[Build Pics] My i7 2600K HTPC Build with Silverstone CW02 case.

I built my HTPC few months back and i wanted to share with you with what i finally managed to put togather for this build, I know an i7 2600K is an extreme overkill for an HTPC. Due to a short circuit within the PC, my previous desktop's motherboard got fried taking down most of the components. Hence i had to build a desktop.. thinking why not kill two birds with a single stone, hence brought all the components of a performance PC and added it to an HTPC, which now i use the system for both the needs.. encoding.. programming but its mostly used as an HTPC.

The components i choose were.

CPU : intel i7 2600K
Motherboard : ASUS P8Z68-V PRO
PSU : CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850
Memory : G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB
Heatsink : Thermalright Silver Arrow
Case : SilverStone CW02
SSD : Crucial M4 128GB
Media Disk Drive : LITE-ON iHBS212-08 LightScribe
GPU : ASUS HD7870-DC2-2GD5
120mm Fans : Gentle Typhoon
80mm Fans : SilentX
Lots of noise dampning stuff



I particularly choose this case cos of its spaciousness. Forever since i was reading about setting up a desktop i wanted to install a noctua or a silver arrow cpu cooler. I do game occationally on a PC other than the XBox, hence wanted a solid air cooling solution. Thermalright SilverArrow was the best at the time and the tallest cooler. For this i wanted to make sure that the HTPC case is tall enough to accept this cooling tower.





The cpu cooler is surely tall, here are all the accessories that came along with the cooler.







Ready to mount the i7 CPU





Real tight timings on this one. Timing 7-8-7-24. Cas Latency 7





Mounted to the motherboard





Thermalright Silverstone mounted to the motherboard, and no issues with the clearence between the RAM heatsink





The Cooling tower drawfs the motherboard.





Gentle Typhoons, The best of 120mm fans.





I know i am overdoing it, but the case houses 6 HDD's hence trying to minimize noise.



It used to look like that,



Now, after swapping with the Gentle Typhoons.





These are optional fans for HDD's, thats mounted below on the bed.







Enought clearence between the Heatsink and the exhaust (Gentle Typhoons)



Hard Disks added, the heatsink sits plush in between the exhaust fan and the hdd tray



All hdd's added, PSU added, SSD attached to the top of the HDD trays with a velcro. Its a mess right now..



Control panel of the VFD, trying to make space for cable management.



Just wanted to let people know that if anyone is considering the CW02 case, and a taller Heatsink... you will get enough clearence and almost any cooler will fit this HTPC case.



Even thought it was kind of a tight spot after adding all these HDD's and a giganormous cooler, there was little scope for cleaning up and cable manament.



Hated the shorter power supply cord that came with the PSU... gotta get an extension.



Did not wanted to waste HDD space, hence added the SSD to the top of the HDD bays using velcro



The execution has been a little tight, but still it did go through.











Its a big graphic card, but the CW02 case swallows it as well.






I still have to take some post setup pics with the VFD screen, will do that soon, once i receive SuperMicro my storage chassis and post build pictures all along.

The HTPC/gaming rig has taken up everything i have thrown at it. Extremly satisfied with this setup.

Thanks..
Overclock, not yet.. 80% of the times i have been just using this as an HTPC only, infact until i've played Crysis 2, and Dirt 3 havent seen the system asking for more, Not sure if video encoding can make use of a overclocked CPU, does it? I've done some CPU instensive tasks on VMWare on this system, never seen any lag. Any other gains other than games.. if not.. i will rest in peace.

If i had'nt had your HTPC guide i would not have had the confidence enough for this build. Now using your server guide to build a storage server that will attach to this HTPC.

This forum and the members gave me a lot of inspiration, tips and tricks. I had never build a PC before.. this was my first one. I did a lot of reading in here.
Edited by holyindian - 12/2/12 at 8:09pm

That will be an intresting build. Please do post pictures when you are done.
I had been buying the components bit by bit over a period of 5 months, hence i never felt the purse getting burnt cos of this build, i guess CPU was the first thing i brought from MicroCenter and Z77 based CPU was not out yet.

Nice.. yay!!

Sounds good, i will spend this weekend OC,ing the RAM, GPU and the CPU/MOBO.

Assassin,

Using your guide it was a cakewalk with setting up XBMC. I had reviewed other guides but they werent as clear.
Here is what finally came out. Its still in the very initial stage, i still have to attach my other disks through the storage server that contains most of the movies to the HTPC.





I have a huge collection of Music Video's, concerts etc.



I have a query here, if someone can reply...

All the DTS formats work through XBMC.. DTS-HDMA, TrueHD etc.
However the same sound formats dont work through Total Media Theater or PowerDVD or classic media player.
My receiver is capable of supporting all the audio formats its a Denon 4311CI receiver. Again the above sound formats work through XBMC, and the receiver's LCD screen shows the sound format being played as DTS-HDMA when played through XBMC, however through other players its dolby digital or EX or PLII or NEO.
Any help appreciated.

Right, the updated versions of Total Media Theater and PowerDVD both should bitstream HDMA and TrueHD formats, i checked their faqs.
XBMC does it for me... but not sure why not with TMT or PowerDVD.

Dark_Slayer, I tried all these options in TMT earlier, even the advanced audio options.. nothing works, the only thing my receiver detects is DTS Surround.
However when i play the same movie in XBMC, its prefectly bitstreaming HD-Master Audio. Thanks to assassin for that perfect XBMC setup tutorial.
What non-xbmc player do you use? And does it bitstream the real content?

My apologies for the delay in replying, it was my half day today on friday so i got to mess around with my HTPC.
Firstly i wanted to thank you for taking time to reply to my query and coming up wiht these test plans. Infact my problem got resolved.

Mfusick's earlier suggestion of installing Shark007 resolved the issue. Infact you mentioned the same thing with the post above.
I was following Assassins guide, and i choose to ignore WMC, hence the part of installing LAV or Shark007 was skipped. I directly started installing and using XBMC. Where XBMC was working fine, and was bitstreaming DTS-HDMA and TrueHD flawlessly. However due to the skip in the codec, other third party players did not bitstream. Now all DTS formats are bitstreamed to Total Media Theater and PowerDVD without issues. And the sound quality with watching blueray copies on Total Media Theater is better than XBMC. tried and tested hence this statement.

Dark_Slayer and Mfusick, thanks so much for fixing this issue for me.. I have been sitting on this issue since 2 months without a trace.

Dimensions H x D x W (inches, with fans), 6.6 x 5.1 x 6.8. Weight, 2 lbs, 7.6 oz.