Hi guys.. need your viewpoint on this...
I've been itching to get the 1) Acer revo 3700 which is the DC Atom ION 2 based PC.. After googling around found out that there are alternatives for better and cheaper HTPC setup.

2) Asrock Vision 3D or HT100 PC.. running on i3 (barebone costs RM1400 and above )
3) Custom build mini itx, gigabyte motherboard (GA-E350N-USB3) that supports AMD fusion which is an APU.. not available in the market yet..

What this 3 have in common is the form factor .. its small and suitable for my living room... lower power consumption and noise level is also one of the reasons

Of the 3, I'm leaning towards the 3rd option which is the AMD fusion which performs much better than the ion2 but not more than the i3.. the price malaysia is not out yet and i'm guessing the cost to build should be similar to acer's 3700 or atom ion based motherboards.

http://semiaccurate.com/2011/01/03/gigabyt...mini-itx-board/

Appreciate any suggestions and opinions on this ..

Thanks for the suggestion, lets discuss this...
Price wise. The RRP for the Asus E35M1-I Deluxe AMD Fusion Motherboard cost around RM600 .. the heatsink looks more canggih than the gigabyte mb mentioned earlier
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Asus-E35M1-...pe-179019.shtml

4gb ram and Harddisk should be more or less RM500
Mini itx case and power supply should be around RM350
So total iz RM1450..buffer abit shud be around RM1500 ~ RM1600. Whats missing is the optical drive, monitor/keyboard..

In comparison between this build and Zino
The Zacate E-350 APU is powered by two 1.6GHz Bobcat cores, features Radeon HD 6310 on-die graphics - Processor wise i think the zino conquers but graphics side..
Five SATA 6Gbps ports, one eSATA connector, a PCI-Express 16x - Slightly future proof, since the graphic performance is limited by the discrete fusion processor upgrading to a more canggih card on PCI slot would defeat the purpose. extra sata for harddisk upgrade which the Zino doesn't have
USB 3.0 - Zino only USB 2.0

I doubt it could be built to be as tiny as the Zino.. due to the harddrive/optical bays.. but certainly smallest custom build PC in its category, other similar or tinier are ready made barebone HTPCs like Asrock, Acer, Shuttle and etc.

So far..have not really found "the one" yet.. there are so many varieties to choose from..but opt for quality (full aluminum) than price..

If budget permits it should be one of those Silverstone or Lianli cases




This post has been edited by jagung: Jan 27 2011, 03:22 PM

nice bro.. envy u ..

how much did it cost to setup your rig ? particularly the chassis and the mb

Free world bro..

Curios to know .. what is ur machine specs ?

Poison....

... i've been using xbmc quite awhile now.. i've played mkv files with it before and have not encountered problems with the subs...

Does the problem happen in general to all your mkv videos ? have u tried with another mkv video different ripper/subber.. some mkvs come embedded with subs.. u might want to try removing those srts when using embedded or reverse...

Try removing those codec packs and re-install xbmc.. i never install these codec packs... the standard xbmc is able to play all files without them

Im using version 10 as well, but i might have watched my mkv files on a earlier version ... trying downgrading to version 9..

Let us know the result...

Bro..How much u bought ur case Lianli ?

Any issues detected ?

nice...

Looks really tiny case... q07 successor is the q11.. thinking of getting it .. should be the same size...

from your pic it really looks small .. is ur monitor model syncmaster b2230 ? i might be using the same as yours..trying to estimate the size of it...

Sorry for late reply just got back from overseas. My to be spec is simple.. just to share some great programs im using.
XBMC will be my main media center, best media center ever...tried media portal but not as good... xbmc is much more simpler and prettier in my opinion... get boxee if u prefer an alternative.
Utorrent with Dropbox if i ever need to queue a torrent file remotely from my office...google this if u need a step by step guide.
The Renamer. Great program to automatically rename ur video files individually or by batch..

Now for my rig.. im looking at 2 possibilities.. either the AMD fusion or Intel Sandy Bridge.. to compare both
Sandy (Asus P8H67-I DELUXE) would be an overkill for what i only need..but i don't mind looking pass the high price tag but for its faster and upgradeable CPU...definitely great for games.. delayed due to flaws on earlier chipset.. who knows when exactly its gonna reach Malaysia...

Fusion (Asus E35M1-I DELUXE) would be value for money, plus i really like the heatsink from Asus...it would definitely make a very quiet HTPC...the downside is to forget about upgrading to a better graphics card or playing high end games, I have a PS3 i doubt i would. With an empty PCI slot, i can only think of adding in a sound card.. Someone posted earlier about HD audio pass through, according to another forum the answer is yes..I was told by Asus Malaysia that its already available in our market , but i have not seen resellers selling them yet, I'm arranging to get it directly from Asus...

Then again with sandy i would need to rethink on the type of chassis and room in it to dissipate the heat, its going to be hot if i my plan is to fit in 2 x 2TB 3.5" HDDs, fusion would fit perfectly on any type of chassis. There are so many chassis but so few to choose from.. but i've shortlisted a few which is Lian-li PC-Q08 or PC-Q11 and Silverstone SG05.

Eventually this baby its gonna be hooked up to a Onkyo AVR (HT-S3300).

Im currently using a similar setup.. great budget HTPC. no problems so far.. works great with XBMC.. 24hrs running my downloads.

ASUS E35M1-M PRO
8GB RAM
2 TB HDD
Silverstone ML03
CM 650 extreme powersupply

If you are getting the ML03 you might consider getting additional case fans.. at first i did not put any case fans.. temperature was around 51-56 .. after mounting a big fan on the ML03 that has vented holes on the top case cover(pulls) and smaller fans on the side vents(push).. drop to 41-43..

Definately noise level increased but.. you can tweak the fan speed with AI suite.. have not got the time to do so..

This post has been edited by jagung: May 10 2011, 02:21 PM

With HTPC... the benefits definitely outweighs media player

With the media players your stuck with the stock interface...some players might look really nice, compact, sleek.. but when it comes to interface kinda dull and boring.

If u are talking geeky..there are many interfaces that are family friendly like XBMC..
with XBMC you can tweak, download new skins and customize ur layouts easily..

Bored with XBMC.. download another software..

Freedom is the key...

Yea..auto movie scraping works 80% of the time.. i usually do a manual scrape in XBMC or use Ember to manually scrape (much more tedious).

http://code.google.com/p/embermediamanager/

Go CZONE lowayt. Not the cheapest but u can get everything there.

Around 1k can.. instead of 8gb ram/2tb hdd ..4gb/1tb shud be enough

Hi Guys..

Need some recommendation on a silent / fanless PSU for HTPC

My HTPC setup
Silverstone ML03
Asus E35m1-m pro
2TB WD green x 2
8gb ram
OS W7 4bit
Cooler master extreme 550w (planning to replace)

I've been very satisfied with this setup for the past 7 months, mainly using it for XBMC and light surfing on my 42" lcd tv in the living room.

Recently i've been noticing increase of fan noise from the PSU.. im not sure if the noise level has always been like that or simply my hearing has improved ...

Been looking around in lowyat and best i could find is the Seasonic silence from Czone retailing at RM180.. but it still has a fan and would run during peak usage

Also found on the web another model from Season x-400 which is fanless 500w.. price range is high and not sold in Malaysia yet.

My concern here is my casing ML03 might not have sufficient airflow to dissipate the heat from a fanless PSU

Anyone with experience on using the silent psu or fanless ?

Im using WD Green hdd.. It's quiet during boot up and especially when loading huge 1080 mkv files ..

maybe u can try switching to WD green..

or maybe the noise is caused by the vibration from the hdd to your casing, try using silicone washer and screw to dampen the vibrating.. my ML03 casing comes with these screws and washer.

Yup i totally agree with you SSD will definitely eliminate the noise issue..price, capacity, performance difference for SSD compared HDD just to eliminate noise issue kinda overkilling it right

Yes i agree with you, for fanless airflow is important

For my case its definitely noise coming from power supply because my MB asus e350m1-m pro uses passive cooling for the cpu...

The noise level from my psu feels like a hair dryer at low speed.. really regret getting this cooler master extreme psu

How long have you been using the Xigmatek ?...

The cooler master that i got wasn't that noisy for the first few months...

Casing do have vents but at the bottom.. my PSU fan is also at the bottom ..but the clearance from vent to table is quite narrow... IMO even though narrow (half inch clearance to the table) PSU bottom fan intakes air in and air is extracted at the back vents

You just gave me an idea... i want to try removing the casings bottom mash vents ..maybe the vents are restricting air intake

View from the bottom of the case