Assassin's Simple/Beginner HTPC Buying Guide - Page 460

Originally Posted by assassin 

Standoffs should only be placed where there is a hole that can receive a screw into it. Some standoffs are standard for every board and a few have variable positions. Only install the ones that correlate to your specific motherboard and remove all the others that do not match up.

Originally Posted by vistadelloco 

ok its all in case works.... but without anything in mobo header
i tried turning on with build complete - nothing
i took power sw cord out of header tried paper clip - nothing
i took all case wires out of header/ did paperclip - works / case fans, heard hdd spin ,cpu fan and psu fan. ( nothing on moniter but i think i read i have to wake it up on key board.).
any suggestions on header / heres cords and instructions - and how i had them

Originally Posted by Dark_Slayer 

What you read was probably somebody using either WHS v1 pre SP1 or Windows XP x86, in which case they can't use all the available storage as one disk.
Windows 7 and WHS 2011 both support GPT formatted drives. Which is what you'll need to format these to for all 3TB to be utilized. If you connect them to your machine and don't see all 3TB available under "Properties" then follow the instructions here http://technet.microsoft.com/library/cc725671.aspx Easy peasy
Also, the "How much after format" question is about manufacturers/OS display of available storage. For over 2 decades, every OS has displayed storage in Base2. (i.e. 1024MB = 1GB). Hard drive manufacturers have been squeezing out drives in Base10 (i.e. 1000GB = 1TB). In fact, some people started trying to refer to the old Base2 GB as GiB. In other news, Apple's been using Base10 to report drive sizes since Lion, I believe. Really you're not losing any data capacity, it's just an accounting terminology. 3000 GB = 3 TB in Base10, but since the Windows OS reports storage in Base 2 (binary) then you would need 1024^4 or 2^40 bytes per Terabyte which comes out to 1099511627776 bytes, putting that back into base 10 is (3.299 x 10^12) or 3.3 TB according to Hard Drive manufacturers.
So long story short, a 3.0 TB drive will be accounted as 2.7 TB

Originally Posted by vistadelloco 

edit - should i continue with bios(i can shut down regular when windows installed correct) - or wait till new case arrives

Originally Posted by Patrick Collins 

If you were replacing an aging HTPC, would you wait for an Intel Ivy Bridge i3 or go with a Sandy Bridge i3 2105?

Originally Posted by assassin 

Depends on how dysfunctional the aging HTPC is. If you can use it for a few more months then I would probably wait. But the current i3 is absolutely fine as well.

Originally Posted by pm123 

This is an eye opener. I nearly pulled the trigger on my equipment this weekend. But can wait a while.
I've been trying to Google around and see if I can find some sort of timeline for this, but I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I do see that new egg has some i5 and i7 Ivy Bridge but they are pretty pricy.

Originally Posted by assassin 

There have been some changes in LAV since my initial guide that make it a better option now. Shark007 and I have been discussing this most of this week.

Originally Posted by nebrunner 

My HTPC is about a year old and built using the paid guide back then. I haven't messed with it much since then and it's been working fine for bitstreaming the hd audio, is there any reason I would want to go in now and change stuff using this updated shark section in the guide?
Any idea if there is or will be an android tablet app that will let us control mediabrowser? Something like Constellation?

Originally Posted by assassin 

Depends on how dysfunctional the aging HTPC is. If you can use it for a few more months then I would probably wait. But the current i3 is absolutely fine as well.

Originally Posted by bobby2478 

I'm looking to build my first HTPC shortly and had a few questions. First let me preface this by saying in addition to this being my HTPC / Media server, it will also serve as my main PC (basically replacing my current PC with a HTPC). I don't play games, but am looking to build something that is powerful enough so it will be plenty fast for years to come.
Here are the main components I'm looking to buy:

• Ivy Bridge i5 3570k
• Asus P8Z77-V LX 155 ATX
• 128GB SSD (haven't decided model yet)
• 500w Power Supply (haven't decided model yet)
• Diablotek EVO CPA-6170 Case
• 8 GB GSKILL Ripjaws (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Memory
• 1 TB WD Caviar Black HDD (currently in my existing PC)
• Will upgrade to Windows 8 once available this fall

Curious what your thoughts are for this setup? This may be overkill, and I was looking at the i5 3450 ($149 at Micro Center), but Micro Center has the 3570 on sale right now for $189, and with that processor I can get $50 off the motherboard, so it ends up being $10 cheaper then just getting the 3450 without the bundle deal. The P8Z77-V LX is on sale for $124.99, or $74.99 with bundle deal. Main thing I like is having true quad core rather then multi thread 2 core. Plus it can handle the 1600 mhz ram, where Sandy Bridge i3's won't. So my thought is I'm getting more then I need, but with 1600 mhz ram, a true quad core processor, and with Windows 8 supposed to be able to fully utilize multiple cores, I should have something that won't be outdated from a performance perspective and I'll be happy with in the long run. My current Dell I want to hurl out the window (no pun intended) most days.
One thing I noticed is the case has 4 x 120mm 4 Pin MOLEX fans (one with blue LED), and the mb has 2 x 4-pin chassis fan leads (in addition to the CPU fan lead and a 3-pin power fan). I've read there are a few options in this situation (more fans then mb leads) and was wondering what your experience is or what you recommend?

• Wire them to the PSU, they will run 100% all the time (not what I want)
• Buy Molex - 4 pin converters and connect 2 fans to the mb leads, then if i want to connect other 2 they would need to go to the PSU
• Can you connect multiple 4 pin fans to a single mb lead? 2 per lead would support all 4 case fans
• I thought I read where there is an adaptor that connects the fans to the PSU, and some lead wire also goes to the mb, so the mb can control and monitor the fan speed, but the power is supplied by the PSU. Is this true? Any one do this?
• Buy fan controller (again, would like to avoid this)

Ideally I don't want to have to buy a fan controller, and don't want them running 100% all the time either. Like having the mb be able to monitor and control speed of the fans. I'm not sure what power the mb 4-pin chassis fan leads are, however what i've read is most should be plenty powerful enough to power 2 (prob not more then 2 though) fans per lead. Any ideas/suggestions or knowledge you can share with me would be greatly helpful.
Thanks for your help, I appreciate all the helpful knowledge and answers this forum and all its members provide!!

Originally Posted by Fastslappy 

that mobo has a fan control software in the bios
if you are not gonna over clock the CPU then don't get the "K" model CPU the non "K" has more features
that mobo has about 4 or more fan headers on the PCB & they are 4 mini pin headers as well soo i'd replace the fans with silent cougar 4 mini pin fans (pm me i'll link them ) I run all fans off my Asus Z77 deluxe & I use a Antec 300 case , I replaced all the case fans with 4 mini pin Cougar silent models

Originally Posted by bobby2478 

Thanks for the info. The CPU is listed as the 3570K Unlocked*, so am I wrong to assume the "unlocked" version would have more features then the "locked"? Unless CPUs are different then mobile phones and other areas where "unlocked" = more features. Also I won't be overclocking anything, as I'm not gaming there won't be a need to overclock. The only Ivy Bridge processors I see listed with Micro Center are:

• i5 3450 ($149.99), no motherboard bundle discount
• i5 3570K Unlocked* ($189.99), plus $50 bundle discount off motherboard
• The others are both i7's, which is more then I need

So initially I was just going to go for the 3450, but since that isn't eligible for bundle discount whereas the 3570K is, I'm still saving $10 over buying the other processor and paying full price for the motherboard. That's the only reason I bumped up to the 3570K from the 3450, is it works out to be $10 cheaper when I buy the motherboard at the same time.
The mobo only has 3 x 4-pin fan connectors, and one is for the CPU, so only 2 x 4-pin case fan connectors and 1 x 3-pin power fan connector. Since 4-pin is required to control speed, the 3-pin would need to run at 100%, in which case I might as well go straight to the PSU. I'm looking to keep the price of the overall kit as low as possible, so I'd like to not have to replace the fans since the case includes 4 fans already, and I figure since they are there I might as well use them. The feedback on the case says the 4 x fans are all 120 mm and have the 4-pin MOLEX connectors, so others were having to get an adapter to hook up to their mobo if they wanted variable fan speed without a seperate controller.

Originally Posted by Fastslappy 

as strange as it sounds the unlocked has LESS features

Originally Posted by blobula 

Hello, I'm attempting an HTPC build and need advice.
Should I use a separate power supply cable for the hard drive and the SSD, or should I try to connect the single power supply cable to both? As it's laid out now one single cable isn't long enough to connect them both.
My case is a Silverstone GD04 with a GA-Z68 MB and Silencer MK III power supply.

Also, Assassin you mentioned you modified the adapter which combined all three case fans into one connection. I'm not knowledgeable in that area. With the cable supplied I don't see where this attaches to on the motherboard. Is there another cable that I need to get?