If you were building an HTPC today, what components?

Cyrus

i want to build a htpc over the next few months, no big rush, its more of a project that a necessity really.

Anyway, if you were going to build one right now, what components would you use?

Ideally i want to keep it as small as possible, as quiet as possible, and relatively future proof in that it can play 1080p without any hassle.

It will be for downloaded content stored on a NAS, no tv card or capture required.

At the moment im thinking something like an antec minuet case or similar, needs to be small and fit in with other a/v equipment, i.e. not look like a pc
SSD harddrive for speed and noise
No idea on mobo, cpu or gpu
4gb ram
o/s no idea? ideally id like it to boot into xbmc or similar and use a remote

anyone fancy filling me with ideas??

sink

I wouldn't build one. I would buy one of those atom/ion based net-tops like the Acer Aspire Revo or Asus EeeBox. They can play 1080p video no problem are tiny, use very little power and are virtually silent. You can buy them cheap without OS, install Ubuntu & XBMC and you're sorted.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/236579

PogMoThoin

sink wrote: »

I wouldn't build one. I would buy one of those atom/ion based net-tops like the Acer Aspire Revo or Asus EeeBox. They can play 1080p video no problem are tiny, use very little power and are virtually silent. You can buy them cheap without OS, install Ubuntu & XBMC and you're sorted.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/236579

No optical sound out, stuck with 2 channel stereo.

I have a Boxee Box, plays absolutely everything, has remote, usb ports and optical out.
Its now $138 in USA if you know anyone over there that will ship it home
http://daringminds.com/new/boxee-box-by-d-link-for-138-now-with-netflix/

sink

PogMoThoin wrote: »

No optical sound out, stuck with 2 channel stereo.

I have a Boxee Box, plays absolutely everything, has remote, usb ports and optical out.
Its now $138 in USA if you know anyone over there that will ship it home
http://daringminds.com/new/boxee-box-by-d-link-for-138-now-with-netflix/

Fair enough, that particular model is probably not the best choice. Having had a look around I think I would go for this instead.

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/01_DESKTOP/01_COMPUTE/productdetails/80001461/Asrock_Ion_3D_152B_Zwart_D525_2GB_320G_ION2_BLURAY/ION_3D_152B_2G32_B/default.aspx

Optical out DTS connect, 3D capable and blu-ray for just €395.

PogMoThoin

sink wrote: »

Fair enough, that particular model is probably not the best choice. Having had a look around I think I would go for this instead.

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/01_DESKTOP/01_COMPUTE/productdetails/80001461/Asrock_Ion_3D_152B_Zwart_D525_2GB_320G_ION2_BLURAY/ION_3D_152B_2G32_B/default.aspx

Optical out DTS connect, 3D capable and blu-ray for just €395.

The Nvidia Ion struggles with high bitrate HD which is why Dlink and Boxee dropped it half way through development and moved to the Intel Atom.
For €395 why not build your own :eek:

sink

PogMoThoin wrote: »

The Nvidia Ion struggles with high bitrate HD which is why Dlink and Boxee dropped it half way through development and moved to the Intel Atom.
For €395 why not build your own :eek:

That is roughly what you would pay to build a similarly specced system with all the hassle of putting it together yourself and without the after sales support.

Here I specced similar from hardwareversand.



€60 cheaper, but you don't get nvidia 3DTV or DTS connect, plus it's a lot bulkier. It's a toss up as to whether it's worth the difference.

sink

PogMoThoin wrote: »

The Nvidia Ion struggles with high bitrate HD which is why Dlink and Boxee dropped it half way through development and moved to the Intel Atom.
For €395 why not build your own :eek:

Also I thought nvidia ion was intel atom with nvidia graphics?

PogMoThoin

sink wrote: »

Also I thought nvidia ion was intel atom with nvidia graphics?

Nope, Intel and nvidia fell out over x86 years ago and have only just settled.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4122/intel-settles-with-nvidia-more-money-fewer-problems-no-x86

sink

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Nope, Intel and nvidia fell out over x86 years ago and have only just settled.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4122/intel-settles-with-nvidia-more-money-fewer-problems-no-x86

That article says nothing about intel atom or nvidia ion.

Nividia ion is a motherboard with integrated nvidia geforce gpu and an intel atom cpu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Ion

Voodu Child

PogMoThoin wrote: »

The Nvidia Ion struggles with high bitrate HD which is why Dlink and Boxee dropped it half way through development and moved to the Intel Atom.
For €395 why not build your own :eek:

You're mixed up.

Boxee Box was originally going to be Nvidia Tegra based (a mobile solution aimed at tablets etc) but was dropped in favour of Intel CE4100.

The Nvidia Ion is completely different to the Nvidia Tegra. Most Ion solutions are an Atom plus a basic Nvidia GPU (9400M or similar). HD video is no problem.

Fallschirmjager

i think the budget is the key...how much are you going to spend Cyrus?

i have saved for a i5 sandybridge setup except the fecken mobo's have a big problem at the moment so i am on hold.

Cyrus

Fallschirmjager wrote: »

i think the budget is the key...how much are you going to spend Cyrus?

i have saved for a i5 sandybridge setup except the fecken mobo's have a big problem at the moment so i am on hold.

well my xbmc on apple tv is working properly now so i may put the idea on hold for the moment

probably looking at 350 max

Carter P Fly

really depends on how small is 'small"

Is go with a microATX board with pretty much any processor, Im using pentium D's on 775 socket boards, and couple that with a relativly cheap ATI HD 5xxx GPU which does audio over HDMI, win7 64 ultimate on a SSD with 4 odd gig or ram. Lots of nice cases for this like this setup and its expandable and changable per component.