New build: low wattage (<20w) idle, totally passive, gaming HTPC

[TigerUK]

hi Bigsy

am i right in thinking that the case came with 6 heat pipes, but you only installed 2 because of the layout?

if so is it not possible to bend the pipes? to install more?

 

[TigerUK]

Of course, it's quite a quick little PC more than capable of running those things.

And it is an AMD ?!

thnks, for some reason i thought you were running an intel board

 

[Bossk128]

Can I be cheeky and ask for a pic in situ? I want to see it's size relative to a disc player and/or AV amp if you can oblige.

cheers!

 

[Bigsy]

hi Bigsy

am i right in thinking that the case came with 6 heat pipes, but you only installed 2 because of the layout?

if so is it not possible to bend the pipes? to install more?

Nope

The case only comes with with 2 heatpipes, the heatsink and case has room for more simply to aid fitting on different mobos.

As is the mobo heatsink would make it difficult to fit more, I think they would fit but it would be marginal. Still two is absolutely fine, surprisingly.

 

[Bigsy]

Can I be cheeky and ask for a pic in situ? I want to see it's size relative to a disc player and/or AV amp if you can oblige.

cheers!

I'm afraid I don't have anything in situ for comparison. I now added a bdrom and usb dac/amp which I mounted internally, it does everything as a stand alone box.

If you look at the pics it is next to a cd for size comparisons, but be assured its very compact, wouldn't look out of place with any AV equipment.

 

[saitrix]

What usb dac out of interest? Something like a BantamDac/AlienDac?

 

[L0stpr0phet]

cracking little build there for the price, nice job!

 

[Monkeynut]

I'm concerned that at full load you're running close to the PSU's maximum output.

 

[Bigsy]

I'm probably running just over it now I've added some stuff. Am I concerned? No frankly, if i was I'd run it closer to stock, maybe I might be if it was running prime 95 and furmark all day but it will never hit that kind of load normally.

 

[-BA-]

How does this thing cope with gaming? This is the ideal form factor I am looking for to put together an HTPC that can game. I particularly want it to be able to play Eve Online to a reasonable degree if possible.

 

[-Mike-]

I put my uncles llano based system together last night and I'm not impressed with the integrated graphics Picture quality in w7 media centre seems far lower than with the addon Geforce 210 that he has?

Any suggestions please bigsy? I'm a little stuck currently! Gotta go back there today to finish the build off but am going to attempt to drop the voltage as I got a 3670k for him so chances are can drop the multi too if the extra mhz isn't required

 

[Bigsy]

Hmm, while I was setting it up I had it plugged into my montor and regularly switched between it and my main machine which has a 6870 in it and there wasn't any difference in quality, least not enough for me to notice. Only thing I have done is install the latest catalyst drivers and set the correct overscan for each resoluion/refresh rate.

As for gaming in general its not bad at all, you can play most things at what I would call console level detail, performance is very much linked to memory speed, it helps a lot that I have my ram at 2100Mhz+. Still at stock it would play eve online with playable frame rates no issue.

 

[-Mike-]

Thanks for the info mate I'll try the latest drivers when I go back up there! Power consumption is low, not as good as yours but he has a 400w corsair psu, 3xhdd and a dual freesat hd card so I guess I couldn't really expect to get anywhere near. Psu efficiency at low watts doesn't help

 

[MikeHunt79]

Nice work, love the heatsink being used as a part of a the case also.

 

[LadFromWales]

The product site mentions a 150 watt PSU. Is there a reason you chose a 120 over this? Aside from the extra headroom gained, there surely isn't something that makes getting a 120 over a 150 better?
Where can one get that motherboard? I looked into it before it was released, and thought it never saw the light of day!

 

[Bigsy]

The case doesn't come with a PSU, least not in this county, I chose 120w as their very cheap on ebay and it gives me more than enough head room.

Motherboard is sold at many retailers, you'll have to use google as per forum rules... it's not hard to find.

 

[Lunatic Dreyfus]

I had one of those tri core Llano's and the deluxe version of that Asus board in my HTPC for a while, and I'm amazed you got yours running at 3.65ghz. Stock is only 2.1 and considering the amount of heat mine chucked out while on Blu-ray duty, I'm impressed. That case must glow white when the CPU is under load.

I had to dump my project as the damn thing never behaved itself properly and was prone to blue screening. I do wonder if it was my blackgold HD card causing the issues... But I digress. Nice build.

 

[Tripp]

I really like this build, would suit my need perfectly!

just curious though, would there be room to place a full size HDD in there or would that get in the way of a bluray drive?

 

[Bigsy]

Yeah there is room for a full size drive in there, its mounted on the underside of that tray that goes in over the top, it even has rubber mounts pre attached for you.

 

[Tripp]

^ Awesome, As I only want a htpc for storing and playing my music and dvds this seems like a perfect setup.

nice to know I can play bluray without any stuttering without a gpu