Pandoras Box: Home Theater PC

Pandoras Box is a home theater PC, designed around a 4-core i5-4690K processor and a SilverStone Grandia 11 case.

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Home Theater PC

Description

Pandoras Box is a home theater PC, designed around a 4-core i5-4690K processor and a SilverStone Grandia 11 case.

General System Design

This build is designed around a 4-core i5-4690K processor and a SilverStone Grandia 11 case.

Software Workload/Customer Need

Our owner decided to change the case for their home theater PC/secondary gaming PC, moving to a chassis that could be housed in an entertainment center. This build is also designed for VR gaming in the future.

This build is based on our i5 Home Theater PC.

System Spec

Processor (CPU): Intel i5-4690K

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9S

Motherboard: Asus GRYPHON Z97

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB DDR3-1600

Storage (SSD): Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB

Storage (SSD): Samsung 870 Evo 1TB

Storage (HDD): Western Digital Red 10TB

Power Supply (PSU): Corsair RM450 Gold

Case: Silverstone Grandia 11

Fans: 2x Noctua NF-A8 PWM

Design Rationale

  • The i5-4690K gives the user a good amount of single-core performance for general use, an upgrade to a Raptor Lake i5-13600K is being considered.
  • For easy stability with the relatively low-power CPU, a smaller single-tower cooler is recommended. The case supports a 240mm AIO for higher-end CPUs.
  • The user wanted a stable motherboard with a good amount of desktop functionality.
  • The user wanted at least 16GB of RAM, an upgrade to 32GB DDR5 is being considered
  • The user is fine so far with a 120GB boot drive, 1TB main drive, and 10TB storage drive. This may be overhauled to 1TB boot, 2TB main, and 3x10TB storage
  • Initially, this build didn’t need a dedicated video card as it used the CPU for Plex encoding and onboard graphics for display. As the user adds more gaming to the build, a dedicated GPU will be added.
  • The overall design of the build meant that a 450W power supply was recommended. This will be revised in the future.
  • Initially, the user was using a cube-style case. To better prevent pet hair from entering the case, and making a more smooth visual, the user changed the case to a HTPC chassis.
  • We used high-end 80mm fans on the back of the case, and the stock fans on the front. This may be revised as the user adds hardware.

Build Gallery

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