New
#981
Nice.. I'm also in the planning stages of a lounge PC at the moment. Aiming for a low power "media server / network file server / dedicated download box" type of setup myself; you doing much the same your side then? Still can't decide if I should do a mini-ATX or mini-ITX build though. Heck, there's even nano-ITX (12x12cm). Too many darn choices...
That's exactly my build except add in Emulators and Steam and you've got my living room build pegged. I'll most likely set up rss for torrents too at that point, so it just does it all automatically. I'm looking towards mini-ATX. IF the money is there, I'd like to go with the MSI Nightblade and an MSI GTX760 (780 if the money is there). If I'm penny pinching, I'll just go with a reg HTPC case and most likely then a regular ATX board. I know WHY I'm building it, similar to you... just haven't pegged the exact set up yet. Low power, nVidia GPU (single card no matter what), Windows 7 (I'll put 8 on my bedroom pc and transfer my 7 pro to the living room), 8-16gb ram (i'll move what I have from bedroom pc to living room as I upgrade the bedroom pc)... Also looking to run Kodi (xbmc) for the media center stuff (plus it has a great rom browser for emulation)... ultimately it will be whatever is cheap and efficient but powerful enough to game on in the living room too. Hand me downs from the bedroom gaming PC will also play a large part.
Sounds like you're planning quite a beast of a machine there.. I'm hitting the opposite end of the scale this time, it will most likely call something like the CM Mini 210 "home, sweet 127.0.0.1".. :)
[edit:] It does, after all, need to fit in a horizontal space about 12cm (about 4.7") high...
I'm planning to run mine as a headless *nix box of some kind (some flavour of ubuntu server maybe?), serving general binary content to all devices on a network.. Kodi for media, OwnCloud for file sharing, uTorrent, SickBeard, etc etc. Might even run a couple web servers and move my code storage off my main PC. It will sit in the same space as a DVD player in a TV stand at the end of the day.
Last edited by ZaLiTH; 23 Jan 2015 at 14:07. Reason: fixed URL.. *oops*
It's kind of a scam in that you need the top tier if you want range slot loading DVD drive, so whichever one comes with a slot loading DVD drive... Which I think is the top tier. :-/
But I dig the design and the form factor. And I'm a big msi fan (from back when I was a kid building PCs, always had the best bios...)
I thought about Ubuntu as Linux has a Dvr program that's freaking awesome, but I've moved away from cable and into XS (torrents), so I'm gonna stick with windows. Especially with the need for steam games and emulators. Sounds like yours is also for storage / data / etc. that's cool man. I'm anxious to see your build.
(Following link to see your case now)
I dig that case man. Don't be surprised if I steal your idea there. Lol.
Looks like this board would fit in there too...
MSI USA Z77MA-G45