Uh-oh I've caught the bug, can I have a new HTPC for less than 350?

corblimey

My first order with hwvs hasn't even arrived yet, and I'm thinking about what to do next. My original plan was to recycle one of my current HPs as a HTPC for downstairs, but they're both pretty loud when under pressure (and when not) so not ideal. I'm not sure how much I can cannibalise, but I just need something quiet to go under the TV. I'll connect it up to my router via homeplugs and I have a large external hd for storage. Can I really get a pretty decent HTPC for 300 odd quid?

Item|Price
MSI H61I-E35 (B3), Intel H61, ITX, DDR3|€69.00
Intel Celeron G540 Box, LGA1155|€38.49
Samsung SSD 830 64GB SATA 6GB's Paper Box|€66.73
4GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9-9-9-24|€18.09
Chieftec BT-02B, 180W SFX, Mini-ITX|€48.00
CnMemory DVD-Brenner slimline portable, mit Blu-Ray Lesefunktion|€84.90
Arctic Alpine 11 Pro, 775/1156|€7.88
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€352.08

I figure lash on Linux and XBMC and I'm done. The fact that the DVD RW/BD drive is the most expensive thing on there is annoying - I only own 3 Blue Ray disks, and use my PS3 as a player, but I'm not sure wrapping it in a HTPC is the way to go - maybe just get a separate player down the line. I don't even really need a DVD player or burner, this would be strictly for playing stuff from an external HD, some internet, etc. So potentially, I could get the whole thing for about e250? I must be missing some pretty basic stuff?

Monotype

That looks like a chunky enough heatsink - do you know that that will fit in.
The quality of the PSU mightn't be the best so you might need an SFX PSU there.

Finally, blu-ray compatibility can be variable with such tight copy protection methods and it can be hard to even pay it - Windows or Linux. VLC recent versions have blu-ray compatibilty now but you need to download an add on to play mainstream ones and not all of them work.

corblimey

Yeah, thinking more about the blu-ray (and I can't believe I called it Blue Ray in my op ), I can drop that without needing to replace it with anything. I have no idea if the heatsink will fit, but now that I'm not getting a 5.25" drive, that case doesn't really make sense any more either.

So I keep the heatsink, get a new case and a new PSU. I'm thinking BitFenix Prodigy (I kinda like the white too) and the be quiet! SFX for a PSU?

Item|Price
MSI H61I-E35 (B3), Intel H61, ITX, DDR3|€69.00
Intel Celeron G540 Box, LGA1155|€38.49
Samsung SSD 830 64GB SATA 6GB's Paper Box|€66.73
4GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9-9-9-24|€18.09
Arctic Alpine 11 Pro, 775/1156|€7.88
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Gehäuse - weiß, ohne Netzteil|€72.79
be quiet! SFX Power BQT SFX 350W|€50.53
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€342.50

PS My budget isn't 350, per se, I was just wondering if I can get a pretty decent HTPC setup for around that. If I have to go up a bit, then so be it, if I can go down a bit, all to the good too.

Monotype

You could probably even splash out on a much larger heatsink with that case.

Not that the G540 needs any load of cooling, but you can go for whatever keeps the noise down best.

corblimey

Monotype wrote: »

You could probably even splash out on a much larger heatsink with that case.

Not that the G540 needs any load of cooling, but you can go for whatever keeps the noise down best.

Any recommendations, Monotype?

Monotype

This guy says you can get 160mm in there and fits a fairly large cooler in. Around halfway through the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKIsrwS3fX4

What about the True Spirit?
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/Intel+AMD/52672/Thermalright+True+Spirit+120.article

It's got a 120mm fan on there so you'd be fine. It's a very effective cooler and not that dear. It keeps overclocked systems quiet, so I'd reckon it should have no problem with that.

You could get something cheaper like the Loki though which is good value. I think Tea Bag got one to go with a 960T before and he said it was quite good.
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/Intel+AMD/39770/Xigmatek+Loki+SD963+Heatpipe+Cooler+92mm.article

JackieChan

A bit of a shame to get the samsung 830 and for it's full potential to be limited by the H61 board.
But its 10 quid more for a B75(which has a SATA 3) in the ITX.

corblimey

Tks as ever Monotype, I've got a True Spirit a-coming, so I'll see how that works out before making a choice.

JackieChan wrote: »

A bit of a shame to get the samsung 830 and for it's full potential to be limited by the H61 board.
But its 10 quid more for a B75(which has a SATA 3) in the ITX.

I was actually considering dropping the samsung for an Agility 3. Any opinions? It's 15 quid cheaper, but seems to get pretty good reviews. Is the mobo still worth upgrading if I do swap?

Monotype

The Agility 3 would be a fair amount inferior - asynchronous and uses compression technology to gain the quoted speed - however, for HTPC settings, it's unlikely you'd notice the difference.

corblimey

Ok, there's no point half-assing it for the sake of e15. So here's what I've got now:

Item|Price
Intel Celeron G540 Box, LGA1155|€38.49
4GB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9-9-9-24|€18.09
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Gehäuse - weiß, ohne Netzteil|€72.79
be quiet! SFX Power BQT SFX 350W|€50.53
Xigmatek Loki SD963 Heatpipe Cooler 92mm|€16.30
Samsung SSD 830 64GB SATA 6GB's Paper Box|€66.73
ASRock B75M-ITX, Sockel 1155, ITX|€79.36
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€361.28

I'll decide between the Loke and the True Spirit during the week, I just put in the cheapest for now.

Monotype

Looks fine. A good, powerful HTPC.

JackieChan

Weird pricing on HWVS puts the Celeron G550 2c cheaper, swap that in and you're good to go.

corblimey

JackieChan wrote: »

Weird pricing on HWVS puts the Celeron G550 2c cheaper, swap that in and you're good to go.

Nice spot, Jackie Chan. Not going to be ordering for another week, I'd say, so I'll check for movement then.

corblimey

Since I nonced up my first build so badly, I'm not going to risk it again, but I'd still like to take advantage of the prices and customization from hwvs, so is it worth spending the 20 extra quid on 'Rechner'? Will they install everything into the case and pass it on in a completely working state? Is there anything on that list that they won't do?

dwighet

corblimey wrote: »

Since I nonced up my first build so badly, I'm not going to risk it again, but I'd still like to take advantage of the prices and customization from hwvs, so is it worth spending the 20 extra quid on 'Rechner'? Will they install everything into the case and pass it on in a completely working state? Is there anything on that list that they won't do?

They will fit the lot. all you got to do is plug it in..

If there was a graphics card and a heavy cpu cooler you would have to fit them yourself as they dont travel so well installed as you could imagine.

***doh...didnt see that cooler you have...you may have to fit that***

corblimey

Tks dwighet, the cooler is the one thing I managed succesfully last night. Sort of.

corblimey

So is this build still feasible?

Item|Price
ASRock B75M-ITX, Sockel 1155, ITX|€77.69
Samsung SSD 830 64GB SATA 6GB's Basic|€59.99
be quiet! SFX Power BQT SFX 350W|€51.35
Thermalright True Spirit 120|€26.36
Intel Celeron Dual-Core G550 Box, LGA1155|€38.03
4GB Corsair XMS3 PC3-12800U CL9|€17.59
BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Gehäuse - weiß, ohne Netzteil|€69.99
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€359.99

I've been reading up and there seems to be some discussion about Intel v AMD when it comes to HTPC, but I can't work out what the equivalent AMD chip would be to the one I have above.

Also, I'm planning on picking up some extra RAM as a christmas gift. If I pay for the build, will they shove all 8 gigs into the box, and will that have any effect if I then pull it back out when I get it?

Just as a matter of interest, if I wanted to get it below 300 quid (for parts), where should I be looking to budget?

Monotype

I'd say they'd put all the RAM in. As far as I am aware, they send you on the boxes still. The main smaller ones, at least.

I suppose the equivalent AMD CPU would be the low end FM2. A4-5300 or 5400K.

There's just the one ITX FM2 board on there though and it's taking its time to get into stock- not hardwareversand, but everywhere.
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/70162/MSI+FM2-A75IA-E53%2C+FM2%2C+ITX.article

You could jettison the heatsink to keep the costs down. It'll just mean a bit more noise. However, in HTPC use, it'll be idle or low most of the time so it won't be that bad.

corblimey

Monotype wrote: »

I'd say they'd put all the RAM in. As far as I am aware, they send you on the boxes still. The main smaller ones, at least.

I suppose the equivalent AMD CPU would be the low end FM2. A4-5300 or 5400K.

There's just the one ITX FM2 board on there though and it's taking its time to get into stock- not hardwareversand, but everywhere.
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/70162/MSI+FM2-A75IA-E53%2C+FM2%2C+ITX.article

You could jettison the heatsink to keep the costs down. It'll just mean a bit more noise. However, in HTPC use, it'll be idle or low most of the time so it won't be that bad.

Thanks as always Monotype. I'll see if my friendly neighbourhood PC builder is available before pulling the plug on Rechnung.

When you say "There's just the one ITX FM2 board", are you saying that if I change the chip I need to change the mobo? Makes sense to me, just checking.

What I could do is forgo the heatsink for now, and if the sound is drowning out my movies, go for one later down the line. Is everything else pretty much essential?

Monotype

Yeah, you'd need to change the motherboard and the CPU (or APU as AMD calls them in this case).

There's cheaper cases and cheaper motherboards, but you'd be cutting down on features and not really saving all that much.

corblimey

corblimey wrote: »

I've been reading up and there seems to be some discussion about Intel v AMD when it comes to HTPC, but I can't work out what the equivalent AMD chip would be to the one I have above.

The main issue is that Intel GPUs are not quite as good with video acceleration. They have it, but historically it has not been as good as Nvidia, particularly in Linux (eg XBMCbuntu or OpenElec). ATI are probably in between.

However if GPU decoding is not working right then you can just use software decoding. A G550 is more than powerful enough for all current videos, except maybe H264 Hi10p that some people are using. The main issue with lower powered CPUs is that XBMC doesnt use multi-threaded software decoding but I think that's coming soon. I would go with your setup and just allow for the possibility that you may want to add a cheap passive Nvidia card at some stage.

Just as a matter of interest, if I wanted to get it below 300 quid (for parts), where should I be looking to budget?

You just shave a few quid here and there. Cheaper mobo, cheaper case, cheaper SSD, etc. You really don't need a powerful machine for what you're doing.

Tea_Bag

any reason for the SFX psu on a prodigy?

it can handle up to 160mm long ones.

corblimey

Tea_Bag wrote: »

any reason for the SFX psu on a prodigy?

it can handle up to 160mm long ones.

I don't understand the question, Tea Bag? Are you saying I should get a larger PSU? What is "160mm long ones?"

Monotype

Standard size ATX PSUs. Something like the superflower amazon 450W would be €10 cheaper.

corblimey

And not noticeably any louder?

Monotype

If you got a 450W PSU, it should be fairly quiet as it's running on very low load. A lot of the PSUs for sale on there aren't great for cheaper than that.
Only major difference is that it's larger. It has an LED too in the fan, but you probably wouldn't see that really unless you have a window in your case.

For a HTPC I would consider a mini DC-DC PSU like the PicoPSU or derivatives. Many mITX cases come with these type of power supply. It will be silent and it puts the generated heat outside the case (ie the power brick).

U_Fig

I Kill You Scum! wrote: »

For a HTPC I would consider a mini DC-DC PSU like the PicoPSU or derivatives. Many mITX cases come with these type of power supply. It will be silent and it puts the generated heat outside the case (ie the power brick).

Far too expensive for budget. Like over 100 for psu.. I have the sfx be quite 300w and unless your ear is beside it it's virtually silent a sloght hum.. Also if you get he astock board and set the fans to come on at 55 degree it'll be near silent as I've yet to et above 37 degree all be it with a cooler that has a lot of heat fins for passive cooling.. Id try the stock cooler if I was you before going higher odds are you won't use it all that much..also for under the tv the prodigy would be quite big.

My exact htpc

Astock b75 above
Celeron g540
4gb ram
Thermaltake element q
Be quiet sfx 300w psu
Bought and air mouse from deal extreme that was mentioned in a thread here.. It's awesome but took 5 weeks to arrive :O
64gb Samsung 830
Had a 500gb 2.5" hdd already

Cost in total less than €400

Plays whetting fine boots in 12 seconds and is nearly silent..

U_Fig

U_Fig wrote: »

Far too expensive for budget. Like over 100 for psu..

No, not really. PicoPSU 90W is about €30-40 and a 12V power brick is not particularly expensive, you may even have one lying around.

Most people don't understand power but a PicoPSU 90W is fine for a G550.

And PicoPSU is not the only brand or type of this product, there are various options available. Some cheaper, some more expensive. Many cases come with them. My Lian Li PCQ09 came with its own DC-DC board and an external brick, I paid €100 shipped for the whole thing.

U_Fig

Deleted User wrote: »

No, not really. PicoPSU 90W is about €30-40 and a 12V power brick is not particularly expensive, you may even have one lying around.

Most people don't understand power but a PicoPSU 90W is fine for a G550.

And PicoPSU is not the only brand or type of this product, there are various options available. Some cheaper, some more expensive. Many cases come with them. My Lian Li PCQ09 came with its own DC-DC board and an external brick, I paid €100 shipped for the whole thing.

holy shoes...they've come down a lot in price my bad... when i was looking to buy one the only one i could find was like €100 maybe a pico wouldn't be that bad