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Remove the two PCI expansion slot covers closest to the I/O ports and install the GPU, making sure to run the ATX auxiliary power cable beneath it. Plug the two PCI-E 6-pin plugs into the ports on the end of the card (image below).
Attach the SSD to the underside of the hard drive bracket using the four SSD screws (image below, left). Plug a 6Gb/s SATA cable into the SSD. Plug the two SATA cables from the hot-swap bays to two of the mobo’s gray SATA ports, and attach the other end of the SATA cable from the SSD into one of the red ports.
Attach the two 4-pin Molex connectors from the hot-swap bays to two of the 4-pin connectors from the PSU (image above, right). Attach the end SATA data connector from the cable you moved over earlier. Replace the hard drive tray and reattach the four screws that hold it in place. Slide your mass storage drive into one of the hot-swap bays and close the door.
Attach the optical drive to the optical drive tray (image below), making sure the mounting holes on the drive are aligned with the front set of mounting holes on the tray. Attach with four optical-drive mounting screws and plug in the SATA power and SATA data cables you previously routed to the area. Reinstall the drive bay using the four screws you removed in Step 1.
Slot the storage drive into one of the front hot-swap bays, and then replace the case’s top cover. Install OS and drivers, and away you go!
I worried that an actively cooled gaming rig in an HTPC chassis would be too noisy, especially compared to passively cooled rigs like our August 2011 machine. But all builds involve compromises, and I wasn’t willing to give up gaming performance in exchange for a few decibels. Fortunately, the GD06’s fans are pretty quiet, and MSI’s Twin Frozr II cooler makes the GTX 560 Ti run quietly, as well. The rig only really got loud when I was installing driver updates from the optical drive. The drive runs much more quietly when playing a movie.
And to my relief, the system is pretty speedy. Our zero-point machine is an aging-but-still-powerful overclocked Core i7-920 with a dual-GPU videocard. The Sandy Bridge processor and GTX 560 Ti helped the gaming HTPC hold its own reasonably well in the benchmarks despite a stock-clocked processor sans Hyper-Threading.
The tight quarters of the GD06 don't leave much room for a fancy wiring job, but the positive air pressure generated by its three 12cm intake fans ensures that the components stay cool.
The rig plays 3D Blu-ray and offers a protected Dolby TrueHD audio path via the videocard’s 1.4a-compatible Mini HDMI port—essential elements in a home theater PC. If you must have cable, you can drop in Ceton’s InfiniTV tuner and a CableCard. If you must have a dedicated soundcard, you can add in one of those. If you’re really crazy, you can add both. I prefer to go without either and save the $650. I still have access to Netflix, Hulu Plus, and anything I can stream over my home network.
It's also great for games. Some of us like gaming on a giant screen, and we want to use a mouse and keyboard when we do. And now we can, with a box that’s far more powerful than any console.
If you’re curious about the rest of an HTPC setup—recommended remotes, peripherals, sound systems, TVs, and more—check out our guide to the Ultimate 3D HTPC from last year. The peripheral recommendations still stand, though 3D-compatible TVs have only gotten easier to come by.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat (eww), and my gaming HTPC isn’t the same as yours. What would you change? What essential part did I miss? What totally unnecessary expense did I incur? Email your critiques, build suggestions, and more to comments@maximumpc.com!
| Zero Point PC | Gaming HTPC | |
|---|---|---|
| Vegas Pro 9 (sec) | 3,049 | 3,411 (-11%) |
| Lightroom 2.6 (sec) | 356 | 312 |
| Proshow 4 (sec) | 1,112 | 986 |
| Reference 1.6 (sec) | 2,113 | 2,258 (-6%) |
| STALKER (fps) | 42.0 | 34.1 (-19%) |
| Far Cry 2 (fps) | 114.4 | 91.9 (-20%) |
Our current desktop test bed consists of a quad-core 2.66GHz Core i7-920 overclocked to 3.5GHz, 6GB of Corsair DDR3/1333 overclocked to 1,750MHz, on a Gigabyte X58 motherboard. We are running an ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card, a 160GB Intel X25-M SSD, and 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate.
Comments are closed on this article
Bonn Sotto
January 21, 2012 at 7:38pm
I just finished building this rig. I want to connect this to my av receiver but I'm having no luck. Any thoughts on HTPC being connected to an AVR?
lylzhy
January 09, 2012 at 6:09pm
Gateway 101974 Laptop Keyboard
http://www.gateway-laptop-keyboard.com/Laptop-Keyboard/Gateway-101974.html
Gateway MX8710 Laptop Keyboard
http://www.gateway-laptop-keyboard.com/Laptop-Keyboard/Gateway-MX8710.html
Panasonic DE-A66 Battery Charger
http://www.batteries-charger.co.uk/Battery-Charger/Panasonic/Panasonic-DE-A66.html
Panasonic SV-AS10 Battery Charger
http://www.batteries-charger.co.uk/Battery-Charger/Panasonic/Panasonic-SV-AS10.html
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 Battery Charger
http://www.digital-camera-battery-charger.net/Charger/Panasonic/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-ZS5.html
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 Battery Charger
http://www.digital-camera-battery-charger.net/Charger/Panasonic/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-ZS7.html
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS4 Battery and Charger
http://www.buy-battery-charger.co.uk/Battery-Charger/Panasonic/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-FS4.html
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS7 Battery and Charger
http://www.buy-battery-charger.co.uk/attery-Charger/Panasonic/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-FS7.htmll
ness64
December 02, 2011 at 6:11pm
I wish I could build this, but I can't find the case becasue I live in Malaysia. Somehow, all the other parts are down here. I probably need to look harder. But this is a great build anyway! But the only changes I would make is to bump the 2500K to a 2600K, and bump the 560 Ti to a EVGA GTX 580 3GB. I just want a PC which has power in a small size. But the only problem is that things are more expensive down here. :-(
AreWeNotMen
November 30, 2011 at 2:08pm
I had used a laptop for an HTPC, and was ready to move onto something a bit better that could do gaming as well.
I was also looking for a project to do with my kid. I scaled back the hard drive storage because of the cost, and got an MSI R6950 Twin Frozr iii instead of the Nvidia card. The Nvidia seemed to have a high post-installation failure rate on Newegg. The 6950 had power connectors on the top, though. It was a snug fit once I put the cover on the machine.
The SSD is a nice luxury. but is probably overkill.
I also bought a cheaper blu-ray drive (from Asus, on sale), and bought the TMC software blu-ray player on sale for $50. That let me retire the stand-alone blu-ray player I had.
The noise is tolerable from the machine. I don't think there is room for an aftermarket cooler unless you go with the Hxx from Corsair or some other low profile unit. The stock fan was workable for me, as I am not overclocking right now.
I have an HDHomerun unit connected to it via ethernet. Works great for off-the-air recording. Also, found a cheap PCIe 802.11n card for networking.
The case is very cool looking. Routing the cables was the biggest hassle with this build. It was my first new build in about 6 years, but nothing too difficult.
This how-to worked for me. I had a lot of fun putting it together.
roger becken
November 19, 2011 at 1:01am
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November 19, 2011 at 12:58am
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krom
November 17, 2011 at 10:46am
Not that I have a great preference either way, but I wouldn't mind the option, what is a comperable AMD graphics card? Also do any of the AMD cards allow for 3D BD or just the Nvidia cards. A nice build.
erraticfocus
November 08, 2011 at 6:12pm
Motherboard Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z
$180
Seriously? $180 I'd love to know where you can get this board from at a price less than $240!!!
ddz49
November 08, 2011 at 7:18pm
Um...Newegg...for $170, actually. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131759
strangelove9
November 08, 2011 at 8:00am
I'm not too stoked about the idea of leaving the stock cooler on - it's small and noisy. But, on the other hand, this chassis is less forgiving than "regular" (vertical) towers.
What's a good aftermarker cooler (preferrably with a 12 cm fan, or thereabouts), that's also not bulky, and fits into such a case?
Vatigu
November 08, 2011 at 3:29am
Realistically I'd say this machine is kind of overkill, if you wanted a pc that can game and do HTPC duties grab a 35ft hdmi cable and run it from your office to your tv, and set up a wifi based mouse/kb combo, then set up some hotkeys to swap between HTPC TV-out profile and your single desktop profile.
First that handily eliminates the issue of needing a small sleek enclosure grab a hafx for all it matters.
Secondly it completely negates the sound of your GTX 560 TI/leafblower while media'ing and you _could_ game on your TV, or you could also just as easily hook up the headset and game at a desk in a comfortable pose without using your couch as a mouse-mat.
In my books this is the most elegant solution for this kind of problem, assuming you have the capability of fishing the HDMI cable from your office space to your media space.
Ultimately I think this unit defeats the purpose of an HTPC as it's usually supposed to be a sort of thin client streaming media from your server or saving media to said server.
Wingzero_x
November 08, 2011 at 1:58am
I guess you haven't heard, but onboard audio sucks and it's even stupid because it's not 9.2 surround
Well that's what I heard any way.
limitbreaker
November 07, 2011 at 8:08pm
who in their right mind would spend 1500$ for a HTPC? i understand its for gaming also but it's kind of overkill. Most people (me) would build their HTPC out of spare parts. Get your butts off the couch and go use your 1500$ on a nice vacation! your HTPC can wait until you can salvage a pc from spare parts!
Wingzero_x
November 08, 2011 at 2:24am
Especially considering all the options out there that cost less than a third of that. As much as I love my PC games, the reality is they don't always make the jump to the biggest screen in the house gracefully. Not to mention I just don't believe they've ever made a keyboard and mouse good enough to beat a dedicated controller while sitting back on the the sofa.
Engelsstaub
November 07, 2011 at 7:47pm
I love the chassis.
Wish it came out to around a grand, but the parts are worth it I suppose.
Does anybody know a good way to play a BluRay on Windows Media Player that doesn't involve spending a hundred bucks on some "codec" shit? I absolutely loathe CyberLink's crapware. Also don't want to always have to circumvent BD DRM to watch a movie I own...although I will.
robluft
January 01, 2012 at 9:17pm
A few options come to mind...Zoom Player, DAPlayer, UM Player, and ole' faithful VLC. Test them out and see which one works best with your rig since I've found some do better than others depending on hardware configurations.
dgrmouse
November 07, 2011 at 5:54pm
MSI’s Twin Frozr II uses roughly twice as much power as the system's CPU. I'm not saying it should be disqualified, but you really shouldn't let NVidia off the hook so easily. Either it's time for a die shrink and more efficient graphics cards, or it's time for onboard graphics in a lot more applications.
ness64
December 02, 2011 at 5:53pm
I agree that there should be more energy-efficient graphics cards. The fact that we only know of one planet that can support us doesn't help too. But ONBOARD GRAPHICS? This is a gaming PC/HTPC. Onboard graphics, although it has been improving, just doesn't cut it in a PC for this purpose. If this was a regular HTPC, then onboard graphics would be a-okay.
Righteous Fury
November 07, 2011 at 3:30pm
And what if i want all the blu-ray goodness, gaming goodness AND want to flip over to to some cable goodness as well?
ddz49
November 07, 2011 at 6:05pm
Then you would add a CableCARD. The Maximus IV Gene-Z is a microATX motherboard, not a Mini-ITX one.
Slurpy
November 07, 2011 at 3:27pm
I like how $220 was dropped on an unnecessary, if nice to have, SSD, while replacing the stock Intel cooler with something quieter wasn't deemed necessary. It's not super-noisy, but if I had to choose, I'd rather deal with regular HDD load times than the extra noise.
Of course, running with the OS on an SSD means no clicking noises. . .
MastaGuy
November 07, 2011 at 4:40pm
The most expensive HDD at 500gbs on Newegg is $100
It's incredible that all these companies weren't smart enough to put their factories where it doesn't get floods (China)
510Gamer
January 24, 2012 at 7:57pm
Did you just say there are no floods in China...are you serious?
This is from 2011 alone, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_China_floods
Cmon bro.
TechNinja49
November 07, 2011 at 2:22pm
You guys could have found some cheaper RAM, but overall it's looking good! I have but one question left: can it run Crysis? :P
lordfirefox
November 30, 2011 at 4:50pm
Read closer next time it says 2x 4GB.
That's two 4GB modules. That's 8GB at $99. That IS cheap.
And lets not forget the Ram Prices have been dropping daily.
The same kit now totals for $79.99 on NewEgg.
