Amd fusion HTPC

chrisvb · 11 May 2011 at 20:10

I was going to go down the apple tv 2 road, but as it doesn't play 1080p, and large mkv files i've decided to build a perspex amd fusion htpc!

i'm deciding between:

msi e350ia-e45 or ASROCK E350
4gb ddr3 (overkill but i'd like win7 32bit to run smoothly)
pico psu ( what wattage would i need?)
hdd Samsung SpinPoint M7 320GB ( got to be 2.5" might upgrade to the 400gb, but ultimately all movies/songs will be streamed from a nas)
case: was hoping to go with a nice perspex one, but i'm not sure of the 3 which one i need.

butget is around £200 if anyone knows a better spec, that would be great. I'd also like a htpc remote, don't mind if this isn't included in the price.

danivtec · 12 May 2011 at 09:26

I am using the Asus Pro board which you can run passively cooled. I have chosen to run it using a fan and the noise it produces is very low. I had teh gigabyte board beforehand but the fan was irrating on this one.

I am very happy with this board so would recommend it. The UEFI BIOS is also very nice on this aswell.

chrisvb · 12 May 2011 at 13:11

I looked at that, it's abit confusing to whether it comes with a CPU though.

danivtec · 12 May 2011 at 13:24

I have this one http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_CPU_on_Board/E35M1M_PRO/

Comes complete with the chip.

chrisvb · 12 May 2011 at 15:30

Ah ok ticks all the boxes, but is it mini itx? Their site says uAtx

Legion · 12 May 2011 at 17:51

chrisvb said:
Ah ok ticks all the boxes, but is it mini itx? Their site says uAtx

It is indeed M-atx,dont let that put you off though.
Using a Coolermaster Elite 100 case and this board you can still have a low budget,quiet and tiny system.

I've built quite a few of these now for friends and family and the case and board is a great combination if you aren't too anal about having the tiniest available.

chrisvb · 12 May 2011 at 18:56

Legion said:
It is indeed M-atx,dont let that put you off though.
Using a Coolermaster Elite 100 case and this board you can still have a low budget,quiet and tiny system.

I've built quite a few of these now for friends and family and the case and board is a great combination if you aren't too anal about having the tiniest available.

yeah only thing is i was going to build it in one of those perspex cases, might have a look at the m-ATX cases though.

edit: really like the look of the coolermaster 100, how much will 4gb of dimm cost me?

Legion · 13 May 2011 at 12:29

chrisvb said:
yeah only thing is i was going to build it in one of those perspex cases, might have a look at the m-ATX cases though.

edit: really like the look of the coolermaster 100, how much will 4gb of dimm cost me?

£35-40.

danivtec · 14 May 2011 at 08:27

Thers a mini itx version of the board but its about 35 notes more expensive.

HEADRAT · 16 May 2011 at 09:55

Do you need a PSU, or does it come with an external brick?