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First Htpc build

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Ok here is what I have gotten so far. My goal is it needs to be portable so I can watch movies at work and it needs to be quiet. This is my first htpc build but I have built computers before so Im not a total noob.

Case- Silverstone Sugo Series SG05BB-450 Mini-ITX Case

Mobo- ASUS F1A75-IDELUXE F1A75 (/w wifi and bluetooth)

Dvd Drive- SAMSUNG 8X Slim Internal DVD Burner

HDD- 3tb hitachi 7200

CPU- AMD A8-3850 Llano 2.9GHz Socket FM1

Ram- Corsair 2x2gb 1600mhz CMX4GX3M2B1600C9 (old spare parts I had)

A few questions I have... Should I get better ram or more of it? What kind of software should I install? What OS should I be using?

Im thinking of using XBMC on a windows 7 x64. Things I still need to get are an aftermarket cooler and a slimline sata adapter for the dvd drive (kinda of retarded that it doesn't come with one). Do you think it would be possible to use a liquid CPU cooler? Im just trying to keep this as cool and quiet as possible. I dont plan on overclocking it. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

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that's actually a beast system just like that... xbmc on windows 7 will work great with it... i wouldn't go for the liquid cooling it's not much more quiet, but the h60 should fit in that case if you want to give it a go. XBMC is the roxxor... I've replaced my 70$ a month satellite bill with hulu+ and Netflix on XBMC...

That memory is fine and you in good shape overall. Most CPU coolers will fit that case, but look for a low profile like one of the ones below. While a water cooler would fit, there isn't much need for the additional expense.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Laptop DVD to SATA converter => http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Internal-Optical-Ada...

OS / Apps => Win7 Home Premium 64 bit with PowerDVD or another player that supports Blu-Ray playback.

EDIT: Original CPU cooler listed was not for AM3 platform.

If you want to put water in there, you will need to sacrifice the 3.5 drive or mount the fan on the outside.

As said above, a good air cooler will do the job, but will need to be a slim one. I have a Geminii S on mine but needed some slight tweaking to make it fit with my board of choice + video card.

By the look of things, you will be pypassing the need for a video card. Very good idea. This will give you a bit more room for your heatsink.

Your low profile memory is great and give you more clearance for the heatsink.

I personally use Windows Media Center, but XBMC should be far more versatile.

I have not used that DVD drive, but I find many slim drives to be rather loud. So far I have a sony one that seems to be the quietest. My lite-on just spins up and down mid movie and was very loud(nero dvd/cd speed solves that).

Good luck with the build and have fun :) 

With some tweaking, everything fit right in. Now it only has one drive(was too loud with 2) and a thicker cpu fan(filed to make it a bit thinner to fit)
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with my setup I used an I5 650 and the stock heat sink ended up actually working best for me with noise and cooling overall... might work out with the stock amd fan... I would suggest testing it with it before spending the money on a low profile HSF... the low profile hs I got was a scythe with a thin 120 on the top... worked out well... but was actually less "low profile" than the stock HSF

(since we're showing off builds ;)  https://plus.google.com/photos/108227379284199907730/al... )

hmmm I have the 1156 socket and the cooler seems quiet to me... unless I'm crazy because I thought before I was using a 775 but couldn't remember.... but I remembered my board name... (I can't remember 775 v 1156 but I can remember dh57jg.... go figure) anyways though.... mine seems fairly quiet... though I do get a bit of vibration noise, but I'm pretty sure that's because of the 92 mm fan I have on the side which I'm gonna get a rubber vibration dampener for eventually.

Yeah, give the stock fan a try first since it is free.

@ slhpss
I think its just because of how quiet everything else was. When I first set my media center up, it had a passive video card as well. and the noise was under load not idle. It was nothing like the heatsink that comes with a X4 955BE(loud even under light games).

The Core2 E6600 cooler was quieter(mostly due to it having more surface area and a slower fan speed thanks to lower temperatures).

nukemaster said:
Yeah, give the stock fan a try first since it is free.

@ slhpss
I think its just because of how quiet everything else was. When I first set my media center up, it had a passive video card as well. and the noise was under load not idle. It was nothing like the heatsink that comes with a X4 955BE(loud even under light games).

The Core2 E6600 cooler was quieter(mostly due to it having more surface area and a slower fan speed thanks to lower temperatures).


well I guess I will see if the noise in my system if from the HSF or the case fan after I get a dampener for the case fan

slhpss said:
well I guess I will see if the noise in my system if from the HSF or the case fan after I get a dampener for the case fan

Maybe i am too picky.

I was disappointed that my Maximus Gene-Z will not let me run my fans under 60%

Like i say. i found the stock cooler loud under load, but it was fine at idle and was still far better then the AMD 955BE stock cooler.

I am such a thread jacker....
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