I've spent quite a bit of time reading specs on the forum, and have taken inspiration from various threads and come up with a spec myself! I'm planning to serve up the vast majority of my media from NAS.
I'm just hoping I can get some reassurance that:
a) this will all work together (my biggest concern is the 150w PSU!)
b) this is 3D & Audio Bitstreaming capable
It's also worth mentioning I am planning to run windows but am unsure as to how much memory I'm going to end up munching through - is 2GB sufficient?
Here is my spec so far:
[CASE] Antec ISK 300 - 150 Mini ITX Case
[MOBO] Asrock H61M-ITX
[CPU] Intel Pentium G620 2.6GHz
[GPU] Asus GT 430 1GB
[RAM] 2x Kingston 1GB DDR3 1333MHz
Many thanks for your time if you are still reading by this point!
How about this build-
Case-
Antec ISK 300 - 150 Mini ITX Case (150W should be enough for the very low power all-in-on AMD A6-3500 APU)
Mobo-
ASRock A75M-ITX (you'll have the option to turn off/on using MCE IR/Remote.)
CPU-
AMD A6-Series A6-3500 (HD6530D iGPU should be able to playback all BD files in full 1080P video, bitstreaming HD audio, 3D, etc.)
RAM-
Corsair 4GB (4GB is the magic number for W7 64-bit)
Cheers for the speedy reply!
Interesting build with some nice features, the only part that causes a sharp in-take of breath for me is the use of an ATI GPU - won't this be an absolute nightmare to get playing nicely?
Also on second glance just noticed you also mentioned Windows7 64bit - is that essential? As I already have an unused 32bit copy which I was hoping to recycle and save a few pennies!
After comparing prices it's also worth noting your build does actually come in £10 cheaper than my original build!
jack0w Wrote:Cheers for the speedy reply!
Interesting build with some nice features, the only part that causes a sharp in-take of breath for me is the use of an ATI GPU - won't this be an absolute nightmare to get playing nicely?
For HTPC with W7+XBMC, I recommend ATI GPU over Nvidia GPU. Nvidia GPU suffer macroblocking problem with XBMC+W7. In fact, I'm trying to replace my GT430 with ATI HD6450 or HD6570. There are other Nvidia GT430 users in here replaced it with HD6450 too. The HD6530D is slightly better than HD6450. You should be able to playback everything with HD6530D in the A6-3500. Oh another note, since A6-3500 is all-in-one APU it will be less clutter and more room for air flow inside the mini-itx case too.
jack0w Wrote:Also on second glance just noticed you also mentioned Windows7 64bit - is that essential? As I already have an unused 32bit copy which I was hoping to recycle and save a few pennies!
If 32-bit is all you have, it should be fine too!
I have to say you are winning me over..
Do you have any experience setting up bitstreaming on these? I have to admit all of my experience with XBMC has been on Linux, and as much as I like Linux, it was a PITA to get audio playing even semi-nicely with my a/v receiver!
From what I've read I gather with Windows I'm going to need to use a third party player (which can be seamlessly launched from within XBMC) to playback MKV files with bitstreaming of the audio. MPC-HC I think was recommended, along with ffdshow tryouts. Presumably with just those + XBMC + drivers, I should be all set excluding a bit of configuration work?
Are there any other hidden costs, in terms of software/plugins for Windows 7, that I should be aware of? I personally can't think of anything but trying to cover all my bases coming from Linux!
jack0w Wrote:I have to say you are winning me over..
Do you have any experience setting up bitstreaming on these? I have to admit all of my experience with XBMC has been on Linux, and as much as I like Linux, it was a PITA to get audio playing even semi-nicely with my a/v receiver!
From what I've read I gather with Windows I'm going to need to use a third party player (which can be seamlessly launched from within XBMC) to playback MKV files with bitstreaming of the audio. MPC-HC I think was recommended, along with ffdshow tryouts. Presumably with just those + XBMC + drivers, I should be all set excluding a bit of configuration work?
Are there any other hidden costs, in terms of software/plugins for Windows 7, that I should be aware of? I personally can't think of anything but trying to cover all my bases coming from Linux!
My minimum HTPC spec is bitstreaming DTS-HD and TrueHD capability. All my 3 HTPC's are bitstreaming HD audio using this XBMC external codes-
Another External Player Code, but Very Simple to Setup.
You'll enjoy it!
Cool where are the pictures of your build?
BTW - Win7 product keys are interchangeable between 32bit and 64bit. If you want to install 64bit, just grab the 64bit install .iso off the Interwebs.
Apologies for slow upload of pictures, got sucked into putting the finishing touches on my build and completely forgot... doh!
Have uploaded two pics I've just taken... won't be hard to spot next job on the list... cable management!!
Picture 1
Picture 2
** Just wanted to add - thanks to all those who gave me assistance with my build - very much appreciated!
I opted for the Scythe SCKZT-1000 CPU cooler in the end, I also replaced the stock case fan with a Noctua NF-R8 80mm. I have the CPU cooler set to lowest possible rotation speed, same with the case fan. Temperatures don't seem to exceed 30-40 degrees with this setup (so far anyway!)
As for noise I'm happy to say I can't hear any noise from it at all - unless you get up, walk over and put your ear right over the vents!
I was previously planning to replace the PSU with a PicoPSU as I was really desperate for a silent HTPC, however I found the results with the stock PSU to be perfectly acceptable.
Hope this helps someone else out there!
That's interesting to know, I will certainly bear that in mind if I build another!
I ended up opting for the ISK300-150 in the end, purely because I got it for a bargain price
all good, its just that its a good thing to know about the ISK300-65