I have decided to replace my old shuttle server for a proper HTPC. The shuttle is small and somewhat restrictive and I wanted something big enough to hold lots of drives and a decent enough spec if I decide to make a steambox out of it.
The new components going into this system are
Case: Silverstone Grandia GD07
Mobo: Gigabyte Z77 DS3H
CPU: Intel i3-3220 3.3GHz
HSF: Akasa Venom Pico
RAM: Kingston HyperX BLU 1600MHz DDR3 4GB Kit (2x 2GB)
PSU: Seasonic S12II 520w
SSD: Corsair Force Series 3 60GB
In addition for the time being I will also be using a pair of WD Green 1.5TB drives raided together to give me one fast storage drive for my video, photos, music and other general downloads. I'm running short on space so at some point I'll be popping in a pair of 3TB drives in a similar raid to take on that role.
I prepared a USB 3 stick with Windows 7 on it ready to go. I also modified it to include the USB3 drivers so that I should get a nice fast install onto the SSD I'm using as the boot drive.
I'll also be assessing the boot speed of this new system compared to my i5 2500k Sandy rig. The Z77 board in the HTPC comes with a UEFI bios already on it but my Z68 main rig has not yet been flashed with the new UEFI bios.
Shiny things come to those who wait
For now only the SSD boot drive is in the machine so that my main server can keep running until I'm happy with this one. As a result I've not bothered to keep everything neat inside as I'll have to go at it again to drop the storage drives in.
When it first booted to the USB3 stick it started the windows install and then asked for some drivers, when I tried it in the USB2 port it didn't so I guess I buggered up the creation of the USB3 drivers bit on the stick some how.
Impressions a bit later.
DSC_0157 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0167 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0185 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0191 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0194 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0201 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0202 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0206 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0218 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0220 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0221 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0224 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0230 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0246 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0252 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0262 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0266 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
I was up till 3am moving the data drives and trying to get XBMC sorted again. I tried XBMC 12 RC1 but some some reason I was totally unable to connect to it with sickbeard or with the Android remote on my phone. When I installed XBMC 11 and did exactly the same thing it worked first time every time. Odd but I'll keep at it.
The Silverstone GD07 case is very nice to work with, there is plenty of room inside and the fact that the entire drive bay lifts out is nice, as is the fact that you don't HAVE to lift it out to put drives in. The 3.5" bays all come foam/rubber lined to prevent vibration noise and the case also came with some rubber washers to use on others screws to again negate metal on metal vibrations.
The machine boots really fast thanks to the SSD and the UEFI bios on the motherboard, also when XBMC loads on startup you don't even see the desktop, it just appears a few seconds after turning the machine on. Going into standby is also very fast should anyone want to use it, however my machine stays on 24/7.
I had some problems with the Intel HD 2500 graphics when I was passing the HDMI through my Amp and then into my TV, I was unable to see the bios at all but Windows displayed fine. When I went into the TV directly with the HDMI it worked fine. Also the Intel graphics seem more than capable of driving XBMC with no signs of lag or juddering which is nice to see. The last time I used any form of onboard graphics was probably 5 years ago and it left a lot to be desired.
I also found a handy little programme which intercepts the Windows Media Center command sent from MCE keyboards (the green button) and instead launched XBMC. Also, if XBMC is already open but minimised and the green button is pressed it brings it back to focus. This will be handy as I've lost count of the amount of times XBMC has been relegated to the background because Windows wanted to do something else.
The new components going into this system are
Case: Silverstone Grandia GD07
Mobo: Gigabyte Z77 DS3H
CPU: Intel i3-3220 3.3GHz
HSF: Akasa Venom Pico
RAM: Kingston HyperX BLU 1600MHz DDR3 4GB Kit (2x 2GB)
PSU: Seasonic S12II 520w
SSD: Corsair Force Series 3 60GB
In addition for the time being I will also be using a pair of WD Green 1.5TB drives raided together to give me one fast storage drive for my video, photos, music and other general downloads. I'm running short on space so at some point I'll be popping in a pair of 3TB drives in a similar raid to take on that role.
I prepared a USB 3 stick with Windows 7 on it ready to go. I also modified it to include the USB3 drivers so that I should get a nice fast install onto the SSD I'm using as the boot drive.
I'll also be assessing the boot speed of this new system compared to my i5 2500k Sandy rig. The Z77 board in the HTPC comes with a UEFI bios already on it but my Z68 main rig has not yet been flashed with the new UEFI bios.
Shiny things come to those who wait
For now only the SSD boot drive is in the machine so that my main server can keep running until I'm happy with this one. As a result I've not bothered to keep everything neat inside as I'll have to go at it again to drop the storage drives in.
When it first booted to the USB3 stick it started the windows install and then asked for some drivers, when I tried it in the USB2 port it didn't so I guess I buggered up the creation of the USB3 drivers bit on the stick some how.
Impressions a bit later.
DSC_0157 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0167 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0185 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0191 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0194 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0201 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0202 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0206 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0218 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0220 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0221 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0224 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0230 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0246 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0252 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0262 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
DSC_0266 by Darren Thomas, on Flickr
I was up till 3am moving the data drives and trying to get XBMC sorted again. I tried XBMC 12 RC1 but some some reason I was totally unable to connect to it with sickbeard or with the Android remote on my phone. When I installed XBMC 11 and did exactly the same thing it worked first time every time. Odd but I'll keep at it.
The Silverstone GD07 case is very nice to work with, there is plenty of room inside and the fact that the entire drive bay lifts out is nice, as is the fact that you don't HAVE to lift it out to put drives in. The 3.5" bays all come foam/rubber lined to prevent vibration noise and the case also came with some rubber washers to use on others screws to again negate metal on metal vibrations.
The machine boots really fast thanks to the SSD and the UEFI bios on the motherboard, also when XBMC loads on startup you don't even see the desktop, it just appears a few seconds after turning the machine on. Going into standby is also very fast should anyone want to use it, however my machine stays on 24/7.
I had some problems with the Intel HD 2500 graphics when I was passing the HDMI through my Amp and then into my TV, I was unable to see the bios at all but Windows displayed fine. When I went into the TV directly with the HDMI it worked fine. Also the Intel graphics seem more than capable of driving XBMC with no signs of lag or juddering which is nice to see. The last time I used any form of onboard graphics was probably 5 years ago and it left a lot to be desired.
I also found a handy little programme which intercepts the Windows Media Center command sent from MCE keyboards (the green button) and instead launched XBMC. Also, if XBMC is already open but minimised and the green button is pressed it brings it back to focus. This will be handy as I've lost count of the amount of times XBMC has been relegated to the background because Windows wanted to do something else.