Hi,

I intent on building an HTPC that could also be used for light gaming (mostly MMOs, Guild Wars 2, DOTA 2, and maybe Planetside 2). I have most of the components in mind. One question for me is if I could use a Pico PSU (http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-160-XT- ... -Power-Kit) for my rig or if I should use an ATX PSU. A list of components that I searched up on is as follows:

Case: Lian Li PC-Q15B with be quiet! Shadow Wings SW1 Mid Speed
PSU: Streacom ST-150WP picoPSU
Mainboard*: ASRock Z77E-ITX
CPU: Intel Core i3-3220T (35W TDP) with EKL S85 Slim Cooler
RAM: Kingston HyperX DIMM XMP Kit, 8GB
GPU**: Intel HD Graphics 2500 + Club 3D Radeon HD 7750 LP
SSD***: Crucial m4 SSD 256GB (mSATA)
Optical Drive: TEAC BD-C24SS-A

Now to my questions.

1) Could you give me your expertise on whether this system will work with the picoPSU providing 150W? I think the one piece of equipment that makes or breaks this system is the dedicated GPU with its 55W max power draw (may be a little higher, depending on who measures it).

2) The noise levels should be fairly low. Has anyone experience with the HIS 7750 iCooler and its noise levels?



Thanks in advance for the help, everyone.


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* Two reasons here. One, this mainboard has Lucidlogix Virtu which I know is viable from a friend who uses it. Two, it has an mSATA Slot for the system disk.
** The reason why I put it this way is due to Virtu.
*** Image, the test where I got it from is in German, but I can link it if someone would like it.

Nothing against your build, but I didn't read past the first line - what you will be using it for. Unless you use some heavy duty programs like PhotoShop, 3D Studio Max, or are regularly converting video you wont notice much difference between an i3 and an i7, but you did mention some games.

AMD are about to release their "FM2" "Trinity" CPU's with much better integrated graphics. As you mentioned "games" this would be a very good starting point as they beat anything by Intel whilst still having very good low power idle consumption. They will be producing 65W and 100W CPU's (including graphics) so a 150W PSU wont be a problem.

Feel free to wait for other peoples answers for your actual question.

There will be loads of reviews of the CPU component of the new "Trinity" CPU's when the NDA is dropped tomorrow (2nd). Below is a review for the GPU (graphics) component which kicks some arse.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6332/amd- ... iew-part-1

PS: Welcome to SPCR


Andy

I'll derail this a little further. You don't mention your gaming monitor resolution, but I'll assume 1080p since you are building a HTPC. I've been playing GW2 a bit. If you go i3, the faster the better. If you go i5, any of them are fine as the game makes use of 4 cores. Here's a benchmarked review at Tom's Hardware. Here's what I saw today when I was messing around. Figure my 3.2GHz e8400 is in the ballpark to the performance of the 2.8GHz i3-3220T and the same of my HD 5770 to the HD 7750. Definately playable, but I can't turn any of the eye-candy on.

The system is the maximum you can cram into the power envelope of the Pico PSU.
Xbitlabs tested i3s and the system power of a 3220(non T) was 88W with a GTX680 which idles at 15W, so about 75W for CPU and board.
HT4U tested the 7750 (fanless), maximum power draw is about 60W.
135W max and realistically 80% of that 100-110W in games.
Lian Li lists the maximum CPU cooler height as 100mm and this is with the PSU in place, no need for a (probably noisy) 1U cooler.
The Scythe Samurai ZZ is 94mm high and extends over the CPU only in one direction, which is good because in most ITX boards the CPU socket is very close to the PCIe slot.

All 7750 His icooler variants I could find are dual slot. They might fit in the case, but the cooler will be pressed against the side.

The System would fit perfectly into a Lian Li Q07. If you take out the hard drive cage (screwed in) there's room for a dual slot graphic card cooler. A fanless 7750 from Asus, Club 3D, Powercolor or Sapphire will fit.
With a Pico psu you can fit a very large cooler like the Thermalright HR-02 Macho (also ideal because extends only in one direction over cpu socket).
With a fanless graphic card and the HR-02's fan at a very low setting (perfectly sufficient) this system would be very quiet.