Building a Core i7 HTPC with Sapphire Mini ITX H67

Generally Kitguru has focused on low cost, minimal power demand media centers based on ATOM or FUSION technology. Today however we have shown that with some careful component selection a high specified Core i7 media center is a possibility, still housed within an almost silent small form factor chassis.

Sapphire's new H67 Pure Platinum motherboard is a killer product. It supports all of the recent Intel 1155 Sandybridge processors and as our article has shown today, it proved to be rock solid with the Core i7 2600k. With USB 3.0, Sata 6Gbps support and a full width x16 slot PCI Express slot there are no compromises to be made.

The lack of extensive overclocking capabilities isn't that big a deal, considering the prospective small form factor sector. Some people may also be happy running the board without a discrete solution thanks to the Intel HD graphics support. We don't have confirmed UK pricing yet, but we have been told that the final price should be around the £85-£90 point.

This makes the Pure Platinum a sure fire purchase and it is easily one of the best Mini ITX boards on the market right now. Sapphire may be a low key player in the motherboard arena, but their products so far have been stellar.

A perfect partner for this system is the Sapphire HD6670 Ultimate Edition graphics card. While it is no heavy duty gaming tour de force a portion of the audience may be surprised to note that it can power many Direct X 9 and Direct 10 engines at 1080p with relatively high image quality settings. Moving to more intensive Direct X 11 engines will often mean a resolution drop to 720p, but for many people this will not be an issue. We love the fact it is passively cooled and won't add any noise to a system build. The power drain is also very low, demanding around 60 watts under load.

The entire review system we built today actually demands less power than Nvidia's GTX580 under load.

Performance testing shows that the HD6670 hardware acceleration capabilities can help reduce CPU load and improve overall responsiveness. Not such a critical issue with a Core i7 2600k processor in the mix, but beneficial with a lower powered processor such as Intel's Atom, or AMD's Fusion. This video card retails for around the £85 price point, meaning it is great value for money and one of the fastest passively cooled video cards on the market today.

We have reviewed Intel's Core i7 2600k processor before and since the release time months ago, the price has continued to drop. You can now pick this up for only £220 inc vat in the UK. For the price, there is nothing on the market even close to touching it for performance. With power saving features enabled, it demands very little wattage at the socket when idle and even when put to task it is an efficient design.

The 250GB Intel 510 Series Solid State Drive is another product which has impressed us. It isn't quite as fast as the latest Sandforce 2281 designs from OCZ, ADATA or Corsair but it delivers stunning performance, capable of 500MB/s+ read performance. Using this as a sizeable boot drive, with a large mechanical storage based hard drive is a perfect combination for a performance oriented media center.

By combining the hardware above with a hand selected series of components, such as the Antec High Current Pro 850W power supply, Samsung 2TB HDD, ADATA 2000mhz DDR3 memory and ThermalTake Armor A30 chassis means that a small, yet immensely powerful media center can be easily created.

There is no need to stop here however because if you wanted to push things further and didnt mind increased noise levels then the graphics card could be replaced with a higher specified model, such as the excellent Sapphire HD6950.

How much would this system cost?

If you needed to save some money, the Solid State Drive could be removed, which would lower the price to £785 inc vat. A lesser power supply could also be used, saving another £85 and bringing the total cost down to £700 inc vat.

This proves that if you want a new ultimate performance Core i7 media system then you don't need to be breaking the bank. If the system is built around the excellent Sapphire H67 Pure Platinum motherboard anything is possible!

KitGuru says: Do you like our recommendations for a high performance media center? share your views below or in our forums.

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