Near Silent HTPC media centre

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FatherSkye
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Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:12 am

Near Silent HTPC media centre

Post by FatherSkye » Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:21 am

[Mod: Deleted all of the non-relevant info to streamline post]

Looking to build a quiet, nearly silent HTPC to run Kodi on Ubuntu 14.04. Here is my list

SILVERSTONE MILO Series ML06B Steel Body Mini-ITX Media Center/ HTPC Computer Case with Aluminum Front Panel
Model #:ML06B
$69.99

Vantec Stealth 80mm Double Ball Bearing Silent Case Fan - Model SF8025L
Model #:SF8025L
$9.99

Intel Pentium G3220 Haswell Dual-Core 3.0GHz LGA 1150 54W Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646G3220
$64.99

CORSAIR Vengeance 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ4GX3M2A1600C9B
$49.99

Plextor M6S PX-128M6S 2.5" 128GB SATA 6Gb/s Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Model #:PX-128M6S
$89.99

ASUS H81T/CSM LGA 1150 Intel H81 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Thin Mini-ITX Intel Motherboard
Model #:H81T/CSM
$125.44
 
I will use a Laptop Power Supply as noted in the SilentPC Review of the Milo Case http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1369-page5.html such as BESTEK 90W 19V 4.74A

The CPU cooler is undecided as yet and I would appreciate suggestions. I had thought of the Noctua NH-L9i 95mm SSO2 CPU Cooler but it is expensive
I know if I shop around I can get most of these components cheaper

CA_Steve
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Re: Near Silent HTPC media centre

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Jan 25, 2015 1:45 pm

Welcome to SPCR.


A quick comment: Go for an H97 chipset mobo. Similar pricing, newer build and s/w, better DPC latency for audio than the '8x series. EG: Asus H97I-Plus.

FatherSkye
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:12 am

Re: Near Silent HTPC media centre

Post by FatherSkye » Sun Jan 25, 2015 3:37 pm

Thanks Steve,

I am hoping to build with a ITX thin MB so that I can use a laptop type power supply which would be fanless(cheaper and quieter). I wasn't able to find a H97 MB on New Egg of that type only a style called mini ITX (is that the same thing as thin ITX?)
Right now I have a laptop hooked up to my TV as my HTPC but it is showing signs of a faulty video card so I am considering building an HTPC. If I get several more months out of the Laptop I will hold off on the build and see if the new Skylake cpu is available. I understand it will be lower TDP and good graphics.

CA_Steve
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Re: Near Silent HTPC media centre

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Jan 25, 2015 6:11 pm

Got it.

Not to lead you further astray...ok. I'm going to lead you further astray. :)
Do you need the horsepower of the Pentium for specific HTPC tasks (making MKVs for example)? If all you wish to do is playback/stream/browse, Baytrail has enough horsepower.

I've been looking at the Zotac Nano C1320 as an example. That'll drop you into the 6-10W range. That specific model has one caveat - the version of BIOS wasn't downclocking the CPU, hence the 8W idle case when it should be lower.

FatherSkye
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Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:12 am

Re: Near Silent HTPC media centre

Post by FatherSkye » Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:18 pm

CA_Steve wrote:Got it.

Not to lead you further astray...ok. I'm going to lead you further astray. :)
Do you need the horsepower of the Pentium for specific HTPC tasks (making MKVs for example)? If all you wish to do is playback/stream/browse, Baytrail has enough horsepower.
Looks good but it would not have an optical drive option(I didn't include an optical drive in my parts list but could be added later as milo has a bay for a low profile drive). Also will Baytrail handle 4K displays. Plan to keep this HTPC for several years so I would like it to be fairly future proof. I doubt that I would be making MKVs or doing any video encoding).I guess I could pick up the Zotac for under 200 as a barebones add RAM and Ubuntu and have a quiet HTPC. I will give it some consideration.

CA_Steve
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Re: Near Silent HTPC media centre

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:50 pm

I don't think Baytrail supports 4k via HDMI or DP. Heck, 4k is funky with Haswell. I think it's limited to 30Hz via HDMI (60Hz with Displayport 1.2)....good luck finding a 4k TV that has DisplayPort. So, anything you build now will need to be updated when you do pop for a 4k TV.

Besides, you'll want to wait for some actually useful TV features to hit mainstream (10-12 bit depths, wider gamut, HDMI 2.0 - that actually supports 4k/60). First sets were shown at CES this month. Figure 2+ years before there's content supporting it as well as mainstream pricing.

FatherSkye
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Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:12 am

Re: Near Silent HTPC media centre

Post by FatherSkye » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:16 am

You are probably right and it may be futile trying to future proof the HTPC.

EDIT:Looks like Skylake chipsets will support 4K graphics over HDMI 2.0

boost
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Re: Near Silent HTPC media centre

Post by boost » Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:10 am

CA_Steve wrote:I don't think Baytrail supports 4k via HDMI or DP. Heck, 4k is funky with Haswell. I think it's limited to 30Hz via HDMI (60Hz with Displayport 1.2)....good luck finding a 4k TV that has DisplayPort. So, anything you build now will need to be updated when you do pop for a 4k TV.

Besides, you'll want to wait for some actually useful TV features to hit mainstream (10-12 bit depths, wider gamut, HDMI 2.0 - that actually supports 4k/60). First sets were shown at CES this month. Figure 2+ years before there's content supporting it as well as mainstream pricing.
My GTX 970 does 4K@60Hz over HDMI. I don't know where you get your information.
When TV with better feature sets come out (21:9, 60Hz 3D@ full res) I will upgrade my graphics card and TV again.

CA_Steve
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Re: Near Silent HTPC media centre

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:14 pm

boost wrote:My GTX 970 does 4K@60Hz over HDMI. I don't know where you get your information.
When TV with better feature sets come out (21:9, 60Hz 3D@ full res) I will upgrade my graphics card and TV again.
Um, that's a discrete card that has HDMI 2.0 support. How, in any way is this relevant to a discussion regarding the integrated gfx in Baytrail?

boost
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Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:29 am
Location: de_DE

Re: Near Silent HTPC media centre

Post by boost » Tue Jan 27, 2015 9:46 pm

I mixed up Haswell and Maxwell. Too many code names after a long day.

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