Nightime small rig

[Dave85]

So im wanting to build a very cheap very quite little pc that can be used for watching 1080p or 720p if not possible mks and movies at night instead of running my 800d power hungry and noisy pc.

Now I built my gran a pc using a ITX zotac board etc. but want something about the size of the apple mac mini or just a little bigger. As had to use a lian li pc q07 but thats a bit big.

Budget of around £200 if possible?

 

[Nightglow]

Why not use a Asrock Z68M-ITX/HT a bargain at £100.
Looking to get myself one in a few weeks for a htpc build, maybe with a i3 2100 3.10ghz, still undecided.
Had considered using a MATX board, but Asrock was a better board in my opinion to use.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68M-ITX/HT

Review here:

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/asrock_z68m_itxht.html

 

[Bane]

Silverstone PT-07 looks good, but no idea on dimensions, price, or even availability.

[H]ardforum post with pictures

 

[RimBlock]

I have built one around the Antec ISK 310-150 which is lower then a drink can at 9.7cm, just a bit wider than a dvd at 22cm and a bit longer than a shoe box at 33cm.

The unit is pretty quiet, fits a 2.5" drive and slim DVD/Bluray or with a bit of careful positioning will fit a 3.5" hard drive (no optical drive though).

Plays all media I have thrown at it including 40G+ bluray ISOs.

Using a Biostar H61MB with 4GB ram and an Intel i3 2100.

Only thing to really note is that the unit vents on the right side so better to have that side unblocked if possible.

Have various build suggestions in my HTPC thread here.

RB

 

[Raikiri]

Considering your budget maybe something like the Acer Revo would be better suited? Currently you can get this spec:

Specification
Processor
Intel Atom D525B 1.8GHz
Intel NM10 chipset

Memory
4GB DDR3 RAM

Hard Drive
500GB SATA

Optical Drive
None

Software
Operating System: Linux

Graphics
NVIDIA ION

Input Devices
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

Networking
WLAN: 802.11 B/G/N

Dimensions
Width 36 mm
Depth 192 mm
Height 192 mm
Weight approx 1.5kg

Interfaces
Front:
Two USB 2.0 ports
High-definition headphone and microphone jacks

Rear:
Four USB 2.0 ports
DC-in jack
Ethernet (RJ-45) port
D-Sub VGA port
HDMI port

Expansion
Multi-in-1 card reader

Warranty
1 Year Manufacturer Warranty

For £179, should handle 1080p playback fine with a relatively quick Atom + Ion.

 

[Subliminal Aura]

Another vote for a revo alternatively build in sig was dirt cheap when sourcing a cheap secondhand IONITX-P-E.

DDR3 is very cheap at the moment too

 

[Dave85]

Hi thanks for the suggestions folk was just looking at the revo and a few other small all in one atom type devices. Will probably go for one of those as can be had for under £170 on some big name ebay outlets

 

[Subliminal Aura]

Forgot to add ... Zotac nano might be slightly over budget but worth a look if you're a windows user

 

[MasterPlan1]

Don't forget the rather good AMD offerings, they have better graphics as I recall, and a little more punch to them.

 

[StevenG]

Apple TV 2 - £101, jailbreak and XBMC, 720p playback without the mess/cost/modding.

remainder of budget could get you a NAS drive and an HDD to stream the content from.

StevenG

 

[Subliminal Aura]

Apple TV 2 - £101, jailbreak and XBMC, 720p playback without the mess/cost/modding.

remainder of budget could get you a NAS drive and an HDD to stream the content from.

StevenG

I've played with too many of these boxes.... Nothing comes close to a real HTPC

 

[danewesley]

I think this would be great, low power, can play games and will beat any zotac box/acer revo around the same price.All you need to add is a hdd of any size you want..


YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI A75MA-G55 AMD Hudson D3 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Llano MIcro-ATX Motherboard £65.99
1 x AMD Llano A4-3400 2.70GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3400OJGXBOX) £53.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £34.99
1 x Fractal Design Core 1000 Midi Tower Case - Black £28.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA1339) £24.98
Total : £208.94 (includes shipping : FREE).

 

[MasterPlan1]

Only problem with that spec is it requires having a midi tower, meaning it's kinda defeating the point of going ITX\small.

If OP wants power\size, going Llano, but there is an ITX FM1 board out there for not a lot of money iirc, coupled with a 150w isk, this should do the trick.

 

[d_brennen]

What I'd do is stick an ITX PC in the same case with a Pico PSU, assuming you are using the same screens. Double sided tape f t w

 

[danewesley]

yeh i know, only reason i spec that is its on ocuk and in stock for ease.

there is an asrock fm1 board on a rainforest site, and id go for the lian li q07 and a pico psu, you might go a bit over budget with the itx case and pico psu but it will be a silent build.

 

[Dave85]

Thanks for all the options guys, Im going for a NAS anyway as want to have my main pc off as much as possible when not gaming. So the itx needs to be really small and only powerfull enough to watch streamed 1080 content from the nas. I have a playonhd that could do the same job but I want to browse the web and so on as well as media content.

 

[danewesley]

ps3?

 

[welshdragon]

I built a tiny system using :

ASRock E350 mitx board
1x4gb stickoramo
2.5" WD drive
and an Antec ISK100 case

No drive bay though, and eveyrthing streams fomr my nas to this. It runs win 7 and for a low power machine it flies. I use xbmc primarily on it but the beauty of it is I can still use the web etc

Build log here

The case has built in psu.

However had I wnated a drive I would have gone for the Antec ISK310-150 Micro-ATX Case

Handles all HD brilliantly and is mega low power system whcih is virtually silent in operation..

 

[saitrix]

Zotac nd22. Plays 1080p and has a more powerful CPU than the e350. With it having an nvidia gpu you can get as near to 24p as possible. Even comes with a Vesa mount so its totally out of the way.

You can do an itx g620 rig for £200 with careful selection of parts.
CPU - £50
Motherboard - £50
4gb ram - £20
Case with psu - £40
Then just need a hdd.

 

[Martynt74]

What I'd do is stick an ITX PC in the same case with a Pico PSU, assuming you are using the same screens. Double sided tape f t w

Thats a great call actually, could install the OS onto a USB drive aswell. Just need to mod the case to include a new power switch and a few exit holes for a remote/hdmi cable