[mgdew]

thanks to eskro I am now the proud owner of a Zotac ZBox ND22, 4gb Ram and 60gb SSD.

I need a second box now, will relegate this ZBox to the bedroom, and am considering building something myself as my new lounge htpc.

I was considering going core i3 SB, here is my spec's so far.

Case - CFI A8989 Mini-ITX Cube Case - Black - £32.50
http://linitx.com/product/12433

Mobo - Gigabyte GA-H67N-USB3-B3 H67 Socket 1155 - £82.11
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/263608

CPU - Intel Core i3 2100T 2.5GHz Socket 1155 3MB (Intel® HD Graphics 2000) - £96.69
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/254977

RAM - G-Skill 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Ripjaws Memory Module CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V - £31.34
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/226283

SSD - OCZ 60GB Agility 3 SSD - SATA-III - Read 525MB/s Write 475MB/s 50,000 IOPS - £95
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/268239


Additional GPU ??
GPU - Asus GeForce G210 SILENT 512MB DDR2 DVI - £26.94
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/240886

or

GPU - Asus ENGT520 SILENT/DI/1GD3(LP) Nvidia GT520 Graphics Card - 45.45
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004W6MZI8/re...B004W6MZI8


I have read about the Sandybridge macroblocking and fps issues, so have spec'd possible GPU replacements above as additions (I just want to be able to hardware accelerate and all my 1080p mkv's play seemlessly.

The box seems to give me some reasonable future proofing (well, in as much as it has usb 3 and sata 6gbps ports that I have specified a compatible ssd for to get as much speed as possible).

What do you guys think ? is it good, could it be cheaper with some well priced replacements ?

I want it to be reasonably quiet and cool, and be pretty darn quick for most things.

[ceejay]

With the caveat that I haven't actually built it yet, I am currently investigating a fairly similar rig (though with a bigger case and mobo in my case).

Just a couple of things to consider:

- if you're going to get a separate GPU anyway, why not get a Pentium G620 instead of the i3? Comparison here http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/dis...-g620.html

- the spec of that SSD isn't nearly as good as you might think. See http://www.ocztechnology.com/res/manuals...284%29.pdf - a random write speed of 65MBps is not special. Have you had a look at the Crucial M4 instead? Slightly cheaper too.

Ceejay

[mgdew]

thanks for the response ceejay, I hadn't considered dropping to the pentium SB cpu's. Ideally I would like to make it a low power machine which is why I guess I went for the 2100T before. Do you have any experience of the Intel HD Graphics with HD Acceleration and XBMC ? ie, would I even need the extra GPU with the G620 build in graphics ?

as for the hdd, I did not even see the random write speed, I was focused on the Read 525MB/s Write 475MB/s that it stated, ssd's tend to confuse me in what I am really looking for, so cheers for the recommendation.

[ceejay]

Sorry, can't comment on the G620 native graphics, but there must be a post on it somewhere!

Re the SSDs - you're not the only one that is confused, and the marketers are of course not helping. You'll often see theoretical peak speeds quoted - like the 500MBps for that Agility 3 - which you have pretty much no chance of achieving in reality.

It's made worse by the fact that a lot of these SSDs get slower as you go for smaller capacity: so you see a spec or a test on say a 256GB unit and think, I'll have some of that but at a smaller size and cheaper - but then get caught out. Most of the benchmarks I've seen tend to be at the larger sizes that you might want if you were building a high performing desktop or server, whereas in an HTPC we mostly want relatively small SSD boot discs with enormous data storage elsewhere.

[mgdew]

Thanks again ceejay, after reading the links you posted comparing the i3 with the G620 etc it seems they can achieve relatively low wattage use anyway, so may be ideal. I could probably try the built in HD of the G620 cpu/GPU and if it wasn't up to the task then upgrade to the additional GPU card.

at the moment the system replacing the cpu to a G620 and swapping the ssd for the Crucial M4 is coming out at £286, which is cheaper than me doing the Zotac, its enticing to go this route instead of a second zotac.

[outatouch0]

Good for you man
A few thoughts:

Also keep in mind, from the little bit I have heard, the 24fps macroblocking issue supposedly won't be fixed in sandybridge design. A new to come processor that solves that issue wont necessarily work in the H67 series motherboards. I don't know much about this particular issue. Maybe you do or someone else here does.

I had the same thought as per the G620, no sense getting an iCore when it won't do the graphics you want anyway. Intel is still relatively new at the graphics game and so are their drivers. Might want to go with "tried and true" instead. Take the money you save and get a video card that will do 3D graphics and bitstream HD audio (GT520) via single HDMI cable.

Here is the thing with SSD's. Even the cheap ones are fast compared to disk type hard drives. The thing is going to boot and run incredibly fast even if its "only" a SATA 3gb/s. No need to knock yourself about trying to figure out which one is miliseconds faster. Just shop around for the best deal on a quality SSD. Stick with the top name brands. Avoid the models with DOA's reported buy customer reviews. Even if newegg.com wont ship to you they offer a good source for customer reviews.

On your video card chioces:
- Fanless scares me, I'm not willing to risk it. A tiny fan on a GT520 is generally not going to be noisy.
- I like MSI video cards because their (better) fans and some of the heatsinks are screw mounted rather than riveted or plastic clipped on. You can take them apart to clean the dust out and put them back together easier (or change to custom cooling). Compare the pictures and you will see what I mean.
- ASUS, a company I used to love... They offer the longest warranty periods. Sounds great until you actually need warranty coverage. If you can manage to get someone on the phone... Even then they still wont cover it. Don't take my word for it, do a google search.

[mgdew]

I was trying to avoid another fan if at all possible, I don't have space to go for a bigger case (hence why I am looking at mini itx rather than micro atx etc). so I was thinking with the one already present case fan, the cpu heatsink and fan (will probably get something like a zalman or similar) then that's probably enough noise for one small cramped case, and hopefully enough to push out the heat that will be present from the passive GPU.

I historically have always built my own pc's, and tended to always go with passive and never had an issue that would put me off them, but then again I suppose I was using a coolermaster cosmos case before

[eskro]

i dont go crazy about Fans on video cards anymore,,,,
once they die, its unlikely that you'll find a replacement one,,,,
your screwed... thats why i like FanLess cards...

Now the i3-2100 is a strong CPU, its even in my HTPC Guide...
But, you might not need to go there at all,,,
Specially if your not using the HTPC to do gaming or Encoding jobs...

If you wanna keep the SATA-III SSD, thats cool,
but there's no real reasons to spend money on an i3 in your case...

the CELERON E3400 or the ATHLON X2 are still perfect for XBMC!!

then, if you dont need 3D playback, go for the Fanless GT210 or Fanless HD5450....

Also, 2GB's of RAM is enough for HTPC tasks...
Specially since your GPU has an additional 512MB...

[mgdew]

one question I have is if I went for the core i5 with HD 3000 is there still issues with 1080p / hardware acceleration/ 24fps with xbmc etc ?

thinking 1 less thing in the case creating heat means lower fan speed required to cool etc.

[eskro]

core i5 O.O

[wsume99]

one question I have is if I went for the core i5 with HD 3000 is there still issues with 1080p / hardware acceleration/ 24fps with xbmc etc ?

Yes.

[outatouch0]

Also, on your ram, you could probably get better latency (7 7 7 21) for very little additional cost if not the same price.

[mgdew]

all you guys are awesome, this forum is superb for constructive and useful feedback.

I guess I am wanting to stretch my budget to get the best I can, hence why I am even still after your advice thinking in my head that an i3 + GPU might be worth it, or even an i5 if my budget allows.

I used to build my own windows rigs all the time, then a few years ago moved to the darkside of the iMac / Macbooks etc, so have kind of been out of the game for a while and lost touch with things I need to consider, but am having fun looking and learning again.

[mgdew]

I have even considered making my own freenas enclosure to replace my almost full 4tb Raid 0 ReadyNAS duo, and maybe utilise the same box for the living room xbmc machine at the same time.........

not sure if there is a solution to that though that gives me everything I want all in one box and the reliability of my ReadyNAS Duo