I have finish my build and thought I would post some pictures. This thing works perfect.
I will be building another total silence love it plays anything I through at it.
Spec’s
M/B Asus P8h77-i
CPU- Intel I-3 4000
Ram- Kinston Khx1600c9d3k2/8gx 2x4gb
Solid state drive Scandisk 120 gb
B/D drive
Case: HD-Plex H5.S
Motherboard: ASUS P8H77I
CPU: Intel Core i3-3225
RAM: 2x4GB G-Skill Ripjaws X DDR3 PC12800 1600MHz
SSD: Crucial CT128M4SSD2 128GB m4
HDD: WD Caviar Green 1TB SATA III
Tuner card: TBS6280 PCI-E DVB-T2/T Dual Tuner Card
OS: Windows 8 Pro
Remote: Logitech Harmony 650
Remote receiver: as supplied with Anyware HA-IR01SV
This was a fun build with a few challenges along the way. The build itself is working flawlessly. Getting all the software set up just right is taking longer, but that’s another story.
As others have mentioned, Larry was helpful and quick to respond to all the questions I had before ordering. The HD-Plex H5.S case arrived well packaged and in good shape.
There is a clear and well laid-out colour manual included which mirrors the guides on the website. The content is out of date, however, and at least with the parts I used, I had to think carefully about the best build order. My biggest frustration with the manual was the section about the mountings that go on the back of the motherboard.
These discs are too big and I had to carefully trim three of them to avoid overlapping components on the back of the board. They are attached with strong adhesive.
Much later in the build I found these fittings in the bag with the thermal paste.
There was no reference to these fittings in the manual or the website. A quick email and Larry confirmed that they could be used instead of the big plastic discs for motherboards with clearance issues. ARGH! I had to backtrack right to the beginning of the build to swap out the big discs for the small ones. I wish this option had been made clear in the manual.
The case itself is very nicely machined and the quality of the finish is excellent. The grooves for the heatpipes are a good example, and one of the reasons why I chose this case over something like a Streacom case.
There were some oddities though, such as one heatpipe that was shorter than the rest.
OK, I know that once the cover is on no one is ever going to see this, but it’s just one of those things that annoys me as there doesn’t seem to be a reason for it.
For my build I have an SSD for the OS and programs and an HDD for media in the case. I expect that eventually I will move my media to a NAS or similar, but for now the Caviar Green is as good as silent.
Having an HDD in the case limits the motherboard options considerably. I wanted the internal power supply so that meant I had to use a mini-ITX motherboard.
There are only five ITX boards that are compatible with H5.S and an Ivy Bridge processor. Of those, three are expensive Z77 models with unnecessary features. There is an H77 ZOTAC but it has unneeded Wi-Fi and is too expensive. I chose the ASUS P8H77-I as it was the cheapest but it is probably not the best choice for the H5.S.
The heatsink is close enough to touch some of the motherboard components and I had to make sure it wasn’t pressing down on them when I tightened the screws.
The biggest problem with the ASUS motherboard is the position of the SATA sockets. They are right underneath the heatpipes.
There is not enough clearance for standard SATA III cables with locking clips. After a bit of searching I learned that there is no difference between SATA cables so I was able to use angled SATA I cables which have a much lower profile that SATA III cables. Even so, I had to trim out a section of the sleeve on the right hand cable so that I could get it to fold down and pass under the motherboard.
The position of the sockets would not be an issue if you were only using one drive, but it would be impossible to install three or more SATA devices with this motherboard.
Here’s a shot with the heatpipes in place. That short one really bugs me!
Getting the pipes into the slots in the case is ridiculously difficult. It is good for the cooling that the tolerance on the fit is so tight, but the amount of force needed to push the pipes into place is unbelievable. Even using the tip of starting at one end, I found I needed to use a pair of mole-grips and one of the fixing plates to spread the load to squeeze the pipes into the slots. You need to be absolutely sure everything else is in place before taking this step as doing it twice would be hell.
And here’s the completed build. The USB 3.0 cable from the front of the case is another tricky one. It must be attached before fitting the HDD. The cable clearance with the top of the case on the motherboard side is also quite tight. I used an adhesive cable-clip on the side of the case to keep the cable out of the way.
The build worked first time and set-up after that point was easy and straightforward. Here’s a pic of the HTPC in my rack. It’s the box on the left shelf.
Clearance inside the AV unit is fairly tight, around 4 cm each side. The PC settles at 45C in normal use with the motherboard slightly hotter. I ran Prime95 a few times and temperatures stabilised around 55C, which seems reasonable considering the PC will never be working under that kind of load in normal use.
As you would expect it is completely silent. Even the HDD is as good as inaudible. I’m running XBMC which is just brilliant.
Overall then, the build was fun but challenging and occasionally frustrating. The end result is awesome though, a totally silent, and beautifully designed HTPC that fits right in with my other AV equipment.
Haswell LGA1150 motherboards begins to show up at Cebit 2013.
Although details are still limited, here are the motherboards we confirmed will be compatible with HDPLEX fanless HTPC computer case
Compatible for HDPLEX H10.S and H5.S.
ASRock Z87 Pro4-M LGA1150 Micro ATX
ASRock Z87E ITX
Biostar Hi-Fi H87S3+ LGA1150 Micro ATX
Biostar Hi-Fi B85S3 LGA1150 Micro ATX
Compatible for HDPLEX H3 and H1 series
ASRock Z87E ITX
Gigabyte Z87N -wifi
A lot more motherboards will be added to the compatible list when Haswell are formerly released on June 3rd.
Stay tuned!
HDPLEX H5.TODD with silver brushed aluminum faceplate
ASUS P8Z77-M LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
OCZ SSD
150W Fanless PC Power supply with 150W adapter installed inside the HDPLEX H5.TODD chassis.
My new fanless build
Its been almost 2 years since my last htpc build, and I’ve got upgradeditis (a.k.a strong itch to upgrade a perfectly good htpc). My wife and 4 year old are very much used to the media center and I’ve not paid a cable/ satellite bill in almost 2 years (very happy, saved thousands!!!).
My new fanless htpc…
This time around I wanted the following features,
Silent system (absolutely no fans!!!)
Support for Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD Master Audio (HD audio formats found on blu-rays)
SSD Hard Drive for the OS
Bigger 2TB Hard Drive (Allows for more HD recordings on the DVR)
Lower power consumption
System Configuration
Intel Core i3 550
Gigabyte H57 micro ATX motherboard
4GB g-skill DDR3 memory
64GB Zalman SSD HDD
HDPLEX H10.ODD fanless case
2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD (pulled from my home server)
LG Blu-ray/ HD-DVD drive (reused from the old htpc)
HD HomeRun Network dual TV Tuner (connected to my antenna)
I reused the old hdhomerun, blu-ray drive and pulled a 2TB drive from my home server for this build.
The Fanless HTPC Case
Finding a good quality fanless htpc case, that works, and looks good is tough. I found a case vendor that specializes in fanless htpc cases, http://www.hd-plex.com.
For some reason they never seem to have any in stock, but after repeated requests, Larry at HDPLEX, finally sent me one, and has been very helpful so far.
I like this case’s extremely simple and beautiful design. Its slim, the power switch is on top and there are no distracting lights on the front panel.
H10.ODD fanless case from http://www.hd-plex.com
The case was very well packaged and I bought a 150W PicoPSU power supply and an internal IR receiver along with it.
The installation instructions were very clear and precise, and printed on color glossy paper. It took me about 3 hours to finish the hardware install and get it up & running with windows 7.
No fans!!
The motherboard and heat pipes were extremely easy to install. A PicoPSU power supply is required since a standard ATX(or other format) power supply won’t fit in this case.The power adapter sits inside the case since there is no pci-e video card in this system.
Top view
I had trouble installing the hard drives, since the screws come in from below the case(& I placed the drive the wrong way), but after messing with it, I finally figured it out.
My logitech harmony remote next to it
Sitting pretty on top of my Onkyo 875
Ports galore – hdmi, usb3, esata etc
This review has been posted by a customer.
Here is the review:
“This is a double review of sorts. Before I get into the review, a little back story. I previously owned a Logitech Transporter. I had upgraded within the Slim Devices family from the Squeezebox 3 to the Logitech Touch after the Logitech buyout. Then, I made the move to the Transporter. The Transporter still is a great network computer audio device. Unfortunately, Logitech decided to effectively kill the brand so I unloaded the Transporter for fear of having a $1000+ paperweight.
It was at that point, I decided to stop trying to look for an off the shelf solution and just build a computer which could stream audio from my networked server. I’m using J River Media Center for playback and use the iPhone app, J Remote, for control. I figure this setup will should future proof me (ie….5-6 years of use).
So, the hunt was on! I wanted a computer case that would be 100% silent and fit in somewhat with all my other components. You know. Not look like I have a loud, cheesy computer sitting next to my multi-thousand dollar stereo.
I knew of A-Tech Fabrication (http://www.atechfabrication.com/) and had heard good things about the quality of their cases but DAYUM at the price! Then, I read an article on Computeraudiophile.com which mentioned the HD-Plex cases. I looked up the site and decided that this was the case for me. Attractive and affordable!
I decided that I really wanted an black H5.S case for my build, but it was out of stock. Being the impatient person I am, on September 12, 2012, I ordered a black H3.S case with fanless 80 watt power supply, internal IR receiver, and MCE remote. The case arrived promptly and well packaged. The instructions were relatively clear and I had no problem with the build.
This was also my first experience with mini ITX motherboards. I built the computer from a Biostar TH61 motherboard with an Intel G630T processor. The G630T is a dual core 2.3 GHz CPU with only 35 watt of TDP. Plenty low for a completely fanless, passive system. I installed 8GB of Kingston DDR3 RAM and installed Windows 7 Ultimate on a 64GB Crucial M4 SSD.
The system was almost exactly what I wanted. Silent, stable, and fast. Then, I got the email that the H5.S was back in stock. DAMMIT!! I ended up selling the H3.S build and purchased a black H5.S case with fanless 80 watt power supply, internal IR receiver, and MCE remote. Just like the previous H3.S, the H5.S arrived arrived promptly and well packaged.
I already had an Intel DH67BL motherboard lying around for another computer build so I just pulled it into duty for my new build. I purchased an Intel G640T processor which I found for the same price as the previous G630T. The G640T is a dual core 2.4 GHz CPU with the same 35 watt TDP. I followed the same recipe for success with 8GB of Kingston DDR3 RAM and Windows 7 Ultimate on a 64GB Crucial M4 SSD.
Comparing the H3.S to the H5.S, they both had a few faults and areas where I felt improvements could be made. Most of these should be considered nit-picky and I feel they do not detract from the overall quality of the cases.
The H3.S grooves were powder-coated which likely minimizes heat transfer from the heat pipes to the case/external heat sinks.The H5.S grooves were raw aluminum. I found on both the H3.S and H5.S that the front USB cable has to be cut down for the screws to fit into the case. Providing longer screws would prevent the need for having to cut the cable down. The H3.S case came with only a front USB 3.0 cable while the H5.S came with both front USB 2.0 & 3.0 cables.”
Just did a installation for a review unit.
Here is the configuration.
CPU: Intel Core i3 3225 3.3GHz LGA 1155 w/HD4000
Motherboard: ASRock Z77E-ITX LGA 1155 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard
G.SKILL Ripjaws RAM
Power Supply: Magic Power 80W Fanless Open Frame PSU
Chassis: HDPLEX Fanless H5.S PC Case
The H5.S also supports an optional 120mm fan. The fan could be installed on the bottom plate using cable binder.
Raw aluminum groove to further improve heat transfer efficiency.
HDPLEX H3.S fanless PC case act beautifully as a versatile center piece for the home entertainment center. The fanless H3.S PC serve as an high end audio transport as well as HD/bluray video streamer
Here is the component list.
Biostar TH61 miniITX motherboard
Intel Pentium G630T CPU
8GB of Kingston DDR3 RAM
64GB Crucial M4 SSD
It is completely silent and have small foot print as well as high WAF(Wife acceptance factor).
Solid State heaven!
These pictures are from a Japan customer.
HDPLEX Fanless H3.S Computer case has been set up as high end audio player for the PC audio system.
This fanless PC is equipped with USB 3.0 front port. The black internal cable is high quality USB 3.0 cable connecting the onboard port to the HDPLEX fanless PC case front USB port.
The Computer case serve as a high end audio digital transport as audio source and using internal 80W fanless power supply.
Here are the pictures.
We’ve take the H5 platform and made a completely clean front panel for it to achieve that minimalist design we all crave. H5.S would make a perfect silent front end for XBMC, MS Home Server, or whatever you can think of. H5.S supports microATX and mini-ITX, internal mounting for 150W adapter and 80W power supply, and has 2×3.5″/2.5″ plus 1×2.5″ HDD bay.
This updated H5.S version has two major improvements comparing to the first batch H5.S. First, the side groove to bury heatpipe is raw aluminum instead of powder coat. This improve the heat transfer efficiency significantly.
Second, the new power plate supported both 5.5/2.5 single PIN DC plug and 4PIN mini DIN connector via adapter cable. This means all PicoPSU and silimlar DC-ATX solution are supported by HDPLEX H5 series. This enable customer use their own PicoPSU solution without the need to purchase PSU again.
Finally a small improvement for the heatsink installation kit. Four new smaller bottom holders will be included in the heatsink system.Some motherboards have small components around the back of the heatsink installation hole. The original bottom holder will need cutting/trimming to prevent it from damaging the small components. With new additional smaller bottom holder, you don’t have to worry about this anymore.