[Roshy]

This is just a couple pictures of putting my HTPC together. I probably should have taken more, but I had to hold my 4 month old daughter most of the time building it, so I had my hands full!


This HTPC is for use in my media room I will be building in a couple weeks. I have another HTPC in the living room, and all of the media for both are stored on a QNAP TS-419P+ I have in my utility closet. So I just needed an SSD drive for the OS.


Components:


Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3

CPU: Intel core i5-2400 3.1GHz

RAM: G.SKILL F3-12800CL7D-4GBXM Ripjaws-X DDR3-1600 CL7 2 x 2GB Kit

Graphics card: used onboard

SSD: Crucial m4 64GB CT064M4SSD2 64GB SATA 6.0Gb/s SSD

PSU: Seasonic S12II-430 Bronze 430W 80 PLUS Bronze

Case: Antec Fusion Remote Black microATX, with a LCD/IR receiver/remote

CPU Fan: used stock for a couple days, then replaced with Cooler Master GeminII S


First off, I LOVE this Antec case. The included remote works well, and it looks good. For my HTPC in my living room I used a Silverstone GD04B and 2 of the 3 fans were bad and made horrible noises that I had to replace. It was also easier working with the Antec case.


Now on to the pictures:


All the boxes sitting on the table ready to be opened:

Case with the top off:

Installed the power supply:

Installed the CPU and Fan on the motherboard:

Installed the RAM:

My little helper that made this take 10 x longer than it should have. But she's cute, so she can get away with it!

Installed Motherboard and hooked up most of the cables from the Case to the Motherboard:

Installed the SSD drive to a bracket I bought to install 2.5 drives in 3.5 enclosures. (silverstone)

Everything all hooked up including the SSD and blu ray drive. I forgot to take a picture of putting the blu ray drive in its bracket.

Cables tucked away as nicely as I was willing to do it!

And my little helper is glad it's over, so I can go back to paying attention to her!

After this I installed windows etc, and the CPU fan was LOUD! On my htpc in the living room it wasn't anywhere near as loud. I find stock coolers can be great, or suck. Quality control on them seems to be lacking. So I had to take a lot of it apart to get the motherboard out so I could install the new fan. Wasn't too much of a hassle though, and now its really quiet.


I will post a link to my media room thread here once I start it.

 

[tman247]

Nice pics. Seems like you've got your hands full there!


I also used to have the Antec case, but the model without the built in LCD. I really feel those OEM iMON LCD's are a total waste of time. The quality of the display is shocking. I added my own true (green on black) VFD, which is much, much better.


I eventually decided to replace the whole case though, and bought a Silverstone LC16, which has the VFD built in. Nice case, plenty of room, and looks the part too.

 

[Roshy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by tman247 /forum/post/20873302


Nice pics. Seems like you've got your hands full there!


I also used to have the Antec case, but the model without the built in LCD. I really feel those OEM iMON LCD's are a total waste of time. The quality of the display is shocking. I added my own true (green on black) VFD, which is much, much better.


I eventually decided to replace the whole case though, and bought a Silverstone LC16, which has the VFD built in. Nice case, plenty of room, and looks the part too.

Thanks! I'll have to look into that case for my next build. I won't even be using the VFD of the case since it will be in an equipment closet controlled through RF. I'll post pics of the room when its done.