HTPC upgrade

[passey89]

Right so I have enough of the Micro-ATX case so decided to upgrade to a Mini-ITX case instead.

This was the spec and pics before.

YOUR BASKET
1 x OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £62.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £59.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 320Gb SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKX) HDD £49.99
1 x Intel Celeron G540 2.50GHz Socket LGA 1155 Processor - Retail £32.99
1 x Imp MicroATX Tower Case (500w PSU) £29.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte H61M-S2PV Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £26.00
1 x MSI HD 5450 1024MB GDDR5 Low Profile PCI-Express Graphics Card £23.99
1 x Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £23.98
1 x Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp - OEM £22.99
1 x Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £364.49 (includes shipping : £10.50).

So decided to Change the case, Mobo and CPU cooler (old 1 was too tall)

these were the parts I got.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus P8H77-I Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MiniITX Motherboard £83.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £36.98
1 x Cooler Master GeminII M4 Low Profile CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366) £21.95
Total : £154.92 (includes shipping : £10.00).




This was all the parts I was going to re-use in the new PC with the new ones that arrived. (couldn't install GPU as CPU cooler overhangs too much).

Old case compared to the new one

Hard Drives mounted inside the new case

DVD drive mounted as well.

Motherboard and CPU cooler installed.

external HDD and IR receiver plugged in.

also installed windows 8 64bit onto it and forced it to boot XBMC instead of metro or desktop.

Also still on the shopping list as OCUK are out of stock

YOUR BASKET
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 430W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £54.95
Total : £60.92 (includes shipping : £4.98).



ATM the only noise is a slight hum from the psu which should be totally silent once the beQuiet is installed.

 

[passey89]

Looks good..

Personally i'd of ditched the CPU, GPU and Mobo and gone for an A8 but it looks nice..

I really like that case..

You can wait for that PSU or this is an option.. You'll have to webnote OCUK to find out why its a B grade but for the price its a bargain:

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Silverstone Strider Plus 500W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (SST-ST50F-P) £58.99
Total : £68.89 (includes shipping : £8.25).

GPU was ditched not got 1 in didn't need it.

I did consider that but then it would have been extra cash for CPU as well.

 

[passey89]

Upgrade number 2.

Just ordered a 7850 and 8gb of ram to turn it into a media centre / steambox

Will post pics when they arrive

 

[passey89]

I'll swap the heat sink if needed not that expensive but close.

 

[passey89]

Running on stock cpu cooler now which is avtually quieter.

Gpu all working games installing via steam atm. Test advanced warfighter worked pefectly as well even with the xbox controller.

So now its a steam home theatre personnal computer (shtpc) what can i find beginning with i?