So have decided to put together a HTPC I came very close to buying one ready built rather than building from scratch. There is a wide variety of choice these days for small nettops or dedicated HTPC devices. My main requirements were fairly clear and included :

• 1080p HD video output over HDMI
• S/PDIF optical audio output
• Ability to use XBMC or Boxee
• Local file storage and ability to do light web browsing/manage downloads
• Small, quiet and cool running

Here are a few of the devices I seriously considered and came close to buying over a few months of research :

• Acer Aspire Revo 3700
• Zotac ZBox HD-ID11
• Boxee Box
• Mac Mini

Any of the above would have met my needs but ultimately I had set my mind on doing things the hard way.

Having ruled out all of the ready made options it was time to select the most important part of any PC system the Motherboard and CPU. Most mini-ITX motherboards in this class appeared to offer similar features so this decision seemed to come down to the choice of an Intel Atom + Nvidia ION or an Intel i3 with it's own on-chip graphics. The i3 option seemed like a pretty good idea as it gave a lot more processing power (2x 2.93 GHz) than the top of the range Atom (2x 1.8 GHz) although this would be at the expense of a little more heat and therefore noise associated with the CPU cooling fan. However, I knew that I really didn't need the extra power and became concerned about 'skipping' issues being reported with the on-chip graphics of the i3 when playing back high quality HD video.

While weighing up the options of Atom vs i3 I started reading about a third option, the Intel CULV. At first glance the idea of going for a dual core 1.2 GHz processor did not seem to make any sense. True, the single core 900MHz EeePC was fine for browsing, email and even limited use for playing Eve Online, but this would be lower spec than anything I had looked at so far. However, all of the reviews talked about this new type of CPU not only using less power (therefore generating less heat and noise) but actually out performing the Atom at most things beyond media playback. There were also several reports of it being successfully overclocked to run at 1.8 GHz for a bigger boost to performance and still at quite low temperatures.

With only 2 weeks before Christmas it was time to order everything that I would need to make sure it all arrived by the time my leave from work started. To make things simpler I opted to get everything from one supplier, mini-itx.com, they've been around for quite a while and as the name would suggest specialise in the small. Their customer service seemed pretty good too judging by the reply to an email I sent to them double checking a few things about the compatibility of the items in my order.

So the next day I took delivery of my HTPC components

• 80W AC Universal Adapter 12V 6.6A & UK Plug
• picoPSU-80 12V DC-DC ATX power supply
• Seagate Momentus 160GB SATA 2.5in HDD 8MB Cache
• 2x 2GB DDR3 1333 ULP DIMM
• M350 Universal Mini-ITX Enclosure
• Zotac ION-ITX-P-E ION CULV Mini-ITX Motherboard with PCI-E x16

It was time to get busy...

 

 

It must be nearly 9 years since I last built a PC and escaped the expensive habit of continual upgrades and tinkering. Laptops, nettops and netbooks were to be the way forward - ideally only one or two of them in the house at any one time. For the most part it has been fine a certainly saved a lot of space. Gone are the days when it was ok to have a network of 5 servers in your bedroom but there is one project I never got around to, 'something' with a mini-ITX motherboard.

I've always had an interest in the possibilities that such a small form factor has to offer but there was never really a suitable use for what 5+ years ago would have been an impressively underpowered machine the expensive top of the range options peaking at around a 900 mHz CPU.

My last netbook, an EeePC 900, had a few months of active use including a stint as an in-car navigation GPS system during a driving trip around Florida. However, I soon found that it was usurped by the iPhone 3GS for convenience and usefulness. The netbook then became a static device permanently hooked up to my TV and Amp. It was fine for watching some low quality video and listening to music on Spotify but not ideal. What I needed was a dedicated Home Theatre PC (HTPC) and with the holidays upon us now seems like a good time to build one.