Cheap HTPC project

Info & chat about quiet prebuilt, small form factor and barebones systems, people's experiences with vendors thereof, etc.

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elus1ve
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2011 9:31 am

Cheap HTPC project

Post by elus1ve » Sun Oct 23, 2011 10:07 am

Hi,
Just thought of sharing this HTPC project I did on the cheap. Hopefully it will be useful to other ppl out there.
Used up an old mobo with a athlon 64 x2 2.2 Ghz, with 4gb of ram, + old HD.
Then I bought the following:

- Xion XON-810P Micro Case with included power supply and case fan - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=3428
- Lite-On Blu-Ray drive - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... No=4639106
- Hauppauge tv tuner - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... No=4146196
- Silenx fan to replace the Xion power supply fan - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... No=5472115
- Sapphire HD 6570 low profile with HDMI out.

The Xion case is a great for the price, but the power supply fan is just unbearable. Get the silenx fan together with the case, you will want to change the fan and it is better to change it before you mount everything else. It is a pain to get to the fan.
The included case fan is actually not so bad, but it can be heard. I used the 12v-7v trick to silence it out. CPU fan speed is controlled by the mb. At idle, it is silent. The GPU fan is silent.
The noisiest component is actually the HD, which I am going to replace with a laptop HD soon. Laptop HD is actually better because the space is so tight and the HD really heat up (53 deg cel) at idle... up to 60 deg cel after some use. Other than the HD, the rest seems to be running at a decent temp (39-60 deg cel) for the CPU and GPU. I might add a secondary case fan close to the GPU as it is a bit tight and there little air circulation.

This is my first HTPC and I have to say I love it. It plays Blu-ray beautifully with DTS sound (with optical out or HDMI if you have a HDMI pass-thru sound system). I use Windows Media Center to watch TV and record channels. Media Browser Plug-in for my ripped movies. The TV Tuner even comes with a remote control that works great in WMC. I modded the IR receiver to place it inside the case - removed the reset button and placed the IR receiver in that spot. So one less cable outside of the case. This mod is not in the pics. The case is meant to be vertical, but I bought some rubber pad and use the case horizontally.
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elus1ve
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2011 9:31 am

Re: Cheap HTPC project

Post by elus1ve » Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:04 pm

more ppics
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elus1ve
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2011 9:31 am

Re: Cheap HTPC project

Post by elus1ve » Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:06 pm

pics
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elus1ve
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2011 9:31 am

Re: Cheap HTPC project

Post by elus1ve » Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:07 pm

Finished product
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