A recent build, G1820 on Asus H81 ITX, 16GB DDR3, SSD

[VirtualLarry]

Just finished a build last night. This is more of a FYI of what is possible.

Intel G1820 Haswell Pentium dual-core, 2.7Ghz, I think 2MB L3 cache.
~$39 (new) shipped from mp3superstore (Superbiiz) on ebay.

Asus H81I-PLUS/CSM-R ITX H81 S1150 mobo. Has support for 4K@30Hz support on the HDMI. Also has front-panel USB3.0.
$35 (refurb) shipped from Newegg on ebay.

I took a chance on these. The non-CSM refurb model on Newegg.com, had three reviews, all one egg. Not good. Also, there doesn't seem to be any listing for the CSM variant on Asus's web site, either.

I bought four, just in case half of them ended up bad. So far so good, though, with the first one. Looked and seemed basically new. Maybe I lucked out, and these are NOS sold in whitebox packaging. They did come with the I/O shield, and SATA cables.

Gskill "Sniper" 16GB DDR3-1600 RAM kit. 2x8GB. Works great.
$95 (new) shipped from Newegg.com.

You can get 16GB kits of DDR3 now for $60, on BF weekend. I bought mine several months ago, when the price had just started to dip below $100 per 16GB kit.

Apevia ITX 200 mini-ITX case w/250W PSU.
$56 (new) shipped from Newegg on ebay.

This is a pretty compact case, while still being able to fit a 3.5" HDD and a 5.25" DVD/BD-R drive. The listing showed two USB2.0 ports on the front, but the case that shipped, had one USB3.0 and one 2.0. The box still says two 2.0 ports on it. (Bonus!)

It was a difficult fit. For whatever reason, this case was designed about 3-5mm too short. The DVD drive mount does not clear a stock Intel HSF assembly on an ITX mobo. This is compounded by the fact that the front bezel does not have a punch-out for a 5.25" drive, it only has a flip-down cover for a DVD/BR drive tray. So the DVD/BR drive has to be mounted in its furthest back position. In the furthest front position, it would have fit ok.

Maybe you just need to use a "short" DVD/BR drive?

I finally got it mounted, with it putting downward pressure on the plastic top housing of the Intel HSF assembly. It may crack on me.

VisionTek 120GB SATA6G SSD (SandForce 2nd-gen controller, async MLC NAND)
$39 (new) from some ebay seller in FL.

Works fine so far, hopefully it holds up, being a "SandForce clone" and all.

LG 14X SATA BD-RE optical drive
$40 (new) shipped from Newegg.com, as part of a three-drive combo pack.
These were available individually for $30 on BF weekend.

Total cost: $305

Also used some 10" SATA rounded (blue) cables I got from Newegg in the past for less than $1 ea, and one molex-to-SATA power adapter. (always useful to have a few of those around for builds.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

reserved for pics

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3912D86740&cm_re=itx_200-_-11-144-255-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132636&cm_re=h81i-_-13-132-636-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116974&cm_re=G1820-_-19-116-974-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=visiontek_120GB-_-20-367-083-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9&cm_re=coboc_10"_sata-_-12-422-639-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136250&cm_re=lg_14x-_-27-136-250-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=gskill_sniper_16gb-_-20-231-609-_-Product

 

[Charlie98]

I was going to ask you why you paid so much for RAM... then I saw what you said.

I got the Asus $30 (AR) BD drive yesterday... it was a tossup between that and your LG.

Not a bad little case... couldn't you have taken the CD drive door off? Or maybe I'm not understanding what you did...

 

[Yuriman]

$130 for CPU + motherboard + case + PSU, not bad. Looks like an excellent little low-cost HTPC. A NUC is simiarly cheap, smaller, and probably faster if you don't need the DVD drive, and are happy with a 2.5" HDD or have external/network storage, but this build definitely has merit.

I'm not sure how far I trust the motherboard and power supply, but they'll be warrantied, so it probably doesn't matter.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

That's a nice little build for $300, but... why?

Do you sell these through a website or something?

 

[VirtualLarry]

$130 for CPU + motherboard + case + PSU, not bad. Looks like an excellent little low-cost HTPC. A NUC is simiarly cheap, smaller, and probably faster if you don't need the DVD drive, and are happy with a 2.5" HDD or have external/network storage, but this build definitely has merit.

NUC faster at the same price, and smaller? Tell me more. The cheapest "fast" NUC that I've seen, is an i3 "U"-series CPU, for just under $300.

Alternatively, there is an AMD red Brix unit with a laptop Richland quad-core APU. I built one of those for a relative, and was struck at how poor the single-threaded performance of a 2.2Ghz Piledriver core was.

I did want a Blu-Ray writer though. And the 16GB of RAM is nice too.

Thanks, BTW.

 

[VirtualLarry]

That's a nice little build for $300, but... why?

See sig?

Do you sell these through a website or something?

No, but that's a good idea.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

No, but that's a good idea.

Well, I mean, if you're doing this for a business, you need some presence, right? Set up a little virtual showroom and ship 'em out. It's an old, worn out business model, (Dell started in a dorm room, iirc) but if it puts beer in the fridge, yaknow?

vlpcs.com is available. ()

Here's to the next Alienware.

 

[Charlie98]

Here's to the next Alienware.

Larrienware?

 

[Yuriman]

NUC faster at the same price, and smaller? Tell me more. The cheapest "fast" NUC that I've seen, is an i3 "U"-series CPU, for just under $300.

Alternatively, there is an AMD red Brix unit with a laptop Richland quad-core APU. I built one of those for a relative, and was struck at how poor the single-threaded performance of a 2.2Ghz Piledriver core was.

I did want a Blu-Ray writer though. And the 16GB of RAM is nice too.

Thanks, BTW.

I was thinking of the Richland Brix, but you're the one who has used it personally.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I just set this up, finally, and am using it.

Debating moving my two SSDs from my G3258 @ 4.0Ghz to this little box. Currently, have a 120GB SandForce 2nd-gen SSD in it with Win7 64-bit. Most of my files are on the other box though.

Or maybe, I should save up for a nice decent 1TB-class SSD, and use that as my new Win7 drive. That sounds like a plan...

16GB RAM is pretty-much sheer overkill, but what the hey, I like it. Waterfox likes to leak RAM, and so does Skype. If Skype ever goes 64-bit, then it will just leak more RAM, so good thing I've got plenty.

I kind of wish that this rig was an overclocked SKL, but you can't use the iGPU when you BCLK OC a SKL.

I could have dropped in a G3258 into this ITX board and probably OCed it some, but I was concerned about thermals, being that there is no chassis fan, and everything is shoved in there pretty tight. (Had problems with the cables blocking the CPU fan.)

 

[sm625]

I was going to ask you why you paid so much for RAM... then I saw what you said.

Even if the kits are only $60 it still makes no sense. Just use one stick and keep the other for another build that only requires one stick.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Even if the kits are only $60 it still makes no sense. Just use one stick and keep the other for another build that only requires one stick.

Why? I'm using the iGPU, and I would lose out on dual-channel that way.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Ran into a small snag. When I plug something into the front USB ports, either the 2.0 port, or the 3.0 port, the machine powers on or off, depending on its current state. It's not a sudden forced power on / off, it's controlled, just like someone pressed the power button. But at least a few of the times, I'm pretty certain that I didn't press it. It is located just to the right of the USB ports, and I'm wondering if pressing on the front bezel to remove / insert the USB, might be causing just enough mechanical stress to trigger the power switch. OR, possibly there's an electrical component to it, which would probably be a worse situation.

It may be an electrical problem, I just pushed on the front bezel the same way several times, and the power switch did NOT trigger, so at this point, it appears to be more electrical than mechanical.

Any ideas?

Edit: Now that I think about it, when I was plugging it in, I tipped it up, so the front bezel was down, and the rear I/O port area was tipped up, so I could see to plug in my USB webcam, and it turned itself on spontaneously. I thought that perhaps I had tipped it up far enough to push the power switch, but now, I don't think so. I'm pretty certain at this point that the problem is electrical, and it's not just the front ports.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Ran into a small snag. When I plug something into the front USB ports, either the 2.0 port, or the 3.0 port, the machine powers on or off, depending on its current state. It's not a sudden forced power on / off, it's controlled, just like someone pressed the power button. But at least a few of the times, I'm pretty certain that I didn't press it. It is located just to the right of the USB ports, and I'm wondering if pressing on the front bezel to remove / insert the USB, might be causing just enough mechanical stress to trigger the power switch. OR, possibly there's an electrical component to it, which would probably be a worse situation.

It may be an electrical problem, I just pushed on the front bezel the same way several times, and the power switch did NOT trigger, so at this point, it appears to be more electrical than mechanical.

Any ideas?

Ugh... could maybe be some kind of short in your front panel? Do you have a... well, of course you do. Try the FP module from another case as a control.

 

[VirtualLarry]

See my update. I think that the issue isn't just the front ports at all now.

Now I think that the PSU built into this case is just crap.

At least, thus far, after I shut it off, it's not turning itself back on. I've had that happen with some PCs before.

Edit: It's a refurb Asus motherboard, too. So maybe it's the board?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

If it turned itself on when you moved the case, I'm still thinking goofy power button.