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edit 1: Updated receiver, xbox.
edit 2: Sandybridge rebuild.
I apologize in advance for the picture quality. My real camera died and my cell phone camera is pretty terrible. With that said:
Updated specs:
Intel i3-2100 (LGA 1155)
Gigabyte Z68MX-UD2H-B3
8GB (2x4GB) G Skill Sniper DDR3
1TB Samsung HD103UJ HDD (SATA)
Seasonic 400W Fanless PSU (SS-400FL)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro (Rev. 2)
Nexus D12SL-12 120mm Fans (x2)
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 ATSC/QAM Dual Tuner
Media Storage:
Infrant ReadNAS NV+
3x Samsung Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB HDDs (4TB X-RAID array)
Home Theater:
JVC HD-56FN97 56" DLP
Onkyo SR-TX503 Receiver
Paradigm 5Se-Mk3 Fronts
Paradigm CC-350 Center
Paradigm ADP-190 Rears
Microsoft Xbox 360
Logitech Harmony One Remote w/ HP Windows 7 MCE Remote IR Receiver
The older s939 motherboard finally gave out on me so it was time for a rebuild. I spent a couple of HTPC-less weeks waiting for the Z68 motherboards to be released, and man; once you become accustomed to a HTPC there's no going back. I've been cable free for almost five years now, picking up my content from broadcast ATSC or downloaded mkv's. I've switched my software over to SageTV and control the whole show via my Harmony One.
Bare board:
Test fit:
Closeup of SATA connections (aka problem number one):
The Gigabyte board uses SATA connections parallel to the board. In a bigger case this wouldn't be such an issue, but in the Fusion there isn't enough clearance to properly insert a SATA cable. I did manage to get one to fit by installing the cable prior to seating the board, but I was violating all sorts of cable bend radii.
SATA solution:
One hour and three dremel bits later (hint: you want the carbide cutter for vertical cuts, and any normal cutoff wheel for horizontal cuts) we have a solution to the SATA connector problem. We can now properly connect and disconnect cables to all six side-mounted SATA ports.
Testing fitting Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro:
The Freezer 7 was attractive because it looks large enough to run passive and fits with the fusions air intake baffle. Ideally I'd use a Scythe Mini Ninja, but since these are no longer in production, the Freezer 7 would have to work.
Profile shot of the Freezer 7 (aka problem number two):
I knew going into this that the Freezer 7 Pro was going to be a little too tall for the Fusion, but thanks to m1k30rz's post on the spcr forums I knew we could make this work. How?
Making it work:
One fin at a time.
Removing Fins:
In total I took off 5 fins.
Final Freezer 7 Pro fit:
Fits like a glove now.
Bare motherboard with the first bit of cabling:
RAM and fan cabling installed:
Arctic Silver 5 laid down:
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro installed:
Final picture with the PSU, tuner card, HDD, and cabling installed:
Final pic showing the full entertainment center:
And there we go. The modified Freezer 7 seems to be running great. The i3 runs about 32ºC at idle and topped out at 63ºC at full load. Considering I don't game on this machine, I'm not too concerned about the load temp (should I be?) The i3 seems to do a good job with the video (no stuttering yet) so I think I'm going to skip adding a discrete GPU to help keep the heat down. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out. There were some surprises (mainly the SATA ports) that took a bit of thinking and elbow grease, but I'm pretty happy with the final outcome.
New build pros:
New build cons:
Previous post and configuration:
edit 2: Sandybridge rebuild.
I apologize in advance for the picture quality. My real camera died and my cell phone camera is pretty terrible. With that said:
Updated specs:
Intel i3-2100 (LGA 1155)
Gigabyte Z68MX-UD2H-B3
8GB (2x4GB) G Skill Sniper DDR3
1TB Samsung HD103UJ HDD (SATA)
Seasonic 400W Fanless PSU (SS-400FL)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro (Rev. 2)
Nexus D12SL-12 120mm Fans (x2)
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 ATSC/QAM Dual Tuner
Media Storage:
Infrant ReadNAS NV+
3x Samsung Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB HDDs (4TB X-RAID array)
Home Theater:
JVC HD-56FN97 56" DLP
Onkyo SR-TX503 Receiver
Paradigm 5Se-Mk3 Fronts
Paradigm CC-350 Center
Paradigm ADP-190 Rears
Microsoft Xbox 360
Logitech Harmony One Remote w/ HP Windows 7 MCE Remote IR Receiver
The older s939 motherboard finally gave out on me so it was time for a rebuild. I spent a couple of HTPC-less weeks waiting for the Z68 motherboards to be released, and man; once you become accustomed to a HTPC there's no going back. I've been cable free for almost five years now, picking up my content from broadcast ATSC or downloaded mkv's. I've switched my software over to SageTV and control the whole show via my Harmony One.
Bare board:
Test fit:
Closeup of SATA connections (aka problem number one):
The Gigabyte board uses SATA connections parallel to the board. In a bigger case this wouldn't be such an issue, but in the Fusion there isn't enough clearance to properly insert a SATA cable. I did manage to get one to fit by installing the cable prior to seating the board, but I was violating all sorts of cable bend radii.
SATA solution:
One hour and three dremel bits later (hint: you want the carbide cutter for vertical cuts, and any normal cutoff wheel for horizontal cuts) we have a solution to the SATA connector problem. We can now properly connect and disconnect cables to all six side-mounted SATA ports.
Testing fitting Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro:
The Freezer 7 was attractive because it looks large enough to run passive and fits with the fusions air intake baffle. Ideally I'd use a Scythe Mini Ninja, but since these are no longer in production, the Freezer 7 would have to work.
Profile shot of the Freezer 7 (aka problem number two):
I knew going into this that the Freezer 7 Pro was going to be a little too tall for the Fusion, but thanks to m1k30rz's post on the spcr forums I knew we could make this work. How?
Making it work:
One fin at a time.
Removing Fins:
In total I took off 5 fins.
Final Freezer 7 Pro fit:
Fits like a glove now.
Bare motherboard with the first bit of cabling:
RAM and fan cabling installed:
Arctic Silver 5 laid down:
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro installed:
Final picture with the PSU, tuner card, HDD, and cabling installed:
Final pic showing the full entertainment center:
And there we go. The modified Freezer 7 seems to be running great. The i3 runs about 32ºC at idle and topped out at 63ºC at full load. Considering I don't game on this machine, I'm not too concerned about the load temp (should I be?) The i3 seems to do a good job with the video (no stuttering yet) so I think I'm going to skip adding a discrete GPU to help keep the heat down. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out. There were some surprises (mainly the SATA ports) that took a bit of thinking and elbow grease, but I'm pretty happy with the final outcome.
New build pros:
- Rear cabling is now super clean: one HDMI cable carrying the video to my TV, and one Toslink cable carrying the audio to my receiver. This could get cleaned up even more if I upgraded my receiver to one with HDMI switching.
- I love having the CPU power to do run commercial skipping in real-time.
- I love that SageTV can handle all my TV and mkv's in one interface. Now to work on getting Netflix/Hulu integrated.
New build cons:
- One thing I dislike a little is that the Seasonic PSU is a little too deep to install the DVD burner I previously had in the machine. Though I almost never used it, I do wish I was able to install it. Given the choice though, I'll stick with the SS-400FL for its silent operation and modular cabling.
- The HP Win7 MCE Remote IR Receiver doesn't seem to be quite as sensitive as my original Microsoft MCE IR receiver, but I ruined that trying to desolder the IR receiver eye to stealth it behind the VFD window :-(
Previous post and configuration:
I am finally happy with my hardware, so I can safely post 
My specs:
AMD X2 3800+ (s939)
MSI K8NGM2-FID
eVGA 8600 GT
1 Gig (2x512) OCZ Value Ram
1x Seagate 400GB 7200.9 (PATA)
Vbox Cat's Eye 164e
NEC ND-3500 DVD burner
Logitech Harmony 670 Remote /w MCE 2005 IR Receiver
Infrant ReadyNAS NV+
2x Samsung HD501LJ 500 GB (SATA, Raid-5)
and most importantly
JVC HD-56FN97
Onkyo SR-TX503
Paradigm 5Se-Mk3
Paradigm CC-350
Paradigm Titan
Xbox 360 (Falcon Motherboard)
Everything in this machine is there for one purpose or another. To take advantage of my motherboard's digital audio, I modified my serial port bracket to mount S/PDIF input and output ports. I utilize the 164e to handle two simultaneous ATSC feeds (my only source at the moment, as I've canceled my cable). 400 GB (less a 40 GB OS partition) handle the storage of uncompressed HD shows. BeyondTV controls all my broadcast HDTV, although with the use of HIP, I play a fair amount of downloaded content in MPC (damn you BTV, and your lack of h.264 playback). Video is fed to the JVC via a DVI-HDMI cable.
I appologize in advance for the pictures, my camera is nearly seven years old.
That is it. Overall I'm very happy with my gear. My weak link in the system is my AV receiver; it will battle the HDCP video card to be upgraded next. edit: both upgrades made their way into my setup. I'd be more than happy to take any (constructive) criticism and/or answer any questions about the build.
My specs:
AMD X2 3800+ (s939)
MSI K8NGM2-FID
eVGA 8600 GT
1 Gig (2x512) OCZ Value Ram
1x Seagate 400GB 7200.9 (PATA)
Vbox Cat's Eye 164e
NEC ND-3500 DVD burner
Logitech Harmony 670 Remote /w MCE 2005 IR Receiver
Infrant ReadyNAS NV+
2x Samsung HD501LJ 500 GB (SATA, Raid-5)
and most importantly
JVC HD-56FN97
Onkyo SR-TX503
Paradigm 5Se-Mk3
Paradigm CC-350
Paradigm Titan
Xbox 360 (Falcon Motherboard)
Everything in this machine is there for one purpose or another. To take advantage of my motherboard's digital audio, I modified my serial port bracket to mount S/PDIF input and output ports. I utilize the 164e to handle two simultaneous ATSC feeds (my only source at the moment, as I've canceled my cable). 400 GB (less a 40 GB OS partition) handle the storage of uncompressed HD shows. BeyondTV controls all my broadcast HDTV, although with the use of HIP, I play a fair amount of downloaded content in MPC (damn you BTV, and your lack of h.264 playback). Video is fed to the JVC via a DVI-HDMI cable.
I appologize in advance for the pictures, my camera is nearly seven years old.
That is it. Overall I'm very happy with my gear. My weak link in the system is my AV receiver; it will battle the HDCP video card to be upgraded next. edit: both upgrades made their way into my setup. I'd be more than happy to take any (constructive) criticism and/or answer any questions about the build.
Last edited:
