Monthly Archives: February 2016

HTPC Hardware

HDPLex H5 Gen2 Silent Fanless PC Build from SPCR Forum Part One – Unboxing

Original review from SPCR Forum

Hi,

Unboxing, and build of new HD-Plex H5 Silent PC

Overall the build is very straightforward if you follow the instructions in the Guide.
Everything lined up perfectly and nothing needed to be bashed or fettled to get it to fit.
Machining quality is really superb.

All parts were present and correct in neat little bags and trays for easy identification.

I of course had to modify the design slightly so I made myself some extra work, but I got an even better unit for my needs/wants.

Final Parts List

HD-Plex H5 Gen2 Silent PC Case
ASRock Z97 Extreme6/3.1 (Amazon)
Intel i5 5675c Broadwell (Overclockers UK)
HD-PLex AC-DC 160W + DC-ATX 250W Power Supply (Direct)
Corsair Vengence Pro 16GB 1866 (SCAN)
Samsung 950 Pro SSD 500GB (OC UK)
KingWin 2.5 + 3.5 + USB3.0 Drive Bay (5.25) (Amazon USA)
LG GS40N DVD (Ultra Slim Slot Loading Writer) (Kikatek)
Windows 8.1 Pro (eBay from Latvia)

Additions to Standard Kit
10x M3x10mm Cup head screw
4x slim M3 nut
2x Aluminium plate 16 Guage 170mm x 80mm

Background . . .

I have been looking to build a silent PC for quite a while and kept looking at Streacom passive cases but last time I searched for ideas I came across the HD-Plex site and found that these cases were much better and about the same price. More options for internals with a passive GPU option up to say Nvidea 950, a TDP of 95W for both CPU and GPU plus amazing design and build quality.

I was initially going to build around an i5 6600K Skylake but then MS decided to stop support for Skylake going forward with Win 8.1, so I went back to the drawing board and discovered that the i5 5675C was the same power consumption with better onboard graphics. I was starting with no GPU as I probably don’t need one at the moment.

Part One – Unboxing.

Case arrives from German distribution hub.

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Contents (without packing foam sheets)

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

DC-ATX 250W PSU Box

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

AC-DC 160W PSU Box

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

GPU Passive Cooler Box (Future Option)

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Main Case Box : Printed Manual – Front Panel – Parts Tray – Case Parts

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Main Parts Tray

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Front Panel Parts Tray

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Closer look – Main Parts Tray

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Case Bottom Panel – Inner side

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Top Panel

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Sides and Rear Panel

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Case Boxed weighs 8Kg

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Glossy Instructions

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Solid Copper CPU Heatsink

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Heatpipes

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

CPU Cooler Plate and side panel heat-pipe plates

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

GPU Cooler

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Solid Copper

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Front Panel Illuminated Touch Switch parts tray

HDPLEX 2nd Gen Fanless PC Case Unboxing

Next – The Build . . .

: )

HDPLEX Fanless Silent PC Review

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 Silent Music Player Build using Supermicro X11SAE-M Xeon E3-1275 Samsung 950 Pro 5 and PPA v2 USB card

Original Review from Computer Audiophile Forum

Here is my just-completed build of a fanless silent music player.

Components:
HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 fanless chassis
– HDPLEX HiFi 250W DC-ATX (nanoATX series) power converter
– HDPLEX 160W AC-DC w/PFC (nanoATX series) PSU
– Supermicro X11SAE-M uATX motherboard
– Intel Xeon E3-1275 v5 CPU
– 16GB DDR4-2133 memory
– Samsung 950 Pro 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD
– PPA v2 USB card

This box will be used to run HQPlayer. Target OS is Windows 10. The M.2 SSD is a placeholder which will eventually be removed to make the box diskless, booting from a mounted iSCSI drive served by a silent NUC box acting as NAS and containing my music library.

I’m also waiting for an HDPLEX 300W ATX linear PSU to arrive, and will be able to compare the sound between the above PSU setup and the HDPLEX 300W ATX linear PSU.

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 with Supermicro,Xeon,NVMe PCIe,PPA USB

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 with Supermicro,Xeon,NVMe PCIe,PPA USB

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 with Supermicro,Xeon,NVMe PCIe,PPA USB

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 with Supermicro,Xeon,NVMe PCIe,PPA USB

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 with Supermicro,Xeon,NVMe PCIe,PPA USB

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 with Supermicro,Xeon,NVMe PCIe,PPA USB

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 with Supermicro,Xeon,NVMe PCIe,PPA USB

HTPC Hardware

Details about new version of HDPLEX H1 series Fanless PC case coming April 2016

New version of HDPLEX H1 series Fanless PC case has the following changes.

1:SSD installation position is being moved to the bottom plate below the motherboard. There is a “bathtub” being carved on the bottom plate for one SSD position or maybe two if it is super slim SSD (<7mm). This change enable H1.SODD to support regular SSD and to allow better heat dissipation since nothing will block the aluminum top plate. Old H1.SODD only supports mSATA/M.2 SSD.

HDPLEX H1 fanless pc case new version design change details

HDPLEX H1 fanless pc case new version design change details

2: CPU aluminum top plate will have teeth. Increase the heat dissipation area and thus efficiency.

HDPLEX H1 fanless pc case new version design change details

3: Improve the backplate for Thin mini ITX PCI Expansion card installation. Due to the decrease of thin ITX mobo options, I might make this thin ITX blackplate an option instead of include it by default. There is no thin ITX board for Intel Boardwell nor for Skylake CPU. Did they give up on Thin ITX??

HDPLEX H1 fanless pc case new version design change details

4: Side I/O board will be improved. One side I/O board with soft silicon based USB 3.0 cable and power button will replace the original two side I/O boards. So only one side will have side I/O. Silicon USB 3.0 head is very low profile as well.

5: New H1 faceplate will have new mounting pattern for power supply.
The mounting for 250W HiFi DC-ATX is unchanged.
In sum:

New H1.S will support:
1: HDPLEX 160W AC-DC+HDPLEX Direct Plug Style 160W DC-ATX (like PicoPSU). This direct plug style 160W DC-ATX is not released yet.

2: HDPLEX 80W AC-DC+HDPLEX 160W DC-ATX

3: HDPLEX 250W HiFi DC-ATX

New H1.SODD will support mini-ITX (with 24PIN on the side only) in addition to thin-ITX.

1: HDPLEX 160W AC-DC+HDPLEX Direct Plug Style 160W DC-ATX (like PicoPSU) if the motherboard 24PIN ATX plug is on the side instead of being on the front.

H1.S will have an updated SSD rack which support two SSD. So H1.S will support max 3 SSD, two via this rack and one on the bottom bathtub.

HDPLEX H1.S new SSD HDD rack

New version of H1.SODD and H1.S will be avaiable for sale around 2016 April

HDPLEX Fanless Silent PC Review

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 Fanless PC Case with PPA Studio AUDIO GRADE USB 3.0 PCIE CARD V3 and HDPLEX 100W Linear PSU+250W HiFi DC-ATX Combo

Original Review could be found at Computer Audiophile Forum

Case: HD-PLEX H5 Gen 2
MB: ASUS MAXIMUS VII GENE
CPU: Intel i7-4785T
Memory: 16 GB G.Skill TridentX PC3-21300
Disk – OS: Plextor M6e Series 256GB M.2 PCIe
Disk – Music: Samsung 840 EVO 1TB
USB: PPA Studio 3.0 V3
Power Sources: HDPLEX 100W LPS with 250W ATX Converter, 2 – TeraDAK X1 LPS (1 for PPA USB Card, 1 for Music disk)
Cables: ModDIY Red sleeved Silver Plated Copper for MB, Light Harmonic Lightspeed 10G USB
Software: OS – Win 10 Pro, Fidelizer (Free version), Roon, JPLAY

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 fanless pc case with PPA Sutio Audio Grade USB 3.0

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 fanless pc case with PPA Sutio Audio Grade USB 3.0

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 fanless pc case with PPA Sutio Audio Grade USB 3.0

HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 fanless pc case with PPA Sutio Audio Grade USB 3.0