AMD Llano HTPC Builders Guide
by Ganesh T S on June 5, 2012 8:02 AM ESTUnless your HTPC is going to double up as a full-blown gaming rig, it is not necessary to go in for more than a 450W power supply, and you can certainly go for less. Users concerned with noise might want to buy a fanless model, although, with 65W and 100W processors that may simply result in your CPU fan being noisier CPU fan.
- SeaSonic X series SS-400FL 400W 80PLUS GOLD PSU: Coming in at $130, the PSU is a bit costly but that is the price you'll have to pay for silence. It also comes with fully modular cables, which can be helpful when you're building in a smaller mini-ITX or micro-ATX chassis.
- Antec VP-450 450W PSU: At $38, this is a no-frills PSU with only moderate (up to 75%) efficiency, but for budget users with low-power rigs it represents a decent value. At this price, one can't expect modular cables and other such niceties. The goal here is decent reliability, low noise, and low cost.
The choice of the chassis depends on the form factor of the chosen motherboard, as well as the usage scenario.
- mini-ITX: SilverStone's FT03 Mini is currently on Newegg for $132.99 and also on Amazon for $129.50 (but temporarily out of stock at the time of this article going live). Dustin liked the case a lot and even considered it worthy of an award. The design also makes it stand out (hopefully in a good way, though opinions vary) in a home theater setup.
- micro-ATX and ATX: I am going to take this opportunity to suggest nMEDIAPC's wooden case currently available on Newegg for $90. This unique case is bound to steal the show even in the most fancy of home theater setups, thanks to its unique construction and industrial design. If you are in search of something mainstream that also includes a MCE remote, the Antec Fusion VERIS Remote Max is an excellent choice I can recommend from personal experience. It is currently on Amazon at $214.
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lurker22 - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
Can you get a complete system for $150 like the Foxcon one?JAK620 - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
I have a A8-3850 system. Built it as soon as it was available on Newegg last year.The CPU temperature constantly maintains at the 40~52 celcius in the summer and ~40 in the winter. (has to do with the room temperature).
I am sure that it is not the coolest but it is pretty good enough for me to build a system without an additional graphic card, which generates more noise from the graphic card's fan.
Unless you play a lot of games, I think that Llano has a good balance for me so far. I do not play many games on PC but still can play ME, NSF: Unleashed 11 & 2 and the likes in 720P without issue.
Not to down play Sandy Bridge but I think that Llano is a good option as well
CeriseCogburn - Monday, June 11, 2012 - link
Because they're nutso Spivonious, that's why. If they tell themselves they must not hear a tiny fan over the blaring TV show or movie, they can justify been full on loonbat crazy and going wacko scrimping down into barely workable crud mode instead of just tossing their old core 2 or athlon 2 etc in a case and adding the video card they have laying around that will whip the pants off all their llano trinity HDxxxx junk.It's like a specialized hobby for wackos, who on other days go off into insanoville over $10 on a new gaming video card purchase.
Frankly, I find it disturbing to say the least, but then there's what (some or most) enthusiasts are. I see the same thing when they want to make a NAS, or have a "server", etc... they just go bonkers to "do it the way the culture tells them they must" or something I don't get it.
max40watt - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
I stand by my little AMD Fusion NES HTPC as the nicest little HTPC I've ever made.<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/max40watt/... border="0" alt="Interior NESpc"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/max40watt/... border="0" alt="NES PC Boxee"></a>
max40watt - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
Darn you lack of html.http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/max40watt/...
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/max40watt/...
Einy0 - Wednesday, June 6, 2012 - link
NICE! Love the concept.djfourmoney - Thursday, June 7, 2012 - link
I sort of want to take a new empty PS1 and build a console with it using a E350/E450 APU which can easily handle tweaked ePSX settings. But all the games can be located on my server instead of locally on a drive.dgingeri - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
I have two questions:1. would an A4-3400 be able to handle BluRay playback, Hulu, and Netflix? If not, what level would handle it? That's not very clear here. I'm looking to build a lower power HTPC just for those duties. Any conversion, ripping, or other apps will be handled by my main machine and shared across the network. I don't need the HTPC to handle anything else.
2. As long as we're looking at the Llano chip, I may as well ask, what laptop version would be able to handle World of Warcraft and Diablo 3 at decent details and 1366X768 resolution at a decent frame rate. I'm looking to buy a laptop for those games specifically for when I'm traveling.
burntham77 - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
On an E-350 APU, Blu-ray works just fine, although I did have to adjust the memory settings in the BIOS so it used the maximum amount (512 megs in my case). You might have to do the same with the A4-3400. Also, I use Cyberlink's Power DVD 11 Ultra (ebay has great prices on that) as the free version that came with my Blu-ray drive did not provided proper audio decoding.DWwolf - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
A3500 is probably the sweetspot as far as performance goes. Better GPU for decoding, still max 65W. Triplecore for the demanding stuff.