Kiyoshi's Audiophile's Dream

Hi folks!

Today I will be presenting a build for a Mini ITX Audiophile PC. It will not have enough power to tackle games on the highest settings but should be good for daily computing, high-def videos and be phenomenal at music. Plus being a Mini ITX build, it will save you tonnes of space. Good use could be to hook it up to your home theater system and TV or go for a great headphone set.

CASE:


Lian Li PC-Q07

A very good Mini ITX case capable of supporting a standard ATX PS/2 PSU, one 3.5" HDD and one 2.5"  HDD. If space is at a premium, this is a great case for you!

Dimensions : 8.19" x 7.60" x 11.02"
Price : US$ 69.99











CPU:


AMD A8-3850

The new line of AMD A-Series APUs (Accelerated Processing Unit) gives you very good performance on a budget. They are named APUs because they combine both a CPU and a GPU on a single chip.

Stock Clock : 2.9Ghz
GPU : AMD Radeon HD6550D
Price : US$ 109.99








MOTHERBOARD:


ASRock A75M-ITX

A great motherboard from ASRock. Features 1 PCI-E 2.0 x16 and 1 PCI-E 2.0 x1 slots, 2 PCI slots, 5 SATA III connectors and 4 USB 3.0 ports.
A host of features on a tiny motherboard!

Dimensions : 6.7" x 6.7"
Price : US$ 89.99







SOUND CARD:


ASUS Xonar Essence STX

One of the best offerings from ASUS eclipsed only by their crazy Xonar Essence One, it is a great card for those who want their music to sound great. Do it justice and give it a proper surround sound or headphone setup.

Dimensions : 4.19" x 6.6"
Price : US$ 163.99











RAM:


Kingston HyperX Blu

A great 4GB (2 x 2GB) Dual Channel offering from Kingston. Good thermal qualities give it long life.

Speed : DDR3 1600
Capacity : 4GB (2 x 2GB)
Voltage 1.65V
Price : US$ 28.99

POWER SUPPLY:


Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D

Super cool, super quiet, 80+ Bronze Certified. What's not to love?

Max Power : 380Watts
PCI-E Connector : 1 x 6 Pin
SATA Connectors : 5
Dimensions : 3.4in x 5.9in x 5.5in
Price : US$ 44.99
Note: Does not come with Power Cord. Recycle your old one









HARD DRIVE:


Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB

While the production of hard drives is up to normal after the floods in Thailand, prices unfortunately have not got done all too well. This Caviar Blue will serve you nicely while we wait for the prices to be around pre-flood levels.

Speed : 7200RPM
Interface : SATA III (6.0Gb/s)
Cache : 16MB
Price : US$ 74.99








OPTIONAL:


Headphones:


What's a Audiophile system without some very good headphones? The prices of headphones vary a lot and you definitely have a lot of options. However some good ones in my opinion that you should take a look at as you explore headphones are:

Sennheiser HD 280 PRO

Arguably the best headphones you can buy at this price point. The sound is very good and the finish is top notch!
Price: US$ 99.99










Sennheiser HD 201

For those who are on an extreme budget but still want the best possible audio quality! I bought this and am very happy and satisfied with these headphones!
Price : US$ 24.95











Sennheiser HD 650

For those looking for pure, high quality sound, you cannot go wrong with the HD 650. It has very precise bassand made from ultra-light materials to give you exceptional comfort.
Price : US$ 499.95










Audio Technica ATH-W1000x

These amazing headphones will empty your wallet but my oh my, the sound quality will make you weap!

Price : US$ 699.95









TOTAL:


US$ 582.99 (No Headphones)

Thoughts:


You can build it even cheaper by going for a computer case that comes with a power supply. There are cases from companies like APEX (Apex MI-008 250W, US$39.99) but the reason I went with this build is because of the 80+ rating.  For those on an even smaller budget, take a look at the AMD A6-3500 65W Triple-Core APU which is selling for US$ 79.99. If you select both options your budget will be down to US$ 477.94.

Kiyoshi Out!
Psst... Hey... Spread the word! +1, Subscribe,Tweet ^_^ Thank you for reading.

Sound Cards

Hi folks!

Today I will be covering the audio card. I am wrapping up all the components that go inside your computer and the only things that are left are hard drives and peripherals (Mouse & Keyboard). There are of course other accessories you can include like headsets, speakers, fan controllers, lcd displays but those are not necessary for your basic build to be complete so I will talk about them in other posts as I encounter them myself. Remember I myself don't earn a lot of money so budget sometimes stops me from getting the stuff of my dreams ^_^. Also if you guys want me to talk about something in particular, please feel free to ask and I will post my opinions and suggestions about them.

So why would you need an Audio Card? Audio Cards are very good at giving you that depth of experience to truly enjoy your games, movies and musics. Motherboards all come with on board sound options but since they are on the board, you end up sacrificing some power and capabilities to put them on board. Detaching it from the board gives you more power and more capabilities.

Two of my favorite companies in this are Asus and Creative. My opinion is that if you want a sound card more for gaming, go for Creative and if you are interested in music more, go for the Asus ones.

ASUS (http://usa.asus.com/Multimedia/#Audio_Cards)

ASUS Xonar Essence STX

One of the best audiophile cards you can find out there. It comes with a built in headphone amp to deliver amazing sound to your headphones. Will give you better sound no matter what headphones you are using. Comes with 6.3 mm headphone jacks for high-end headphones (Adapter for 3.5mm connectors also included) Selling for $189.99. It uses the PCI-E x1 slot on your motherboard.








Other cards to consider from ASUS
ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-E x1
Price $89.99
Good for gaming if you are on a budget.

ASUS Xonar DGX 5.2 PCI-E x1
Price $39.99
Good for gaming if you are on tighter budget

ASUS Xonar DG 5.1 PCI
Price $29.99
If you have a PCI slot only and extremely small budget, consider this. Good for gaming.


CREATIVE (www.creative.com)
One of my favorite brands and always a very tempting option for me. Check them out, you will not be disappointed.

Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional

The next generation of Sound Blaster cards, this card is great for gaming and online voice communication. It features a Sound Core3D Quad-Core Audio Processor that will give you enhanced gaming audio and crystal clear voice. It has a dedicated headphone amp to power studio quality headphones and headsets. Selling for $149.99. Requires a PCI-E x1 slot.






For $50 more, you can get a Recon3D Professional card with a Sound Blaster I/O Drive to give you front facing Headphone and Microphone inputs as well as volume and THX TruStudio Pro Controls. Check out these links here and here to find out more about it.











Other cards to consider
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD PCI-E x1
Price $146.99
Has Audiophile components to provide great music and gaming audio.

Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D PCI-E x1
Price $99.99
A Recon3D card for those on a smaller budget. Good for Gaming

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 PCI
Price $29.99
Extreme budget option requiring a PCI slot.

Hey answer something for me. Have you noticed the Fatal1ty thing? Creative has a Fatal1ty named sound card and ASRock has a Fatal1ty named Motherboard. Coincidence? Well no Fatal1ty is actually the gamer name for Jonathon Wendel who is described as the world's most famous PC gamer. Check out his website www.fatal1ty.com to learn more about the product lines that carry his name.

That's it for this post. I will talk about hard drives in general in the next post and then talk about my various dream build ideas and then on to the exciting world of peripherals where, hopefully some exciting and unique things will be presented to you ^_^

Until then,
Kiyoshi Out