Proposed i3 HTPC unit

[Andy]

Funny timing on this thread ... I just ordered new parts, as I'm upgrading my HTPC. A family member saw my XBMC setup and wanted one for themselves. Sold off the old Core 2 rig to him and just purchased a lot of the similar parts you are going to be using. Price wise it's a very good combo ... here is my build, which should be up and running sometime next week.

ASUS P7H55-M Pro
Intel Core i3 550
Mushkin Silverline 4Gb
Silverstone Strider 500W
ASUS 5450 (have an extra so might as well use it over the on board.)
250Gb Momentus XT Hybrid drive for O/S.
Scythe Shuriken cooler (I think? can't remember which one, low profile 138mm? Sound right)

My old HTPC used a nMedia case, which are good for the price, but I decided to hop on over to Lian Li (PC37) this time for an extra $30. I've got the case sitting here and it is much nicer than I expected (first time playing with a Lian Li case).

All my content is networked via a NAS so the small O/S drive makes it really easy to build. The low profile case should be a nice change as well.

Good luck with your build~!

[Mr. Gruntsworthy]

nobody's mentioned this yet, and it might just be me not knowing anything about the i3 chips; but, he appears to have gotten a triple-channel RAM pack (6GB), and as far as I'm assuming, i3's are dual channel? And Triple channel ram isn't compatible with dual channel, or something?

Or am I just really behind the times :D

[jangyman]

@dang -> Wow! That's one honkin' cooler unit! Not sure what principles make it work without fan but, like you said, it's definitely not for a slimline case.

@scruff -> the Prolimatech unit definitely looks more squat than the Noctua one, without loosing that hotrod engine - I'd just have to buy a quiet fan, as you said.

I guess I won't know how much clearance I have until I get my case, install my parts and stick a ruler in there.

@Andy -> just saw your reply in my preview...cool! It would be interesting to know how your system runs when you've got it set up.

@Mr G. -> (heh, the replies keep coming :) ...not sure. I was just planning on using two of the chips in this unit. Are the chips designed to be used all together? That would suck.

[_dangtx_]

you will lose dual channel, or not but chances are you will.

yeah, love them passive coolers.

[jangyman]

Originally Posted by _dangtx_

you will lose dual channel, or not but chances are you will.

...I may sound a little daft, but you mean I should load the mem chips on in pairs, otherwise I will lose dual-channel, right? So I could add another 2GB DDR3 1600 chip, and get a dual-channel 8GB setup, no?

Does Win7-32bit even support that much memory?

[scruff]

Originally Posted by jangyman

...I may sound a little daft, but you mean I should load the mem chips on in pairs, otherwise I will lose dual-channel, right? So I could add another 2GB DDR3 1600 chip, and get a dual-channel 8GB setup, no?

Does Win7-32bit even support that much memory?

I believe he means that your board is DDR3 DUAL channel memory , the memory you listed in your build specs is DDR3 TRIPPLE channel ( not really meant to work as dual channel} I would change them to a dual channel set . 4GB is oodles of ram for an HTPC

[jangyman]

Shoot, that's what I feared...ok, here's what I bought: KHX1600C9D3K3/6GX

Doesn't say triple or dual on it...so I guess I should buy a kit that explicitly says "dual channel" on it for me to harness the dual-channel(-ocity?) of my M/B?
Eg. Patriot Viper Xtreme 4GB 2X2GB DDR3 2000MHZ PC3-16000 9-11-9-27 1.65V Dual Channel Memory Kit

...I guess dual-channel means RAM chip access will be faster?

[_dangtx_]

whatever sticks, you need a pair,yes. if you put 3 sicks im pritty sure itll go to default, although on some

setups you can still run mismatched sticks for dual chan? memory is a little bit fuzzy now.

32bit will see a max of 3.2-3.5 gigs 64bits if you think your programs will work with it.

youll get better bandwith=better performance...i probably am not explaining it properly lol.

just go for the cheapest good brand heatsinked 4 gig or 8 gig kit if you want to run aforementioned
64bit os.

[jangyman]

See, now that's what I thought, you explained it just fine, thanks. After a little research, it seems Win7-32bit can see up to 4GB RAM, but usually less due to video/audio/bios hardware memory allocations, so looks like that settles how many chips I need. I'm not really fond of the 64-bit OS, as software compatibility is a pain.

I guess where my confusion lies (amongst other places) is in the RAM product descriptions - they actually say "single channel" (eg. F3-12800CL9S-2GBRL), "dual channel" (eg. F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL), or even "triple channel" (eg. F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ). Does that just mean that the product is packaged in one-, two- and three-chip kits and that the actual chips contained in each are identicle, or that there's some design difference that makes them more suited to single-, dual- or triple-channel motherboards? ...things like this make it hard for me to make a smart decision.

Thanks for your patience...you're a really big help!
-j

[_dangtx_]

single channel they say on the box? one stick, dual? two/four
tripple? 3/6 and so on. memory is memory.same thing. except packaged differently.
if the board+bios is ok, you can mix different sticks to get dual/tripple/quad channel..
im curious about the upcoming quad channel them ram kits though:)
me,help? noo..:p