After three weeks I’m finally able to write about my HTPC building process. Was a little bit delayed because of a shipment fail and a slow parcel service, but since yesterday it’s finally completely finished.

Bunch of boxes get! Now let’s take a look at the components:

ZOTAC ION ITX-A mainboard

- Intel Atom N330: 2×1.6 GHz, hyper threading, 8W TDP

- up to 4GB DDR2 6400

- GeForce 9400 IGP: DX10, max. 512MB shared memory, CUDA capable

- Wifi 802.11b/g/n

- 90W power supply

- external: 1x VGA, 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 6x USB 2.0, 1x Gb LAN, 1x eSATA, 5.1 Audio, 1x PS/2

- internal: 4x USB 2.0, 3x SATA II RAID 0/1/0+1, 1x PCIe Mini Card

Inside the box you will find:

- CPU heat sink fan

- I/O back plate

- 3x SATA cables

- 1x SATA power connector (for 3 SATA devices)

- WIFI antenna

- Manual, driver CD, ZOTAC sticker, Quick install leaflet, a rori, some packaging material

- and the 90W external power brick. Just like from a random laptop.

Size comparison (CPU fan and RAM already installed): ITX is really compact. There are already Socket-1156 ITX boards out there which means you could build a really compact Core i7 machine too. Quite funny considering what kind of main boards were needed just to get a small amount of that power just a few years ago.

The rest of the internal components (a few more are actually built into the system now but more about that later):

- Western Digital Caviar Green 750GB, 32MB Cache, 5400rpm-7200rpm (WD7500AADS)

- Vivanco High Quality HDMI 1.3 cable

- LiteOn iHOS104, Bluray drive

- Kingston 2GB DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz CL6 (KVR800D2N6/2G)

And of course the case housing all of those parts: The LianLi PC-Q07

(LianLi is the Aston Martin among PC cases for those not familiar with the name.)

Some product details in this quite gay sounding product video:

Ährm, yah sorry but I don’t want to make love with the case…

Comes with all accessories needed to mount components inside the case.

LogiLink Wireless Desktop 2.4 GHz (ID0013): Yah, it’s not a Logitech diNovo Mini but thanks to that it costs only 18€. Works well even from over 10m away. (Unlike some more expensive Microsoft wireless desktops which fail at 1,5m distance).

Now let’s put that thing together. How hard can it be?

Installation of the motherboard is easy as you can unmount the left side panel of the case too.

But after placing the Bluray drive inside the 5,25” bay I came across the first problem:

As Zotac used default SATA connectors the connector barely fitted. The SATA connector didn’t fit at all. Luckily I had some angled SATA connectors from my main machines ASUS main board lying around.

Mounting the hardisk is quite stress free. You just have to use those rubberized screws , screw them into the HDD…

… and place the hard disk on the hard disk bay. An easy, vibration preventing system.

Unfortunately the SATA power cable is nearly too short here too. The guy who came up with the length for those cables deserves to be punched in the face in my opinion. And the “I never heard of angled SATA connectors” guy too of course.

HTPC Revision 1.0 ready to launch:

… and lift off, SSMEs throttling up to 104%, igniting SRBs, all system working, so far so good.

Installed Windows 7 Ultimate (x64). Everything worked out of the box but I installed the newest drivers of course. Updated the BIOS and increased the framebuffer size from 256MB to 512MB which is necessary to use CUDA.

But there were two problems:

The stock CPU fan was quite noise and running at 3000RPM without a possibility to control it. The temperatures where around 60°C.

Replaced the stock fan with a SilenX iXtrema Pro (60x60x25mm, 1600rpm, 16.89m³/h, 8dB(A) (IXP-34-08)) and attached a Scythe Slip Stream (120x120x25mm, 500rpm, 41.6m³/h, 7.5dB(A) (SY1225SL12SL)) at the back to get the warm air out of the case.

That’s how Revision 1.1 looks like:

The case wasn’t designed to mount a fan at the back but works quite well by using the grill next to the I/O shield. To cover the hole (designed for a full size PSU) and to secure the other side of the fan, I used some perforated metal plate from an old speaker cover. ^^; The while system is cooler now and completely silent (The only part you would notice right next to the case would be the harddisk.)

You might notice the second RAM DIMM in the picture above too. My HTPC has now 4GB RAM. Why?

Because 1080p playback wasn’t smooth with MPC-HC and CoreAVC 2.0. Surprisingly it was way better with the integrated DXVA decoder (a GPU using decoder included in Windows).

I ordered a second 2GB RAM DIMM and playback is now smooth by using DXVA. CoreAVC still lags so I uninstalled it right away.

Maybe the 2GB RAM running in single channel mode was a bottle neck? Not so sure about that, as this is my first integrated graphics card. Any ideas?

Playback of 1080p material with CoreAVC:

Uses more GPU and more CPU which leads to higher temperatures but the playback isn’t that smooth.

Playback of 1080p material with DXVA:

Smooth playback, lower usage of system resources (besides the memory which isn’t that important in that case)  and for free. The way to go on Windows for now.

A detailed guide on how to configure MPC to use DVXA can be found here: http://nunnally.ahmygoddess.net/watching-h264-videos-using-dxva/

Watching 1080p stuff since a few days now on the TV. Really awesome as I used to watch HD movies on my PC monitors since many years. But 52” > 24”

Bluray playback works great too using TotalMedia Theatre 3 Platinum. Way better than PowerDVD which became some sort of spam filled crap. TotalMedia Theatre uses CUDA too and even uses it’s power to upscale DVDs to 1080p. Integrates itself into the Windows Media Center software too.

Speaking of Blurays: Looks like a GITS Bluray set (contains GITS 2.0 and GITS Innocence) fell from the ceiling lately.

So yah, I’m completely in love with my HTPC setup at the moment. ^_^

I prefer this over a bunch of boxes with limited functionality. If you are looking for a way to watch Blurays, DVD, fansubs and what not or for a cheap PC for daily computing tasks I can highly recommend Zotac’s ION series. You could even play some newer games, not at highest settings of course. The fan should be replaced though if you want a silent system but everything else works out of the box.

Are you eyes hurting when you have to watch low definition crap too?

At least mine are and as I’m watching HD stuff since many moons ago, I guess I’ve tried every codec pack out there.

A little bit over one year ago I found the best one: CoreAVC 

Until January 17, 2010 you can get the new released version 2.0 with complete Windows 7 support and 64bit codec for $12.95 / €7,04.

Just head over to their page and enter “CES” (without apostrophes) into the discount field.

I’m actually wondering why I didn’t mention CoreAVC anywhere on my blog yet. Since back then

So what’s so great about CoreAVC?

Well, it’s the fastest software based codec to decode H.264/MPEG-4 AVC content.

But the really important and cool feature is that it supports Nvidias CUDA. (The geeks among you can stop reading here I guess.)

Why should you use you CPU to decode HD material when your GPU is way more suited for it? A cheap Geforce 8/9 pawns a 1000€ CPU with such tasks after all.

If you have chosen wisely and got an Nvidia card from Geforce series 8 upwards your CPU can rest while you are watching 1080p stuff. Cool eh?

So why are you still messing around with CCCP and such? Get CoreAVC!

Some facts about the codec below:

• Supports Windows 7
• 32/64 bit Support
• NVIDIA CUDA GPU support
• Supports up to 16 CPU Cores
• QuadHD Resolution Support <– holy sh.. rori!
• Full Interlaced support
• Uses Directshow for MKV
• Includes the Haali Media Splitter

After installing the codec it would work out of the box with Windows Media Player for example. But who would use that?

Instead you are most probably using Media Player Classic Home Cinema right? If not get it here.

Inside Media Player Classic go to Options>External Filters. Click on “Add Filter” and navigate to the install directory of the codec.

Usually you should find it in C:\Program Files (x86)\CoreCodec\CoreAVC Professional Edition.

Be sure to check “Prefer” on the right side of the options dialog.

Now it should decode your HD stuffs and you should see a green ball in your system tray whenever CoreAVC is in use. (Blue if you don’t have a Nvidia graphics card or CUDA not enabled.)

You can also enable AVI and TS support and tweak a couple of things in the CoreAVC settings of course.

Try to watch some 1080p material, fire up your task manager and take a look at the CPU graph. Should be pretty flat and at the bottom now. Hehe \o/

As we all (besides Guy) agree that GPU accelerated animu is better (and as I still can’t watch 1080p animu on the “living room TV” cause the settop box won’t allow it)  it’s time to get a HTPC.

I could just get an ASUS Eee box or the ACER 3610 REVO.

Or I could just put some random system together, slam it into a small case and I’d be ready to go, drain much energy and generate some heat.

Maybe even get an overpriced Apple mini without an HDMI port and without a BluRay drive for 800€?

Unfortunately I don’t have that much money to burn. So why shouldn’t I just get the cheapest solution?

An ITX motherboard with Nvidia IGP sounds good to start of, don’t you think?

So for now I guess I will use this one: the ZOTAC ION ITX-A-E:

- Intel Atom N330 (dual-core) (1.6 GHz) with HT, 8W TDP

- up to 4GB DDR2 6400

- GeForce 9400 IGP, DX10, max. 512MB shared memory, CUDA capable

- Wifi 802.11b/g/n

- 90W power supply

- external: 1x VGA, 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 6x USB 2.0, 1x Gb LAN, 1x eSATA, 5.1 Audio, 1x PS/2

- internal: 4x USB 2.0, 3x SATA II RAID 0/1/0+1, 1x PCIe Mini Card

Pretty sweet, huh? The Dual Core Atom CPU isn’t a powerful processor, but it hasn’t to be one. The video decoding is done by the popular Geforce 9400, the same chip you will find in Mac minis or MacBooks for example. (To bad they don’t support CUDA there, eh? ^_^ )

If you would like to build a more powerful system you can get ION boards with socket 775 but that’s not really necessary for a HTPC in my opinion.

The rest of the system should contain of the following components:

- Kingston HyperX DIMM Kit 2GB PC2-6400U (don’t need more for that purpose)

- Lian Li PC-Q07B, Mini-ITX, aluminium black (there are cheaper ones but this one is top notch, with anti vibration drive bay and what not)

- LiteOn iHOS104, SATA Blueray drive

- Western Digital Caviar Green 750GB, 32MB Cache, 5400rpm-7200rpm (WD7500AADS)

Total cost: €335€ / $485. Not that bad. The whole system should only use around 60W while playing 1080p content.

What do you guys think? Feel free to share your thought below. Let me know if you are able to come up with a better solution.

For those wondering what’s going on with my second Samsung monitor: Still at the repair center, they are waiting for some spare parts from Korea…

As I have more free time than one should have…

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…the 52” Samsung TV is quite busy these days xD  (The ueber cute Kagamiku wallpaper is from one of comrade Kodomut’s awesome Nendoroid photosessions.

Be sure to check out his burogu.)

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Watching one series after another these days…

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From currently airing Anime (Shangri-La, K-ON!, Valkyria Chronicles)…

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…to series I didn’t watch a few seasons ago… (rawrrr~)

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…to re-watching older series which are made of pure WIN. ~Nya~

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What are you watching at the moment? Any recommendations regarding the current Anime season? 

Feel free to join the IRC @ hikky-live

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No Geass plot twists, no random Macross CG battles, no clumsy girl Haruka-chan, no pink haired space princess… :’(

What should I do on such a weekend?

Ohh right the subs for the first Fall ’08 Anime are out xD

So let’s start with a first, short coverage of the first episodes:

Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka

Looks like a random Schoolife-Harem-Anime.

Random guy with cute sister saves Super-Moe girl. She turns out to be the new transfer student… and so on.

I don’t expect much but who knows, but I have to admit that Yuuhi Katagiris look got me^^

Ok, who’s producing a figure? Alter, GSC? I’m waiting…

Because of her I have to watch this series…

Clannad-After Story

Finally we get the animated Tomoya route (why did they choose the Nagisa route in the first place… Kotomi is still my first choice btw).

So what’s going on in Episode one?

Baseball match with all Clannad harem members VS random baseball team… (Yus, a lot of randomness is going on this Fall )

Kotomi enters Shooting-Modu!

Kotomi enters Catching-Modu!

Nice Catch!

I guess Clannad will be one of the best things this Fall. The opening is definitely great:

Hyakko

Four girls are running around in their new school and try to find the classroom… eh??

Category: Random school girl slice of life Anime

Seems like their teacher has got some real problems now^^

My opinion? I don’t really know if this will be a completely fail or an epic win ( If you think you know the main protagonists voice.. YES its Aya Hirano!). I’m in despair!

Rosario to Vampire – Capu2

OMG! Succubus X witch meido yuri action want!

School year #2, everything’s like before, except one new girl…

… ährm yes that’s it so far with the plot^^

If you were satisfied with Season 1, I guess you will be with Season 2 too. I cant imagine that there will be any great changes in Season 2.

Toradora!

Just a random guy meets moe girl anime?

NO! Taiga is not your ordinary girl. She is living alone, isn’t able to do any house chores, you can imagine how her flat looks right?^^

That’s the first time I’m happy about pixelisation.

The manliest sentence I’ve heard this week xD

Taiga is called "the creature ranked most dangerous in the school" and it doesn’t take Ryuuji very long to find out why…

Worth the watch? Maybe^^ I’ll think I’ll watch it.

That’s it so far, but there are already a few new anime in my download queue atm.