YoGi-Sama
Skilled
I had an Atom based NAS for a while now, and while it was good for storage and downloading, the primary usage for that system was backing up my work. Unfortunately, over the period, my media took more space in it. As my media increased, Atom started showing it's limits while streaming/live encoding my media. After I got 40" LCD TV the need for HTPC like setup started crop up.
Finally, I decided to make the jump and build myself one those HTPC thingies. Let the pics tell the story...
As always, click on the pics for larger versions.
The innards...
Core i3 530 processor with on-die Intel HD graphics... for it's amazing performance-per-watt and power saving features.
Gigabyte H55M-S2H... not much options available in boards, but this one is good enough with DVi/HDMI and energy saving features.
G.Skill 2GB DDR3 Ram 1066MHz... decently fast and VFM option.
Seagate 2TB HDD x 2... 4TB of storage for all my media needs.
Corsair CX400... to power them all.
Toughest part was getting the right case. I had set my eyes on Silverstone Sugo SG02B, but unfortunately it wasn't available. Didn't like the other options that I saw (Zebronics Cube, what a piece of crap). Thankfully our resident dealer PhOeNiX came to rescue with Lian Li HTPC case. It wasn't as cheap as Sugo, neither it's as compact... but it is mindblowingly beautiful and well built. Well worth the money.
Here it is... Lian Li PC-V351
The brushed aluminum finish is so damn cool, you have to see it to believe it. The construction of the case is top notch, every damn thing in this, even the screws scream of quality and attention to details.
Another angle of the case, the optical drives sit sideways (either way). Right side has 3.5" converter bay, where you can mount your floppy drives (lol) or internal card reader etc. Below the ODD bays you can find ports for FireWire, 2 x USB 2.0, Headphone and Mic jacks.
The back breaks the black continuity with some high quality metal finish of Motherboard tray and HDD cage fan. On top-left sits the PSU.
Oh yeah... the mobo tray slides out. Given the small (not really, but yes) size of the case, working inside any HTPC case is big PIA. So the removable motherboard tray takes out most of the worries of installing stuff out of the way. While the overall construction of the case very polished and a-grade, I did come across slightly sharp edges on PSU window the mobo-tray window. Nothing deal-breaking or alarming, but it does have potential to harm you if you're highly careless.
(I was so excited that I already installed the motherboard before realizing that I had to take snaps)
Motherboard installation is a child's play thanks to removable motherboard tray. I moved my Xonar DX in this system as it wasn't much of use to me and frankly, I was disappointed with it thanks to it's lack of some convenient features that even the lowest grade onboard sound has. The sound quality is awesome, but the software lost me. So I thought it would be better used in my HTPC as I won't be fiddling with it's software as much as I did on my PC.
Inside Lian Li... at top, the HDD cage with easy to use slide-in slots. It comes with small rubber grommets, which you can screw with your HDD and just slide in and lock. both HDD cage and ODD bays have good cutouts for routing the wires. Below the ODD bay are two large 120mm fans, another fan (80mm) can be found on HDD cage window on the back of the case.
Front dual 120 fans can be seen properly here, along with front-panel connector cables.
The part that I love the most in this case?
The beautiful blue power button...
Since my router has ran out of ports, decided to get WiFi-N adapter for this. I couldn't find any good internal adapter so I opted for Belkin N (300) USB adapter.
-----------
I installed Windows7 and XBMC on this.... here are some screens...
Music
Pictures
Movies
TV Shows
Videos
Now the only thing remaining is, IR receiver so I can use my universal remote to control XBMC and clearing up the wire mess. Can anyone advice me which IR receiver is good, tried and tested by XBMC users here?
-----------
The damages...
Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz + Gigabye H55M-S2H : 10,500 /-
G.Skill 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 RAM : 3000 /-
Seagate SATA 2TB Hard Drive ST32000542AS x 2 : 12900 /-
Corsair CX400W CMPSU-400CX : 2700 /-
Lian Li PC-V351 : 7200 /-
Belkin N USB adapter : 2630 /-
Overall : 38930 /-
Hopefully, I will clear up the wire mess soon and get my woofer back (gone dead, getting repaired at Logitech service center) so I can take good photos for whole setup.
Finally, I decided to make the jump and build myself one those HTPC thingies. Let the pics tell the story...
As always, click on the pics for larger versions.
The innards...
Core i3 530 processor with on-die Intel HD graphics... for it's amazing performance-per-watt and power saving features.
Gigabyte H55M-S2H... not much options available in boards, but this one is good enough with DVi/HDMI and energy saving features.
G.Skill 2GB DDR3 Ram 1066MHz... decently fast and VFM option.
Seagate 2TB HDD x 2... 4TB of storage for all my media needs.
Corsair CX400... to power them all.
Toughest part was getting the right case. I had set my eyes on Silverstone Sugo SG02B, but unfortunately it wasn't available. Didn't like the other options that I saw (Zebronics Cube, what a piece of crap). Thankfully our resident dealer PhOeNiX came to rescue with Lian Li HTPC case. It wasn't as cheap as Sugo, neither it's as compact... but it is mindblowingly beautiful and well built. Well worth the money.
Here it is... Lian Li PC-V351
The brushed aluminum finish is so damn cool, you have to see it to believe it. The construction of the case is top notch, every damn thing in this, even the screws scream of quality and attention to details.
Another angle of the case, the optical drives sit sideways (either way). Right side has 3.5" converter bay, where you can mount your floppy drives (lol) or internal card reader etc. Below the ODD bays you can find ports for FireWire, 2 x USB 2.0, Headphone and Mic jacks.
The back breaks the black continuity with some high quality metal finish of Motherboard tray and HDD cage fan. On top-left sits the PSU.
Oh yeah... the mobo tray slides out. Given the small (not really, but yes) size of the case, working inside any HTPC case is big PIA. So the removable motherboard tray takes out most of the worries of installing stuff out of the way. While the overall construction of the case very polished and a-grade, I did come across slightly sharp edges on PSU window the mobo-tray window. Nothing deal-breaking or alarming, but it does have potential to harm you if you're highly careless.
(I was so excited that I already installed the motherboard before realizing that I had to take snaps)
Motherboard installation is a child's play thanks to removable motherboard tray. I moved my Xonar DX in this system as it wasn't much of use to me and frankly, I was disappointed with it thanks to it's lack of some convenient features that even the lowest grade onboard sound has. The sound quality is awesome, but the software lost me. So I thought it would be better used in my HTPC as I won't be fiddling with it's software as much as I did on my PC.
Inside Lian Li... at top, the HDD cage with easy to use slide-in slots. It comes with small rubber grommets, which you can screw with your HDD and just slide in and lock. both HDD cage and ODD bays have good cutouts for routing the wires. Below the ODD bay are two large 120mm fans, another fan (80mm) can be found on HDD cage window on the back of the case.
Front dual 120 fans can be seen properly here, along with front-panel connector cables.
The part that I love the most in this case?
The beautiful blue power button...
Since my router has ran out of ports, decided to get WiFi-N adapter for this. I couldn't find any good internal adapter so I opted for Belkin N (300) USB adapter.
-----------
I installed Windows7 and XBMC on this.... here are some screens...
Music
Pictures
Movies
TV Shows
Videos
Now the only thing remaining is, IR receiver so I can use my universal remote to control XBMC and clearing up the wire mess. Can anyone advice me which IR receiver is good, tried and tested by XBMC users here?
-----------
The damages...
Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz + Gigabye H55M-S2H : 10,500 /-
G.Skill 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 RAM : 3000 /-
Seagate SATA 2TB Hard Drive ST32000542AS x 2 : 12900 /-
Corsair CX400W CMPSU-400CX : 2700 /-
Lian Li PC-V351 : 7200 /-
Belkin N USB adapter : 2630 /-
Overall : 38930 /-
Hopefully, I will clear up the wire mess soon and get my woofer back (gone dead, getting repaired at Logitech service center) so I can take good photos for whole setup.