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Just ordered a mITX low-power HTPC setup

H

halcyon419

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Dec 16, 2012
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I shopped around a ton and read a bunch of long reviews and ended up ordering a system based on the NM70/Celeron 847.

Provantage had some good prices, here's what I got:

MSI C847IS-P33 Intel Sandy Bridge Celeron 847/NM70 Motherboard.
+ 2 x 4GB DDR3-1600.
black InWin BM639 MiniITX case w/ 160w PSU.

Gonna use 1 of 2 drives I already own, either a WD Raptor 74GB 10k rpm or a Toshiba 128GB SSD. It's mainly gonna be a Plex media center client and run internet apps on the TV in the den + have a magicjack plugged into it.

It's definitely the least I have ever paid for a computer lol. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it runs considering the crazy low power consumption. Anyone else have a NM70 board?
 
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You may want to ask about the Biostar version. Several times in the past few months (most recently earlier this month) it has been available with "free" 8GB RAM kit. Not bad for $90, considering cheapest 8GB RAM these days is around $55. I'd imagine there are more of these Biostar boards out there than the MSI, but they should be really similar.

Are you at all concerned with noise? Besides the Raptor, the PSU in that case is probably not very quiet. I don't have that exact same PSU, but I have another In Win ITX case with similar PSU that is a noisy little $!%@#%!#.
 
I did spend about $20 less on the MSI board. RAM didn't cost me anything. Guess I could have posted prices. That's a sweet deal for the Biostar w/ the RAM, I might have to build another one!

I was a little concerned about the tiny PSU fan too, unfortunately this was the smallest case/psu I could find for under $50 that wasn't a POS.
If it's that loud I'm sure there is something I can do to make the PSU fan less noisy (e.g. replace it with another, quieter fan or remove it completely since the hardware only uses about 35W under max conditions anyway and the power supply might not heat up much at all)
 
halcyon419 said:
I was a little concerned about the tiny PSU fan too, unfortunately this was the smallest case/psu I could find for under $50 that wasn't a POS.
If it's that loud I'm sure there is something I can do to make the PSU fan less noisy (e.g. replace it with another, quieter fan or remove it completely since the hardware only uses about 35W under max conditions anyway and the power supply might not heat up much at all)
Click to expand...

If you aren't worried much about it, then maybe just remove the fan and even the cover from the PSU. Otherwise, I hear Pico PSU calling you. :cool:
 
I may use a fan speed controller or something, or perhaps there is a quieter option in that fan size, haven't had much chance to look around yet. But yeaaaaahhh those pico psu's are neat, great concept. Found this for $10:

http://www.e-itx.com/epia-px-ga-60w-dc.html

I already have plenty of SMPS power bricks, so really just need the pico pcb.
 
$10 seems a very good value. If you got the room for the little PCB and since you already have spare bricks, would be a good replacement for the stock In Win unit if it turns out loud.

For anyone else following this thread and who may be interested in something similar, the Newegg free RAM deal is back as of today, but I don't know for how long.

BIOSTAR NM70I-847 Intel Celeron 847 1.1GHz 2C/2T BGA1023 Intel NM70 Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo
Free Gift: Team 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TLD38G1600HC9DC01 (value:$57.99)
$89.99 shipped

BIOSTAR A68I-350 Deluxe AMD Fusion APU 350D AMD A68 Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo is also valid for the free RAM deal, at $79.99 shipped.
 
looks like the free RAM deal may be dead again. maybe they drop it every time they get a bunch of orders or something?

In addition, for those interested, the MSI C847IS-P33 board I purchased is $67.60 on Provantage.
 
update: I put together my little HTPC. The InWin BM639 case has a very nice build quality and is pretty small. Maybe next time I'd get something even smaller but I'm happy with it. Surprisingly the PSU and case fans are almost inaudible. The loudest one is actually the motherboard's CPU fan and even it's not bad, but probably I'm going to replace that fan with something that runs a little slower than 6000 RPM

this little box is so much better than i would have expected. About the only things it can't do without stuttering is play 4K video or new-ish games, but I knew that before I put it together. Windows 7 2D/Aero, HD streaming, and office app/web/flash performance is awesome. I ended up using a WD 160GB 7200RPM sata drive that I forgot I had, so all-inclusive this system cost me $158 including shipping :)

I am very impressed with the celeron 847/nm70 chipset. This system is clearly faster than the E350 and miles beyond the Atom.

nice job Intel now just keep making these things faster and equally as efficient :D
 
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