Assassin's Simple/Beginner HTPC Buying Guide - Page 88

It looks like the prices for those SSD's might be coming down with this sale and the semi/messed up sale the other day for the ocz.

Finally purchased everything from my component list:

Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge $115
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $45
GIGABYTE GA-H67MA-UD2H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 $130
Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D $54
Silverstone Grandia GD06 $122
Lite On Blu Ray Drive iHOS104-08 $40
Scythe SCSK-1100 100mm Shuriken $33
Rosewill WMC Remote $24
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB $75
Crucial RealSSD C300 $120
Total $780

It was a little bit more than I anticipated but hoping that it will pay off in the end.

I was able to find some good deals by observing the price fluctuations through camelegg.com or camelcamelcamel.com
These sites really helped me understand when to pull the trigger to purchase.

This thread has been immensely helpful. Thank you assassin.

The volume knob on the Zalman HD160 works with MCE, but this will only be effective if you have speakers connected to the PC analog audio out. If you are sending audio over HDMI to your AVR, then the MCE volume setting has no effect.
It appears that the volume knob also works as mute if you press it. This probably works in MCE.
Edit: mute in MCE only works for analog audio, even sent out over S/PDIF, and not for digital audio over HDMI or S/PDIF

Thats a weaker ssd compared t the newer stuff. Uses the old Indilinx controller which had problems.

Definitely faster then any HDD though. Hopefully the price was right.

Yah sold out I saw that. I would prefer a 40gb sandforce but thats just me.

Yah for sure it will still be way faster then any HDD.

Is this your first ssd?

Thanks to everyone posting the sale items, I was able to get all my components ordered at decent prices.
- Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge
- GIGABYTE GA-H67N-USB3-B3
- G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB DDR3 1600
- SAMSUNG Spinpoint F4 2TB 5400
- LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray
- Corsair Nova Series CSSD-V64GB2-BRKT 2.5" 64GB SATA II
- Rosewill RC-CIX-01
I also picked up a WMC remote, Wifi adapter, and a copy of Win7.

I plan on using this build for an HTPC, as well as a game emulation platform.

I'm pretty excited, I haven't done a full build in a few years now. My current PC has been holding up fine since I last built it, and I've only needed to upgrade my video card. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the UPS truck to pull up.

A big thanks to Assassin for saving me a couple of weeks of back & forth over the component selection. And thanks to everyone else for finding me some good deals.

For this particular application can you tell me why the sandforce controller would be beneficial?

I guess it makes sense for the OS temp and cache file writes, just not clear if you would see a significant performance boost overall in an HTPC application.

I'll be sure to document the build. Looks easier than any of my other builds, so it should go pretty smooth. It'll be nice to not have to overclock for a change.

Ordered my stuff ...

OS - Windows 7 - 64 bit
CPU - Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz 2 x 256KB L2 Cache 3MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I32100
RAM - SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL
CASE - Antec NSK 6582B Black 0.8 mm Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 430W Power Supply
BD - SAMSUNG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model SH-B123L LightScribe Support - OEM
IR - Rosewill WMC Remote control/Rcvr RRC-127 for Win 7
HDD - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB 5400 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
SSD - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
KEYBOARD - Lenovo Multimedia Remote with keyboard N5901
MOBO - ASUS P8H67-M EVO (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard


For later ... TV tuner; Wireless card.





Im using a traditional mid-tower case because all my HT gear is on an open rack, and the case can sit right next to it - no big deal. Plus, the case gives me plenty of room for HDD expansion ...

Sweet congrats.

Building my first ever PC tonight. Gonna have a few questions.

Got the Mobo and Powersupply screwed in.
Installed the BD and 2TB HD.

First question of the night, where do I put the SDD at? I have the nMediaPC 5000 case and using Crucial 64 SSD.

Some suggestions ... http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1065530

Assassin mentioned velcro on pg 12 of this thread ... and also a 3 1/2 to 2 1/2 bay adapter ... http://fractal.avsforum.com/avs-vb/s...302559&page=12

did not come with the adapter, guess its gonna be velcro somewhere. maybe just in one of the empty bays?

As long as its away from the mobo, and has no potential to drop anywhere near or onto the mobo, you should be good.

What is the best way to go about connecting all the different cables, completely loss here.

You just need to organize it as best you can. Every wire only fits in one type of slot so it should be fairly easy to see where they go.

Just take your time, you can always use zip ties to strap things down. It will help the air flow in your case to keep the temps down.

Take a look-see at your MoBo manual for sure. It should have clear instructions about where to connect everything. For connections to the Case (Power, Reset, etc) you need to coordinate with your Case Manual and your MoBo Manual. Also, when you install your processor, pay special attention to the clamping sequence/proceedure which is probably in both the MoBo Manual and the Processor Manual.