Assassin's Simple/Beginner HTPC Buying Guide - Page 8

If they're like mine, they will come with a "blank" installed that covers the opening. It needs to be removed to install a drive.

Thanks for posting this link assassin. Definitely will help a first timer like me. Also look forward to build guides using components included in your build recommendations.

With the I3's stock cooler is the thermal paste provided sufficient? Some of the reviews I'm reading say its not.

Yeah definitely going with the stock cooler, just was wondering if I would need to get some additional thermal paste as a few of the reviews said it was insufficient. Thanks for confirming. Do you scrape off the provided thermal paste first, or just add additional?

Ok first off the nmedia one linked in the buying guide has a flip down cover for the dvd drive. Basically you plop your drive behind this "door" and when you hit the button it flips down from the pressure of the drive bay sliding open. Also of note is to open/close there is a "extender" of a open/close button that hits the actual open/close button on the drive. The actual drive is probably ~1/4 inch or so from the door.

The gigabyte drive has one ide connection so you could hook up two devices. I use it for my main hard drive actually.

Hey Assassin,

I am new to the thread but many thanks for your work on this. I am getting ready to build my 1st HTPC and the advice and discussion is VERY helpful!

One quick comment regarding your posting of your Shark codec config. I downloaded the latest version today (2.7.3) and there seems to be some additions / changes to the interface that differ from your screenshots (ver 2.6.9). I am not qualified to offer up an opinion as to what if any difference it might make, but thought readers should be aware.

Again many thanks for your time and effort to date.

Cheers

Yea, hardest thing for me is to leave it well enough alone. LOL. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

A quick tip on upgrading Shark: Before I do it I write down every setting I have checked on each tab. Then when I install the new version first thing I do is click recommended settings and then go tab by tab making sure what I had before is checked and if anything new pops up to check into it. Shark does have a "save settings" option which you can then bring those settings into the new version but that function isn't working properly right now last I read on the Shark forums.

I've got Shark down to the point where after clicking recommended settings I only have 3 things I need to change. But I always check and make sure.

BIG TIP: I never chose it before but there is a setting to choose either "Monitor" or "TV/Flat Panel" (or something similar). It defaults to Monitor. This last upgrade I tried the TV option and wow did my picture go from awesome to super awesome. The difference is explained in the wiki but the basics is that most HDTVs don't have as great a color space as do regular computer monitors. If your TV is that then the TV option will match the colorspace output by the codecs to match your TV. I mean I didn't feel I had a problem before, everything looked fine. But man, I made that option and I get the best HD picture I have ever gotten and the blacks aren't as crushed as they were before. I thought it was just my Plasma but this option really helps. Try it.

You want the thermal paste to be a very thin layer between the surface of the processor and the base of the heatsink. And you want to cover as much surface area as possible.

The stock heatsink comes with plenty of thermal paste. But it's usually applied in stripes. Don't add more. Just take something hard, like a razor blade, and spread what's supplied into a very thin layer that covers the entire surface.

actually the strips are like that for a reason. Spreading it over the entire surface will likely cause air bubbles - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4

Noob question here: What is the easiest way for a first-timer to do this correctly? Is the paste already on there, or do I have to add paste? As I consider building an HTPC, this is the part that I'm most nervous about.

Thanks, assassin for creating this thread!

Assassin:Alternatively a second SSD for your OS makes a great option. If you go this route make sure to get at least 32GB of storage for your OS . You will still need a second drive for storage and the above Samsung 2TB is a great option.

Any SSD drive recommendations or suggestions (eg, ntel X25-V SSDSA2MP040G2K5 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD); ~$95)?

SteveMA

You generally don't need to ever use a razor blade to get the old compound off. Rubbing alcohol and a lint free cloth do the trick just fine.

I have even used unflavored vodka in a pinch. It worked... But if at all possible use 91% or higher rubbing alcohol.

If you have some AS3 or what not then go ahead and use it. If your just going stock and don't want to deal with the aggravation and uncertainty, then just leave the stock compound on the heat sinks.

When you come to applying the thermal compound, just place a dot the size of two grains of rice in the center of the CPU.
Install the heat sink. Keep it flat and ratchet it down. When you've got it secure, give it a slight 1degree twist each way and you should be good to go.

When you power up your computer go into the bios and let it idle on the CPU info tab for 15 or so minutes. In this tab should be the speed of your fans and the temperature of your CPU.

If you did it correctly, the temp should be fairly constant. (not sure what the stock temps for i3's are)

When you get into windows go grab Core Temp. (http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/)
Use your PC and check the temps after a good CPU Beating. Thermal Grease takes about 20 days or so of heating/cooling to break in. So power down the system in the beginning as much as ya want.

I have had systems drop 20deg after reapplying thermal compound because I didn't get a good smear of it.

I've built PC's for the better part of 15 years and I have *never* added any extra thermal paste and just used the strips that are already included in the stock heatsink. Then again I've never used an aftermarket cooler either and just used what comes with the processor as there is just no need (I don't overclock).

For an HTPC the stock heatsink you get with the i3 is more then enough to cool and it's quiet as well. Just slap it on and don't worry about any extra paste or anything, it includes enough in the strips that are on it.

My opinion of course.

Just an FYI, but back around November, I got an email newsletter from Crucial for SSD's.

They were offering refurbished SSD's for $1 per GB...

I didn't have the money or want to buy then, but that's about the best deal you can get. They sold out in hours.

While they have not done another sale like this again since, I would really recommend applying to as many manufactures email newsletters as possible.
The deals are out there.

Thanks guys for the thermal paste explanations. Like mpmartin1968, that was one of the things I was wondering about the most. Sounds like I can just go with the I3 stock paste with no worry.

This thread is great!

Helped more than you know. I hesitated. Pulled the trigger last week on parts. I assembled in 2 days . Only about 2 hours of actual work---new baby at home. First pc build ever. Hardest part was wires and cables and trying to organize within the case. But not really a big deal.

On the software now.

I plan on this being my main htpc. I have 3 2tb HDDs in this build. Always on. I would like to build at least 2 more that only play/stream media from the main and Internet... Maybe an ssd, no optical drive. My needs would be small, hdmi out and audio out for stereo or 5.1 from pc. No room for separate receiver.
Not to change the thread but any thoughts?

Thanks again

Ok well my HTPC build. it is up and running. nothing much to say that i wont comment on in the main body of my thingy.


First up the components

Purchased-
CPU - Intel i3-540
Mobo- GIGABYTE GA-H55M-USB3 LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM - G.Skill 2x2GB DDR3
PSU- CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W
CASE - nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 5000B Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
OS Windows 7 Home premium 64 bit

also bought
Lenovo RF Keyboard and Mouse
Rosewill Windows Media Center Remote

Items on hand
320gb Maxtor IDE HDD
1TB WD Green HDD
2TB Samsung "green" HDD
linksys wireless G with speedbooster PCI adapter


Comments on the components

The Case
Here is the only real "downfall". The case is great for the money but lacks quite a bit. i would still recommend it but it does have its issues. None are super major but rather annoying to me. First off i sthe dvd drive "door". The actual drive sits ~1/4" behind the door and opening the drive pops the cover open. Not a bad design but the open/close button feels flimsy to me. The second real issue i had was with mounting 3 or 4 hard drives. I know the case isnt design to really hold that many. Well it is but most people dont i am sure. You actually have to mount your drives going front to back first as using the bottom two block the holes for those. The disadvantage to using those first two slots is it the drives overhang the motherboard. Didnt block anything for me but was annoying. I used the two bottom slots for my WD and samsung drive and mounted only my 320gb drive in the upper slots (you can see it in pictures). Just something people with 3+ drives should take into account. Also the front flip down thingy for the front ports is sort of flimsy in my mind. But o well get what you pay for. It works just fine just feels like cheaper plastic.

Second thing is just the mobo. It is great but only comes with two sata cables and one ide cable. My previous motherboard included 2 ide and like 10 sata cables and tons of other options. Suppose its just a difference in options. But just a not for those who have a sata bluray drive and sata HDD or two that you might need to pick up additional ones.

Thirdly the PSU. I just wanted headroom so i went with the more powerful model. I might want to add a powerful gpu for 3d or something down the road and just like having the option to. Im sure the cheaper model suggested would work for that but for ~20 bucks more i just went with this one.

The Build

First up...all the parts! (sorry its sideways!)



Second is just opening the case. Plop the motherboard in. The gigabyte motherboard lined up perfect with the provided mount hole screw things so just screw it in.


Next up i went ahead and popped the "drive bay" attachment out and inserted my blu ray drive and all three hard drives.


Next (and i skipped a bit and a lot was done in this picture. Witht he attachment bay thingy out i went ahead and hooked up my front ports. I then zip tied them short so they were hidden under the attachment bay thingy. I then put the bay back into place. And here is an issue i talked about. The hard drive sticks out over the motherboard making it annoying to hook up the 24 pin power and the ide cable. Wasnt to hard just annoying. i do recommend attaching power and cable to the drives under. Its near impossible to do this with everything else installed. Just dont hook up the cables to the motherboard yet (as i explain later)



Next i went ahead and attached the PSU to the case. Didnt plug anything in yet though. I then went ahead and inserted the cpu. This part is easy and not picture worthy. The i3 has notches in a V and the socket has notches for those V's. just line them up and drop the cpu in. DONT FORCE ANYTHING. it takes zero pressure. Then flip the metal part over the cpu and lock it in. this part does take a bit of force. The stock heatsink then just pushes into the four holes around the cpu. Pretty simple. Just remember to hook the cpu fan to the header on the motherboard!




Second to lastly i go ahead and hook up the cd/dvd/bluray drive. The power to all the case fans. basically provide power to everything. Motherboard, al hdds, you get the point. I then hook up ONLY the HDD you want the OS installed to. This just prevents accidental overwriting or installing to the wrong disk. Espcially important to me if youre installing a disk with data on it already (as i was with my1tb and 2tb drives). I also added the PCI wireless card.




I then like to boot straight into bios. Check and make sure your blur ay drive is there, correct amount of ram, CPU temp isnt oddly high or anything (mine read ~20C). After that plop the windows 7 disk in and your on your own from there!

I installed 3 HDDs. I was able to get my 1st further in than you did. Mine did not not extend over the mb. Were you able to screw all 4 screws in? I'll see if I can get pics later.