Mini ITX HTPC Build

[CoolHandL]

I decided a while back i needed a Mini ITX HTPC for my bedroom, every room in the house should have a PC, I wanted small, quiet(zalman Fanmate 2 made this possible), and just enough power for hi def while being power smart aka energy efficient. (the photos show my old hardrive, wd 160GB black, since swapped it out for the SSD)

I went with:

Case: Mini Box M350 (as far as i can tell its the smallest PC case you can get)
CPU: Intel Atom N330 NVIDIA ION
Motherboard: Zotac IONITX-A MINI-ITX
PSU: 90W PSU
Ram: DDR2 2GB Kingston Value Ram 1x 2GB
SSD: Corsair R60 60GB Solid State Drive
Fan Controller: Zalman Fanmate 2

YEP ITS OVERCLOCKED

 

[wonSR4]

Wow that case is tiny. Looks good!

 

[unhap]

looks great!

Is an atom powerful enough to play back hd content?

 

[CoolHandL]

you bet, this is the dual core 330 atom, not the 230 single core.

 

[unhap]

sounds awesome, mind linking to the psu you used?

 

[CoolHandL]

it came with the motherboard, its a power brick.

Zotac Ion A-U - http://++++.com/products/?sku=38918&vpn=IONITX-A-U&manufacture=Zotac

looks like Hardforums does not like net link computers?

is there a forum rule about not posting online retailers?

manufacturer

http://www.zotacusa.com/zotac-ionitx-a-u-atom-n330-1-6ghz-dual-core-mini-itx-intel-motherboard.html

 

[cornfield]

Any other cases this small available in the US? I would like to build something similar just don't like the rounded edges of the case designs. Just need enough space for a 2.5" hdd.

 

[starhawk]

http://www.mini-box.com
http://www.logicsupply.com

 

[CoolHandL]

google mini itx cases, most retailers like the egg and n c i x carry some. this was the smallest i could find.

 

[imranm]

I'm thinking of a similar setup, just wondering if the Atom is powerful enough to stream/transcode on the fly video to a PS3 or iPad etc

Thanks,

 

[fr500]

Not likely. I have an e5200 on my brothers house and there are some hiccups when transcoding with meezmo...also it's a bravia TV not a PS3....dunno if that matters or not

 

[Masejoer]

I'm thinking of a similar setup, just wondering if the Atom is powerful enough to stream/transcode on the fly video to a PS3 or iPad etc

Thanks,

You can cram more power into this case if you want. I have one with a SSD, mechanical hard drive, e8400 overclocked to 4Ghz, GeForce 9300 on motherboard, 4GB ram, running on a 125W power supply. System tests at load at around 70W (13.75A input, 5.2-5.3A, Pirme95 and Furmark loaded but disks basically idle). The low profile CPU heatsink I have installed has no problem keeping the CPU and northbridge under control at quite cool numbers. You can pack quite a bit into these cases - I would have no problem with trying an i5. The one problem I have is the CPU fan makes a ticking noise when the motherboard throttles its speed down - the stock Intel heatsink didn't have this problem but if I continued to use it, I wouldn't be able to fit two hard drives. If it weren't for that ticking, the system would be dead silent when not doing anything intensive.