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Hey all

Finally come up with the specs of what I think I need for my new HTPC system. This is the first one I'm building so any suggestions would be much appreciated. Will be running Win 7 + XBMC + SABNZBD + Sick Beard.

[CASE] Silverstone Milo ML03B microATX, Black, Slim/HTPC Case with USB 3.0 w/o PSU (can take ATX)

[PS] 430W be quiet! Pure Power L8-CM, Modular, 80Plus Bronze, 120mm Silent Wings fan, ATX, PSU

[MB] Asus F1A75-M PRO, AMD A75, S FM1, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, RAID SATA, PCIe 2.0 (x16), Graphics On Board, mATX

[CPU] AMD A6 3500, S FM1, Lynx Core, Triple Core 2.4GHz, GPU AMD Radeon HD 6530D 443MHz, 65W, Retail

[RAM] 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V

[SSD] 64GB Crucial RealSSD M4, 2.5" SSD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, MLC-Flash, Read 500MB/s, Write 95MB/s

[FAN] Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev.B Low Profile CPU Cooler, SCBSK-2100

Questions:
1) What is the best Remote and IR solution to use with Win 7?
2) Do I need any further cooling like case fans and so on?
3) Is 4GB Ram more than enough?

You can see the pictures of the build here

1) Check out http://flirc.tv/

2) Probably not

3) 4GB should be adequate, if you don't plan on doing any serious gaming.

You might want to change your PSU though. The ML03B has a PSU depth restriction of 140mm. The PSU you have listed has a depth of 160mm.

Mind your PSU!
Dont do the same mistake as i did....
It doesnt fit !!
Take a micro ATX PSU !

(2012-09-03, 09:02)Arkitket Wrote: [ -> ]1) Check out http://flirc.tv/

2) Probably not

3) 4GB should be adequate, if you don't plan on doing any serious gaming.

You might want to change your PSU though. The ML03B has a PSU depth restriction of 140mm. The PSU you have listed has a depth of 160mm.

(2012-09-03, 09:06)Skank Wrote: [ -> ]Mind your PSU!
Dont do the same mistake as i did....
It doesnt fit !!
Take a micro ATX PSU !

Thanks for the heads up on the PSU, do you have any recommendations for a m-ATX PSU?

How about this:

[PSU] 500W Silverstone SST-ST50F-P, Modular, 85%Eff', 80 PLUS Bronze, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX v2.3, PSU

Has a depth of 140mm which should do the trick!

@NZXBMC

The datasheet states the ML03 takes a full sized PSU but it should be no deeper than 140mm and cannot be modular as the tails will conflict with the optical drive if you want to install one. I have an ML03B on order and should be at home when I get back from work so can confirm that a full sized PSU fits. Also if the PSU has a 120mm fan it needs to be installed with the fan facing down so that it can suck air in the bottom and eject out the back without heating the case up.

@Skank,

The datasheet for your case states that it takes a uATX PSU that is why the full sized one didn't fit where as the ML03 can fit both with the use of an adapter.

It always pays to read the datasheet of what you are buying, I know that not everyone does and that Includes me as I have just purchased a ATI Graphics card and found that I might need to return it as it may not do HW acceleration in Linux.


EDIT: That 500W PSU is a full sized one as well but as it is modular it may interfere with the optical bay.

Why 500 watt? Get 300 or max 350 watt...

For example? Be suiet sfx 300 watt
http://azerty.nl/8-3478-239789/be-quiet-...ding-.html

(2012-09-03, 12:16)warrmr Wrote: [ -> ]@NZXBMC

The datasheet states the ML03 takes a full sized PSU but it should be no deeper than 140mm and cannot be modular as the tails will conflict with the optical drive if you want to install one. I have an ML03B on order and should be at home when I get back from work so can confirm that a full sized PSU fits. Also if the PSU has a 120mm fan it needs to be installed with the fan facing down so that it can suck air in the bottom and eject out the back without heating the case up.

EDIT: That 500W PSU is a full sized one as well but as it is modular it may interfere with the optical bay.

Ahh yeah didnt bother reading the datasheet, prob should have.

Maybe this will do the job then?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/350w-ener...tx-v23-psu

(2012-09-03, 12:41)NZXBMC Wrote: [ -> ]Ahh yeah didnt bother reading the datasheet, prob should have.

Maybe this will do the job then?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/350w-ener...tx-v23-psu

That PSU will fit. As far as modular goes as other posters have mentioned, if you aren't going to use a ODD then modular will be fine (I don't see an ODD on your list).

I use the ML03B case with a full size power supply with no problems.
I also have a BD-ROM installed.
Sure the wiring is a little tight,..but it does fit.
While I was perfectly okay with this,..I know some others might not,..
In that case,..I recommend a uATX PSU.

Good luck in your build!

The perfect match PSU for that case is this "Silverstone Tech. Strider SST-ST40F-ES 400W'. The PSU fan is perfectly designed to match ML03 vent. If you want to fully utilize front USB 3.0 of ML03, you might want to consider this "GIGABYTE GA-A75M-D2H" motherboard instead....

CASE - Consider the taller silverstone GB04 or 05 cases. I just built a rig with the GB04 and trust me there isn't much room for getting everything in. If your using the slim case I don't know how it will fit.
PS - Seems ok
MB and CPU - Seriously consider intel over AMD. I would always of been the first to say AMD over intel but their recent chips aren't up to much (just check any benchmark reviews hence why I just built my first intel rig since my pentium 60) The AMD A series can easily be beat hands down by an i3 with a graphics card.
RAM - 4Gb will do fine but with the prices so low atm 8gb can be had for under £40 and at that price is hard to look past.
SSD - Again looks fine just don't go any lower than 60gb. My new HTPC with windows 7, driver and XBMC on a 60gb SSD has now just 19gb left.
FAN - Looks ok but might not be needed if you consider the taller case and perhaps the silverstone passive cooler. Take into account the taller case has 3 120mm fans that are fairly quiet.

The move to intel might cost a bit more but I highly recommend it. The 1155 socket is going to be around for a while and you have great upgrade potential with the i5 and i7 both sandy and ivy bridge series of chips were AMD are already talking of ditching FM1 for the new APUs coming out later this year.

If you decide to stick to the slim case then I would watch case temps and make a call on additional cooling. With the small case heat will build up more and you may run into problems. Even in my case the CPU sits at about 33degrees idle (ok it is clocked to 4.5ghz) and the mobo sits at about 31degrees celcius which is ok for the chip but just a tad high I feel for the motherboard. There is a GTX680 cutting my case in half and restricting air flow but you get the idea.

Well I can confirm that a full sized ATX PSU will fit in the ML03, it is a little tight for cables in there but you can hide them in the hdd bracket under where the Optical drive sits.

(2012-09-03, 17:30)bluray Wrote: [ -> ]The perfect match PSU for that case is this "Silverstone Tech. Strider SST-ST40F-ES 400W'. The PSU fan is perfectly designed to match ML03 vent. If you want to fully utilize front USB 3.0 of ML03, you might want to consider this "GIGABYTE GA-A75M-D2H" motherboard instead....

I think I will use that PSU that you suggested.

In terms of the whole AMD vs Intel, how much difference would I notice on this system if I went for a Core i3 2105

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(2012-09-03, 21:05)warrmr Wrote: [ -> ]Well I can confirm that a full sized ATX PSU will fit in the ML03, it is a little tight for cables in there but you can hide them in the hdd bracket under where the Optical drive sits.

Awesome, thanks for confirming that.

(2012-09-03, 21:53)NZXBMC Wrote: [ -> ]In terms of the whole AMD vs Intel, how much difference would I notice on this system if I went for a Core i3 2105

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New Ivy Bridge i3's were released yesterday. Take a look at the i3-3220 with HD2500 iGPU or the i3-3225 with HD4000 iGPU