I smiled when I heard that. Because it is very true. It also made me think of the most recent 8-Bit Guy video, where he was inadvertently botched new looking IBM computers from the eighties...
I smiled as well. I watch AdamantIT and Tech Yes City, both spend ages on cable management. Since I don’t play games, my GPU needs and power / heat needs are modest, so I don’t have to worry about poor cable management causing air flow problems. Cable management is therefore low on my priorities.
What a calming demo. Loved the simple yet, to the point dialogues. Funny 17:20 , therapy sessions for cable management purists. This channel itself is ASMR to me.
As a cable technician whose job was to organize some crazy rat's nests into respectable MDFs and IDFs, I felt so attacked by that. 😂 His cable management was pretty good regardless. I don't think one could do all that much better given the components and space.
Excellent video. It was this one which inspired me to build my own mini PC which I've posted a few pics of on my community tab. Keep up the great work.
Amazing that it did power on even if he put the power switch cables in an odd place ^_^ (must be the same grounding as the proper pin). I've worked with hundreds of mobo's and i've never encountered a single one that has the power pins vertically, it's always horizontally aligned with the power led pins.
I love all your videos, Chris. And your sense of humor! May I say how refreshing it is to watch an entire video without pre- or mid- video ads? Thank you so much for that!
I have opted out of the mid-roll ad thing, as I don't like content interupted by them. I do have ads set to play at the start and the end of the video, but the slots will not always be taken up.
Green PC, upgraded: ver.2.0. Beautiful. 🤩 Therapy? This channel. Works every time with 100% effectiveness. Sunday therapy sessions with Chris. Positive response/results effects immediately. No known contraindications except addiction. Hello therapist. 👋🏻 Excellent video. Stay well and safe.
I think instead of saying "the CPU is pre-installed" (as compared to a socket) you should maybe say "the CPU is soldered", because "pre-installed" might still be interpreted as "already put in the socket".
yes its integrated cpu, also i had Asrock Q1900M With Celeron J1900 4x 1.9Ghz it was integratated CPU too, with the same heatsink :D (GTA5 20FPS 720P LOW, Huge CPU Bottleneck) :D
It hardly matters anyway. This kind of device has very limited uses, with media playback or a storage server coming to mind. Without also having a way to add a dedicated gpu, there is very little reason to ever want to upgrade the CPU.
I normally build on a full atx form factor and it's interesting to see a different form factor like mini-itx. This was a very interesting video as usual and I'm glad I watched it.
Cris this is the most fascinating video to date. I wish I had seen this a few weeks ago before I did my new build. I did not even know there was an ITX specialist. I will be looking forward to the next episode.
Chris, nice case recycling. Thanks for doing your part in reduce, reuse & recycle. Every little bit makes a difference. I hope you get 10 more years out of that case.
👍 Originally interested in one tiny part but watched whole vid 'cause Chris explains VERY well and makes some of the best composed vids on youtube. Amazing combo of talents.
Your videos inspired my son and I to assemble our first computer together earlier this year. I think we might try a mini ITX next. Thanks for sharing these!
Great video, an interesting bit of hardware almost an SBC. I built my Ryzen pc, after watching, your videos on it, which has been great, I did upgrade my Ryzen pc, a 2200g wasn't enough, I fitted a 3600x on it's release, but the old 2200g APU did not go to waste, I bought an asrock a300 desk mini for £140 and put it there, with a few other bits I had hanging around, it makes an excellent compact PC, and is the pc I use the most. Great video looking forward to the next.
Thanks for letting me know this existed. Exactly what I was looking for to build my NAS. Low cost, low power, but still fast, a PCI-e slot for the RAID controller card, can fit in ATX case with lots of hard drives. I got a used J4005B-ITX on ebay.
ini vidio perakitan PC terdetil yang pernah saya tonton, dan tidak bikin ngantuk ditontonnya. niiiiiice.... jadi kepengen ngerakit mini itx juga nih, terbayang "space savings" nya buat saya
I have to say I was suprized by your comment about people who tidy up the cables in there PC (i.e. cable management) requiring psychiatric therapy. While the video was interesting and informative I wonder if you could give a reply to the following points. 1) Can we therefore assume that you have never ever used a cable tie in one of your PC builds to tidy the cables and if you did which therapy clinic did you attend afterwards. 2) It is possible even likely that your video was watched by people new to building a PC, if they follow your advice then they could well end up with cables over fans and poor access to components because cables are in the way. 3) You contradict yourself in the video regarding the Molex connector and wiring over the heatsink. You say in effect don't bother with cable management but then your text comment says turn the drive to reroute the wire, that is cable management! 3) Are PC case manufacturers all wrong, the vast majority of modern cases have cutouts and cable tie loops for neatly routing the cables (i.e. Cable management). 4) following from 3 if you were to build in a windowed case would you just have the wires dumped everywhere so it looked a mess when viewed through the glass side panel. A lot of these glass panel builds especially ones with complex water cooling loops are works of art, and tidy, unobtrusive cables is integral to that. 5) For me and others I suspect, buying the parts for a new build is not cheap. Therefore would you not want to do the best you could with the build including tidying the cables. I take pride in my builds and a neat and tidy case interior is part of that. 6) in this video would 5 or 6 cable ties and 10 minutes work be so wrong. Apparently so. Clearly I have taken the comment you made quite seriously, I suppose it was just an off the cuff but flippant remark. Could I suggest perhaps you could have made a more neutral comment like that the cables could be tidied if you want to. At the end of the day people can just throw there pc together in 5 minutes or spend days or weeks making one of the glass panel works of art with custom hand made components etc or somewhere in between. Long may that be the case. I will continue to watch some of your videos where the subject matter is of particular interest, but this comment and your rather slow, overemphasized commentary style (reminds me of some of the tedious corporate videos I have been obliged to watch) mitigate against me watching more.
This has been very informative; recently the family decided to "cut the cord" with a satellite. They're going with a streamer like Roku and I was looking for something like this; small factor to make into a DVR for it. Can't wait to see what you install for OS and software.
Pantherman1979 I’ll be looking forward to the next video also. I’ve wondered about this board for a Plex server with HDHomeRun to dvr and watch live tv. I really appreciate the form factor and low wattage of the system. Great video!!
@@keithp5568 I had to look up HDHomerun as I wasn't familiar with it, this is something that I'm going to look into for myself. My brother has plex at his house and is happy with it, though I believe he's running it through a ps4
@Pantherman1979 Plex is quite versatile. I use it mostly as a dvr for live “over the air” tv but others host all sorts of media/movies on theirs. I believe to dvr you need the Plex pass. I don’t want to hijack The EC channel here but Lon tv has a number of videos on Plex and the HDHomeRun that you may find useful. The build featured on this video is nice because the Plex runs 24/7 and the low power consumption is great and the Intel CPU’s with quick sync are great for transcoding a few streams simultaneously if needed.
Chris, I purchased a ThinkCentre M92b from Ebay and have been using it. I installed Linux Mint it has a 500GB Western Digital HD which had nothing on it when purchased $85.00. 4GB DDR3 SODIMM 1600MHz Intel HD Graphics 2500, 3rd generation Intel® Core™ i5-3470T processor (2.90GHz, 3MB Cache). Going to upgrade to a 250GB SSD and add 8GB of memory. It runs quite well and enjoy using the tiny form factor PC. I added a adapter for the monitor to use the HDMI cable on my Roku TV and that works out fine too. No need to use external speakers which take up room on my table. Also looking into doing this build with the ASRock J4105 as you did in this video very cool build.
This channel never fails to give me a serotonin boost. I love technology and I’m so glad I found this channel years ago when you made a Raspberry Pi tank robot (I think the video was from 2014 or 2015). That video was the one that really got me into DIY electronics. Edit: it was the Zumo robot video from 6 years ago. I remember watching that video when I was working on a school project to build a similar robot. I also built my first PC (like in this video) later that year.
I was going to get something like one of these recently to build a silent TV PC. But in the end i got a used "HP Prodesk 600 G1 DM i5" off ebay for 100 pounds. Put 8GB in it and a SSD and its a brilliant tiny little PC. I would say even smaller than that mini-ITX. It even has 2x DP ports for dual screen connections.
Finally a really good PC. I would be really interested in a comparrison vs. a Raspberry Pi 4. Price, speed and most importantly power consumption. I have doubts that the raspi will look all that good in that comparrison, and I guess it would look even worse going against a N4000 board like the n4000t by asus.
@Boodysaspie The problem is that the Pi 4 doesn't really cut it as a dedicated media device, at least in my experience, nor does the Rock Pi. My main problem is too many dropped frames on TH-cam, which I'm sure this build will have no problem with.
@Boodysaspie the comparison would be valid from the standpoint of application of device we are after: a media center pc. Recently, i was considering rpi4 for media center pc, but since there was Intel Quad Core back from 2008 laying around + P5K Pro motherboard + its original 8 Gb ram, i only had to find an atx case (free, but bought some paint to give it unique look), bought a Pioneer 256Gb ssd and a 120mm fan oh yeah and 1 hdmi cable. Yes, this way it takes more space neat the TV stand, but the performance (both h.264 and h.265) is stellar! no frame drops, very fast boots etc. So it was both cheaper and better performance than rpi4, which still is ok as carry-media center for travel, but otherwise it works as a relays controller for various 220V projects.
@Boodysaspie correct (but as far as i recall its 95W TDP); however my point was: sbc credit card sized boards evolve in performance and mini-itx which is considerably smaller than atx but a tad larger than sbc may be the golden pea among them when creating a media center pc - and from user's perspective that is the ultimate goal. Also: some of use prefer quiet build, some say the smallest space ocupied is most important. Some would say: hey I want to watch movies and run a snes emulator/dosbox for vintage games on huge tv (and boy they look so nostalgicaly ugly)). So it is a good idea to mention all aspects: power draw, price, video decoding performance, dimensions of the rig, software capabilities. Because as pcs get older many of them live their second life as media boxes, backup servers, nas, firewalls etc. And rpi4 claims to be good at all of that too. So good comparison videos would be most useful for people planning their next build.
Thanks for a excellent video on ITX build. Your continued service of presenting clear and well thought out videos on building computers and computer related topics is greatly appreciated! Keep the excellent work.
Yes! I love tiny computers :) I like these real life builds too, there's plenty of "high horsepower" builds out there, but more people just want a computer hooked up to their tv and this is a perfectly reasonable.
I worked on electronic equipment in the Air Force. We always called the initial start up after repairing or modding something a "Smoke Test." On occasion we'd get a loud ZAP followed by smoke. To this day I still cringe before pushing that power button after I work on something.
As I lay in bed at 11 pm watching this awesome video, I realized how utterly useless regular TV has become, I can hardly stand to watch “normal” TV, why would I when I can watch this lovely British chap ramble on about a low-power highly integrated motherboard.
Great video, thanks for making it! Very happy that you pointed out the mini itx website. Something that I would love to see you try with this computer (or a SBC) is a headless music player that can play music from a USB drive, local files or a NAS to speakers connected to it.
The last mini itx build I did was 2005. That was an AMD of one sort or another (separate cpu). I like this firm factor a lot. Thanks for another great video Chris.
Motherboard looks full-featured with legacy (VGA, PS2, etc) and *modern* features such as HDMI and USB 3.x, which is a damn shame, as I just bought a new rig that I am upgrading. 🤤 👍
A bevy of connectors? A Cornucopia of Connectors! Great part one, awaiting part 2 with much interest....as this is something I very would love to see as a home theatre PC under the TV... Cheers Christopher!
If you want gaming on ITX then the ROG Strix X570-I is what your after ;). But youl need a bigger case and fans / cooling which is outside of this video by quite a margin.
I didn't expect the old atom system to come in. In fact I watched the green pc in 2012. When I was 7 years old. Now I'm 15. Time flies while watching ec
I will expect a formal complaint in three fold (two for the archives) at the registration office of Formal Complaints and Registry under the section Cable Management and Miscellaneous. Thank you.
OR you can grab 11$ Arctic Alpine Passive + any CPU under 60 watts (maybe underclock it 15%) and have a versatile, more powerfull, but still silent platform. Mine is i5-2500 with Arctic cooler @ 3.6ghz all cores. Works like a champ. I5-2500 is roughly 70% faster than J4105
I made a similar build last year, but I took the mobo version with PCIE for my gt1030. Overall a really balanced and fun machine, but to go completely fanless it needs a different power supply.
@@Teknikfrik Sure thing, it is the Asrock J4105B-ITX. That B is the only naming difference from the board used in the video so be careful when you order. Also remember that to get the x16 pcie slot you lose integrated wifi and bluetooth.
This was exciting to watch, I remember having a radio back in the day with similar design. Speaking of tea, i just decided to not remain addicted to it and went cold turkey. It has been 3 days and I am struggling through the headache. It seems everyone is trying to tell me to drink a cup even you.😅
@@ExplainingComputers no need to apologise, I have won my battle and haven't touched it for whole week. Headache is gone and I am feeling good. You enjoy your tea sir and stay healthy.
Top drawer, as always! Thank you for broadening our minds to so many neat computing alternatives; like this ITX approach. Built one. This little thing "flies" and the quiet is deafening. Delightful compared to my louder Ryzen 5 machines. You are a precious resource. Full stop.
Note. This board will take a 16gig memory kit. The documentation on the CPU has been wrong from the beginning. The max ram for the J4105 is 8gb PER CHANNEL, not total. I have the same board in my daily driver with a 16 gig kit (2x8G).
Yes, you must remove the Intel Atom sticker. Which reminds me… I recently had the displeasure to briefly operate a laptop that someone got for free, which had an Atom processor in it. It was running Windows 7, and all they really wanted to use it for, was to let their cat watch videos of birds and squirrels on TH-cam. It failed at the task, in my opinion. The time it spent buffering a 144p video was absurd! Yet, they put it in-front of the cats, and they watched it. I just hope the cats aren't traumatized by only getting to watch a few seconds of video before it's yanked away from them to wait for about a solid minute of buffering. I think it actually spends significantly more time buffering than actually playing video. I can't even be sure that this is all due to the processor, and not the wifi chip, I assume the laptop is now fairly old, so the wifi may also be terribly out of date, just simply very cheap.
A most excellent video!! Christopher you have done it again!! Can't wait to get my hands on this type of set up......looking for a "silent PC" as a "audio record" for my new podcast studio I am working on!! I am STILL sorting out the details of the studio, BUT I look forward to building almost this same exact computer thanks to YOUR video!!!
Since you mentioned it's an HTPC (or 'media PC', I believe you said), I'm guessing you'll install Kodi for management of files on Windows, or maybe Libreelec
It made sense for Mini-ITX boards when they first came out; they were intended for use in industrial and commercial settings, like digital signage, controlling factory equipment, data logging and such, and had the full complement of legacy ports: serial, parallel, PS/2 and VGA. They often replaced older full-size 486 and early Pentium systems, so the users in these settings wouldn't have to buy new peripherals. It does seem odd to have them modern motherboards, though.
People still love their IBM Model M keyboards which use the old adapter, although I believe it's possible to get replacement cables with USB connectors nowadays
I used the same board three weeks ago for a media PC. Used a bigger case and a DVD drive. Works great with Ubuntu 20. Tie that ground wire down, a loose ground could be a problem. Tape it to the side of the case if you must. Nice build.
"...what is technically known as see if it works."
I love this channel.
Isn't it known as "the smoke test"? Or better, "the absence of smoke test".
It's one of the few channels I watch every week.
I smiled when I heard that. Because it is very true. It also made me think of the most recent 8-Bit Guy video, where he was inadvertently botched new looking IBM computers from the eighties...
@@parrotraiser6541 Smoke test: turn it on, see if it smokes.
Remember, computers run on smoke. If it gets out, they stop working.
he had quite a few jazzy quips in this vid lol
Let's take a moment and appreciate the fact that this guy maintains his systems so well that even after 10 years, that case looks pretty spotless :D
"If you're terribly worried about cable management, I'm sure there are plenty of good therapy sessions you can attend." SHOTS FIRED !!
And that right there is worthy of a thumbs up!
I smiled as well. I watch AdamantIT and Tech Yes City, both spend ages on cable management. Since I don’t play games, my GPU needs and power / heat needs are modest, so I don’t have to worry about poor cable management causing air flow problems. Cable management is therefore low on my priorities.
I remember him saying something similar in his Core i3 Mini-ITX build years ago lol
Perhaps they need the therapy sessions in Canada! :)
😂
Congratulations on ten years of making interesting videos on TH-cam!
Thanks! 😃
What a calming demo. Loved the simple yet, to the point dialogues.
Funny 17:20 , therapy sessions for cable management purists.
This channel itself is ASMR to me.
As a cable technician whose job was to organize some crazy rat's nests into respectable MDFs and IDFs, I felt so attacked by that. 😂
His cable management was pretty good regardless. I don't think one could do all that much better given the components and space.
I have a growing list of ASMR channels. None of them dedicated ASMR. This is EC is one, Big Clive another.
Excellent video. It was this one which inspired me to build my own mini PC which I've posted a few pics of on my community tab. Keep up the great work.
Great to hear. :)
The best part is turning on that fresh new computer for the first time and all is well :-)
So true.
Amazing that it did power on even if he put the power switch cables in an odd place ^_^ (must be the same grounding as the proper pin). I've worked with hundreds of mobo's and i've never encountered a single one that has the power pins vertically, it's always horizontally aligned with the power led pins.
I never put the side panel on until it's booted the first time, I'm convinced that jinxes it ;)
Thats why I only seat the CPUFan/Add some RAM, connect a VGA cable to a display, test to board naked outside the case. the SSD can wait.
I love all your videos, Chris. And your sense of humor! May I say how refreshing it is to watch an entire video without pre- or mid- video ads? Thank you so much for that!
I have opted out of the mid-roll ad thing, as I don't like content interupted by them. I do have ads set to play at the start and the end of the video, but the slots will not always be taken up.
Technically known as "Seeing if it works!!" - Just love his dry sense of humour in all his videos. :D
ikr lol
Green PC, upgraded: ver.2.0.
Beautiful. 🤩
Therapy?
This channel.
Works every time with 100% effectiveness.
Sunday therapy sessions with Chris.
Positive response/results effects immediately.
No known contraindications except addiction.
Hello therapist. 👋🏻
Excellent video. Stay well and safe.
“Get in there you little swine!” “Is that a unicorn? No.” Very entertaining build. Looking forward to the exciting conclusion!
I think instead of saying "the CPU is pre-installed" (as compared to a socket) you should maybe say "the CPU is soldered", because "pre-installed" might still be interpreted as "already put in the socket".
Fair point.
I think he has clearly said Integrated Processor that preety makes it crystal clear
yes its integrated cpu, also i had Asrock Q1900M With Celeron J1900 4x 1.9Ghz it was integratated CPU too, with the same heatsink :D (GTA5 20FPS 720P LOW, Huge CPU Bottleneck) :D
It hardly matters anyway. This kind of device has very limited uses, with media playback or a storage server coming to mind. Without also having a way to add a dedicated gpu, there is very little reason to ever want to upgrade the CPU.
@Self Sickened :)
These 'new' tiny form-factor motherbaords are amazing. Interesting for those of us who don't keep up-to-date on PCs.
Thanks EC for this upload!
I normally build on a full atx form factor and it's interesting to see a different form factor like mini-itx. This was a very interesting video as usual and I'm glad I watched it.
Cris this is the most fascinating video to date. I wish I had seen this a few weeks ago before I did my new build. I did not even know there was an ITX specialist. I will be looking forward to the next episode.
Chris, nice case recycling. Thanks for doing your part in reduce, reuse & recycle. Every little bit makes a difference. I hope you get 10 more years out of that case.
18:35 "we've got a rodent and keyboard"
This is why im subbed.
Chris was very considerately trying not to overexcite any cats who might be watching.
6:19 - I had hoped there might've been a unicorn here, but no, it was memory and an SSD.
Would you rather have a stuffed toy hamster?
@@SarkarMotion?
@@7249xxl I meant it for the host, he loves stuffed hamsters! Lol. Maybe one day he'll get a toy hamster ants mod it into an optical mouse!
"We need memory and storage...
And over here, guess what i've got.
What is this ??? Is it a unicorn?
No... it is memory and storage."
im done 10/10
👍 Originally interested in one tiny part but watched whole vid 'cause Chris explains VERY well and makes some of the best composed vids on youtube. Amazing combo of talents.
Your videos inspired my son and I to assemble our first computer together earlier this year. I think we might try a mini ITX next. Thanks for sharing these!
Great to hear this! :)
Not gonna lie, a new PC build from Chris gets me more excited than the new RTX3090 launch!
A new PC build from Chris gets me almost as excited as Oprah looking at pie.
That's because Chris will deliver the build, the entire initial RTX3090 production run went to reviewers - who don't pay for them.
Better than Viagra...
🤪
Great video, an interesting bit of hardware almost an SBC.
I built my Ryzen pc, after watching, your videos on it, which has been great, I did upgrade my Ryzen pc, a 2200g wasn't enough, I fitted a 3600x on it's release, but the old 2200g APU did not go to waste, I bought an asrock a300 desk mini for £140 and put it there, with a few other bits I had hanging around, it makes an excellent compact PC, and is the pc I use the most.
Great video looking forward to the next.
Thanks for letting me know this existed. Exactly what I was looking for to build my NAS. Low cost, low power, but still fast, a PCI-e slot for the RAID controller card, can fit in ATX case with lots of hard drives. I got a used J4005B-ITX on ebay.
Great to hear!
ini vidio perakitan PC terdetil yang pernah saya tonton, dan tidak bikin ngantuk ditontonnya. niiiiiice....
jadi kepengen ngerakit mini itx juga nih, terbayang "space savings" nya buat saya
"If you're terribly worried about cable management, I think there's plenty of good therapy sessions you can attend.."
Amen, brother. Amen.
Or I can put my OCD to work on the cable management and feel good for less effort.
I have to say I was suprized by your comment about people who tidy up the cables in there PC (i.e. cable management) requiring psychiatric therapy.
While the video was interesting and informative I wonder if you could give a reply to the following points.
1) Can we therefore assume that you have never ever used a cable tie in one of your PC builds to tidy the cables
and if you did which therapy clinic did you attend afterwards.
2) It is possible even likely that your video was watched by people new to building a PC, if they follow your advice then they could well end up with cables over fans and poor access to components because cables are in the way.
3) You contradict yourself in the video regarding the Molex connector and wiring over the heatsink. You say in effect don't bother with cable management but then your text comment says turn the drive to reroute the wire, that is cable management!
3) Are PC case manufacturers all wrong, the vast majority of modern cases have cutouts and cable tie loops for neatly routing the cables (i.e. Cable management).
4) following from 3 if you were to build in a windowed case would you just have the wires dumped everywhere so it looked a mess when viewed through the glass side panel.
A lot of these glass panel builds especially ones with complex water cooling loops are works of art, and tidy, unobtrusive cables is integral to that.
5) For me and others I suspect, buying the parts for a new build is not cheap. Therefore would you not want to do the best you could with the build including tidying the cables. I take pride in my builds and a neat and tidy case interior is part of that.
6) in this video would 5 or 6 cable ties and 10 minutes work be so wrong. Apparently so.
Clearly I have taken the comment you made quite seriously, I suppose it was just an off the cuff but flippant remark. Could I suggest perhaps you could have made a more neutral comment like that the cables could be tidied if you want to. At the end of the day people can just throw there pc together in 5 minutes or spend days or weeks making one of the glass panel works of art with custom hand made components etc or somewhere in between. Long may that be the case. I will continue to watch some of your videos where the subject matter is of particular interest, but this comment and your rather slow, overemphasized commentary style (reminds me of some of the tedious corporate videos I have been obliged to watch) mitigate against me watching more.
@@ianwelford1949 Someone's triggered hmm. It was a joke.
A long term viewer here! "The green pc" video was the one that brought me in!
I'm sensing another computer build in my near future.
I bought an M350 mini-ITX case back in 2011. Still in use... viewing this video from a PC build using it. Nice to see that it is still being sold.
I recommend screwing that other ground wire down so that it can't move and short something.
That comment is very... Ummm...
Grounded.
I got goosebumps seeing you pull out the old case. I haven't seen your last build with it since almost a decade ago!
This has been very informative; recently the family decided to "cut the cord" with a satellite. They're going with a streamer like Roku and I was looking for something like this; small factor to make into a DVR for it.
Can't wait to see what you install for OS and software.
Pantherman1979 I’ll be looking forward to the next video also. I’ve wondered about this board for a Plex server with HDHomeRun to dvr and watch live tv. I really appreciate the form factor and low wattage of the system. Great video!!
@@keithp5568 I had to look up HDHomerun as I wasn't familiar with it, this is something that I'm going to look into for myself.
My brother has plex at his house and is happy with it, though I believe he's running it through a ps4
@Pantherman1979 Plex is quite versatile. I use it mostly as a dvr for live “over the air” tv but others host all sorts of media/movies on theirs. I believe to dvr you need the Plex pass. I don’t want to hijack The EC channel here but Lon tv has a number of videos on Plex and the HDHomeRun that you may find useful. The build featured on this video is nice because the Plex runs 24/7 and the low power consumption is great and the Intel CPU’s with quick sync are great for transcoding a few streams simultaneously if needed.
@@keithp5568 Thanks, I'll look it up
Chris, I purchased a ThinkCentre M92b from Ebay and have been using it. I installed Linux Mint it has a 500GB Western Digital HD which had nothing on it when purchased $85.00. 4GB DDR3 SODIMM 1600MHz Intel HD Graphics 2500, 3rd generation Intel® Core™ i5-3470T processor (2.90GHz, 3MB Cache). Going to upgrade to a 250GB SSD and add 8GB of memory. It runs quite well and enjoy using the tiny form factor PC. I added a adapter for the monitor to use the HDMI cable on my Roku TV and that works out fine too. No need to use external speakers which take up room on my table. Also looking into doing this build with the ASRock J4105 as you did in this video very cool build.
Only a British gentleman would call a motherboard "swine"
IO shield... not motherboard.
My hands are no where nimble enough to take on a mini ITX board build. Top job Chris!!
"You have to be flexible in small cases" Quote of the Year!
:)
iv seen ur channel grow a lot over the last few years and I'm super glad the content hasn't changed .
I love the smell of a new motherboard
Yes, agreed!
This channel never fails to give me a serotonin boost. I love technology and I’m so glad I found this channel years ago when you made a Raspberry Pi tank robot (I think the video was from 2014 or 2015). That video was the one that really got me into DIY electronics.
Edit: it was the Zumo robot video from 6 years ago. I remember watching that video when I was working on a school project to build a similar robot. I also built my first PC (like in this video) later that year.
Hey Mr Chris, it seems as though you have accumulated a lot of tech over the years. Perhaps a tour of all your tech? That would be über cool!
Yes do it, if its 4 or 5 hrs that would be cool .
I love the modularity. You try to make your videos exciting and you deliver.
I was about to comment “This video reminds me The Building a Green PC” video, but then I saw you mentioned it in this video :D
:)
The heatsink is a work of art. All surface area, all the time. 👍
I do like computer components 😍
I was going to get something like one of these recently to build a silent TV PC. But in the end i got a used "HP Prodesk 600 G1 DM i5" off ebay for 100 pounds. Put 8GB in it and a SSD and its a brilliant tiny little PC. I would say even smaller than that mini-ITX. It even has 2x DP ports for dual screen connections.
Finally a really good PC. I would be really interested in a comparrison vs. a Raspberry Pi 4. Price, speed and most importantly power consumption. I have doubts that the raspi will look all that good in that comparrison, and I guess it would look even worse going against a N4000 board like the n4000t by asus.
@Boodysaspie Raspberries and peanuts (ref PCjr way back)
@Boodysaspie The problem is that the Pi 4 doesn't really cut it as a dedicated media device, at least in my experience, nor does the Rock Pi. My main problem is too many dropped frames on TH-cam, which I'm sure this build will have no problem with.
@@ollie-d I am using the youtube plugin with XBMC. Works pretty well. I however had to turn on vulkan acceleration on in raspbian.
@Boodysaspie the comparison would be valid from the standpoint of application of device we are after: a media center pc. Recently, i was considering rpi4 for media center pc, but since there was Intel Quad Core back from 2008 laying around + P5K Pro motherboard + its original 8 Gb ram, i only had to find an atx case (free, but bought some paint to give it unique look), bought a Pioneer 256Gb ssd and a 120mm fan oh yeah and 1 hdmi cable. Yes, this way it takes more space neat the TV stand, but the performance (both h.264 and h.265) is stellar! no frame drops, very fast boots etc. So it was both cheaper and better performance than rpi4, which still is ok as carry-media center for travel, but otherwise it works as a relays controller for various 220V projects.
@Boodysaspie correct (but as far as i recall its 95W TDP); however my point was: sbc credit card sized boards evolve in performance and mini-itx which is considerably smaller than atx but a tad larger than sbc may be the golden pea among them when creating a media center pc - and from user's perspective that is the ultimate goal. Also: some of use prefer quiet build, some say the smallest space ocupied is most important. Some would say: hey I want to watch movies and run a snes emulator/dosbox for vintage games on huge tv (and boy they look so nostalgicaly ugly)). So it is a good idea to mention all aspects: power draw, price, video decoding performance, dimensions of the rig, software capabilities. Because as pcs get older many of them live their second life as media boxes, backup servers, nas, firewalls etc. And rpi4 claims to be good at all of that too. So good comparison videos would be most useful for people planning their next build.
When I had seen the case being used, I was taken with pure joy. Crazy how long it's been from the video it made it's debut in!
Oh wow this board is awesome and your videos are fabulous 👍
Thanks so much 😊
Thanks for a excellent video on ITX build. Your continued service of presenting clear and well thought out videos on building computers and computer related topics is greatly appreciated! Keep the excellent work.
Great idea for a series of videos, Chris!
Yes! I love tiny computers :) I like these real life builds too, there's plenty of "high horsepower" builds out there, but more people just want a computer hooked up to their tv and this is a perfectly reasonable.
Very interesting indeed. My wife is in need of a new SOHO computer and this sure fits the bill. Looking forward to part two.
I worked on electronic equipment in the Air Force. We always called the initial start up after repairing or modding something a "Smoke Test." On occasion we'd get a loud ZAP followed by smoke. To this day I still cringe before pushing that power button after I work on something.
Smoke test. I will remember that. I've only had that happen to me twice. Once was a robot when a servo rapidly caught fire.
I remember when you first mentioned this project a few years ago now, glad to see that you're finally doing it!!
Chris, u may think the build is done. correct the error so the drive turned over so the cables work better.
17:20 , therapy sessions for cable management purists
@@stephenclark9917 Chris pointed out he need to turn the drive around
@@ffieditor could have ≠ need to :P
Nice to see the mini itx pc back again can't believe its been 10 years already love it
Chris you have beautiful hands. If you ever give up on computers you may want to explore a career modeling dishwashing liquids..
Your video is more like a class for me. I'm taking the exam Comptia A+ and sometimes you say something very helpful for my studies. Thank you :)
6:19 - I was disappointed that there wasn't a unicorn. You fooled me!!
As I lay in bed at 11 pm watching this awesome video, I realized how utterly useless regular TV has become, I can hardly stand to watch “normal” TV, why would I when I can watch this lovely British chap ramble on about a low-power highly integrated motherboard.
Thanks for this. I too now watch TH-cam far more than regular TV.
So, it's pretty much a GreenPC 2.0?
It is indeed! I'll cover its power consumption next week.
we definetly need power usage numbers etc.
Great video, thanks for making it! Very happy that you pointed out the mini itx website. Something that I would love to see you try with this computer (or a SBC) is a headless music player that can play music from a USB drive, local files or a NAS to speakers connected to it.
most pcs are silent when you get used to the noise.
:)
The last mini itx build I did was 2005. That was an AMD of one sort or another (separate cpu). I like this firm factor a lot. Thanks for another great video Chris.
Early bird gets there comments read first!
Nice build today Chris. Easy doses it and straight forward. See you next week.
They do indeed!
Seriously you have the best tech channel on TH-cam! Love it and always learn something!
Wow, thanks!
I’ll be glad when wireless cables become available.
Meanwhile, I’m off to my therapy session...
I loved your opinion of cable management. Needless to say I do not need therapy. And I always enjoy your videos.
Motherboard looks full-featured with legacy (VGA, PS2, etc) and *modern* features such as HDMI and USB 3.x, which is a damn shame, as I just bought a new rig that I am upgrading. 🤤 👍
No one is as cool as Chris.
12v for car, VNC in using WiFi access point from your phone. Run spdif audio into car stereo, play ISO movies in back seat, headphones for passengers.
Sorted!
A bevy of connectors? A Cornucopia of Connectors!
Great part one, awaiting part 2 with much interest....as this is something I very would love to see as a home theatre PC under the TV... Cheers Christopher!
Wow, not a single like? or comment? (sad face)
I love that little PC but miss all the selecting CPU's when they solder them in
I could totally see this being a really good server build. Being silent means it won't have to be tucked away anywhere either.
finally, an ideal Work From Home, Online Class, Gaming PC, ah eh, not quite, unless if this is the another Budget Build.
It all depends on your use case. Most PCs are not used for gaming. :)
If you want gaming on ITX then the ROG Strix X570-I is what your after ;). But youl need a bigger case and fans / cooling which is outside of this video by quite a margin.
I didn't expect the old atom system to come in. In fact I watched the green pc in 2012. When I was 7 years old. Now I'm 15. Time flies while watching ec
On behalf of the International Brotherhood of Cable Managers, I must register a formal complaint.
lmao
If u can see in the case worry about cable management... If not screw cable management it has zero effect on airflow.
I will expect a formal complaint in three fold (two for the archives) at the registration office of Formal Complaints and Registry under the section Cable Management and Miscellaneous.
Thank you.
Really joyfull to mount something like that AND see that everything Is working... Love it
OR you can grab 11$ Arctic Alpine Passive + any CPU under 60 watts (maybe underclock it 15%) and have a versatile, more powerfull, but still silent platform.
Mine is i5-2500 with Arctic cooler @ 3.6ghz all cores. Works like a champ. I5-2500 is roughly 70% faster than J4105
Please never change the way you make these videos they are so entertaining and educationay (idk the word haha)
Thanks. I have no plans to change.
I made a similar build last year, but I took the mobo version with PCIE for my gt1030. Overall a really balanced and fun machine, but to go completely fanless it needs a different power supply.
Can you give me a link or the exact Name of the board. Its a shame this one has no Slot for a gpu.
@@Teknikfrik Sure thing, it is the Asrock J4105B-ITX.
That B is the only naming difference from the board used in the video so be careful when you order. Also remember that to get the x16 pcie slot you lose integrated wifi and bluetooth.
@@clochard4074 Thank you very much! Need something smaller for my Arcade cabinet.
@@Teknikfrik Sweet! Best of luck then!
This was exciting to watch, I remember having a radio back in the day with similar design.
Speaking of tea, i just decided to not remain addicted to it and went cold turkey. It has been 3 days and I am struggling through the headache. It seems everyone is trying to tell me to drink a cup even you.😅
Sorry about bringing up tea! :) I am medically limited to one cup a day, but savour it! :)
@@ExplainingComputers no need to apologise, I have won my battle and haven't touched it for whole week. Headache is gone and I am feeling good. You enjoy your tea sir and stay healthy.
6:23: "What do we have over here? Is it a unicorn? NO!" I'm still laughing. Thank you.
:)
Top drawer, as always! Thank you for broadening our minds to so many neat computing alternatives; like this ITX approach. Built one. This little thing "flies" and the quiet is deafening. Delightful compared to my louder Ryzen 5 machines. You are a precious resource. Full stop.
12:57 That's a hell of a macro shot.
It's what I do! :)
I love the sense of humour especially in this video! Brilliant.
Note. This board will take a 16gig memory kit. The documentation on the CPU has been wrong from the beginning. The max ram for the J4105 is 8gb PER CHANNEL, not total. I have the same board in my daily driver with a 16 gig kit (2x8G).
Very good to know, thanks for sharing this info here.
6:04 - I for one am glad we had a quick look at the underside of the motherboard. You can never be sure what might be lurking under motherboards.
Yes, you must remove the Intel Atom sticker. Which reminds me… I recently had the displeasure to briefly operate a laptop that someone got for free, which had an Atom processor in it. It was running Windows 7, and all they really wanted to use it for, was to let their cat watch videos of birds and squirrels on TH-cam. It failed at the task, in my opinion. The time it spent buffering a 144p video was absurd! Yet, they put it in-front of the cats, and they watched it.
I just hope the cats aren't traumatized by only getting to watch a few seconds of video before it's yanked away from them to wait for about a solid minute of buffering. I think it actually spends significantly more time buffering than actually playing video. I can't even be sure that this is all due to the processor, and not the wifi chip, I assume the laptop is now fairly old, so the wifi may also be terribly out of date, just simply very cheap.
No worries, cats have persistent memory. They know the bird is still hiding behind static
A most excellent video!! Christopher you have done it again!! Can't wait to get my hands on this type of set up......looking for a "silent PC" as a "audio record" for my new podcast studio I am working on!! I am STILL sorting out the details of the studio, BUT I look forward to building almost this same exact computer thanks to YOUR video!!!
Great to hear Greg. This would indeed make an excellent audio recording PC. Silence is golden.
Oww, I was actually hoping to see how well an OS ran on it and whether it delivered on those video playback specs.
Next week!
The 'see if it works' moment is the bit I dread in any PC build.
Since you mentioned it's an HTPC (or 'media PC', I believe you said), I'm guessing you'll install Kodi for management of files on Windows, or maybe Libreelec
+1 for LibreELEC
Funny that I watched your green PC build just today. Your content has always been great!
Is that right? There are therapy sessions available to cope with cable management obsession (CMO). What a compassionate society...
"I have CDO, which is like OCD except all the letters are in alphabetical order, as they should be."
David Norton ✅✅✅
Harder to kick that smoking I heard.
Best show ever, love these build and therapy sessions. Keep it up Chris
Thanks. :)
at 10:07 did that SATA plug rip the contacts from one side? **LOL... i guess he did break it! i saw the notice after.**
Yes, that's what happened. Although I think the spring on the connector has seized -- the remainder was very hard to remove, even with plyers.
Just to say hi to the best channel ever when it comes to PC's
Thanks for this -- and greetings! :)
Still finding legacy PS/2 ports on motherboards nowadays is weird. I haven't seen new PS/2 keyboards/mices around for sale for a long time. 🤔
It made sense for Mini-ITX boards when they first came out; they were intended for use in industrial and commercial settings, like digital signage, controlling factory equipment, data logging and such, and had the full complement of legacy ports: serial, parallel, PS/2 and VGA. They often replaced older full-size 486 and early Pentium systems, so the users in these settings wouldn't have to buy new peripherals. It does seem odd to have them modern motherboards, though.
People still love their IBM Model M keyboards which use the old adapter, although I believe it's possible to get replacement cables with USB connectors nowadays
Frees up a USB port
Its actually superior to usb🤣
There are organizations, the FBI for one, does not allow USB ports enabled to prevent data theft via USB flash/thumb drives.
I used the same board three weeks ago for a media PC. Used a bigger case and a DVD drive. Works great with Ubuntu 20. Tie that ground wire down, a loose ground could be a problem. Tape it to the side of the case if you must. Nice build.
6:19 Guess what I've got? It's unicorn? 😂
"No, it is memory and storage." Brilliant!
im nlot sure why i keep watching these videos... but i do enjoy them