What to buy for a HTPC and XBMC [Build Ive just Completed]

zt-OctaviaN

Hey folks just thought I post up a project Ive just finished to aid anyone wondering what hardware to get and what can be done/fitted in a very small case.

The Stuff!
Case: Aopen S-120A - This case is in fact stackable! you can increase its vertical heaight if you want an optical drive installed aswell.

Mobo: Intel DG45FC
[It has SPDIF and HDMI and a DVI plus tonnes of USB + eSATA, also onboard graphics come in the form of x4500HD this has onboard decoding of h.264 and vc-1 etc so will happily do 1080p video!!] :cool:

CPU is a Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo Running at stock 3.0Ghz (6Mb Cache 45nm) Heatsink and fan Hiper HFA-10828-C2

4Gb OCZ Ram - running Vista 32

30Gb SSD OCZ - Solid state drive consumes very little power is rapid fast and completely quiet.
[I chose such a small drive as Ill be connecting to media stored on Network]
Just a note Windows Vista Ultimate took up 14.5 Gigs!! :eek:
Plenty left. :P

PSU is a small external fanless 110w brick with 12v output and rated 8.5a.
Its connected to a small mini ITX supply unit called the PicoPSU (the yellow one!)

Other items I decide to squeeze into the box were as follows:

Microsoft MCE remote reciever :eek: the board is much bigger than I though but I glued the under side and threw it in UNDER the Mobo then reqired the reciever IR LED to a better locationThis was connected internally to a usb adapter I had lying around I stripped to fit.

Dlink DBT-120 This one is compatible with the latest Apple Wireless Keyboard the small aluminium one. I have a Plantronics headset I connected but Mic volume is very low almost inaudible but im trying to find a resolution atm just to have skype in the sitting room. Again this was connected internally so there are no external usb key or devices to have hanging out of the box.


Power Consumption
To further add what prompted me to do this project was the fact I used a 250w PC to stream to the PS3 about another 120w = 370w total

Heres the surprising results:
This unit in standby e.g. sitting doing nothing in Vista consumes 40w
Decoding 1080p High Bitrate video was 60w!!

A saving of 300w! :cool:

The media centre and CPU stress testing
Ok Im a huge fan of XBMC (www.xbmc.org) this platform does not allow for GPU H.264 etc and so relies on CPU only for now.
Decoding high bitrate e.g. a MKV known as killa sampla.mkv which is used to benchmark is a piece of footage from Planet earth and approaches 40Mb/s
the CPU floated at about 60% for other 1080p about 45% for 720p about 30-35 all on CPU so there is plenty of headroom for future codec considering when H.265 is released they plan for it to require less oveheads.

Heres the pics.
Any questions shout!
Oh if you like the setup the price for all the parts was about €550 all in incl postage, exchange rates etc.

Youll see in some pics Ive drilled out the side of the case where the 2 fans are so they werent blowing against the steel drilled case now there very quiet (also after flashing the BIOS)
The blutooth sits at the front youll see that in pics.
I installed a northbridge cooler (blue) this had to be cut down to fit inside and was stuck on using akasa sticky thermal compound tape. - This lowered the chipset by almost 30 degrees :eek:

Also note the PicoPSU is a VERY VERY tight fit done be surprised if you go down this route is pushes the ram over but in itself does not get hot.

Hope it answered some questions or gave some ideas.

Best regards,
Nick.

thatoneitguy

Pretty sweet rig, been wanting to build something like that myself but don't really have the €€€ right now. I would have probably gone with Ubuntu since XBMC runs on that and its free and much more stable than Vista. Have you checked out Boxee? And the AEON skin for XBMC?

zt-OctaviaN

Briefly checked out Boxee sweet looking alright!

On the plus side you can now get a bootable image ISO to put on CD (no problem) or onto a USB (Couldnt get this working?)

SO you could forget about and OS and just boot from CD or USB! :cool:

Aeon is very nice there is a further mod to this skin called Horizons also you should take a look a the Medistream skin its really nicely put together!

That rig could be cut in the € but using the following alternatives:


http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140118


Ah this is the one I was looking at before!
http://www.apextechusa.com/products.asp?pID=179

Its the MI-100BK by Apex.

Pros:
It has an imbedded 250watt PSU.
It has a port incase a future mini-ITX mobo you wish to use has PCI-E x16.
Small with glossy black finish - looks nice!

And use a smaller 5400 Sata drive! or if you happend to have a spare 40Gb drive and pull data from a Network attached storage or wherever the media is!

also cut about 35 quid if you use 2Gb instead of 4!

Price the following from my rig:
CPU
2GB Ram
Intel DG45FC (or ID instead of FC - ID is the mATX Version)
5400 Sata laptop or 3.5 inch prolly fits in following case.
(Use overclockers.co.uk or Dabs.ie to price above)
Overclockers was €281 (w/4GB ram) so about 70 for the case and PSU included!

MI-100BK by Apex source this from wherever you can cheapest.
Id say it might be below 400?
As the PicoPSU adapter and PSU were about 80 euro - 30 from the SSD HDD - 30 from 2GB ram

Regards,
Nick.

zt-OctaviaN

Actually I notice you have an Apple TV you can put XBMC on that now aswell!!! :D

www.xbmc.org

Nick out!

bazwaldo

Theres a post your setup thread stickied. You should put the details in there.