3220T, mini-ITX in an EZ65
Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:52 pm
Hi,
I want to replace my current PC with a little box I already have. I would upgrade the internals. The purpose is to use it as a media server (XBMCBuntu) and some light computing tasks (a few documents + surfing). The screen will be a Dell U2711 at 2560x1440, which I need to keep in mind. Here's the hardware I'm thinking of:
Questions I have around this setup:
Thanks for all your thoughts,
Peter.
I want to replace my current PC with a little box I already have. I would upgrade the internals. The purpose is to use it as a media server (XBMCBuntu) and some light computing tasks (a few documents + surfing). The screen will be a Dell U2711 at 2560x1440, which I need to keep in mind. Here's the hardware I'm thinking of:
- Case: reusing an AOpen EZ65. This is an old SFF that I've already upgraded with an Intel Atom330 board which is slow and doesn't take a lot of memory. So I'd kick everything out except the PSU, which is a custom AOpen model that is either 220W or 275W (I can't find that on the Internet right now and the case isn't here). Clearance from the motherboard up is about 7cm up to the PSU. The PSU sticks out only 6,5cm from the back of the case.
- Intel DH67CFB3
- Intel i3-3220T
- Scythe Shuriken 2 Rev.B cooler, though I would like to let it blow upward to get the warm air out via the PSU
- 2x4GB sticks (something just-above-rock-bottom-cheap like Corsair Value)
- Samsung 830 128GB
- ElCheapo (Samsung, NEC, whatever) SATA DVD writer because I currently only have an IDE one.
- I would reuse a Samsung EcoGreen 1.5TB SATA-II drive for storage.
Questions I have around this setup:
- Any thoughts about reusing an old SFF case like the EZ65 ? How about the power supply ? Can I make the Shuriken blow upward to evacuate the warm air via the PSU ?
- I want it to fly when I use it. I'm expecting the SSD will take care of this. My current setup used to be a Raptor 150GB + an old Opteron dual core + 2GB, so it should be way faster than that. Correct ? I can look at upgrading to 16GB but I don't expect it would make a difference.
- I want perfect quality at 1080p. I expect the 3220T to be capable of this, even with subtitles etc, at 2560x1440 res. Correct ? If not, how does the Dell U2711 image look if I send a 1920x1080 image to it ? (my digital TV set-top box will have to do this anyway )
- I've read about passively cooling the 3220T. Is this feasible in this setup ? Does XBMC support the 3220T's hardware acceleration for HD playback ? If yes, I don't expect to ever really use the processor itself (maybe for some very infrequent photoshopping or audio transcoding).
Thanks for all your thoughts,
Peter.