21-30k Mini ITX HTPC

[tvarad]

I recently built a mini-itx rig that I'm happy with:

MB: Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI Motherboard (Rs. 7.5K on sale from Flipkart)
CPU: Intel G2010 Processor (Rs. 3K on sale from Flipkart)
Cooler: Scythe Schuriken Rev. B (that I had lying around after removing from an earlier build) (price was about $30 if I remember right)
Memory: Corsair DDR3 4 GB(1 x 4GB) (Rs. 2K from Flipkart)
SSD: Samsung 840 Series 256 GB (Rs. 11.6K from Flipkart)
PS: Picopsu 150W (bought in the U.S.)
Power Brick: 12V/120W bought locally (forget the price)
Case: None! MB mounted on jury rigged plywood board and hung on monitor rear with two clamps (pic enclosed).
Monitor: AOC 2757M (about 18K from Ashirwad Computers, SP Road, Bangalore)
The rig and monitor draw about 50W total power under regular load mostly consisting of surfing and watching movies. I was surprised at how cool the processor runs (my previous builds were all AMD and ran quit hot). Motherboard has a H77 chipset and is well laid out but doesn't have overclocking capability. It has two LAN ports, WIFI/Bluetooth mini-pcie card, sata 3.0/6.0 ports, USB 3.0 ports, HDMI port amongst other features.

 

[beginner007]

what about the dust, if you ve left the MB w/o any cover ?

 

[tvarad]

what about the dust, if you ve left the MB w/o any cover ?

I have a vacuum cleaner that also doubles as a blower when the pipe is connected on the opposite end, so I just use it to blow the dust off the MB once a week or so. I have also seen a lot of dust accumulate within a cabinet computer too over a long time but it still runs fine, so it's really not that big a deal.

 

[altainta]

After so long a very good post.... THAT IS WHAT A POST I WANTED FOR SO LONG... BEST!!!!
THIS IS HTPC
same config as i want and already working on it from 4 days.. tomorrow will go to market..
I loved your concept of MONITOR HANGING MOTHERBOARD..lol
I really going off from amd just because it uses much power (which will than give birth to hot issue..) (I doesn't own one)
But HTPC setup need silent, cool cpu config
So i decided to go with this
G2020 (Second hand 3k Now price are 4k)
Mobo H77N / Z77N GIGABYTE OR will go for micro atx B75 GIGABYTE (ROUTE CHANGE)
22 INCH MONITOR.. because i think it is more than enough... 24 will demolish the budget
Cabinet Well DIY is best option will cut my old cabinet
4gb ram with heat sink because of compact case
.....
now stuck on PSU because it is not small.. you ordered your from usa that is the difference.
i am thinking to get a chinese brand or rather full psu..

You didn;t mention what will you ouch for next
also want to ask how the 27 inch ? is it good to view movies or did it miss something (mostly ppi issue) So when you use it for browsing isn't it UNCOMFORTABLE to rotate head left to right or top to bottom ? or do you sit in distance

 

[tvarad]

.......
also want to ask how the 27 inch ? is it good to view movies or did it miss something (mostly ppi issue) So when you use it for browsing isn't it UNCOMFORTABLE to rotate head left to right or top to bottom ? or do you sit in distance

It's funny you should ask that. I was actually using a 46" 1080P LED TV as a monitor for a long time and downsized to the 27" AOC monitor after I started developing headaches and eye pain. After that, it's been very comfortable from a viewing distance of about 3 feet which is also about the distance (at least for me) where I don't notice the individual pixels. No large head movements are necessary; only a little more swiveling of the eyes.
Let me also add that a mini-itx board is absolutely not necessary for HTPC's. I simply wanted to reduce the cable clutter and space taken up by a separate box by hanging the MB on the monitor. You will save money with a micro-atx board and also obtain more options and flexibility like extra card slots, cheaper cabinet etc..

 

[beginner007]

But I surprised where is ur SMPS/PSU ?Is it also hanging? And about cables/wires, by not having a separate cabinet does not reduce the no of cables/wires !

 

[altainta]

But I surprised where is ur SMPS/PSU ?Is it also hanging? And about cables/wires, by not having a separate cabinet does not reduce the no of cables/wires !

the think is he mentioned PICOPSU it is so small that it fits on the socket itself. and everything else Adapter... check google for picopsu setup
BTW it cost 3-4 thousans... so not worth it..in your case

 

[babhishek]

@tvarad - can you post some detailed snaps of the mounting, i have the same monitor, and a spare vesa mount; however as you know by now, the aoc 27" doesnt support a vesa..
is the mobo dimension exactly : 170 x 170 mm
is it possible to send me links to some hi def fotoz of the clamping?
also, where in BLR do you stay...

 

[tvarad]

Here's another photo of the rig (apologies for the poor quality; my regular camera is shot so I had to use my cellphone camera which isn't too good). Like I said, this is a jury-rigged setup since no VESA mount is available on the monitor itself. I had a carpenter who was working on some furniture in my house laminate a 180mmx180mm 1/4" plywood board into which I drilled four holes through which I screwed in four 1.5" bolts that hold the motherboard about 3/4" off the plywood base. I was thinking of making the clamps myself but on one of my visits to SP road, I came across the L shaped clamps you can see on top that fit perfectly over the top of the monitor with a small lip in the front that holds it in place securely over the monitor, so no screws are necessary to bolt it down. You can also see a small foam pad underneath the clamp to protect the monitor from scratches. The other end of the clamp is secured to the top two motherboard bolts. The SSD is stuck to the plywood board with 3M double sided tape underneath the motherboard.The Picopsu is just below the CPU cooler (with the two grey objects and yellow connector) and you can see the short SATA cable from the SSD to the MB too. The twisted red and black cable is from the power pins on the MB to the small black power switch on top. Both the Picopsu and the monitor are 12V so I bought a splitter cable from SP road and power both of them with just one 12V 120W brick thus reducing clutter even more (which was the main object of my build). Here's a side-on view:

 

[altainta]

Intel g2020 - 3550
Gigabyte Z77n-wifi (the cost difference for h and z are 250 only so)- 8250
Kingston HyperX 1600 4gb DDR3 (corsair was 250 costly kingston is better though)- 2600
asus dvd rw (box pack)- 1100
Dell 21.5" IPS display S2240L- 9050
1TB WD Blue (I DON'T MIND NOISE BUT SPEED IS IMP BTW NOT NOISE ATALL)- 4150
MK200-800
HDMI CABLE-350
CREATIVE A35 SPEAKER (That's it i want for my small room)-550
cabinet circle LIL BLACK with smps (also fits NORMAL DVDRW & hdd & also compatible with micro atx motherboard) other were costly or i can say insanely priced-1950

32.5k can't beat that...

Thanks for anyone who helped


Pics soon