[trollcenter]

Hello folks!

I've been looking for a while to replace my existing Core 2 Duo HTPC and I've got a pretty good idea of what I want right now.

I ordered the case a couple of hours ago and I'm now on the progress of choosing the components.

The case is a HD-Plex H3.S, known for it's perfect fit with any AV component, plus it's a fanless case known to work with Intel Ivy Bridge and stuffs. I've been looking for a :

- Fanless case, top priority
- Good looking case without any blinking LED and stuffs as it is on top of my furniture, so I don't want it to shine whenever I'm watching a movie
- Black case to match the rest of my equipment
- Acceptable dimensions (not these big Silverstone stuffs)

The HD-Plex H3.S was a perfect match. I little bit pricey but well...



Now I'm looking for the components and I think it's almost done :

- i3 3225. Some might say it's overkill but I want to run some stuffs on this HTPC (on top of XBMC) so... Plus I don't want a dedicated GPU so Intel HD4000 was a good choice
- Asus P8H77 i Mini ITX motherboard. The purpose is to have an optical out and a motherboard that can fit into the H3.S. This one is certified so that's fine.
- Random RAM, I think I'll take 4GB, or even 8GB so that I can run a VM. The RAM is pretty cheap so it's not really a matter.
- SSD. I'm kind of lost. The Samsung 840 Pro is pretty much straight forward when it comes to choose a SSD but it's expensive and I don't need A+ performance. I'm considering an other SSD, cheaper. 128GB would be an asset. Any thoughts?
- Bluetooth dongle to have a PS3 Sixaxis as a remote. Any thoughts?


It will run Ubuntu, have a PS3 Sixaxis remote, will run as a HTPC and music server (probably running mpd). It's connected to a Teac AI501 DAC and I think I said pretty much everything Data are stored on a personal NAS made with a 8TB NL40 HP Microserver.

The case is already ordered because it's my final choice, 100% sure. But I'm still thinking about the rest. Any advice would be appreciated

I'll post some pictures of the build as soon as I have the components

Cheers

[GortWillSaveUs]

- SSD. I'm kind of lost. The Samsung 840 Pro is pretty much straight forward when it comes to choose a SSD but it's expensive and I don't need A+ performance. I'm considering an other SSD, cheaper. 128GB would be an asset. Any thoughts?

I'd recommend the Crucial m4 128GB 2.5-Inch (9.5mm) SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive.

[ZetBv]

GIGABYTE GA-H77N-WIFI - comes with Integrated Bluetooth 4.0.
I have the GA-Z77N-WIFI in the same case - works like a charm.

[trollcenter]

Ok thanks but I don't need the wifi. But I'll give it a chance and see what I can do :-)

Tomorrow is the beginning of the sales in France, I'll try to get a nice discount on the components

[ZetBv]

Ok thanks but I don't need the wifi. But I'll give it a chance and see what I can do :-)

Ok, but you get one extra HDMI, one extra Gigabit LAN, Integrated Bluetooth 4.0 and Intel WiFi and WiDi for only 4.50 euro more (amazon.fr)

[trollcenter]

It is a very good idea, indeed
Thank you!

[trollcenter]

Parts ordered

H3S, i3 3225, Samsung 840 Pro 128GB and GA-H77N (thanks ZetBv)

Now let's wait for the shipment...