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September 16, 2011
After my server rebuild, I had a good MB, CPU, and RAM. After my main PC update, I had a spare 80 GB HD laying there. I also had a spare Earthwatt 380 power supply left over from an old warranty claim. Suddenly, I had enough usable parts to justify building an HTPC for my living room (well, in my fevered mind it seemed I must do so). What else could I do? I logged on to Newegg and went carefully crazy. I needed a video card, sound card, remote receiver, RF keyboard, CPU heat sink, and case.
I used what was working for me:
MCE IR Remote Control
AVS Gear GP-IR01BK link Discontinued now. These are very common, and keep showing up as another model/brand. The important thing for me is a USB port IR receiver (IR6 type) in an easily disassembled case.
AVS Gear GP-IR02BK link is current, and includes a transceiver (instead of just a receiver). It should work, but may take some work in EventGhost & Harmony
Rosewill WMC Remote control link This one will definitely work. It's the same receiver I have received with the last two Windows MCE Remotes I have ordered.
Keyboard
IOGEAR GKM561R, Wireless, RF connection via USB dongle link
Video Card
An Asus GeForce GT 520 (Fermi) 1GB link
Sound Card
ASUS Xonar DX link For the money, you just can't miss. So far, it has functioned perfectly with every combination of equipment and programs I have used in the past year ad a half.
Case
Silverstone Grandia Series GD01B link This is a very pretty case. All components, USB ports, and connector jacks are hidden behind panels. It looks like stereo equipment when it's stacked with your gear. The case fans blow out of the rear face of the case, it can be placed on a shelf with little clearance on the sides or top, it will still draw air from the side vents and front face, collect it at the fans behind the CPU, and exhaust the warmed air. The down side is cost ($150 without power supply), and the two 80mm case fans (noise).
CPU Heat Sink
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 link I really like these, they fit everything from LGA 775 to LGA 1155 CPUs, they cool great, and so far, I haven't used the heatsink's fan on any 65 watt CPUs.
BIG NOTE: Always check the chip-side face for flatness. I've bought two, and I had to lap the contact surface on both. They weren't flat enough to even try without lapping (I use a scrap of 3/4 MDF for a flat surface, start with 400 grit, and finish with 800 grit. A good round on 1000 grit would be better, with some polishing, but I'm getting good results with the 800 grit surface and Arctic Silver V compound.)
Worries be dammed, I went ahead and tried the Silverstone case. I works and it can accept a full sized ATX MB. And it's purdy. This was very handy for me, I could use my old server MB and I wouldn't have to put up with the extra heat produced by an unused on-board video chip. The MB I installed in it has good fan speed control and could run the stock 80mm fans slow enough to kill the noise unless you place your ear within a foot or two of the case.
CPU
Core 2 Duo, E6500 Wolfdale 2.8 GHz
RAM
Two 1 GB sticks of no-name RAM for Page Mode operation
Motherboard
Asus P5Q Pro Turbo
Hard Drive
80 GB Western Digital Blue drive
This was the Programs drive I pulled from my main PC
The silly thing booted and ran after deleting all the missing hardware and installing the correct device drivers!?!?!
Wow, the first time Windows ever surprised me and saved me time.
This machine is working well, looking great, and it's quiet. I set the fan speed to "Silent" in BIOS and it worked great, no fan noise at 10' in a silent room. Also, the analog output from the Xonar DX is as quiet as always.
Here's how it looks in use.
It really fits in well with audio gear. The only reason it isn't on the shelf under the receiver is the case's height; about 7 3/4", just a 1/4" too tall for the shelf space under my receiver. The good news is that it is exactly 17" wide and will fit most audio rack shelves.
Honestly though, I prefer the look of the Lascala, it's $50 cheaper, and it's easier to install a remote receiver in.
The front of the GD01B. The holes for the IR receiver are 1/8" on the left and 9/64" on the right and 1/4" apart. The holes are a bit tougher to place on this face plate than the Lascala.
A closer look at the IR receiver holes.
Here's the back of the finished PC. The dongle for the keyboard is in one of the USB ports. You can see the 80 GB HD in the middle drive bay, just to the right of the top brace in the middle of the picture at the front of the case. It's a good HD mounting system, I could just hear arm seeks if I put my ear to the front of the case. You can't hear at all from a few feet away.
Here's everything in the case. The Xonar is in the first slot, by the CPU, the Nvidia 520 Fermi card is several slots over. I left the slot covers on between the cards, and left the slot covers to the right of the video card off to promote fresh air flow over the video card's heat sink.
I love how Asus handles heat on this MB. You can also see how the Arctic Cooler fits the CPU.
This is the CPU heat sink after lapping it in. A polished surface will work a tiny bit better, but this finish with Arctic Silver V worked fine.
The receiver card installed. Again, I used silicone sealant to glue the front of the silver box around the sensor to the back surface of the faceplate. I also tried to glue the board to the structure around it anywhere I could. The Lascala is much easier to do this to.
This is the same receiver as I got for the Lascala, different brand of remote, same parts on the inside. Same procedure as the Lascala installation, splice the wires from the brown plug to the same color wires on the cable from the blue plug. The blue plug plugs into any open USB port header on the MB.
The holes in the face plate have to be placed pretty accurately to hit this window. There's a lot of pieces to deal with also. The face plate has to be completely disassembled. If you don't, I'd say you have at least a 95% chance of breaking or scratching something.
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