New HTPC

zEmo23

Hi,

So I have been reading about HTPC and media center and im tempted to build a HTPC as everytime I want to watch something on my TV I need to connect the laptop to the TV via HDMI. Could you give me some advice, please?

1. What is your budget? €400

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer?
HTPC, would play movies stored in the HTPC disk or stored in a external drive

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? I have an old computer back at home but it was bought about 7 years ago so I guess it's no use...

5. Do you need a monitor? No, it will be connected to a 42'' HD TV


5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? As stated before, I have a 42'' HD TV, does 1080p

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? I would like some kind of sound system but I will look into that in the future

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? No

8. How can you pay? Bank Transfer/Credit Card

9. When are you purchasing? in 2 weeks or so

Thanks in advance!

Monotype

Something like this maybe? You can pick another case depending on your needs with hard drives.

Item|Price
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€53.74
4GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-12800U CL9|€40.94
AMD A6 5400K Black Edition mit AMD Radeon HD 7540D Grafikeinheit, Box, FM2|€46.97
Thermaltake Element Q, mini-ITX, 220W-Netzteil|€55.11
be quiet! SFX Power BQT SFX 300W|€43.27
SanDisk SSD 64GB 6,4cm S-ATA 600|€52.33
ASRock FM2A75M-ITX R2.0, FM2, ITX|€69.45
LiteOn iHAS124-04 schwarz SATA|€16.54
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€397.34

Wabbit Ears

Are you going to be using tuners in the HTPC?

If you plan on doing so a matx is preferable to an ITX and affects your case choices.

Also for a HTPC a caviar green is a better choice for a storage drive when combined with a SSD for an OS drive as they are much quieter and use less power and run cooler.

zEmo23

Hi,

Thanks for the help! Has anyone ordered from that shop? Just wondering if its trust worthy, but if you are recommending it I guess it is!

About the tuners, I am very new to this HTPC thing and only started reading about it a few weeks ago so for the moment I will keep it simple and actually I have decided to reduce my budget.... This is the config I put together:

4GB G.Skill RipJaws PC3-10667U CL9
MSI H61I-E35 (B3), Intel H61, ITX, DDR3
Intel Pentium G2030 Box, LGA1155
WD Red RD1000M 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB
Special item: Chieftec FI-02BC, 200W TFX, Mini-ITX

Total: 250Eur

The PC will be used exclusively to download and watch movies, will this config handle it? Also, is the PSU included in the box enough to power it?
It's missing a CPU Cooler, could you recommend me one?

Thanks again.

Wabbit Ears

I dont see any decent on-board HD graphics on that motherboard and the Sata ports are only sata2 (3mbs)

Not really ideal HTPC board IMHO

zEmo23

I thought I would be playing the movies with the CPU integrated graphics card?

Integrated Graphics Intel HD Graphics with Dynamic Frequency

Monotype

Good point about the tuner Wabbit Ears - if you want to capture/receive video, you'll need an extra card.

zEmo23 wrote: »

Thanks for the help! Has anyone ordered from that shop? Just wondering if its trust worthy, but if you are recommending it I guess it is!

Loads of people have ordered from them here. Only thing is that they just take bank transfers (or paypal for an extra 3%) because credit cards are not that popular in Germany. I've ordered from them myself a good few times.

4GB G.Skill RipJaws PC3-10667U CL9
MSI H61I-E35 (B3), Intel H61, ITX, DDR3
Intel Pentium G2030 Box, LGA1155
WD Red RD1000M 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB
Special item: Chieftec FI-02BC, 200W TFX, Mini-ITX

"Special item" usually means that it's returned or open box so I'd avoid that.
Chieftec aren't known for their high quality PSUs, so I would buy a different one.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/up+to+300+Watts/32193/be+quiet!+TFX+Power+BQT+TFX+300W.article
This is also why I added a PSU in with the case in the build I made out even though the case had one. It's not the wattage that matters most; it's quality.

CPUs come with a cooler... though it's usually not that quiet, especially Intel's one. When you've fully decided on the case and board, sort it out then since you might be limited to height or width restrictions.

The motherboard you listed is considerably inferior to the AMD one. No SATA 6Gbps ports, no USB 3, eSATA, optical sound, less audio jacks and only a PCI-E x1 slot instead of a full size one.
In terms of processing and graphics power, the G2030 should be close enough to the 5400K.

The WD red is a good choice for low power and long warranty.

zEmo23

Once again, thanks for the feedback.

Say I go with this config:

4GB G.Skill RipJaws PC3-10667U CL9
WD Red RD1000M 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB
Thermaltake Element Q, mini-ITX, 220W-Netzteil
AMD A6 5400K Black Edition mit AMD Radeon HD 7540D Grafikeinheit, Box, FM2
ASRock FM2A75M-ITX R2.0, FM2, ITX

And in the future aim for a PSU and CPU Cooler, I dont really mind the noise actually. This config should do alright for just torrent download and HD movies, right?

Do you know if they build the PC themselves or they dont provide that kind of service? I cant remember the last time I assembled a PC... lol

Monotype

Assembling is not difficult, but they'll do it for €20. http://www.hardwareversand.de/Service/746/Rechner+-+Zusammenbau.article

It's not just noise in the case of a PSU - the lower quality ones can damage your components... depending on how bad quality it is. But if you just want to keep costs as low as you can, then yes, it would work.

uberpixie

TBH mate I would build a small htpc server and put it in a different room (no noise worries then), they stream to your TV across homeplugs using either:

1) usb stick Android PC running XBMC
(you can get cheaper than the example with a remote if you look on amazon)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TB-013-PV

2) Western Digital Live box
(handles windows network/samba share out of the box)
http://www.dabs.ie/products/wd-tv-live-streaming-media-player-7R19.html?q=TV%20live&src=16

3) Smart Blu-Ray player. (all the features of a smart TV for around €100 if you look...)
http://www.dabs.ie/products/samsung-f5100-smart-networking-blu-ray-and-dvd-player-usb-x-1-hdmi-8LMT.html?q=blu%20ray&src=16

I personally do not see the point of having a PC directly on the telly, needing a mix of wireless keyboard/mice and remotes to control.

Get a simple box with a remote for the telly and stream to it.

Monotype

That's not a bad idea. Another alternative is a raspberry pi which will handle most things as well for cheaper than the above.

zEmo23

It sounds a really great idea... But unfortunately I dont have a spare room. Also I only own a laptop so if I was going that route I guess I would have to get a screen for the mini PC as well... It's just not possible at the moment, maybe in the future. I think this will be good enough to start in the HTPC ''world''.

Thanks for the suggestion though!

zEmo23

Now that made me think of something that might be a problem... I dont have any screen, I only have the TV, will the PC recognize the TV as a screen from the beginning, even without anything installed?? I mean, will I be able to install Windows using TV as monitor?

Wabbit Ears

yea, Never had a problem with that, TV acts like a monitor no problem over HDMI

U_Fig

this is basically what have

Item|Price
4GB Kingston ValueRAM PC3-12800U CL11|€36.74
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€54.59
Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced, Mini-ITX, ohne Netzteil|€39.03
ASRock B75M-ITX, Sockel 1155, ITX|€66.03
Intel Pentium G2030 Box, LGA1155|€49.17
be quiet! PURE POWER L8 300W|€38.34
Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€89.25
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€392.14

the SSD is optional
I have the 830 not the 840
and the intel G550 as opposed to the G2030
I have the Thermaltake element q but it's out of stock and this case is slightly bigger and a good alternative

zEmo23

Thanks for the suggestion U_Fig, but I actually I would like something a bit cheaper.

Guys, Im sorry to bring this up again. I was planning to get everything from hardwareversand.de but they dont have the case and the CPU in stock at the moment and actually I am not having the best experience with them, they havent replied to any of my emails...

So, I turned to scan.co.uk but I cant get the same config as the previous one, I had to change the Memory: 4GB Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-10666 (1333), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.50V and also the Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A85XN-WIFI, AMD A85X, FM2, DDR3, SATA III 6Gb/s, RAID, PCIe 3.0 (x16), DVI-D/HDMI, Mini ITX... Now, would this 2 components change much? Will there much difference in the performance? Thanks again.

Monotype

That looks fine. I'd have a look on memoryc.com for RAM as well. I don't know how scan are at the moment, but a few times when I was ordering with them, their selection of RAM was very bad (even though just about everything else is good) and they overcharged for it as well.

U_Fig

What CPU are you loking to get?

Just remember the prices on scan are in pound sterling.. I made a few mistakes in the past with builds forgetting the exchange rate.. Usually for full builds Hardwareverdand works out cheaper even tho they can be slow at replying to e-mail I've oferded off them a few times now and found them a little confusing but good otherwise bank transfer is handy at the self service thing in any bank

Also The build I posted could be made cheaper I was just giving you what I use myself. Really for what you want either intel or Amd would do perfectly fine..

uberpixie

zEmo23 wrote: »

had to change the Memory: 4GB Corsair DDR3 XMS3, PC3-10666 (1333),

Ram will only be an issue if you intend to game lightly on the FM2 cpu, 1866mhz or better ram works out better as it gives you a few more frames in games.

If you are not going to game: 1333mhz ram is fine.

zEmo23

thanks for the help lads. Yea, the price in scan is not that good when you convert it to euros...

Now I am really confused, hardwareversand eventually replied to my email and I was ready to place my order when I found this http://www.overclock.net/t/1337304/asrock-fm2a75m-itx-motherboard-fire ... Apparently this MB has some serious issues...

So I thought of replacing with this one: MSI FM2-A75IA-E53, FM2, ITX

What do you think?

Monotype

Better go with MSI so, it has most of the same features and I've had reasonably good luck with their boards.
I'll be wary of recommending that board in the future. I'll have to keep an eye on my own one too.

zEmo23

Guys, what other shops do you recommend apart from hardwareversand?

Monotype

hardwareversand is one of the cheapest. Scan can be cheap for certain things - cheaper than hardwareversand but it depends on the range.
Amazon.co.uk can have a few bits and pieces. Make sure you order from amazon.co.uk as their third party sellers can be expensive for postage, if they ship here. You can filter most of them out by just selecting super saver delivery on the side. The main problem with amazon is lack of selection.
Dabs.ie can have a reasonable range and prices. You can be waiting a while if an item is not in stock and their prices fluctuate a bit.
Overclockers.co.uk are alright - good selection and prices are good if you pick up on deals, otherwise a bit dearer. Some complaints about how they handle things but they've be okay for me, but not one I'd go for unless it's something that others don't have.
memoryc.com are good for memory, but their other items are dear, aside from maybe enclosures and a handy place to pick up some thermal paste or something when you count the free delivery.
komplett.ie can have some decent stuff on occasion. Usually monitors and the occasional motherboard or CPU that are at competitive prices. Somethings are dear enough there.

Mr McBoatface

That ASRock FM2A75M-ITX monotype linked to is a different revision to the problem one, the one that caught fire (revision 1). The mosfets have been changed. The original version seemed to have problems when used with the AMD A10 and high speed ram.

I have the FM2A75M-ITX R2.0 and an A6-5600K working with 4GB of PC3-12800 ram....no problems with it.

Wossack

considered just getting a ps3, and playing stuff off an external hd? not sure if 1080p is possible however

ive a passive shuttle xs35gt based htpc which I'd recommend - tis completely silent (0dB like), and boots quicker then my telly turns on. Running openelec - a small xbmc distro. Little storage onboard, but I stream everything over ethernet

Luck100

Wossack wrote: »

considered just getting a ps3, and playing stuff off an external hd? not sure if 1080p is possible however

ive a passive shuttle xs35gt based htpc which I'd recommend - tis completely silent (0dB like), and boots quicker then my telly turns on. Running openelec - a small xbmc distro. Little storage onboard, but I stream everything over ethernet

Does openelec have a torrent client?

Wossack

while Ive not done it, Im pretty sure you can install rtorrent on it via the addon menus

Wossack

Wossack wrote: »

considered just getting a ps3, and playing stuff off an external hd? not sure if 1080p is possible however

ive a passive shuttle xs35gt based htpc which I'd recommend - tis completely silent (0dB like), and boots quicker then my telly turns on. Running openelec - a small xbmc distro. Little storage onboard, but I stream everything over ethernet

PS3 has limited format support - if you are encoding movies yourself it will be fine but if you are downloading content you'll find a lot of it won't play. Also contains Cinavia. Too much hassle as a media player tbh.

Yes, OpenElec can run Transmission or rTorrent client. Also sickbeard, Couchpotato, sab etc for the glorious usenet master race.

zEmo23

Guys, this might not be the right place to post but I need your help again...
So I got my PC and I was trying to install windows from USB Pen drive. Everything OK, Windows setup starts, I select Country and timezone but then windows does not detect any drives. I searched a lot and some people recommended downloading the SATA Controller drivers and put them into another USB drive and load them manually, I did this but it didnt work (i think i downloaded the correct drives). Then some said to change the SATA Mode in BIOS to IDE, I did that, same result. I dont know what else I can do. Any suggestions? I read that the HDD might be faulty, actually, when booting, it does some ryhtmic read/write noise...
Another info, in the BIOS the HDD displays fine except it says it has 0.00GB.

Any help please?

Motherboard: AsRock FM2A75 ITX 2.0
HDD: WD Red 1TB

Monotype

Try a different cable.

Have you got another computer to try the hard drive with to be sure? With windows already installed, you would have to initialise it in the disk manager (type diskmgmt.msc into the start menu).

zEmo23

Hi, I dont know if by different cable you mean an extra one, because i dont have one. However I tried with the other power cable included and also tried changing the SATA Slot, but it didnt work. Unfortunately I dont have another PC to try the hard drive on.

Also tried installing Ubuntu but I got the same error, it doesnt detect any hard drive.

Faulty?

Monotype

Have a look around the BIOS menu to make sure the individual ports aren't disabled. It could be faulty but you can't really say precisely if it is the drive without swapping parts.

zEmo23

The thing is I dont have any other computer to test the HDD on and dont have any spare drives or cables... The disk is recognized in BIOS but it is listed as 0Gb, even when I changed the SATA slot it recognized that it was connected to a different sata slot...

Monotype

Hmm probably faulty so. Suppose one last thing you could do is update the BIOS.

justsomebloke

if you download a Linux distro on another machine try and install that and see how it goes

zEmo23

anyone with experience on returns with hardwareversand ??