Case - Streacom FC5-OD Mobo - Gigabyte G1 Sniper M3 (got a pretty good deal on it, needed the features over power savings) Proc - i3 3225 (mainly because of the HD4000 graphics) Ram - 8GB Samsung Low Voltage Storage - Intel 330 Series 120GB SSD PSU - Standard 150W PicoPSU Blu-Ray Burner - Panasonic UJ235A PicoPSU and the AC/DC converter. Thiiiiiiiick front panel. Parts (aside from the Blu-Ray burner which is on a ship heading here from China). Mock fitting. Lapped all the thermal coupling blocks flat (I know, it's not a mirror finish, went up to 2000 grit). Installed! Arguably the hardest part of the build, used up my entire tube of IC Diamond. Had to scrounge up some Arctic Silver to complete the jobby, no clue why Streacom did not include any thermal paste... Power and SATA3 cables in place for future 3.5" hard drive expansion. Still waiting on the slim SATA adapter cable to plug the Blu-Ray burner in, allocated a molex connector on the bottom right. 3.5" hard drive mocked in place. Now for the stress testing portions, sure an i3 doesn't put out that much heat, but the heatsinks still got plenty hot. Ran Prime95 + MSE full antivirus scan for a day just to be safe (partially because I wanted to cure the thermal paste) and found that the temps maxed out at around 70C, which is impressive for a completely fanless case. Not bad for a consumer SSD. Some of my opinions after buttoning up the system: PROS +Looks amazing +Passive cooling system works pretty well +Can fit a surprisingly amount of hardware inside +Solid construction MINUSES -Too many parts make up the case, introduces flex because there are a lot of screw joints, would be better if the sinks were one piece -Top and bottom panels could be thicker -Finish could be better, but I understand the 'EVO' edition fixes this -Cost! -Unused heatsinks on the left of the case, would be better of the heatpipes were split between the two banks of heatsinks So far I'm quite satisfied with the system. The SSD definitely speed things up a lot. My boot times were in the 15 second range with the standard installation of Windows 7 before any optimization. It has obviously slowed down a tad bit due to the programs I installed. The HD4000 graphics are amazing and effortless, I do not understand why anyone would pay for a more expensive i5 for HTPC duties (or even i7's) - the i3 is PLENTY. HOWEVER, the best part of it all? 100% WAF AND its absolutely SILENT. Brendan
That's awesome! You've given me a lot to consider for my next build now! Nice work! I also like your taste in Pokers. What switch are you using?
That's a really nice looking case... to bad that they are so expensive. I don't think I could bring myself to pay $250 for a case.
I've got an HFX passive enclosure - does the graphics card too. It was expensive, but I'd not go back to anything else. It's brilliant. The streamcom ones look excellent too - Lysol - sounds like you also had to use loads of thermal paste - it's a pain, isn't it, but the end result is excellent.
Reds, couldn't bring myself to like the clicky's. O-ring modded and managed to get ahold of the ninja engraved keycaps. Yep, good thing I didn't buy it, building it for my uncle. Thanks!
Yep, no issues at all. Decodes 1080P content fine with no chopping. Integrated graphics has gone really far nowadays! And yes, it comes in black as well (arguably looks better, but my uncle preferred silver).
What's XBMC support like out of the box? (For hardware in either Win or Lin) if you know? and woo black - need something to replace my white foxconn netbox 330i as it's white next to all my black AV kit
Bad news. To everyon with a power brick from Streacom/Wesena/Perfect Home Theatre, be careful with the external power brick BTW, mine died in a little under a month. I opened it up and found CRAP soldering, and connections that broke off due to cold solders and whatnot: A baby could solder better! I will need to reflow the connections as I have to pay to ship it back, which I thought was ridiculous as any reseller should stand behind their product especially if it was an issue a consumer could not foresee. Utter garbage. Brendan
Lesson learned -- don't go cheap on the PSU. The unfortunate part is that choice is pretty limited with these external units.