Mighty Mini-ITX HTPC Build

Hi Total-Game,

I have this cpu cooler currently in my M-ATX build >>> Zalman CNP8000

comapring the dimensions of mine and your artic cooler that didn't fit, it would seem that my zalmans 20mm extra in heigt is going to be a showstopper? Is that right? Would it fit if I didn't run a DVD drive?

EDIT: gah searched the internet but i can't find an intel low profile cpu cooler anywhere.

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edit 2:

Ok only cpu cooler i can find that would fit, without buying a new cpu is this one:

ak_cc044.jpg


AK-CC044 is a thermally advanced ultra compact and low noise solution for Intel LGA 775 processors. The low profile design makes it a perfect cooler for mini-ITX, HTPC and SFF systems.

Aluminium heatsink with full height copper core and quiet 70x10mm fan ensure high efficiency. High engineered multi directional aluminium heatsink maximizes heat dissipation and provides optimal CPU, motherboard and VRM cooling.
Intel approved pushpins ensure easy installation and reliable retention. AK-CC044 is designed to work with CPU’s up to 65W but greater cooling efficiency can be attained with efficient case airflow. Pre-applied high performance thermal compound ensures clean and easy installation.

Socket type - Intel LGA 775
Cooler dimension - 70 x 70 x 30.9mm
Heatsink dimension - 70 x 70 x 20.9mm
Heatsink material - Aluminium with full height copper core
Fan dimension - 70 x 70 x 10mm
Fan connector - 3-pin (RPM reading)
Fan speed - 2800 RPM
Fan airflow - 14.92CFM (ft/min)
Fan air pressure - 1.67mm H20
Bearing type - Ball bearing
Voltage rating - 12V
Noise level - 23.38 dB(A)
Thermal interface - Pre-applied
Mounting - Push-pins
Weight - 222g
Click to expand...

In the blurb it says something about only supporting cpu's upto 65W, my e6300 at stock will run ok?
 
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Sorry for the delay, been busy getting a final year dissertation together for the deadline this week. :(

Atom said:
Am I right in saying the Zotac wouldn't take a pci card such as a X-Fi Gamer soundcard?
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Correct. The Zotac has a PCI-Express x16 slot, so it would only be able to take sound cards like the Asus Xonar DX and the Auzentech X-Fi Forte.

If you already have a PCI sound card then you may want to look elsewhere. The Intel DG45FC has a PCI-Express x1, so you would not be able to use that either. If you are willing to use an AMD processor, then I believe Jetway make some boards using the 780G and 8200 chipsets that have a normal PCI slot. If you do not need hi-def decoding, then the Atom boards are always an option.

Atom said:
Also how would a build like this compare to a 780G+4850e in terms of power consumption and across the board performance?
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The power comsuption of the 4850e / 780G is going to be a fair bit higher than that of the E5200 / 9300, mainly due to the AMD processor being more power hungry than the Intel under actual use. Performance of both is fairly similar, although the 9300 scores much better in image quality and media benchmarks. I think the 780G still offers better all round performance (general tasks, gaming and meda) and is still a sound choice.

As my main usage is going to be media and I wanted to minimise power usage; the E5200 / 9300 was the choice for me.

Oxy said:
comapring the dimensions of mine and your artic cooler that didn't fit, it would seem that my zalmans 20mm extra in heigt is going to be a showstopper? Is that right? Would it fit if I didn't run a DVD drive?
Click to expand...
I am afraid that it will not fit. The only coolers that I have seen that will fit are the low profile stock Intel, the Silverstone NT07-775 and the Akasa that you have found. There are also a few 1U coolers designed for servers, although most of these do not look like they would fit on my motherboard. If you find anymore, let us know. Be good to have a list of all the possible heatsinks that people can use.

In the blurb it says something about only supporting cpu's upto 65W, my e6300 at stock will run ok?
Click to expand...
I believe that the TDP for the E6300 is 65W, so it should be fine.
 
So leaving out the optical drive would allow for a bigger cooler...

I personally dont see the need to have an optical drive in my htpc.. I can either hook one up for OS install, or use my external usb dvd...and content I have on dvd, I can rip them and use lan conneciton to stream/copy from another pc... I hardly use optical drives these days...

I have seen smaller cases without optical drive bay, but the bigges issue for me is getting a decnet cooler and good airflow, especially in a living room environment which always tends tobe warm and cosy...
 
Well the in-win BM648 case has just arrived! looks like im going to have work out how to get me 5.25" drive in there hehe...

I'm awaiting the motherboard, hyper 80mm fan - this is the one you used isn't it? I had to guess from the picture as you didn't list it :p also waiting on the akasa cooler, will let people know how noisey this cooler is and of course temps.

Think i'm gonna apply new paste to the gpu and cpu when it arrives, I have some artic silver lying around somewhere.

EDIT: Found the manual for the case on the interwebz so i'm sorted.

Total-Game - do you mind if I make a post with pics of my build in your thread? I'm just thinking that it won't deserve its own thread, and will add info for people, mainly on the E6300 with the Akasa cooler.
 
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DrMekon said:
So leaving out the optical drive would allow for a bigger cooler...

I personally dont see the need to have an optical drive in my htpc.. I can either hook one up for OS install, or use my external usb dvd...and content I have on dvd, I can rip them and use lan conneciton to stream/copy from another pc... I hardly use optical drives these days...

I have seen smaller cases without optical drive bay, but the bigges issue for me is getting a decnet cooler and good airflow, especially in a living room environment which always tends tobe warm and cosy...
Click to expand...

I'll glady take a few pics when my parts arrive for scale. Unless Total game knows more!
 
Oxy said:
hyper 80mm fan - this is the one you used isn't it? I had to guess from the picture as you didn't list it :p
Click to expand...

Oops, that was something I missed. Apologies. It was a clear 'HiperFlow' 80mm by Hiper. Model number was HFF-1N08N.

Oxy said:
Total-Game - do you mind if I make a post with pics of my build in your thread? I'm just thinking that it won't deserve its own thread, and will add info for people, mainly on the E6300 with the Akasa cooler.
Click to expand...
Don't mind at all, go right ahead. :D

DrMekon said:
So leaving out the optical drive would allow for a bigger cooler...

I personally dont see the need to have an optical drive in my htpc.. I can either hook one up for OS install, or use my external usb dvd...and content I have on dvd, I can rip them and use lan conneciton to stream/copy from another pc... I hardly use optical drives these days...

I have seen smaller cases without optical drive bay, but the bigges issue for me is getting a decnet cooler and good airflow, especially in a living room environment which always tends tobe warm and cosy...
Click to expand...

If completely remove the optical drive bay harness, then there should be more room to work with. However, the harness does add quite a bit of strength to the case, so you may have to be a little careful when moving it about.

Bear in mind that the case is only 110mm wide externally, so you are still limited to coolers that are no more than approximately 90mm tall.
 
oh and I should mention now!!!!! that the case doesn't have a proper 5.25" blanker, theres a hole the same size as a slim optical drive, the picture on OCUK website & in-win's site is wrong!!!

if you don't have a dvd drive in you will have a hole in the front of your case.

PS: The case is larger than I expected, luckly its a perfect fit for the remaining space under the telly :)
 
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Atom said:
Looking good.

Am I right in saying the Zotac wouldn't take a pci card such as a X-Fi Gamer soundcard?
Click to expand...

I believe some of the Asus Xonar are available in PCI/E and low profile varients, so you should be able to find one that would fit whatever build you eventually decide on.

If you're talking a 4850E processor, then if you get a decent C2D it should be faster, just obviously dont expect much when it comes to games!
 
Total-Game one final question I promise hehe

Did you get any raiser pin things with your case? There seems to be large mounds in the case where I put the motherboard on to. I'm just thinking without those gold raiser thingys will it short out?
 
Oxy said:
oh and I should mention now!!!!! that the case doesn't have a proper 5.25" blanker, theres a hole the same size as a slim optical drive, the picture on OCUK website & in-win's site is wrong!!!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reminder Oxy. This is something that should be emphasised for anyone who does not want to make use of the 5.25" drive bay. No idea why In-Win do not bother to include one. :confused:

Oxy said:
Total-Game one final question I promise hehe

Did you get any raiser pin things with your case? There seems to be large mounds in the case where I put the motherboard on to. I'm just thinking without those gold raiser thingys will it short out?
Click to expand...

No worries. It's nice to be useful for a change. :D

I did not get any motherboard standoffs. The mound design should not be a problem; I believe that all boards have to observe a certain keepout zone around the mounting holes, so there should not be anything exposed to cause a short. I certainly have not had any problems with the Zotac.
 
Did your ethernet port work after installing the driver disk and the wifi disk?

cant get the bloody thing to work :/

EDIT: False alarm, re-installed the installation driver cd and all is good.

Bloody hell its tight with all the gear in this case. the full size dvd rom really fills it lol

EDIT2: Left the little beast on for 4 hours updating windows and stuff, cpu idles at 40 degrees using Artic colling 5 paste and that akasa AK-CC044 cpu cooler. I too re-applied paste to the gpu and my gpu now idles at 48 degrees.

Will update with one or two pics tommorrow plus some load temps if anyone cares lol
 
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Ahoy, some quick questions - how did you manage to install the TV card? From the pictures of it, it looks like it'd take up a full size card slot, whereas the case only takes low profile cards. Did you just snip off the extra metal or is there some other method that I'm totally missing? :S

Also, about the case fan - is it totally silent now that you've replaced it or is there still some noise from the PSU fans? I'm trying to make mine as quiet as possible (I have the In-Win BM639) and the case fan seems to make the biggest racket, so if replacing it makes a huge difference then I'll go for it (otherwise I'll sell the case and go back to my original idea of making a case from Lego :D)

Cheers
 
pennywise said:
Ahoy, some quick questions - how did you manage to install the TV card? From the pictures of it, it looks like it'd take up a full size card slot, whereas the case only takes low profile cards. Did you just snip off the extra metal or is there some other method that I'm totally missing? :S
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Yeah; if you squint at the box in the picture in the first post, it looks like it would take up a full size slot. However, due to the design of the card, it also ships with a low-profile bracket. Just a case of swapping it over and away you go.

Most low profile TV cards will ship with the extra bracket; I certainly know that this is the case with Leadtek, Hauppauge and Compro cards that I have had.

pennywise said:
Also, about the case fan - is it totally silent now that you've replaced it or is there still some noise from the PSU fans?
Click to expand...

The case and PSU fans are very quiet; the only noticeable noise source is the CPU cooler which starts to spin up when the box is in use for an extended period. I have yet to swap over the top fan from an exhaust to an intake to see what effect that will have on the temps.
 
Nice one Total-Game :cool:. I agree that this type of build will become quite popular.

I'm thinking of building something like this for the kitchen, although I'm struggling to find a low profile PCI-E satellite card at the moment (short of ordering one from Tawian).

One thing I would like to ask you though is about CPU usage when playing back 720p or 1080p mkv. I'm thinking of going for a lower spec cpu than the one that you are using, so do you think that would be possible?
 
wolvers69 said:
Nice one Total-Game :cool:. I agree that this type of build will become quite popular.

I'm thinking of building something like this for the kitchen, although I'm struggling to find a low profile PCI-E satellite card at the moment (short of ordering one from Tawian).

One thing I would like to ask you though is about CPU usage when playing back 720p or 1080p mkv. I'm thinking of going for a lower spec cpu than the one that you are using, so do you think that would be possible?
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im getting between 4%-70% load on Transformers HD-DVD with this mainboard and a e6300. Hope that helps. No stuttering at all!! Winzor
 
wolvers69 said:
Thanks Oxy. Have you tried any high def MKVs?

I assume that is supposed to be 4%-7%!? 70% is pretty high when the board supports DXVA.
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remember its a proper HD-DVD not a dodgy rip. 70% is when theres full robot deathmatches going on.

As far as setup goes, all I have doen is install powerdvd 7.3, and the drivers from the motherboard cd, nothing more.

Will investigate this DXVA thingy.

Nah I don't have any mkv's, prefer proper blu-rays for HD.

EDIT: found some info on dxva, gonna see if my settings are right in powerdvd. lol

EDIT: fiddled with some settings hd-dvd playback now stands at 20-35% cpu usage, using 1-1.1gb of ram.
 
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Oxy said:
remember its a proper HD-DVD not a dodgy rip.
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MKVs are sometimes encoded in formats that aren't fully DXVA supported (offloaded to the GPU) by all gpus. HDTV channels can also fall into this category so it would give me an idea of how it handles those as that's what it is most likely to be used for, as well as SDTV of course and some music/internet radio/photos/surfing etc.

HD-DVDs and Blu-Rays should be handled by the GPU on this board (as long as your software codec supports it) but I won't be putting a drive in my intended build (I've a USB one for installation) as I doubt we'll be watching them in the kitchen when I have a 1080p PJ in the lounge!! :D

Thanks for all of the info. :)
 
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