HTPC Spec advice

Associate
Joined
30 Dec 2006
Posts
1,270
Location
Neuchâtel, Switzerland
I've been thinking about making an HTPC for our home for a few years now and decided it's finally time to get on it.

I don't know a lot about HTPC so I need your help. I'd like it to be able to work as a file server/XBMC station.

  • No high end gaming (already have a PC for this) Only emulators
  • Low noise
  • Enough drive space
  • HDMI connectivity
  • Wireless
  • Decent CPU that can handle HD videos

I'm not looking to spend too much but I guess around 400£ would do.
I hope this is enough info to get help! Thanks in advance.
 
Associate
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
2,332
Try using the forums search buttons, or just browsing through the pages of the sff forum
There's literally dozens of threads in here, packed with ideas and hardware advice.
All you have to do is read them!
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2009
Posts
2,724
Location
Northampton
That spec was ok, but the case is very cheap and flimsy. I found that the fans you install make it rattle :(

so when you add a better case and some storage you'll be going over £400.

Heres another option:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (ST2000DL003) £99.95
1 x OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G) £67.99
1 x Intel Pentium G620 2.60GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £47.99
1 x MSI H61M-P23 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £47.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
1 x OcUK GeForce GT 520 1024MB GDDR3 Low Profile PCI-Express Graphics Card £32.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £22.99
1 x Akasa AK-CC7118HP01 K25 Low Profile CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156) £11.99
Total : £383.87 (includes shipping : £10.00).



All you need to do is find a nice case.

Reason for intel/nvidia: you can run the whole thing on Linux without worry about driver issues, which saves £70 on a windows license and is also less resource/power intensive.
 
Associate
Joined
5 Sep 2009
Posts
1,225
Hi good thread ;)

quick question:

apart from emulation/gaming whats the difference between using a traditional ugly boxy case and mobo VS ACRyan or WDLive stream box? perhaps even a tiny thing like RassberryPi with XBMC running?

i see a lot of HTPC`s and expect they will sit awkwardly with there respectively bulky size and non living room form ? i also see them being less than whisper quiet at times, more prone to having fans start to make noises after a few months of carpet fluff and animal hair is sucked in. But most of all to fit anything other than ITX and Pico psu seems overkill for watching 1080p movies, picture viewing and listening to FLAC, surfing etc..
:confused:

for gaming there is the pc or consoles?
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2009
Posts
2,724
Location
Northampton
Hi good thread ;)

quick question:

apart from emulation/gaming whats the difference between using a traditional ugly boxy case and mobo VS ACRyan or WDLive stream box? perhaps even a tiny thing like RassberryPi with XBMC running?

i see a lot of HTPC`s and expect they will sit awkwardly with there respectively bulky size and non living room form ? i also see them being less than whisper quiet at times, more prone to having fans start to make noises after a few months of carpet fluff and animal hair is sucked in. But most of all to fit anything other than ITX and Pico psu seems overkill for watching 1080p movies, picture viewing and listening to FLAC, surfing etc..
:confused:

for gaming there is the pc or consoles?

When Raspberry Pi is widely available (still on the waiting list for mine :() then that will mostly likely be the spec for most HTPCs.

But you have to add in the fact that some people want to be able to record live tv (pvr function), browse the internet, as mentioned play emulators / low res games.

Also not many media streamers can process DTS-HD/MA or 3D content.

There are quite a few good looking htpc cases which can fit in with an home theatre setup.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
11 Mar 2004
Posts
76,634
When Raspberry Pi is widely available (still on the waiting list for mine :() then that will mostly likely be the spec for most HTPCs.

.

Pretty useless as HTPC, how ever fxi technology is taking pre-order waiting list for Cotton Candy. Pc on a stick running Ubuntu or Android 4. Which means YouTube, Netflix and similar will work. Far more expensive than R-PI but far more capable. Due to licensing R-PI is unlikely to ever support pnetflix or flash from what I've read on the PI website.
same internals as the high end android phones.

Cotton Candy will be my new HTPC.
 
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