[mattchapman]

OK it's time for my new ITX build so I wanted to get a few opinions. Priorities are being small, cool and near silent.
This is intended to be a light-use family room HTPC for the usual 1080p playback plus some light emulation (nothing more advanced than PSX). Probably will run Windows 7 but may decide to go OpenELEC too. Media will be served from an UnRaid NAS.
I know there are a lot of AMD fans on this forum but I mainly chose Sandy Bridge as I understand (i) stronger CPU, (ii) runs cooler, (iii) I won't be gaming heavily and (iv) only one FM2 mobo currently exists and Intel is 'tried and tested'.

CASE=Realan E-I5 with 120W DC and 84W adapter [$116]
CPU=Intel Pentium G620 [$65]
MOBO=ASRock B75M-ITX [$90]
CPU FAN=Silverstone NT07-1156 [$25]
RAM=4GB G.SKILL DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ [$25]
SSD=Crucial M4 64gb SATA6Gb/s [repurpose existing]

TOTAL=$320

Some questions:
- Will 84W be enough or should I pay $10 more and get 120W adapter to be safe?
- Is it worth spending another $5 and getting the G850? Will I notice a difference?
- Does anyone know if the power light blinks while in S3 sleep on the ASRock board?

Thanks

[Dougie Fresh]

That's basically my bedroom HTPC setup and it maxes out around 60W (which it only does in Prime95 testing) but is usually hanging around 30-40W for live TV, 1080p, etc. 84W is plenty and is what I run mine with. You'd only meed the 120W if you go i5/i7, 84W is plenty even for i3.

For $5 I'd get the G850 in case later you want to repurpose it as say an office PC.

Just an FYI, the G620 won't run that memory at DDR3-1600 but you'll be good for a future upgrade to a CPU that does.

The A75M-ITX blinks in sleep but also has a "Good Night" feature. I suspect the B75M-ITX will be the same. I suggest looking at the mobo manual on the ASRock site to see what options are there. Intel and Gigabyte let you turn it off in S3 in the BIOS.

[mattchapman]

That's basically my bedroom HTPC setup and it maxes out around 60W (which it only does in Prime95 testing) but is usually hanging around 30-40W for live TV, 1080p, etc. 84W is plenty and is what I run mine with. You'd only meed the 120W if you go i5/i7, 84W is plenty even for i3.

For $5 I'd get the G850 in case later you want to repurpose it as say an office PC.

Just an FYI, the G620 won't run that memory at DDR3-1600 but you'll be good for a future upgrade to a CPU that does.

The A75M-ITX blinks in sleep but also has a "Good Night" feature. I suspect the B75M-ITX will be the same. I suggest looking at the mobo manual on the ASRock site to see what options are there. Intel and Gigabyte let you turn it off in S3 in the BIOS.

Thanks Doug. Yes on reading the manual there is a goodnight feature on ASRock but it appears this simply disables the power on light all-together.
I did consider the GIGABYTE GA-H61N-USB3 mobo at only $80 but it does not have SATA 6Gb/s. Do you think I'd notice much of a difference in bootup times or database reading if I went SATA 3Gb/s versus 6Gb/s?

Thanks

[Dougie Fresh]

I am starting to drop the GA-H61N-uSB3 from my lineup. I've had a couple of flakey ones lately that won't boot with the small power supplies while others will. This seems to be a new problem. I've weeded them out so I know the ones I have are fine with the mini-ITX power supplies I have but it's a PITA to deal with the RMAs, etc.

Going forward I'll be using the ASUS P8H77-I, ASRock B75M or H77M-ITX and Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI, depending on what's available and what's needed (wifi vs. not, remote vs. not, etc.). I've tested all these and the ones I had were fine.

To answer you question, for HTPC duties no you won't notice a performance different between 3Gb/s and 6Gb/s.

BTW, order the B75M-ITX from here: http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-B75MITX and use coupon code "YAYSFG" to get 10% off.