[nugget21]

Hey guys, just wanted some advice with a custom system that I am building.

Silverstone Case ML03
ASRock Z87M-PRO4
4GB (2 x 2GB)
i5 3.0 Intel CPU 1150
64GB OCZ Vertex SSD (already own)
Coolermaster Silent 850W Modular PSU

I plan to use Openelec as I do with the rest of my systems. Before anyone suggests that the CPU, etc might be a little overkill for 1080P playback I do understand that but I want the rest of the system (menus, plugins, etc) to be as quick as possible.

I currently use an Asus EB1501P as my main system and while it’s great for HD playback it isn’t anywhere near as good as my iMac through the XBMC menus, etc.

So a couple of questions I have:

Case – I keep going around in circles as to which case to get. I would really like a mATX case WITH a IR receiver included but I can’t seem to find any that aren’t a ridiculous price. I was just thinking of the ML03 and either getting a 5.25” IR receiver bay or drilling a hole somewhere in the case for an Inteset IR receiver. I'm a little restricted for height as well (I only have a 12cm gap in my cabinet). Any other suggestions?

MB - The reason I picked that motherboard is due to the CIR. It seems that there aren’t many 1150 boards with CIR. Any other recommendations?

CPU – I’m even tempted to go up to an i7 to ensure that things are as fast as possible. Just wondering about heat in the case as I don’t have a lot of ventilation room around where the case will be sitting. Is there a huge difference in i5 and i7 generated heat?

PSU – I really have no idea so just took a guess. I want as silent as possible and modular. Not really sure how many watts I would need with the i5/i7. At this stage I’ll just be using the on board video. Any other suggestions?

[euphos]

As for the PSU, what about the SeaSonic SS-400FL2 Active PFC F3 400W 80 PLUS Platinum Fanless ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ZWQ...PDKIKX0DER

That's what I'm looking at.

[nugget21]

Looks good to me.

Would that be enough to run the specs above?

[Dougie Fresh]

150W would run the specs above with no problem. I'd even look at a 300W PSU like one of these: http://www.amazon.com/FSP-Certified-300-...004VF4R4U/ which is an SFX PSU with a SFX-to-ATX adapter plate. It's much shorter than an ATX PSU which fits much better in the ML03B where you have to beware of the PSU depth if installing an optical drive.

[nugget21]

Thanks Dougie. What are you thoughts on CPU, MB? Do you know of any other/better 1150 mATX boards with CIR?

[Dougie Fresh]

If you aren't going to overclock (you don't need to for HTPC) the ASRock H87M Pro4 would be plenty and cost less. The i5 is the least expensive Haswell available right now so it's a fine choice. The Haswell i3s should be out in September.

[nugget21]

I went and picked up all of the parts - minus the PSU.

So it turns out after all of my research that the Asrock H87M Pro4 motherboards don't have CIR, which is really annoying!! From what I can tell none of the Asrock 1150 boards have CIR - only an IR header.

It even has printed on the board 'CIR 1' under one of the USB headers but there are no pins, just solder points

I received my Inteset CIR receiver in the mail yesterday, which isn't much good to me now. I think I'll just have to see if I can resume from standby via a USB RC6 receiver - maybe?!

For now I'm still waiting on a back order of the FSP SFX 450 PSU so I can't play with it at all.

[Dougie Fresh]

Cr@p, I was fooled by the CIR on the motherboard too.

[nugget21]

Yeah a little annoying.

From what I can tell the Asrock Inteset CIR receiver has the same 4 pin plug as their normal USB Inteset receiver and I should just be able to plug this into one of the internal USB headers. I should then be able to set the box to go to S3 or S4 on powerdown and then turn on with the remote - hopefully.