Building My Dream HTPC

A long time desire of mine has been a dedicated Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) and lite gaming machine. . I already have a giant PC connected to my 56" Tv consisting of thrown together, left over parts. This "HTPC" is running Ubuntu 12.4 and is a power hungry, noisy, eye sore, sitting next to my entertainment center. It was time to build an actual HTPC, not something thrown together resembling Frankenstien's monster. I set my sight on a budget of right at $700 (U.S). After dedicated myself to some research, it was time to pull the trigger and build the HTPC of my dreams.

Parts list

Part	Cost
SilverStone SG06BB-LITE Black Mini-ITX Computer Case	$49.99
Silverstone 450W SFX Power Supply	$69.99
ASRock B85M-ITX Mini ITX Motherboard	$74.99
Intel Core i5-4430 @ 3.0GHz 84W Haswell Quad-Core Desktop Processor	$189.99
4GB (2 x 2GB) G.Skill Ripjaws Series 1600 Desktop Memory	$0 (From previous build)
MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB	$129.99 - $10 Rebate
Samsung 840 EVO MZ-7TE120BW 2.5" 120GB Solid State Drive	$89.99
Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit - OEM	$99.99
Total	$694.93

Negatives of this build

• I would have preferred 8GB of memory for the gaming side of this box, but I was sticking to a tight budget and I already had 2 sticks of quality DDR3 1600 Mhz memory lying around. Re-purposing this memory allowed me to stretch my budget further and I can always upgrade later.
• The non pro version of Windows 8.1 does not include Media Center. I was aware of this and you should be too. Adding Windows Media Center requires you to upgrade to 8.1 Professional and this is not cheap (Around $100 at the time of posting).
• This PC is limited to 120GB of local storage. I traded storage space for lightning fast boot times and operation speed.  I can always add a large secondary hard drive or build a Network Attached Storage (NAS) at a later time. Plus a NAS leaves me another build to look forward to and I do love my builds!

The Guts

I chose the powerful and energy efficient Intel i5 4430 as the CPU to run my tiny dream machine. With 4 cores running at 3.0 GHz it can handle any load I may throw at the machine, while sipping the power at 84 watts vs. AMD's 95-125 watts. Also, Intel's Haswell series introduces a new ultra deep sleep using less than 1 watt of power; ideal for a media center PC. 

The rest of the guts consists of fairly standard components: a lower-mid range graphics card in the GTX 650 Ti, only 4 GB of Ram (see negatives section above for explanation), an incredibly fast 120 GB Samsung 840 EVO solid state drive, and a lower priced ASRock ITX board. This is my first purchase from ASRock and so far I am very satisfied.

Media / Gaming Software Setup

Considering this build does not have a CD/DVD/Blue Ray drive, I had to install my selected Operating System, Windows 8.1, from a USB drive. This is easily accomplished by following some simple steps here. I have installed windows hundreds of times and this was by far the fastest install I have ever done. The ASRock motherboard automatically saw the only bootable option was the USB installer and booted into it. Windows 8.1 installed to the Samsung 840 in less than 15 minutes after I configured the standard options.

I immediately set windows 8.1 to enlarge everything in the display options, but much to my dismay, the start screen tiles were still very small on the largest option. Come to find out my TV display, not suprisingly as it is older and not a smart TV, does not support the "Make Everything Bigger" option in the ease of access settings. I found the workaround here. Merely adding HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\
LogicalDPIOverride with a value of 1 in the registry worked a charm.

Once Windows was installed I immediately got to installing XBMC. If your not familiar with XBMC, it is an incredibly powerful, free media software that puts Windows Media Center to shame. It provides access to all different media formats and is very remote and TV friendly. It takes some time to configure the software to how you like it, but it is worth every minute.

Next on my list was gaming. For this I installed Steam and configured it to start in big picture mode for easy navigation with a remote or my wired Xbox 360 controller.

Performance-What did I get for my $700?

The Samsung SSD provides incredible Read/Write with 507.8 and 492.7 MB/s respectively. This makes the system feel incredibly fast and snappy. The boot time from a full shutdown is approximately 11 seconds from the time I press the power to start screen. This is actually less than the time it takes my TV to turn on. System resume from sleep is nearly instant at less than 1 second.

On my old system, the aging 80 GB hard drive made XBMC feel slow and sluggish. This PC impressed me as XBMC ran smooth, seamless and fast. There was no lag navigating menus and the whole program just felt amazing; giving me a whole new appreciation for the awesomeness of the free XBMC.

Gaming in 1080p

This PC was meant for some light gaming so I tested two games both in 1080p: Borderlands 2 and Titanfal Beta. Borderlands 2 ran smoothly without problems at the highest settings.

 To really test the capability of the system, I decided to attempt to play Titanfall, a really fast paced, intense, First person shooter. I turned all the settings to high, with the exception of AA. For the most part Titanfall played smoothly, but I did experience a few instances were I felt the frame rate stutter. That said the lowest frame rate was 25 fps, still playable.

PC Mark 6 Score

Summary

Overall I find this to be an incredibly awesome PC in a sub $700 category. It takes up very little space, looks inconspicuous, and plays almost any game I want, within reason. I am looking forward to picking and configuring my media center remote and perhaps doing a NAS (Network Attached Storage) build in the future. Overall, I rate this build a smashing success. 

Feel free to let ask my any questions you would like or just drop an opinion in the comments!

SilverStone SG06BB-LITE Black Mini-ITX Computer Case Review

I selected this case for my most recent build, a Home Theater PC. For this build both size and looks were very important to me as this would be sitting in my home entertainment center. To fit into my entertainment center, neat and unobtrusive, the case had to be smaller than 12 inches tall by 17 inches deep, preferably much smaller. It also had to be able to fit a mid-level GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) as I wanted this build to double as a gaming machine as well. This required the case to have two expansion slots in the back, a rarity in small cases.

Pros

Of the few cases that met my requirements the SilverStone  SG06BB-LITE stood well above the rest. With the incredibly small size of 8.75" wide x 7" high x 10.87" deep this case was the perfect fit to tuck well back inside my entertainment center. Despite the small size the case can accept dual slot GPUs up to 10" long making this an ideal gaming case. With a single 120mm fan in the front it keeps the internals cool while remaining absolutely silent unless your ear is within inches of the case. Even then, most likely the CPU fan is what you hear inside. The magic of this case is the small form factor SFX power supply saving room while allowing power supplies up to 600 watts. Despite the case being so small, working in it was surprisingly easy due to the entire top and sides sliding off. 

Cons

There are only a few downsides to the case. First, the space between the where the power supply cords come out and the hard drive rack is so minimal the cords are literally jammed into the rack. The second problem is the power light on the front; this light is extremely bright! It is bright enough to distract during a night time movie or just during any activity during evening times. To make matters worse, this small beacon flashes when the computer is sleeping. This strobing will drive you nearly insane as you walk around, making me avoid letting the computer sleep. This negative is easily solved by disconnecting the power jumper on the computer or adding a small tinted film over the light.

Summary

Overall, this case is attractive, extremely small, easy to work in and perfect for an HTPC and gaming computer. All this adds up to a case that is head and shoulders above the rest of its class and an incredible value at $49.99!

My Rating

9 out of 10 - Awesome

Titanfall - Beta First Impressions

Since I am not an avid fan of the Call of Duty series, I was reluctant to buy into all the hype for Titanfall which is made by some of the same developers. However, when one combines my favorite genre, the First Person Shooter (FPS), with an all-time favorite of Mechanical beast in the likeness of MechWarrior my curiosity was peaked. I just had to sign up for the beta. Luckily, I was one of the many to be selected for the beta. After sorting out a minor mix-up of my beta key being for the wrong platform, I dove into the beta.

Training Mission

Titanfall threw me into the training mission right off the bad. My first impressions of the graphics reminded me of Crysis 2. While not impressive it was still decent and was enough to keep immersion. The training took me through a series of perhaps 10 small challenge levels introducing me to the parkour system, the unique auto locking "Smart Pistol", and the basics of piloting the Titan. Taking about 15-20 minutes I felt the training was worthwhile, but was slightly annoyed at all the loading screens between the mini-challenges. Not really impressed, I moved in to join the actual beta game play.

Multiplayer Gameplay

Once you click into the beta you get a standard option of game modes including:

• Attrition - Basically death match
• Hardpoint - Fight to take and defend a few objectives
• Last Titan Standing - Everyone gets a titan and a single life. Take out all opposing Titans to win the round.

After selecting your game mode you are thrown into a random room with randomly selected opponents with no apparent regard to rank. This can make for some really uneven matches, but this is beta. Hopefully this will improve on release.

I found the game play enjoyable from the very beginning and this only increases as you get unlocks and start to use new tactics. The first time you jump on an enemy Titan and dismantle it, raining bullets into the interior, is a whole new experience. 

Titans

Being inside a titan itself you feel powerful, yet vulnerable at the same time. You have to watch out for pilots trying to jump on you while avoiding everyone focusing fire on the giant target you just became. Your guns are powerful and can take out a pilot quickly when well-aimed and you can squish foot enemies beneath your feet like the lowly scum they are. Titan vs. titan battles feels like very little skill involved, but I really do not have the time in a Titan to really tell. After playing for several hours, I found I was more effective jumping out of my titan and placing it on follow mode. The titan AI is actually pretty good, as my titan racked up several kills and distracts the other players while I take them out on foot. Overall Titans are what makes this game unique and are a blast to have on the battlefield. 

Infantry

Playing as the pilot on the ground is where I got the most enjoyment. As you get experience in the game you start to really use the parkour effects to get to advantageous places and create effective flanking routes. It is a blast jumping from one building to another, then onto a Titan to dismantle it. You also always have an anti-titan weapon, but you really have to choose were and how you attack a titan. If he gets one or two shots on you you are done. Also, if you get to close to a titan you run the risk of being squashed like a bug by either his feet or his melee attack. Overall, infantry is fast paced, full of strategy, with many options to get were you need to be. All this make the pilot incredibly fun to play.

Weapons

Weapons are my biggest complaint of Call of Duty and I have similar problems with Titanfall. The biggest problem; recoil is nearly non-existent. With the main assault rifle, I never had to burst to remain on target. Overall you get the "feel" of toy weapons, with no weight or inertia. This is a future based fantasy FPS so I can excuse most of this, it just doesn't feel were it should be to me.

The gun play is still fun and you do have the standard rifle, sub machine gun, pistol variations with one exception: the smart pistol. This pistol "locks" on to enemies for you and once you get a red lock you are guaranteed a kill when you pull the trigger. This works incredibly well in its medium sized range, for the AI controlled grunts. Many players absolutely detest this pistol, stating it is OP (over powered) and sell out for cheap players. After playing with this pistol for some time I came to the conclusion it really sucks for taking out even a barely skilled pilot. It takes a long time to get a single lock on a pilot and you must get several to get a kill. Overall, I was not impressed by any of the weapons, including the limited titan arsenal. The game is still beta so there is some hope for improvement and variety. 

Conclusion

Overall, this is a really fun, fast paced, unique experience.  Make no mistake; I do not consider this a serious or competitive game. In my opinion, this game is a casual, just have some fun and kill an hour (or two) game. It is not going to change the world or even the landscape of first person shooters. Make note, my experience was with a beta product that will most likely only approve. Odds are I will purchase this game just from what I experienced from the beta.

Actual Game Play Highlight Video

My Rating

8 out of 10 - Great

(Product Is Still Beta)