Hello all thought I would create a little project log as I build my first 'MiniHD' (HTPC) system.
This HTPC will mainly be used for playing back movies of various formats. It will play literally anything I throw at it and will sit nice and quietly in a box.
MKV HD, BD, DVD-Rom, Xvid, Divx, WMV HD etc.....all files should play successfully and well enough to output to HD TV. The MiniHD will go through a HD amp at some point but we'll have to live with the 2.0 channel sound over HDMI or optical for the time being.
Most of my main parts came today so I thought I should take pics prior to the build. The Motherboard alone is one awesome bit of kit so its defo worth showing it off.
The Build
Western Digital 3.0TB AV-GP (WD30EURS)
Went for a higher end WD as there will be lots of Movies and TV series being stored. Reduced power consumption and hopefully nice a quite.
I have used RE4 in customer builds before and they have never let me down so I hope these new AV-GP drives are worth it in the long run...
G.Skill 2x4GB 1333Mhz DDR3 Ripjaws. Nice build...Nice quality RAM and price of these were very good at the time of odering
Motherboard of choice was the,
Asus E35M1-I Deluxe ITX Board with Dual Core Zacate CPU (CPU/GPU) ATI HD 6310 Graphics chip
Various cables - Notice Slimline sata to 4pin power for the bluray drive - Also using some good quality sata cables
32GB OCZ Onyx SSD HDD - Boot drive and Program Files - Cheap as chips SSD. Hopefully keep the noise down and get a quick enough boot.
Shiny what looks stainless steel finish or casing niiiiice
The case
Went for a HEC (Compucase) SK01 Black finish with a 120Watt PSU
Quick test before we go ahead with the build.
Looks OK to me
The PSU fan is very quite to my surprise almost inaudible
Asus E35M1-I - £120.00
Western Digital 3TB AV-GP HDD - £125.00
OZC Onyx 32GB SSd - £51.00
G.Skill DDR3 2x4GB - £34.00
Compucase SK01 - £39.00
Windows 7 HP 64bit - £70.00
Sony Slot Load Slim Bluray Combo - £85.00
Logitech Mini Dinovo Mini - £90.00
Total £614.00
Please take into consideration im using fairly high end parts. Take these out of the build and replace with cheaper alternatives for a cheaper machine.
The last part of the build hasnt arrived
which is the Sony Slot loading bluray drive.
Im hoping to flush finish the front panel with the bezel supplied and respray the front case. Should look a lot better than the greyish plastic bezel.
Im also upgrading the front Power and HDD activity LED to some nice Blue and Green ones
Finally the MiniHD system will be controlled by a Logitech Dinovo Mini keyboard and touchpad.
Thats it for now I hope you stay tuned for the build. I will upload more pics of the goodies as they arrive and pics of the build in progress. :
Cheers
Shil
This HTPC will mainly be used for playing back movies of various formats. It will play literally anything I throw at it and will sit nice and quietly in a box.
MKV HD, BD, DVD-Rom, Xvid, Divx, WMV HD etc.....all files should play successfully and well enough to output to HD TV. The MiniHD will go through a HD amp at some point but we'll have to live with the 2.0 channel sound over HDMI or optical for the time being.
Most of my main parts came today so I thought I should take pics prior to the build. The Motherboard alone is one awesome bit of kit so its defo worth showing it off.
The Build
Western Digital 3.0TB AV-GP (WD30EURS)
Went for a higher end WD as there will be lots of Movies and TV series being stored. Reduced power consumption and hopefully nice a quite.
I have used RE4 in customer builds before and they have never let me down so I hope these new AV-GP drives are worth it in the long run...
G.Skill 2x4GB 1333Mhz DDR3 Ripjaws. Nice build...Nice quality RAM and price of these were very good at the time of odering
Motherboard of choice was the,
Asus E35M1-I Deluxe ITX Board with Dual Core Zacate CPU (CPU/GPU) ATI HD 6310 Graphics chip
Various cables - Notice Slimline sata to 4pin power for the bluray drive - Also using some good quality sata cables
32GB OCZ Onyx SSD HDD - Boot drive and Program Files - Cheap as chips SSD. Hopefully keep the noise down and get a quick enough boot.
Shiny what looks stainless steel finish or casing niiiiice
The case
Went for a HEC (Compucase) SK01 Black finish with a 120Watt PSU
Quick test before we go ahead with the build.
Looks OK to me
The PSU fan is very quite to my surprise almost inaudible
Asus E35M1-I - £120.00
Western Digital 3TB AV-GP HDD - £125.00
OZC Onyx 32GB SSd - £51.00
G.Skill DDR3 2x4GB - £34.00
Compucase SK01 - £39.00
Windows 7 HP 64bit - £70.00
Sony Slot Load Slim Bluray Combo - £85.00
Logitech Mini Dinovo Mini - £90.00
Total £614.00
Please take into consideration im using fairly high end parts. Take these out of the build and replace with cheaper alternatives for a cheaper machine.
The last part of the build hasnt arrived
which is the Sony Slot loading bluray drive.Im hoping to flush finish the front panel with the bezel supplied and respray the front case. Should look a lot better than the greyish plastic bezel.
Im also upgrading the front Power and HDD activity LED to some nice Blue and Green ones
Finally the MiniHD system will be controlled by a Logitech Dinovo Mini keyboard and touchpad.
Thats it for now I hope you stay tuned for the build. I will upload more pics of the goodies as they arrive and pics of the build in progress. :
Cheers
Shil
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