. Ebuyer sell some. I am building similar. Just waiting for pico psu to come!

Hi tutu

Good call! It had crossed my mind, but I haven't properly researched it as yet.

I mainly chose that specific RAM because of its 'heatspreaders', what with it being a fanless set up.

Where about did you buy your PSU from? I'm assuming you're based in the UK too?

[Dougie Fresh]

Just curious, what's the price difference between the A8-5500 and A10-5700 in the UK? Here's it's US$20. In a $800 build that's not saving much so maybe it's more of a gap there?

[bluray]

Hi bluray

I hadn't seen this before, it looks pretty nifty. How the hell do they get it to draw so little power?

I've had a look to see who's selling them in the UK, and can only find one supplier offering it at £520 including taxes. I would then need to purchase an SSD (£70) so this would total £590 ($943).

I could alternatively buy directly from Arctic. They would ship a unit to the UK for $551.04. I would then need to pay 20% tax at customs, and again add an SSD so we would be looking at a total cost of £483.73 ($774).

There are dealers everywhere in UK- Arctic Dealers. The barebone is €362.88 as shown below. Are they trying to charge you for almost €200 for shipping cost?

[Samu-rai]

Just curious, what's the price difference between the A8-5500 and A10-5700 in the UK? Here's it's US$20. In a $800 build that's not saving much so maybe it's more of a gap there?

Yeah, its around the same here. I was just trying to see where I could make some savings if needed. You're right though, in the grand scheme of things if I'm going to spend $800, then what a saving of 2% odd.

Hi bluray

I hadn't seen this before, it looks pretty nifty. How the hell do they get it to draw so little power?

I've had a look to see who's selling them in the UK, and can only find one supplier offering it at £520 including taxes. I would then need to purchase an SSD (£70) so this would total £590 ($943).

I could alternatively buy directly from Arctic. They would ship a unit to the UK for $551.04. I would then need to pay 20% tax at customs, and again add an SSD so we would be looking at a total cost of £483.73 ($774).

There are dealers everywhere in UK- Arctic Dealers. The barebone is €362.88 as shown below. Are they trying to charge you for almost €200 for shipping cost?

The MC101 barebones with 8GB RAM comes in at $519. Postage is a further $32, totaling $551 (£344 or €418). I then need to add taxes when it enters the EU.

I'm quoting pound sterling, and you're quoting Euros, hence the difference.

Yeah I saw, and went through all of the UK dealers on their site, but only one stocks the MC101. I'm assuming its because its a new product?

The dealers listed supply the MC001-BD, and CPU fans etc, but not the MC101.

[bluray]

The MC101 barebones with 8GB RAM comes in at $519. Postage is a further $32, totaling $551 (£344 or €418). I then need to add taxes when it enters the EU.

I'm quoting pound sterling, and you're quoting Euros, hence the difference.

Yeah I saw, and went through all of the UK dealers on their site, but only one stocks the MC101. I'm assuming its because its a new product?

The dealers listed supply the MC001-BD, and CPU fans etc, but not the MC101.

It might still turn out cheaper, and you are getting the very low power consumption AMD A10-4600M. Here are some tests- Power Consumption and Tripling Your Pleasure With Trinity? ...

[Samu-rai]

The MC101 barebones with 8GB RAM comes in at $519. Postage is a further $32, totaling $551 (£344 or €418). I then need to add taxes when it enters the EU.

I'm quoting pound sterling, and you're quoting Euros, hence the difference.

Yeah I saw, and went through all of the UK dealers on their site, but only one stocks the MC101. I'm assuming its because its a new product?

The dealers listed supply the MC001-BD, and CPU fans etc, but not the MC101.

It might still turn out cheaper, and you are getting the very low power consumption AMD A10-4600M. Here are some tests- Power Consumption and Tripling Your Pleasure With Trinity? ...

I emailed ebuyer (the UK's version of newegg) and asked when they would be stocking the MC101.

They said:

'Dear Sir / Madam,

Thank you for contacting our Customer Support Team.

Unfortunately this present moment in time we have no plans on selling this product, I would suggest keeping a regular check on our website as new items are updated daily. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience or annoyance caused as a result of this matter.'

No joy there then.....

I defiantly think it's a contender if I decided a silent (or near silent) set up is how I'm going to go. Even with having to ship it in from China it is still roughly the same price, if not slightly cheaper than my proposed build.

If I'm not going to go silent though, and change my strategy as previously mentioned, then I can remove the Streacom case from the equation, and the MC101 is no longer a contender.

Particularly as I don't really have any use for its DVB-T card.

Out of curiosity, how easy do you think it would be to swap out the pre-installed tuner for a satellite version?

[bluray]

Out of curiosity, how easy do you think it would be to swap out the pre-installed tuner for a satellite version?

If it is a PCI TV tuner card, it's as easy as changing out a discrete graphic card....I removed my old PCI TV tuner card, and I replaced it with a USB HD TV Tuner.....I mainly use it for OTA HD channels for sports....