Bought me a ASRock AM1H-ITX AM1, Athlon 5350 Kabini and a RAIJINTEK Metis case.

I am going to use it as a file server and try to play my ripped movie collection at 1080P. I was going to put Mint Linux on it. I am not going to pretend I know anything about a real HTPC. Can anyone clue me in on how to best utilize this build? What it can and can't do? The best way to control it? Mouse and keyboard? Or is there a better way? Apps besides VLC obviously. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Some Asrock boards (at least mine, I have Z67 ITX HT) have remote control but I'm not sure if this board have. But this remote works only in Asrock special app, that's why it's still in my box, but I have gaming ITX. Do you need such big case?

The case is tiny. It only fits an ITX board.

It's big as ITX case. If you won't planning to use external PCI-E GPU or full size power supply you can look for something smaller - just my opinion, if it's going to be only HTPC for movies. Personally I have Cubitek Mini Cube, but it fits full size PSU, long two slot GPU and couple of HDD. But I wanted to have work station/gaming rig in small case.

bartx said:

It's big as ITX case. If you won't planning to use external PCI-E GPU or full size power supply you can look for something smaller - just my opinion, if it's going to be only HTPC for movies. Personally I have Cubitek Mini Cube, but it fits full size PSU, long two slot GPU and couple of HDD. But I wanted to have work station/gaming rig in small case.

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I liked the cases looks and it may sometime do duty as a desktop case.