Mini-ITX - Spec Me

[stueng]

Yes, me again, I still haven't purchased, still cant make up my mind

to help me, please do the following:

Spec me the best Mini-ITX machine you can come up with, no mouse/keyboard required. The case will be this

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-186-LL

And the PCI slot will be filled by a SATA Controller so onboard GFX must be used

and go...

 

[stueng]

XBMC (so HDMI is a requirement, should have mentioned)
NAS
Virtual Box
Downloading / NZB Parity checking etc
Remote FreeNX session

 

[stueng]

The best?

Thought about using this case instead? BitFenix ProdigyOcUK review

Tonnes more space for HDDs and cooling.

The most powerful CPU wise:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £274.99
1 x Asrock Z77E-ITX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX16GX3M2A1600C11) £79.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Midnight Black £59.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn CPU Cooler Rev. B (Socket Intel LGA775/1155/1156/1366/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1) £54.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.98
Total : £652.52 (includes shipping : £10.50).



But some will compain about the HD4000's capability to playback blurays @ 23.976 fps. (it only manages 23.972 with the latest drivers which causes frame skips) In which case your best bet (if the PCIe slot is take) is something like the above but with:

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-3870K 3.00GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3870WNGXBOX) £107.99
1 x Asus F1A75-I DELUXE AMD A75 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
Total : £219.37 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Better GPU - worse CPU.

Obviously you had add HDDs / SSDs at your leisure.

Case is too big and so is the cooler but the rest if pretty much what I came up with myself... I just wish I could get a firm release date on Trinity because thats whats holding me back from ordering

 

[stueng]

ok, im gonna go for the Llano setup then.. thanks, so annoying you have to change motherboard when trinity comes out!

 

[stueng]

Case is perfect, small and cheap, and is actually made of really good solid materials not one of these cheap aluminium cases with three figure price tag on them. Cooler will fit fine in that case as it has adequate room for coolers of that size and possibly a nice full profile graphics card.

+1 for the build RO88ie posted.

No you dont understand that case wont physcailly fit where I need it to go I have about 280-290mmmm and the Lian Li is 272 with the BitFenix coming at 404mm

 

[stueng]

I don't think you mentioned you will be using the PC for gaming...so why would you go for a much slower Llano CPU rather than a IvyBridge with intergrated HD4000 graphic?

Because one of its primary roles will be to play HD 1080 content at high bit rate as well as render XBMC high resolution skins and effects; while XBMC is best optimised for the Intel GFX card the oomph behind the Llano GPU should still wipe the floor with the HD4k

I would have thought?

 

[stueng]

There's not much between the HD4000 and Llano's HD6550D GPU in games tbh.
But yes you are correct in assuming that the HD4000 will still drop frames in 24p content.

If your primary media is all 24p derived (1080 content is not necessarily 24p btw) then Llano would be the best choice for you as you plan to use the pci-e slot for something else.

It's also ~£100 cheaper in platform cost compared to the i5 3570k, if cost is an issue in the build.

I've had a Llano set up since they came out, most people who comment on here haven't even used one nevermind built one and used it on a regular basis.

For HTPC and casual gaming use it's extremely good.

We already know how Trinity performs tbh, for a 4 core look at FX-4100 benchmarks, the GPU is a 384 shader "Cayman" derived part (HD69xx) this time.
It's not earth shatteringly better than Llano, and it won't be until Kaveri next year.

Based on the fact that the NAS and all other software which runs on this box exists for the purpose of delivering high quality video I think the fact that Llano gives better 24p quality then Llano is a no brainer for me

Let me throw another idea into the mix though:

Spec me again, but this time assume that I will purchase a seperate NAS (Synology DS411) so PCIe slots are available

Now whats the best I can get? I want Silent and Cool to be a priority and I have a spare Geforce 560Ti if it can be modified to be quiet

 

[stueng]

a guy from AMD just walked into the building and said the A10 is gonna be launched soon, he wouldnt give me a date but he said really soon?