Dave's new Mini ITX Silent PC/HTPC build thread

Does everything? So this is a HTPC and your main system all rolled into one?

In that case I'd get a mATX case and put up with the noise - which is very minimal anyway.

I'd get a Silverstone GD05B case (USB3), an H77M-D3H and an i7 3770 (non K) with 8GB of 1600MHz RAM. In AUD, that would be around ~$600 for the guts of the system.

The reason being, your main system needs to be both flexible and expandable, and it won't be either with that case and PSU. The GD05B has room for more drives and also for full height expansion cards. It is also fairly quiet unless you put your ear right up to it.

The card you have pictured looks like a full-height card whereas that case will only take a half-height card. Besides, if you do select a CPU with the HD4000 integrated GPU, adding a HD6570 makes little sense given benchmarks show they both perform about the same.

I am not sure what "everything" is either. i7-3770T is overkill for 95% of everything HTPC related. i3-3225 will get you 95%. Barring that, take a look at the i7-3770S.
Edited by StardogChampion - 10/21/12 at 6:23pm

i3-3225 is plenty for HTPC, even a 3220T will do most things.

i7-3770T is hard to find, generally only sold to OEMs. If you need a 45W TDP quad core consider its brother cpu: Xeon E3 1265Lv2, it comes in a boxed version and is easy to find.

Otherwise just get a 35W/55W i3 or a 65W 3770S, all cheaper options.


Take a look at the intel DQ77KB motherboard, it is very friendly inside cramped cases due to its built in DC PSU and low profile, all you need is a very common 19V laptop adapter. (free or ~$20 on amazon/ebay/etc)
It should run cooler as the less efficient AC-DC conversion is done outside the case, the DC-DC step down generates very little heat.

A few component differences like laptop so-dimms (cheap and plentiful) and add the wifi card yourself. (lots of cheap 62xx/6300 series cards on ebay that come with pigtails and antenna)
All the usb3 are on the back, so get the streacom versions with the usb2+card reader instead. I have one in a FC8 right now and it works well.

Q77 is stupid overpriced in Australia. $170 for that? I'd rather get a bigger case and an $80 mATX mobo. You are paying for features you won't use. And for $170, that is one ugly motherboard.

I wish I had found this case by itself sooner. I ordered a Tranquil PC from the UK as I was mostly interested in the case. Still hasn't come.

Just FYI but the 45W E3 1265L V2 is cheaper and way easier to find in the states, no idea about AU....don't kick yourself if its a lot less

The FC9 is ideal if you are OCD about symmetry, I have the FC8 and every once in awhile it bugs me with fins on one side. Then I remember its just a router and no one else will ever notice.
Edited by Aluminum - 10/24/12 at 1:01pm

Apples and oranges, ITX vs uATX. If you're going to be cheap, go all the way and get a $50 board, theres plenty.

Building fanless and extra small like the OP wants, price obviously isn't the main factor. (just uttering the "F" word instantly adds at least $100 to any build budget)

If you really want to nitpick price, the intel thin board also means you don't have to buy a pico-psu.
A 19V DC brick is $0-20 as the type it uses literally grows on trees, you can trip over them at any large office where they always outnumber the functional laptops.
Meanwhile a pico-psu + non-tree-growing matched 12V brick is $50+


Also, ugly, seriously? Its a motherboard with thousands of surface mount ICs, who gives a damn what it looks like inside a nice case. It could be pink with green expansion slots, as long as it does what you want.
Edited by Aluminum - 10/24/12 at 1:02pm

Easier to find, but I wouldn't say cheaper --both are north of $300. The price per tray is should be the same, but there seem to be quite a bit of extra vendor markup from OEM resellers on the i7-3770T.

Would the added height of the fully digital PWM on the Asus P8Z77-I DELUXE fit in the Streamcom Silent PC FC8 Mini-ITX case? Seems like a tight clearance between the pipes from the heatsink and I'm not entirely convinced you'll be able to fit a P8Z77-I Deluxe with it's PWM "daughterboard" there.


When it comes to the CPU the Intel Core i7-3770T seems overkill, even though it's a 45W CPU. Why not go for the Intel Core i5-3470T instead? Then you drop down from 45W to 35W and shouldn't really notice any difference in practical CPU performance on a HTPC setup anyway as the Intel Core i5-3470T is dual-cpre and it's 2.9GHz (3.6GHz Turbo) should be plenty for anything you could possibly throw at it. The only slight downside if you are going to stick with the onboard Intel HD 4000 Graphics is the lower turbo of 1100 MHz compared to 1150 MHz on the i7-3770T.

I would consider grabbing a low-profile HD 7750 anyway just to get better custom resolution support so you don't run into issues with 23.976Hz with the Intel graphics drivers lacking decent custom resolution support.

I sense some mass confusion here, me and Intel included

Not sure where 1220L V2 came in but it is 2C4T and doesn't even have a GPU.

1265L V2 is 4C8T:
http://ark.intel.com/compare/65525,65728,65735

edit: WTF they changed the ark page info!

All the vendors sold it as HD4000, that had to some from somewhere

As recently as Oct 14th it said P4000:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:e2e0qtR7Bo0J:ark.intel.com/products/65728/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1265LV2-8M-Cache-2_50-GHz


The plot thickens, I might want some money back....


The markup counts, cheaper is cheaper

$30 less, free shipping:
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117289

I thought the P4000 was basically a HD4000? The P branding is for Xeons and the HD branding is for Core i.

http://ark.intel.com/products/65728/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1265LV2-8M-Cache-2_50-GHz says HD 2500 GPU for the Intel Xeon E3-1265L V2. Y'all got me excited for nothing .

It was sold as P4000 and the ark page said as much last week: (google cache which won't last forever: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:e2e0qtR7Bo0J:ark.intel.com/products/65728/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1265LV2-8M-Cache-2_50-GHz)

I'm pissed as I have two of them.

Granted right now they are running unix and CLI only but its the principle damnit

When you run something like HWInfo or CPU-Z what does it say for the GPU?

One is running pfsense and can't be messed with pretty much ever, the other just got FreeNAS 8.3 installed.

No idea how to check gpu type in BSD, no drivers for it anyways. Might be able to make a 'just boot once damnit' windows image and try...

I made a post on intel's forums, still waiting for a response.

Don't file the copper tubing. Bend it instead. There are some liquid inside.

Don't mess with the copper tubing.

+1