Check my SFF/HTPC spec please

-Neil- · 23 Apr 2011 at 13:02

I'm looking to change to something much smaller and quieter than my current ageing system.

Looking to run Win 7 Ultimate(overkill?) and XBMC.

Does everything look compatible and nothing OTT?

Wesena ITX2 - £80
Wesena 120w PSU - £34.99
Wesena 12v 10a Power Supply Adaptor - £29.99
Wesena Philips RC260 Remote Control inc Internal IR Receiver - £29.99
Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 Zacate with HD6310 iGPU - £130
OCZ Intel Extreme XMP 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C7 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit - £50
OCZ Agility Series 30GB 2.5" SATA-II SSD - £43
Sony BC-5600S Blu-Ray slot loading drive - ~£60
Windows 7 Ultimate - £170

Cheers,

Neil.

Deep · 23 Apr 2011 at 13:22

There is a guy on here who has used a Wesena case, but has a different PSU.
Definitely worth asking him as it's even cheaper and its the same thing!

Wesena PSU

Doosh · 23 Apr 2011 at 16:18

I use the same mobo with a 120w pico (18-24v version that lets you use a 19v laptop brick) and I'm impressed with it. Enough clout to play reasonable quality games and with a 120mm gentle typhoon and the Crucial SSD it's silent.

Does everything I want anyway- browsing, music, films, reasonable games etc...

-Neil- · 23 Apr 2011 at 22:53

Nice one, reading this here under the memory section it mentions about single channel:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3681#sp

"Single channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 1333(OC)/1066 MHz memory modules"

Would I be better off going for one of the following?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=8&subid=1180

Cheers,

Neil.

shadow_boxer · 24 Apr 2011 at 01:51

Nice looking build. As you've eluded to why the need for Windows 7 Ultimate over Home Premium, for example, for a HTPC? Any features of Ultimate you need?

You are correct, AMD Zacate supports only single channel memory (64bit memory bus). It doesn't really matter which RAM you go for. I'd be inclined to just get a 2x2GB DDR3 Dual Channel Kit (the one you originally selected would be fine). The dual channel memory will run in single channel mode.

-Neil- · 24 Apr 2011 at 11:09

Ultimate probably won't be needed then

Is 4gb more than enough for running xbmc and win7 with some hd video editing (gopro here)?

Neil.

shadow_boxer · 24 Apr 2011 at 11:28

Depends really how much video editing your talking about. You'll be bottleneckws by your CPU! Have you thought about i3 2100 / i3 2100T with an itx build?

As for running XBMC, it'll run very smooth.

-Neil- · 24 Apr 2011 at 11:33

Well it'll be mainly basic stuff such as cutting segments out of videos, power usage is a concern so I'll probably stick to the Zacate.

Neil.

-Neil- · 24 Apr 2011 at 14:18

Just ordered the system

Changed the ram to 1X4Gb stick of Corsair Single channel DDR3 and added Win 7 Home Premium.

Will post a new thread with pics and details once built, cheers

Neil.