htpc advice

[BobBrainy]

Hi all,
I'm after a new htpc - I currently own an acer revo 3600.

I was thinking of three different options,

#1
Asrock e350 zacate
4gb ddr3 kingston value ram
30gb kingston ssd
mini itx case (what would be a good option? Antec isk-150?)
possibly ati 6450/ nvidia gt430
asus xonar dg

#2
intel e2140 (already own)
asrock g41m mobo
4gb ddr3 kingston value ram
30gb kingston ssd
microatx case (what would be a good option?)
ati 6450/ nvidia gt430
asus xonar dg

#3
amd llano 3650
llano mobo probably asrock
4gb ddr3 kingston value ram
30gb kingston ssd
microatx case

my requirements are:
1080p playback
3d 1080p playback
ability to handle 40-50gb blu ray files
xbmc (windows or linux)
low power consumption

Thanks.

 

[Participant]

Firstly Bob, what is it that the R3600 does not offer you? I don't see how any of those options you listed would improve things for you over the Revo. Does it struggle with 50GB Blu-ray files? As it would initially seem to fit your requirements (though I don't know if it does 3D stuff). It's obviously very small and quiet with low power consumption...

 

[BobBrainy]

Yeah, it can't cope with 50gb blu-ray files. It's a nice little machine, my initial reason for changing was that I wanted optical out, but then it turned into I may as well changed completely for better performance.

 

[Participant]

In that case I would go for option 2 as you already have the CPU. I would go for the AMD card, as Radeon cards have got HD audio over HDMI nailed-on.

Regarding the case, I would change to an ITX setup (smaller and more options for the budget build) and go for something like the ColorIT HTPC case I linked in your other thread:

Complete bargain and comes with a 300W PSU.

 

[BobBrainy]

my only issue is, with mini-itx I can't use the xonar dg soundcard due to it not having pci slots available?

are there any micro atx cases you could recommend?

Needs to have dimensions of not over 36-37cm depth/ length