[Concelor]

hi all so this is my first time ever with aiming for an HTPC rig

So in about 2 months I’m being sent over to Japan for 3 years. My buddies recommend xbmc as a way to ship my bluray/dvd collection overseas with me. The last few days I have been reading post after post on the forum trying to figure out how I want to build my HTPC rig. My goal is to have a unit that can play all media files, and have a ton of storage, my idea: 1 TB x1 2TBx1 (short term),2TBx3 (long term) a blu ray drive, and a SSD for the OS.
The system was only going to be used as an HTPC, but after reading a lot of builds, playing emulation up to SNES wouldn’t suck as well as a RAID backup system.
The problem is I want it compact, and draw the least power possible and here where the issue arises. Everyone seems to have a different opinion how to accomplish that.

First thing I need is a motherboard/processor/video card. Some people are telling me get a SB i3 setup with GTX card, some are saying a SB i3 alone can do the trick, some say the ION, some say AMD

Of the two I’m looking at do either fit the build as a HTPC with maybe a little emulation
AT3IONT-I
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813131653.
E35M1-I
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813131698

Case wise I have only begun to look but I think to get the space needed for hard drives I don’t have the luxury of an HTPC style case, or are there some out there?

And for multiple HDs and a BluRay drive, are there decent power supplies that can give me what is needed and not be overkill?
Thanks in advance

[homewrek]

E35M1 Zacate
Htpc purposes....check
Playing emulators.....check
Compact....check
Least power possible...check
My htpc....Asrock E350M1(didn't need usb 3.0 or Wifi) great budget board turned down the fan speed in the bios to level 3, Silent, Kingston DDR 3 1066 4gb, Samsung 1tb, Apex MI-008 case 259.84 shipped *Newegg* The case can be modded to fit up to four Hard drives with some wire management and a little creativity. For psu i recommend this thread http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=97860 The case in the pic is a raidmax with a pico psu and the generic psu pulled out for modding an extra bracket to hold more hard drives. A pico psu will be sufficient for your build and it is silent as it doesn't have any fans, you just plug it in like a laptop charger. As for Htpc cases there are plenty depending on your budget and the look you wanna achieve. I like this new Silverstone small compact, nice look to it, accommodates up to 3 3.5 hard drives or 5 2.5 or mix and match in your case SSD and 2tb now and 2tb later.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811163174

[Concelor]

with these pico psu what a good voltage to make sure you have enough
I'm coming from gaming rigs where 1200W is JUST good enough lol

[homewrek]

Lol.....I know what you mean, average Zacate build with 3 or 4 hard drives and a BluRay drive you can use the 80 watts one, Zacate at full load consumes 30 to 40 watts and at idle...Less than a flashlight to put it in perspective.

[Concelor]

Holy crap
Night and day difference
with the Zacate board are there any RAM restrictions like Asus's newest?

[eskro]

Looking to Buy Your Very First HTPC? Then Read --> http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94199

[homewrek]

Looking to Buy Your Very First HTPC? Then Read --> http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94199

LOL....I know my gaming rig is a damn noisy power hog, as far as Ram....DDR 3 1066 but lately all Zacates have been getting bios updates to accommodate DDR 1333. I updated my bios and I now have the option to select 1333mhz in my ram speeds. I know the MSI's got the bios update and the gigabyte I need to confirm about the Asus, but it runs awesome on DDR 3 1600 if you wanna save some money. Here's the link to my desktop showing my zacate build multitasking

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=97899

[Concelor]

Do the Zacates have the uber fast book like the intel asus?

[numb7rs]

From the first post, it looks llike you'll want to rip Blurays/DVDs to disk. Do you have another machine to do this? Ripping a Bluray using an Atom processor will take ... a while.

[Concelor]

The ripping is done, it's just building the HTPC now, while I'm over seas there may be an occasion or two to rip a new movie, and I figure it be at least an 8 hour process.

[Concelor]

Unlike the intels
The AMD boards seem to have a visible difference between the pro and deluxe models of the E35m1-I
Is one better than the other?
Not counting bluetooth/wifi

[homewrek]

The Asus pro is not a mini itx mobo, it's a micro-atx.....the deluxe is mini-itx, but other than the usb 3.0, bluetooth/wifi, there is no difference in what they all can do, if your not gonna take advantage of these features any time soon skip it. I can really say which one is better than the other for you, if you need the extra options(wifi etc.) then the deluxe is better, if you don't need the extra features or want to get the most bang for your buck(My case) go with the Asrock, MSI, or Gigabyte.

[Concelor]

I looked at the Asrock, the problem is I never heard of them, where as I have owned Asus's for years and love their warranties . But let me ask you besides, maybe some driver issues at the beginning have you ever had an issue with your board? I like the Asus not only cause of my history with them but those mondo heatsinks they own. Though the Asrock states a raid on-board which is great for my idea of making this a little backup system too, where as the Asus don't state it on newegg

[homewrek]

Asrock is Asus, it's there little brother, there entry level motherboard's and they are great boards, the mobo in my gaming pc is also Asrock and I've never had a problem with any of them. Of course with Asus you get the fancier looking boards, fancier packaging and little extras, but you gotta pay for them. All AMD Zacate chipsets have raid capabilities, so your golden with any of them as a backup system. If money was no option to me, I would get the Asus, but the Asrock performs just as well, so you can put that extra money you save on more storage which too me would be a better deal.

[Concelor]

Gotta tell you, you pointed me down teh road I think I want to head
I'm liking the case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811163174
I'm liking the board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813157228
I'm liking the ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820148150
Power supply? probably the pico 80 you recommended

All said and done I have enough if I wanted a raid controller or remote set up lol
Or as you pointed out more harddrvice/blu ray drive choices

Am I missing anything? or is that a great build (albeit almost exactly yours lol)