Hi all, Building a simple system (no gaming) with the following components and want to make sure all the bits fit. Asus P8H61-M H61 Micro Atx Intel Celeron G530 Sandy Bridge 2.4GHz Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 Looking for a simple, low profile case and SilverStone Milo seems to fit the bill. With this c...

Hi all, Looking to build a basic (no gaming), low power HTPC capable of playing Blu ray/HULU. When I last researched this, the i3-2100T was the logical choice, the Atom CPU's at the time barely having enough horse power and virtually the same power. I'll run 4 PCIe (2 cards) tuners max. For MB, I wa...

Hi all, I bought a Microsoft Entertainment 7000 keyboard many years ago and it's nothing but frustration. I have looked off and on for an HTPC keyboard and recently a couple of devices look promising. Just wondering if any of you have these or any others. My keyboard use tends to be infrequent typin...

But the questions is, is it just luck in terms of selecting the correct fan(that stops at 5V and restarts at ~7V) or is the voltage actually going to 0V. You could say that it doesn't matter but if you want to build a system that has this capability it would be nice to know beforehand otherwise you ...

Hi all, Given the availability of very low power platforms, I thought it would be desirable in some cases to allow fans to totally stop if power levels were low enough. On some systems, when running apps that use graphics acceleration (and assuming no encryption) the CPU utilization can be around 5%...

And just to clarify, is your definition of idle with the display on (desktop)? I edited my previous post to add - On my current system (9400) I only detect about 3W difference in the GPU/system when I go from the Win 7 desktop to media center (video playing or not). And good point on the Atom 330. Y...

Thanks all, great info! Ilovejedd, at first I didn't believe your idle #'s (any video display using GPU accel will be close to idle in my experience) until you elaborated on the HDD selection etc. That's not far off from a Atom 330 system as described here - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboar...

Zotac has the least expensive GF9300 Mini-ITX boards, I think. Previously, most Mini-ITX boards cater to the industrial sector. It seems like that trend is only changing now with the popularity of the Atom. I don't think there's a DFI GeForce 9300 LGA-775 board. They have the P55 LGA-1156, but I th...

Sorry screwed post up - should have said... Mini-ITX LGA-775 + NVidia graphics (ie. ION) + PCIe x1 (tuner) I was going to build an Atom 330 system but the person I'm building this for may want Hulu or netflix so I need a little more CPU. I'll probably use an E5300 to get lowest power consumption pos...

Is the Zotac the only Mini-ITX LGA775 out there?

I thought I saw reports of a DFI but can't find it.

The Zotac seems to have some issues, although it looks like the USB wake issue was resolved seems like Zotac has BIOS issues etc.

Hi all, I have built a few HTPC's using both Vista and now Win 7 and it seems like Win7 has a lot more margin in terms of HW requirements - I never get any video dropouts when watching cable, even when the OS is doing something in the background. With Vista + TVPack, I had to keep my system running ...

Thanks,

I thought this case had a power supply, especially at that price, but I couldn't find mention of it anywhere.

Thanks Trandy, Since you have built with this case I was wondering if the following PS is a good choice, or if it really matters - SeaSonic S12 II SS-380GB 380W ATX12V http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151032 I'm using onboard video and a 45nm dual core Intel CPU. Also, initia...

Ok,

Just saw an article on Anandtech where one commenter said the Mini-Ninja is a no-brainer. Don't need a fan on the CPU HS since the 120mm fan is right next to the HS.

Hi, Building a simple HTPC for a bedroom. Using Integrated video only. I read the review here where the Zalman 7700 HSF is used. Another reviewer recommends the Scythe SHURIKEN SCSK-1000 which has a removeable 100mm fan but I'm not sure if there are any low noise 100mm fans (none in the review on th...

Did a little more research and I think the XIGMATEK HDT-SD964 is a bettr choice - it has less depth than the Ninja Mini and therefore will allow a push mounted fan whereas a pull only config may be necessary on the ninja due to interference.

The LC16 is listed as having a height of 170mm so I assume a 120mm fan based side blow heatsink is out of the question. This case is very similar to the Silverstone cases reviewed on this site with 2 80mm rear exhaust fans so a side blow HSF would be best IMO. Is the Ninja Mini the logical choice? T...

Thanks guys,

Excellent responses! I actually looked for some other HTPC forums without success, as I was a little reluctant to post this question here being thatsilentpcreview is geared more towards low noise issues but obviously we have a lot of expertise here.

Hi, With the upcoming demise of analog TV transmission, I wondered why there were no digital only (i.e. ATSC/QAM) tuners. Well it turns out there are but amazingly they will only work if there is also an analog NTSC tuner in the system (not positive about this requirement under Vista). It appears th...

Thanks, I just started looking at cases and yes I see no reason to restrict myself to a small one. What I was wondering is - assuming the case has vents on the top cover over the processor then I might have the option of using a HSF with top mounted fan vs. one with a side mounted fan. The advantage...

Hi, I just finished a desktop build (not a HTPC, just practicing) and it's upstairs where the ambient temp can reach 80 deg so I built in a lot of extra cooling capacity. I used Panaflo Rexus fans which are high rpm fans. My reasoning was that I could control these fans automatically and have plenty...