The perfect HTPC

[Medallish]

I have a dream, and it's of a perfect HTPC . It was first inspired when I saw this case


Streacom FC5 OD
for several months this case has been tempting me to work on an HTPC with it's fanless design, here's what I imagine a build in this case would look like.

CPU: Trinity A10-5700, underclocked and undervolted, supposedly the case can easily handle 65W but I'd still prefer it to be slightly cooler while not affecting performance too much.
Motherboard: Mini-ITX FM2 board, something like the Asus F1A75-I Deluxe board(Although better designed!), this case actually does support Micro-ATX, but if you want a dedicated video card in it that takes up more than one slot you'll need the space.
GPU: I'm thinking of course a 6670 with GDDR5 that's passively cooled, the problem here possibly is the fact that there'll be no airflow inside this case, and it will already have a higher temperature inside because of the APU, so in the end I thought it should possibly be a standard 6670 GDDR5 with a Zalman VF1000, and some simple circuitry to make either the fan always run at like 200rpm(Just as an example), or something that only turns on when the card hits 90c degrees, in either case considering the usual heatsink you see on these passive cards I think a VF1000 would be good enough even for passive cooling, and you sort of want to stick to the fanless design, one final thing I've considered is the possibility of copying the cooling system for the CPU that's like this.

Onto the other side and fitting it on the GPU.
The problem here is finding heatpipes that fit, I don't know anyone who can make them so yeah that's a bit of a long shot for me, + I'm sure installing it on the video card will be a pain.
The rest is fairly standard, you should be able to have an SSD underneath the ODD, It's either Sony or Samsung who has a nice slot in BD drive, you can have a additional 3.5" drive up next to the motherboard(If sticking to Mini-ITX), and of course you'd need a compatible PCI-E riser.

I haven't started building yet as I'm soon to go on a vacation, but still I've been juggling this idea around in my head for a while now, and thought I'd hear what your thoughts were on the current state of the idea.

[laurent]

Given the CPU and the GPU I guess you don't intend on only playing videos, but also on playing games?

[Medallish]

Originally Posted by laurent

Given the CPU and the GPU I guess you don't intend on only playing videos, but also on playing games?

Well I'm actually just focusing on cramming as much power into this thing as possible and utilizing it as well, which is why I've been looking at Hybrid crossfire and GDDR5 6670, it should have enough power to run quite a few games at full HD without looking horrible. the main focus however is Network storage and HTPC functions(watching video's, browsing etc.) Games is something I'd love to see running on it and see how viable it could be as a console replacement, or just run some games that are exclusive to PC's.

[Medallish]

Here's a quick concept I mixed up in Gimp, for the whole "use the same as on the CPU" idea

[Wandrey]

I loved the concept!

However, woudn't the memory chips and the power circuitry of the video card require some active airflow?

[Medallish]

Originally Posted by Wandrey

I loved the concept!

However, woudn't the memory chips and the power circuitry of the video card require some active airflow?

Thanks

Hmm I don't think the power circuitry of the 6670 needs anything more than maybe a heatsink, the memory however I don't know, you might be able to just slap some heatsinks on those considering this picture:



And yeah it's GDDR5@4GHz

*edit* btw. decided to check my local PC store if they had the case in stock, and ended up buying it, since I was pretty sure I was going to get it anyway, and yeah this will give me a good idea of what is possible with this case.

[Medallish]

Well I decided to buy a Llano system, mostly for testing, which I'll probably sell once I get my hands on Trinity. So I got an Asus F1A75-M Pro, an AMD A8-3870K, and 2x4GB G.skill Ares 2133MHz@1833MHz, I expect to get the video card(The Sapphire 6670 Ultimate) on Monday or Tuesday.

Let me say, so far, I'm insanely impressed with this case, I'm using it now, having this window up, youtube running, and downloading a game on Steam, no fans, it's a little chilly(Around 19-20 degrees), the CPU right now is @ 36 degrees, the case, and even the CPU block feels barely lukewarm to the touch, I honestly didn't expect it to work that well, I'm pretty convinced you can put in the 6670 in there, and if it's possible to connect it to the other side like I showed in my previous example, and have it run at Full load without crapping out.

Oh and I found out the placement of the CPU on this board makes it only possible to use 5 Heatpipes out of the 6 you have available, it just needs to be half an inch to the left(If the rear IO is to your left). Can't wait to get the Video card, first to see if it's able to use it's stock cooler.

[BioSehnsucht]

I'm assuming that's degrees Celsius not Fahrenheit.

[Medallish]

Originally Posted by BioSehnsucht

I'm assuming that's degrees Celsius not Fahrenheit.

Yes, otherwise I guess it would be nearly winter inside my HTPC? . Btw. ran Dirt Showdown @ 720p Medium details, still looked great, according to the benchmark it had a minimum framerate of 33fps, average of about 45, after running it for 2 hours, I quit and checked the temp 61C degrees on the CPU, the case was probably around 45-50 degrees to the touch on the right side.

[BioSehnsucht]

Originally Posted by Medallish

Yes, otherwise I guess it would be nearly winter inside my HTPC? . Btw. ran Dirt Showdown @ 720p Medium details, still looked great, according to the benchmark it had a minimum framerate of 33fps, average of about 45, after running it for 2 hours, I quit and checked the temp 61C degrees on the CPU, the case was probably around 45-50 degrees to the touch on the right side.

LOL considering I live in Texas, that would be the temperatures we get for a few days a year in like February... more than just nearly winter