10cm or under HTPC

HecFam · 23 Jan 2014 at 11:39

Hi Guys,

Might be a bit of a tricky one, im looking for a HTPC to fit under my TV, the height between the stand and the TV bottom is 10cm. I have found a case which is 11cm, but seems that the top of the disk tray is under 10cm so it should be able to eject ok. I don't mind it behind my pc, but as long as i can eject the disk drive and press the power button im happy.

I have done a rough spec. I've got for an I3 3220, a rather plain set of 2x4GB 1333 DDR3, an Asus P8H61-MX M-Atx mobo, an AMD 6450 and a low profile Akasa CPU cooler. I do plan to add a Blu ray drive, but for now its not that important. I have a couple of hard drives knocking about already.

At the moment, the Price for this is around the £300 mark. But i could stretch a bit if it was worth it.

Can anyone suggest a nice case, or a tasty spec for a HTPC? I went for an I3 because i thought it might hold up a bit better in the future. But open to ideas. Its mainly going to be used for playing 1080p video over HDMI. Gigabit Lan would be a bonus.

Can anyone better my plans?

ta.

HecFam · 23 Jan 2014 at 12:04

They have been mentioned before in this section, they don't supply components or other cases like ocuk do, just ones made by themselves. It would be fine if i mentioned corsair or antec right? if it is a problem then by all means i'll remove it.

Not too sure on the NUCs, i have read things about them, but not too sure on the onboard graphics.

The Lian Li cases look nice, but not 100% sure on thin Itx, nor do i understand the cooler involved.

HecFam · 23 Jan 2014 at 12:14

not sure about the I3 version, says it had HD4000, and at £456 with 8GB of Ram, seems a bit too pricey i would say. Nothing i could upgrade particularly if anything asked for it.

HecFam · 23 Jan 2014 at 12:24

I suppose so, i suppose a case could be large than 10cm, just as long as the dvd drive and all the power buttons are below the bottom 10cm so that i could press them without the tv getting in the way.

Not sure if there is anything like that about, but i shall venture.

HecFam · 23 Jan 2014 at 12:41

Removed the names just be on the safe side... I'll take a butchers at the new Haswell versions of the NUCs, but i assume they will be more dosh.

I'll have a look at the APUs, are the M-ITX/M-ATX for FM2 any good. I assume i can go without a GPU in that case.

Edit, not a huge selection of M-ATX but im sure even the £40 ones would do the job, do you think an A6-6400k would do the job?

HecFam · 23 Jan 2014 at 13:43

Now, i was thinking going down the A6 route, you guys have swayed me, seems to save a fair bit compared to i3.

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A6-6400K 3.90GHz (Socket FM2) APU Richland Dual Core Processor (AD640KOKHLBOX) £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x MSI A55M-E33 AMD A55 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £40.99
Total : £166.57 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Now, the mobo says it Supports two unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 1066/1333/1600/1866/2133*(OC) DRAM, 32GB Max

Would i still be able to run the 2400mhz Ram and just drop the speed to 2133? since this ram is cheaper than the same stuff in 1600Mhz. Seems silly not to get it.

HecFam · 23 Jan 2014 at 15:45

I am just debating this now.

I think i might have to stick with M-atx. Thanks for the suggestions LePhuronn, glad you suggested the chipset.

I like the look of itx, but the Chipset of the Mobo in ITX was a75 i think. Also with the Streacom ST-F1CB which is lovely. The PSU is more than the case, i can see it racking up to a fair amount.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £69.95
1 x Streacom ST-F1CB EVO HTPC Aluminium Case - Black £69.95
1 x AMD A6-6400K 3.90GHz (Socket FM2) APU Richland Dual Core Processor (AD640KOKHLBOX) £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Zalman CNPS2X Heatsink and Fan CPU Cooler £23.99
Total : £289.46 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Now this looks lovely, but i've still got to account for the Nano PSU...

And im really not too sure what blu ray drive would fit in here?

HecFam · 24 Jan 2014 at 16:37

Looks like a decent case, would most likely fit my needs. Did the mATX mobo not fit then?

And where does the disc drive pop out?

What ITX motherboard was that?

HecFam · 24 Jan 2014 at 19:40

Just eyed up the antec isk 300-150. Comes in at 96mm. Looks propa tasty. I'll have to stick in an itx board. Possible the gigabyte wifi one. I think that will be the starting point. Love the look of that case.

HecFam · 28 Jan 2014 at 10:26

Ok, so i ordered the case just to give it a nice measure up, and it fits quite snug. My only concern now, is that it comes with a 150W psu.

I was planning on these two,

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-6600K 3.90GHz (Socket FM2) APU Richland Quad Core Processor (AD660KWOHLBOX) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
Total : £144.68 (includes shipping : £7.25).

Then the Gigabyte Wifi Itx board and a slim blu ray drive. According to the psu calc, this is a minimum of 148w recommended 198W.

The A6 6400k comes out as minimum 120W recommended 170W. Do you think i will have to drop down to the A6? or is even that too much POOOWWAA!?

ta.

HecFam · 28 Jan 2014 at 19:51

Cheers for that dude. Been reading other forums with people using i3s with GPUs and it all seemed dandy. It will be mainly for 1080p playback so I doubt the usage will get prime95 high. Cheers for that dude.

I still will stick with the 6600k cheers cheesyboy, I always think then option to oc is work it, in case I ever get a bigger psu. Cheers guys.