Another HTPC

2009. For a long time I had a desire to have a second computer at home, sped up the appearance of an LCD TV. The “first second” machine, which we will continue to call the HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer), has become an old-fashioned AMD ATlon 2500+ in a slim ATX package. But this option was far from the limit of dreams in view of several shortcomings.


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I live in a small apartment, but apparently I was really lucky with my neighbors and far enough from noisy roads and trams. Perfect silence after the repair added double-glazed windows. I think that you have already guessed, and the first thing I put at the forefront is noise, or rather its absence.

The second most important factor is energy consumption, which is especially reminiscent of this annually growing price tag for electricity.
The third is compact placement, not a critical, but desirable requirement for a new HTPC.
And, of course, so that all needs have enough performance.

And what is the need?

- show on TV any video format, up to 720 / 1080p;
- keep hundreds of gigabytes of media data;
- download / distribute torrents;
- perform the role of a home web server for development;
- perform the role of a VPN server as a cure for paranoia when working in public Wi-Fi networks from a mobile;
- small specific automation tasks, usually working on a schedule at night.

2010. The budget and the selection strategy were not defined at all, it should be understood as a desire to get more for less money, and with minimal effort in terms of searches.

Epoch Atom.

I was interested in this particular line because of its low power consumption and the expected passive cooling system "in stock".
The choice in the shops of my city was rather limited in this class, and I did not want to wait for delivery from somewhere. The choice fell on ZOTAC IONITX-CE.



It seemed to me the perfect solution:
- Intel Atom 230 processor;
- NVIDIA MCP79 (ION) chipset;
- mini-ITX form factor;
- 3 SATA 3Gb / s connectors;
- Up to 4 GB of RAM;
- external power supply 90 watts;
the price was not very good, but the possibility of assembling the system without a single fan outweighed.

Before the working PC, I didn’t have enough RAM for which I didn’t have to spend any additional time, I used the remaining bar from the whale GEIL DDR2-6400 2GB, and I inserted 1GB of OCZ in the second bank. As a result, having received an unremarkable 2 + 1 configuration, both slats have radiators.

Body

It turned out all sad. The choice of mini-ITX form factor cases was extremely poor. I took this case (I don’t remember the name, I also forgive you for the quality of photographic material):





The case is not very compact, but it has a five-inch compartment and I absolutely don’t need a 250 watt power supply.

Assembly.

I can’t mention any special moments - it's simple. I unscrewed and removed the BP casing away. I installed the motherboard, stuck the slats of RAM ... oh, the hard drive.

Winchester was chosen green - WD volume of 1.5TB, with 64MB of cache, with a low speed of rotation of the plates, based on reducing the only source of noise.

On the side of the case there was a fan that was intentionally forgotten and not turned on.



Put, turned on. First thoughts - quiet, very quiet. The question of choosing a platform and software, I plan to describe a separate story, so back to the birds. Long operation (remembering last summer) dictated the need to turn on the side cooler at low revs. The overall temperature was satisfactory.

Upgrade.

The first thing that was purchased was Microsoft Remote Control w / Receiver for MCE:



Convenient remote control, the only drawback I can call its battery gluttony, the likely reason is the button illumination.

Wi-Fi module in PCI-E. I wanted to use the HTPC link for laptop and mobile. This time, I was patient and made an order on ebay. A month later, the module successfully arrived, was inserted and worked faithfully, before purchasing a router with Wi-Fi, with support for n.



As a conclusion, I want to say that the described configuration fulfills all the demands made on it to this day and continues to delight, carrying multimedia comfort. Today I would like to add, perhaps, support for USB3, a second network interface and, probably, a more nimble processor ...

PS The story was superficial, but I will be happy to answer any questions in the comments.