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Seems I just can’t stay away. While I’m searching high and low for a new TV (that isn’t Plasma and doesn’t suck) I decided to rebuild the HTPC that I cannibalized only a year ago. This time around I will do the build in stages to avoid too many mishaps, but I will stick with the Antec Aria case its PSU for the time being.
So far I have:
- Intel i3-2100 – stock cooler
- Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3
- Corsair Vengeance 8GB Low Profile
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 -750 GB, same as old build for now
That is to say a perfectly operational system. Or a good foundation to build on at least. I looked at a lot of other options as well, including the WDTV Live that I owned for a brief time, as well as Fusion/Atom builds and Llano. But in the end I felt this was my best option. It’s a well-rounded system that will go great with a discrete GPU and has the power to handle any sort of task, including light gaming, MadVR and Hi10p.
I also got the Logitech K400 keyboard, which seem fairly ideal for HTPC use. Never used a touchpad before but it is at least easier to clean than the greasy trackball on my old keyboard. A reasonable keyboard at a reasonable cost. If Logitech could add a backlighting and some media keys it would be golden. Works well to bring the computer out of sleep (S3) but I’ve had problems getting it to work in DOS / Bios. It’s a good thing that Gigabyte has their Touchbios software.
I have a couple of upgrades in the pipeline of course, including a discrete GPU, quieter cooling, possibly including a PicoPSU and of course an SSD (still very costly for a computer you wont use much). But the GPU issue comes first. Just not sure what to get. Just about anything is better than the Intel HD2000 circuit of course, but I would really like something that can offer some light gaming possibilities. And at the very least best the Llano option that I turned down. Ideally I would also like CUDA support, but Nvidia cards are generally quite poor in terms of performance per watt. And I really shouldn’t go down a route that precludes ever being able to run a PicoPSU. At the end of the day I probably need to get the computer concealed inside a TV cabinet first to see whether temperature and noise are really issues.
Selecting a PicoPSU is even more of a nuisance. And a costly one that you can never be quite sure will work in the end. Running a discrete GPU and a reasonably normal system, you can’t get away with a 90 W PSU like some of these other builds you find online. In fact I wouldn’t get anything less than 150 or 160 W, but preferably I’d want one of those 200 W PSUs. Unfortunately, finding a power adapter that can do 200 W, wont cost a fortune and actually works is no easy task. Not to mention the soldering and jury-rigging that might be involved. I’ve never seen anything bigger than 150 W bricks readily available and to power a 200 W PSU you’d need to scavenge an older laptop brick like the Dell DA-2. But going down the PicoPSU route is certainly tempting. Not only will it reduce the noise and heat inside the case (and TV cabinet) but it will free up a lot of space inside the case, allowing for bigger CPU coolers. And it will be possible to add a 120mm fan where the PSU currently sits.
I must also take the opportunity to gripe about Truecrypt once more. Sure, I made a few mistakes the first time around in that I encrypted entire drives in one sweep, either by not partitioning first or by doing system encryption across partitions. But TC sure doesn’t make it easy for people to decrypt their data in the case of system encryption. Not only can you still not attempt decryption of system volumes created outside of the currently running OS, but decryption from DOS using the rescue disc is darn slow. And when you realize how slow it is and defer the process, the entire drive is borked until you go through with the decryption process. There is no option to reverse the decryption process. Nor is there a way to re-install or repair your OS without decrypting (or formatting). Took me almost 30 hours decrypting those 750 GB …
