Any Interest in Building a Mini-ITX HTPC?

[jim]

I'm looking to get a new HTPC in the near future, and I've got myself a rough specification together. Obviously being a mini-itx cable management will be very important, which you guys are a fair bit better at than I am, and combined with a guarantee that it will "just work" (especially with a warranty for the next few years), I'd probably opt for prebuilt over a selfbuild.

The parts will probably cost £300-350 in total - I realise that's a fair bit less than the typical 3XS PC, but nonetheless I would like to know whether you could consider putting a quote together for me? If so, I'll get in touch over the phone when practical to discuss specifics.

Cheers, Jim.

[PeteG@Scan]

Hi Jim,

If you know what your after we can more or less do any system. Just give one of the sales guys a ring and they'll go through it with you, and see what we can work out.

[jim]

Hi Jim,

If you know what your after we can more or less do any system. Just give one of the sales guys a ring and they'll go through it with you, and see what we can work out.

Great, thanks - I'll ring up in a while if I get the chance.

[jim]

Okay, Carl has asked me to email him a component list which he'll then forward onto you guys to figure it all out, so I'll go ahead and sort that out now.

[jim]

Just wondering if you had any update on this, or an estimate of when you will be able to get back to me.

Cheers

[Carlh]

snootyjim,

I am currently just awaiting an update from our 3xs department to make sure that there are no issues with us building to your specification.

As soon as I get an update I shall of course reply to the email tahat you sent to me.

Regards,

[Carlh]

snootyjim,

Email sent mate

[jim]

Great, thanks for that.

Just few things I would like to clear up from my original email with anybody from 3XS:

1) I see I've been quoted £20 "Onsite" - I take it that covers one year. What would be the price to add an additional 1 or 2 years' RTB?

2) The motherboard I need must be of a particular revision (but there was no change in packaging or anything between the first 3 revisions) or else I will have to wait until mid October for a new revision with a new SKU to start reaching retailers - what would be the best approach with that one?

3) The case only has room for one 60mm fan, and you only have one 60mm fan on the website. Is there a quieter one available, or would the Amber benefit from some modification to make it quieter? Or is it okay to start with?

4) Is the Freezer 7 LP a worthwhile purchase, or waste of time given I'm not overclocking? Quietness is the goal really.

5) How does me providing my own RAM affect the warranty and after-care? It was bought from Scan, and should have a lifetime warranty (Corsair) so I'm assuming it shouldn't make any difference. Is that correct?

Sorry for all the questions, it's just important to me that I get everything spot on before I go ahead and start placing orders

Cheers

[Philipp]

Hello Snooty,

I confirmed the spec with Carl yesterday

In answer to your questions,

All 3XS system will come with 1 year onsite and 2nd year RTB,

Ill grab a board or two from stock and check the revision, ill need to get back to you on this....

We will have to play this by ear as such, when testing the system we will monitor the temps and noise, if it’s possible to put a voltage reducer on the amber fan we will.

Id personally stick with the Freezer 7 over the stock HSF,

It doesn’t, your system including the RAM will be covered, we will need to make arrangements for this to be returned to scan so we can install and test.

Any more questions feel free to fire them across either on the forum or philipp@scan.co.uk

[Philipp]

Dont have the boards in stock atm, more are due tomorrow, ill update when I can

Cheers

[jim]

Okay, thanks a lot for your help, that's pretty much everything cleared up now

I'll just wait to see what happens with the boards now, and then move on from there.

[Philipp]

The boards we carry in stock are

236-DA105-0J1 BF and has 2 Sata ports (I belive the one that your after has 3).

I will check a few more....

Cheers

[jim]

The boards we carry in stock are

236-DA105-0J1 BF and has 2 Sata ports (I belive the one that your after has 3).

I will check a few more....

Cheers

Yep that's correct, needs to have 3 internal SATA according to this thread

Thanks for looking, I'll check back here to see what the situation is.

[Philipp]

Checked another 2 and they all have 2 SATA ports

[jim]

Checked another 2 and they all have 2 SATA ports

Okay, fair enough. Thanks a lot for checking, I really appreciate the effort.

Perhaps you could get in touch with Zotac and see what their situation is from their end? The first, second and third revisions are all known as the 9300-D-E, but the fourth revision will be known as the 9300-G-E so it should be lot easier to pick out - I know it's meant to be arriving in October at some point, but perhaps they/your suppliers could give you a better estimate?

[jim]

For the sake of a whole variety of people who asked me to post the full spec for my HTPC (and who coincidentally discuss their choice of vehicle in their username), the said information follows below, although all prices are exc VAT:

Compucase 8K01 - £39.99
Zotac 9300 ITX (Rev 03/04) - £92.19
Intel Pentium E6300 - £50.59 (will upgrade to E6400 if it's in stock)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 LP - £11.19
Pioneer DVR-TD08 - £22.99
OCZ Agility 30GB - £83.99
Keysonic ACK-612RF - £20.99 (for occasional installations and so on in windows)
Compro K100 Remote - £11.90 (for use with a Logitech harmony)
Akasa 60mm fan - £4.24

Approx £375 for all components inc VAT

Plus 2 year warranty cost, build fees, and more importantly VAT.