Solace: A Thin Mini ITX HTPC Build

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

Background:

A few months ago, my friend and brother in law moved away and into a new apartment in a new city with his girlfriend. Because of the human malware that's been going around, they've been spending a lot more time indoors watching TV than they'd like. He mentioned to me that he had been setting up a laptop as a quasi HTPC anytime they wanted to watch some Netflix etc. He also mentioned that it was giving him some trouble, so I decided it'd be a good idea for his birthday to use some of my previous HTPC's parts (current specs for "BlackBox" are in my sig) as well as some new parts to put together a Thin Mini ITX build for him to use as a dedicated HTPC. Aptly, my wife and I (mostly my wife ) decided to name this PC "Solace", because we could all use some these days.

 

Parts:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-4570 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Processor	Purchased For $0.00
CPU Cooler	Silverstone NT07-115X 28.1 CFM CPU Cooler	$25.00
Motherboard	Asus H81T/CSM Thin Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard	Purchased For $0.00
Memory	G.Skill 2 GB (1 x 2 GB) DDR3-1600 CL9 Memory	Purchased For $0.00
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4 GB (1 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600 CL9 Memory	Purchased For $0.00
Storage	SanDisk ReadyCache 32 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	Purchased For $0.00
Operating System	Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 32/64-bit	Purchased For $0.00
Wireless Network Adapter	Intel 7260 Mini-PCIe 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter	Purchased For $0.00
Custom	(2019 Upgrade) Rii i4 Mini Bluetooth Keyboard with Touchpad, Blacklit Portable Wireless Keyboard with 2.4G USB Dongle for Smartphones, PC, Tablet, Laptop TV Box iOS Android Windows Mac.Black	$30.00
Custom	SilverStone PT13B-120	$124.00
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$179.00
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-18 18:42 EDT-0400

 

As you can see, it was around $180 for the case, cpu cooler, power supply, and wireless keyboard that I needed to complete the build. Everything else in the build was sitting unused in a closet.

 

Purchased Parts:

Case:

I wanted to use the same case that I use for my HTPC, the Akasa Euler,but unfortunately the shipping is very long. The benefit of the Euler is that the case functions as a passive cooler, so your HTPC can have absolutely zero moving parts for silent operation. But, since I didn't have time to wait before his birthday, I opted for the SIlverstone PT13B-120. Conveniently, it comes with a 120W power adapter! It's also noticeably smaller than the Akasa case. It was a very tight fit to get everything in.

 

CPU Cooler:

This was a simple choice once I had the case picked out, it is the only CPU cooler I could find that would fit within the 24mm height requirement of the PT13B. It does a fine job of keeping the relatively low power i5-4570 cool. And is quiet enough at low RPMs. I set a custom fan curve in the BIOS to make sure it stays pretty quiet under normal operation.

 

Keyboard/Mouse:

This is an upgraded version of the keyboard that my wife and I use. They both have rechargeable batteries, backlights, trackpads with some simple gestures, and connect via Bluetooth. I have no complaints about the one that I use daily, but this upgraded version adds some nice features like a scroll wheel and trigger mouse buttons. Highly recommended. I may even get one for myself.

 

Reused Parts:

Motherboard:

This was the original motherboard in my HTPC "BlackBox" (spec in sig). It's a Thin Mini ITX formfactor, which doesn't seem to be too popular, but I think it's perfect for an HTPC. Not much else to say about it really. It works.

 

CPU:

This CPU came out of an old workstation from my wife's previous employer. She was savvy enough to scoop up a few machines they were tossing out and offered to the employees. This is also where the i7 6700 and SSD in BlackBox came from. Go wife!

 

RAM:

The 2GB module was salvaged from a laptop that was upgraded to more memory. I found the closest thing I could for the PCPartPicker list. The 4GB module was purchased new to match the specs of the 2GB module. 6GB is plenty for an HTPC, and the speed is hardly important. What's interesting is that the Thin mini ITX form factor utilizes SODIMM like a laptop.

 

Storage:

This drive was purchased on a tight budget several years ago before the price of SSDs came down to where it is today, and before I had a good paying job like I do now. 32GB isn't very much, but I took some steps to minimize the size of the OS including: obviously uninstalling any unneeded apps that come with Windows, disabling hibernation, manually setting the amount of virtual memory, disabling system protection and system restore, and using CompactOS and drive compression. Doing all this leaves more than enough space for all of the streaming apps as well as Windows updates. My friend has all of his local media in a network location, so this machine will not be used to store any files. This is how my HTPC was before I upgraded it a little while ago.

 

I wanted to use an even older 256GB WD SiliconEdge Blue SSD for the build, but unfortunately I ran into problems with it, and I think the drive is finally dying. It didn't get all that much use in my old netbook, and it still reads as having 100% drive life remaining, but it is quite old at this point. You'll see this drive in some of the pictures, because I was planning on using it before I realized that it was dying.

 

Wifi:

Not much to say. It allows you to wirelessly connect to the series of tubes, and it's compatible with the H81T/CSM motherboard.

 

 

THE BUILD:

Not a lot here. Certainly not compared with some of my other builds with RGB and tons of fans and water cooling and whatnot. Three boxes. When I upgraded my HTPC, I left the old parts assembled since they all fit into the box for my new motherboard. Don't let the box deceive you. That's the H81T/CSM and other parts in there.

 

 

Here is most everything laid out on my table outside. Do ignore the obligatory build beverage. Really not much to it...

 

 

A few minutes later I had everything in the case.

 

 

After replacing the dead 256GB drive with the 32GB drive in the PCPartPicker list, I also had to replace the CMOS battery. It died after sitting unused in my closet for a few months, so the bios settings kept getting reset every time the machine was unplugged.

 

Replacing the CMOS battery in a Thin Mini ITX build isn't so easy, though. There is no space to spare for a standard CMOS battery on a thin mini ITX board, so you can see in the pictures that it has a special connector.

 

 

I pulled the old battery apart and used electrical tape to secure the leads to a new battery.

 

After that the build was done.

 

Setup:

After minimizing the size of Windows as I described earlier, I paired the Bluetooth keyboard and installed a standard sweet of video and audio streaming apps including: Plex, Kodi, Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu, Spotify, Pandora and some others. I set the machine to "Tablet Mode", pinned to start all those apps along with weather and news apps, and arranged them nicely for a good user experience. 

 

Conclusion:

I'm very happy with the way this machine turned out, and I'm very pleased to have helped my friend find some Solace in these troubled times. He sent me some pictures once he had it set up in his TV room. Korra!