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The smallest Blu-ray Home Theater: Intel core i3-540 HTPC

alek

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During Chinese New Year, I went back to Taiwan for vacation.
Playing "Mah-Jongg" is a must in our culture, this is also the only chance I can "gamble" legally under my parents' permission :- )
While I am trying to win some money, our bell rings....this is strange, because all delicious foods we ordered arrived already, what else this will be ??
Beyond my expectation, my buddy Shan sends me a package which included one PC case and some system components......is this a gift for me? how generous!!
Then I notice a small note enclosed, it says : "I got these system from an auction with really good price, and exchanged the case for free from an activity I joined online. Since you are coming back to Taiwan for a while and I am going to Australia for honeymoon with my wife, I think you don't mind helping me assemble a brand new PC :- ) " oh, my god, is this what a good friend for ? I should get a gf soon, otherwise, everyone thinks I have nothing to do during my free time !!!

In order to keep our "friendship", I have no choice but help him to assemble the PC... (Shan is so damn right, I start to feel bored after playing Mah-Jongg, watching several videos, and eating ....I really enjoy assembling and testing a new PC! ) Anyway, here is the list of components I received from him:
Equipment:
CPU: INTEL I3-540 (32nm)


MB: MSI H55M-E33

VIDEOconnector supportsD-SUB、DVI、HDMI

Solid Capacitor applied , this enhanced stability~

RAM: Kingston DDR3-1333 2G 2KIT


ODD: LITEON 4X BD-ROM

CASE: IN WIN MARTIX

VIDEO: Batman Begins ( Blueeay disc)

although this MB has Easy OC Switch design, but the efficiency is only 20% more.

Without Intel Turbo boost, I have to use BIOS to justify to 4G (with original CPU cooler, this kind of speed is good enough ! )

installing Power DVD v 8 edition (provided by LITEON DVD )
OK, let's go !
In our house, we have a big screen in basement, my parents love to spend time watching some nice movies there :D
So this is the best place to test the system and watc DVD !

Look, show time for Blueray DVD !

Final thought:
I didn't know that Batman fell into a well in his childhood, and that's why he became a BATman !
oops, sorry, I know no one is interested in my thought of movie, ok back to track.

It is exciting to see the performance of Intel i3 with built-in GPU. It helps save the space and budget of a VGA, the most important is that 45 nm reduces electricity consumption. New GPU is capable of decoding Blueray, which makes the movie go smoothly without any lag. It also means to upgrade a normal home PC to a Home Theater PC! I think it is also perfect for playing online games !
 
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I loved what your friend did, what a cool guy LOL.

It was nice of you to build it for him even though you obviously got a lot of joy out of it.

I wouldn't say it's the smallest BR HTPC but it is nice and compact.
 

theonedub

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Be careful with that case, it looks great but can fall apart if you do so much as look at it funny... 1st hand experience :mad:
 
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Be careful with that case, it looks great but can fall apart if you do so much as look at it funny... 1st hand experience :mad:

I've seen that case before, I believe somewhere in the B/S/T forum. It looked pretty solid.
 

theonedub

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Software Windows 10 Pro x64 || WIndows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores WCG & F@H Only
How is the heat in that setup?

I've seen that case before, I believe somewhere in the B/S/T forum. It looked pretty solid.

Yup, I was the one that bought that exact case. Looks great, but not solid at all.
 

95Viper

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Nice!:)

However, that case would have to be changed.
It looks like my fridge.
:wtf:
 
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Keeps it cool right? :D
 
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