New Media Center build

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Rob_J
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:37 pm

New Media Center build

Post by Rob_J » Sun Jan 19, 2014 8:05 pm

Hi Everyone,

I'm replacing a 6 yr old HTPC media cener that has finally died, that I did not take any steps to ensure it ran relatively quiet last time, and was not happy with the noise, and had to turn it off when not in use due to the fans. This time I want to make it quiet as possible, and put some HDD redundancy in this time so I do not corrupt endless hours of burning my DVD/BR collection to disk again.... (I lost one of the hard drives in the old system, and now have to rip approximately 150 movies to disk again.) %^#@^%

Goals in order
  • Effortlessly play high quality HD audio / video
    Silent when sitting in the room doing nothing
    Ton of storage with redundancy for media / files
    Quiet when in use
    Play games OK
As it will be a few feet away from everyone in the living room, 100% silent is not required, but I really want it whisper quiet in idle so it cannot be heard when it’s not in use. Very quiet running the OS / Apps on the SSD. Noise reduced as much as possible watching movies or playing games, but it will have to compete with the speakers, so some noise will can be noticed.
Please provide feedback / suggestions on the below list to improve the system.
Last edited by Rob_J on Mon Jan 20, 2014 10:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: New Media Cener build

Post by Abula » Mon Jan 20, 2014 5:03 pm

Welcome to SPCR, please answer the following so we can give you better advise,

1) Does size matter to you, are you looking for a mini ITX build or standard ATX case is fine?
2) How many hdd do you plan on having on this setup?
3) Whats your budget?
4) What type of games and what resolution do you plan on playing them?
5) Do you need an optical drive or willing to accepts an external USB optical, etc.
6) What software will you use for reproduction of your media, any special codecs/filters?
7) Whats the usual ambient temperature of the room the HTPC will be at?

CA_Steve
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Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: New Media Cener build

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Jan 20, 2014 10:11 pm

8) Are you shoving it into a closed cabinet or will it have plenty of space/access to air?

Rob_J
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:37 pm

Re: New Media Cener build

Post by Rob_J » Mon Jan 20, 2014 10:33 pm

Sorry for the delay in posting the list, seems new users have to wait for a review of the post first, so I was unable to post the components right away.

Case
Fractal Design Define Mini Tower Case Black ( USB3.0 / Fits Micro ATX & Mini ITX)
Model: CASE-FDMINB

Extra Case Fan
SCYTHE 120mm SlipStream 1200RPM Fan
Model: SC-SY1225SL12M

PS
Seasonic 660W 80Plus Platinum Series Power Supply PSU
Model: PSUSEAP660V2NEW

MB
ASUS MAXIMUS-VI-GENE /Z87/4 x DDR3/2 x PCI-E/8 x SATA3/1 x NGFF/
Model: MAXIMUS-VI-GENE

CPU
INTEL CPU I7-4770,3.40GHZ,4CORES,8MB CACHE,LGA1150,95W BX80646I74770
Model: BX80646I74770

CPU Cooler
Arctic Cooling, Freezer 13 CO for Intel Socket 1156/1155/1366/775, FM1,AM3/AM2+/AM2, up to 200w
Model: AC-FRZER-13-C

GPU
Asus GF GTX660 DirectCU II OC Edition PCI-E 3.0, 2GB ENGTX660-DC
Model: ENGTX660-DC2O-2GD5

Memory
Corsair 16GB DDR3, 2400MHz 4x240 Dimm, Unbuffered, 10-12-12-31, Vengeance Black Heatspreader,support
Model: CMZ16GX3M4A2400C10

SSD
Crucial M500 240GB, SATA III 6Gb/s mSATA SSD, Sustained Speed 500/250MB/s
Model: CT240M500SSD3

HDD
WESTERN DIGITAL WD30EZRX 3TB 64MB IntelliPower SATA3 GREEN
Model: HDDWDDT3064B (QTY of 5 in a raid 5)

WiFi
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200 Mini PCI Express Wireless 802.11n, 300 Mbps, 2x2 Multi Stream, 2.4GHz
Model: 2230BN-HMWWB

Rob_J
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:37 pm

Re: New Media Cener build

Post by Rob_J » Mon Jan 20, 2014 10:38 pm

1) Does size matter to you, are you looking for a mini ITX build or standard ATX case is fine?
2) How many hdd do you plan on having on this setup?
3) Whats your budget?
4) What type of games and what resolution do you plan on playing them?
5) Do you need an optical drive or willing to accepts an external USB optical, etc.
6) What software will you use for reproduction of your media, any special codecs/filters?
7) Whats the usual ambient temperature of the room the HTPC will be at?

1) Yes somewhat small, exact opposite of what the wife wants ;-)
2) 1 SSD, 5 3TB Drives in raid 5
3) 3-4 k AUD
4) Decent, mostly for the kids
5) Yes Blue Ray, no everything in one box
6) DVDFab, XMBC
7) Warm

Rob_J
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:37 pm

Re: New Media Center build

Post by Rob_J » Wed Jan 22, 2014 9:01 pm

So does the build above look OK? From my limited knowledge of quiet PC's and lots of working on servers when I was hands on IT years ago, the only thing that really worries me is running a raid with 5 drives, but im hoping its not as bad as a enterprise server raid, or SAN. But I do not want to buy 12TB of backup drives, and want some redundancy this time for media and files, and can't think of another way other then building a 2nd PC for file /media serving, giving up the gaming PC and just go with PS3/4 for the games, and a mac mini for the HTPC. Which just seems to be more and more stuff. If I can get everything in one box that will behave well in the living room I would much prefer that.

xan_user
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Location: Northern California.

Re: New Media Center build

Post by xan_user » Wed Jan 22, 2014 9:34 pm

an i7 with 16 GB ram for HTPC? :shock: complete overkill.

I would go lower power, (i3 w/ 8GB) and spend the money saved on a backup NAS.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: New Media Cener build

Post by Abula » Wed Jan 22, 2014 9:42 pm

Rob_J wrote:Case
Fractal Design Define Mini Tower Case Black ( USB3.0 / Fits Micro ATX & Mini ITX)
Model: CASE-FDMINB
I like the case, specially since you are going with 5 hdds, shoudl fit very nice on it.
Rob_J wrote:Extra Case Fan
SCYTHE 120mm SlipStream 1200RPM Fan
Model: SC-SY1225SL12M
I like the choice, Nexus Basic is also a good one for cheap good fan (and will match the black n white theme of the Fractal case), try to control them with CHA_FAN headers on the motherboard with Asus FanXpert2 (so witht he included case fans), should drop them very low.
Rob_J wrote:PS
Seasonic 660W 80Plus Platinum Series Power Supply PSU
Model: PSUSEAP660V2NEW
To me seasonic is still the best PSU, but be warned that some users have reported whinning and coil noises on their platinium series, this is not something exclusive of seasonic, and i own two and been perfect, but for some has not been, so its a gamble, but so are any other PSU in the market. Corsair is marketing their new RM series as being noise free... but i also read some comments about coil as well, so idk really its a matter of luck or hardware that plays right. But for me i still bet on seasonic.
Rob_J wrote:MB
ASUS MAXIMUS-VI-GENE /Z87/4 x DDR3/2 x PCI-E/8 x SATA3/1 x NGFF/
Model: MAXIMUS-VI-GENE
Since you are not chosing an overlcocking CPU, i think you should look into a cheaper motherboard, if you like asus, there are some options there (like 5 from what i checked) like ASUS H87M-PRO LGA 1150 Intel H87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 uATX Intel Motherboard. Personally i had issues with my Asus Maximus VI Gene, related to the sound card (made like trumpet noise where you shut it down, also had some extra tick when clicking icons) all this were not fixed with drivers, and i tested a lot even betas, i also went through 3 bios and no fix, but it works great on HDMI like i have it atm, so its something with realtek 1150 and asus implementation, this issue was not present on all, but i was not the only one.
Rob_J wrote:CPU
INTEL CPU I7-4770,3.40GHZ,4CORES,8MB CACHE,LGA1150,95W BX80646I74770
Model: BX80646I74770
Very capable CPU, as good as it gets without entering the E series, but the hyperthreaded Haswell CPUs do run very hot, so check the software you will use, and if doesnt take advantage of the hyperthreading go with the i5-4670, it should cooler and you will save $100.
Rob_J wrote:CPU Cooler
Arctic Cooling, Freezer 13 CO for Intel Socket 1156/1155/1366/775, FM1,AM3/AM2+/AM2, up to 200w
Model: AC-FRZER-13-C
This is a slot that im going to recommend you spend more, specially if you are going with haswell i7. Scythe Mugen 4 is a very viable option, CA_Steve has it running with i5 4670K and he doesnt even reach 70C on load, really good cooler for the money. If you were willing to spend more i would go with Noctua NH-U14S, bigger and the fan can drop even lower, so on idle should en up very quiet and has a good range of operation that should be able to handle the quad very good (crosscheck it fits as the mini is less wide than the R4 so might not). Again here is a slot that its really worth to spend extra not only for more quiet but cooler running, haswell shouldn't be taken lightly its a very hot running cpu.
Rob_J wrote:GPU
Asus GF GTX660 DirectCU II OC Edition PCI-E 3.0, 2GB ENGTX660-DC
Model: ENGTX660-DC2O-2GD5
If you can go with MSI Gaming GTX760 Twin Frozr, its been reviewed as one of the quietest (but not by spcr, but overall there are good comments from forum memebers as well), Asus is fine choice as well if you are into the brand.
Rob_J wrote:Memory
Corsair 16GB DDR3, 2400MHz 4x240 Dimm, Unbuffered, 10-12-12-31, Vengeance Black Heatspreader,support
Model: CMZ16GX3M4A2400C10
Drop the tall heatsinks, there is no need, go with standard height, if you like corsair thats fine, they offer what they call low profile (that in reallity is standard size), that should work fine with any cooler you end up chosing.
Rob_J wrote:SSD
Crucial M500 240GB, SATA III 6Gb/s mSATA SSD, Sustained Speed 500/250MB/s
Model: CT240M500SSD3
Crucial is a fine manufacturer, but also consider Samsung 840 Evo, really imo is the top pick in that price point.
Rob_J wrote:HDD
WESTERN DIGITAL WD30EZRX 3TB 64MB IntelliPower SATA3 GREEN
Model: HDDWDDT3064B (QTY of 5 in a raid 5)
Great choice, nothing to say.
Rob_J wrote:WiFi
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200 Mini PCI Express Wireless 802.11n, 300 Mbps, 2x2 Multi Stream, 2.4GHz
Model: 2230BN-HMWWB
I like more intel 6300/633, i believe there is a AC newer version, but im not familiar with it, but i would also go with intel so when you add the lan will also add the wifi drivers all controlled by intel, so it should pretty good.

Rob_J
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:37 pm

Re: New Media Center build

Post by Rob_J » Thu Jan 23, 2014 5:15 pm

Thank you, that helps.

I'll upgrade the cooler, and not too fussed about the memory form factor or vendor so will change to low profile. I only picked the gaming motherboard due to it was the first one I could find in mATX with 8 x sata connectors, 3 fan pins, and the optic audio out for my receiver. I have no plans to ever overclock, so if there is something out there with lots of sata connections, good integrated sound in mATX happy to change. I only picked a i7 for games and future prof the box a bit, I want to build it once and not worry about it till I need to refresh it with a new one. If a i5 will run cooler and extend the life of the box a bit sounds like a good idea. If a bigger GPU for the 760 is still nice and quiet, happy to upgrade. I may even cahnge the MB to MSI if the GPU goes MSI, I know its a bit anal, but I like most the components to be from the same vendor where possible.

Software will be very low demanding apps other then games
XBMC
DVDFab
Games
MSOffice

Not sure about windows 8 or 7 yet either...my laptop is windows 7 and I like it, my son's laptop is windows 8 and it just feels wrong, But I'm sure that's just old age, laziness, and not wanting to learn the new interface ;-)

Great site you guys have here, keep up the good work.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: New Media Center build

Post by Abula » Fri Jan 24, 2014 2:30 pm

Rob_J wrote:I'll upgrade the cooler, and not too fussed about the memory form factor or vendor so will change to low profile. I only picked the gaming motherboard due to it was the first one I could find in mATX with 8 x sata connectors, 3 fan pins, and the optic audio out for my receiver. I have no plans to ever overclock, so if there is something out there with lots of sata connections, good integrated sound in mATX happy to change. I only picked a i7 for games and future prof the box a bit, I want to build it once and not worry about it till I need to refresh it with a new one. If a i5 will run cooler and extend the life of the box a bit sounds like a good idea. If a bigger GPU for the 760 is still nice and quiet, happy to upgrade. I may even cahnge the MB to MSI if the GPU goes MSI, I know its a bit anal, but I like most the components to be from the same vendor where possible.
If you already own the Asus mobo and GPU, there is no reason to look elsewhere, its good hardware, specially if you are keen to them, they can work out fine. The gains from 660 to 760 are marginal, i wouldnt call it a worth update, so if you own all what you posted i woudlnt change it, the only thing i would is the CPU cooler, not that artic is bad, just that i seen so many i7 4770 going into very high temps that imo a more capable cooler imo is a good investment on haswell.
Rob_J wrote:Not sure about windows 8 or 7 yet either...my laptop is windows 7 and I like it, my son's laptop is windows 8 and it just feels wrong, But I'm sure that's just old age, laziness, and not wanting to learn the new interface ;-)
For me its all about 7, tried win 8 for a month and didnt like it, its not bad, just not for me. Its up to you, this is more a matter of preference.

Rob_J
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:37 pm

Re: New Media Center build

Post by Rob_J » Fri Jan 24, 2014 4:49 pm

Nothing purchased yet, would a socket 1155 or 2011 be better? I just avoided them because the mATX motherboards were much more expensive that had the amount of sata connections I wanted.

And thanks again.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: New Media Center build

Post by Abula » Fri Jan 24, 2014 5:03 pm

Rob_J wrote:Nothing purchased yet, would a socket 1155 or 2011 be better? I just avoided them because the mATX motherboards were much more expensive that had the amount of sata connections I wanted.

And thanks again.
LGA 2011 is the higher end for intel, where the six cores and quad memory, more 16x pci e lanes, etc. But its much more expensive, both motherboards and CPUs, weather its worth it only you can decide, but for what you posted, i think its an overkill.

LGA1155 is Ivy bridge, the predecessor to haswell LGA1150 (confusing somewhat with the numbers going down but thats intel), both CPU use crap paste below the copper cover, so expect high temps on both, but Haswell runs a little hotter still.

Rob_J
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:37 pm

Re: New Media Center build

Post by Rob_J » Fri Jan 24, 2014 5:08 pm

Cool, just some minor changes then.

Thanks

alpha
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:31 pm

Re: New Media Center build

Post by alpha » Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:37 pm

I bought an Asus Maximus VI Gene motherboard and the Crucial CT240M500SSD3 MSata SSD drive; and found the MSata SSD wouldn't fit (too long). Too late to return it...

Any suggestions what to do with the MSata drive? Perhaps an adapter to convert it into a 240GB thumb drive?

CA_Steve
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Re: New Media Center build

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:01 am

There are adapter cards.

alpha
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Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:31 pm

Re: New Media Center build

Post by alpha » Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:21 am

I ordered a Syba mSATA SSD to 2.5-Inch SATA Adapter (SY-ADA40050) from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007PPZ2I8/ref ... TE_3p_dp_1

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