HTPC build advice

mraie

Hi there, want to put together a HTPC for under 600euro. I am have some spare parts that I want to reuse. I have to put some prices together but not getting too near my budget. This is what I have so far.

SSD scandisk
Hard drive 3TB western digital
Optical drive liteon
Fanless 520W Seasonic PSU
Low profile Noctua NH-L9i CPU Cooler
Fractal Case Node 605 Black Desktop HTPC

for 530 Euro.

I have

window 7 copy
Tuner (hauppauge)
Video card GTX 460

I am looking for recommendations for mb, chipset and ram and how i can reduce the cost.

Johnboy1951

No suggestions as you appear to be building something that I would not regard as a HTPC but more a general PC with PVR capabilities.

I see no good reason to have an SSD or Windows on a HTPC.
I would use something like Openelec as the OS, and create a small partition to hold it on the main HDD.
Openelec uses XBMC as the client app.
I would use Tvheadend as the backend for Live TV.

I would use a motherboard and CPU with graphics capabilities instead of a discrete graphics card.

The CPU could be low end (cheap) if encoding was not required.

In such a set up the PSU could be lower wattage too ..... I am not sure about the availability of lower wattage PSUs that are fanless.

For a HTPC I think you are spending money on components unnecessarily.

Of course if you want to do more with it that is a different story .....

.... just IMO ......

mraie

thanksJohnboy, suppose I just enjoy building PC and keen on using up some of spare parts I have. Agree more of a PC and could just buy a small unit to run XBMC but part of the fun is the build.

Johnboy1951

mraie wrote: »

thanksJohnboy, suppose I just enjoy building PC and keen on using up some of spare parts I have. Agree more of a PC and could just buy a small unit to run XBMC but part of the fun is the build.

Oh, I agree

But when you want to do so within a budget then consideration of the minimum desired result comes into play and spending on components that break that budget without much gain would be considered wasteful

marco_polo

To be honest if you have a dedicated GPU in there you probably don't need to be concerned about spending alot on a fanless PSU, nowadays most decent units with a fan are pretty quiet relative to other components especially graphics cards

mraie

thanks Marco_polo I take your point, have changed the PSU and addded MB and chip, reduced the SSD size. Price is 650 euro and keen to see what you guys think

[URL="http /www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-z87-hd3-intel-z87-s-1150-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-d-sub-(vga)-dvi-d-h"]Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 Socket 1150 Motherboard[/URL]
Intel CPU i3-4130 3.4GHz Socket 1150 Dual Core
Sandisk 64GB SSD
Western Digital 3Tb WD30EZRX SATA 3 Caviar Green Hard Drive
LiteOn DH-4O3S-04-B 4x Internal BD-ROM Blu-ray 
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M Modular
Noctua NH-L9i CPU Cooler Low Profile - 92mm
Fractal Design Node 605 Black Desktop HTPC

Luck100

That case looks sweet for a HTPC. Is there a way to run it with an IR remote? Or do you need to have keyboard/mouse?

Johnboy1951

AS I already mentioned I think your choices are over specced for a HTPC in regards to motherboard and CPU.
Also I see no need for an SSD drive.

I suspect the hardware is being specified so that Win will run on it because you have a copy ...... but much leaner hardware would run an alternative very well.

I can only give a very personal perspective ..... I would lose the SSD altogether and would save money on the motherboard and CPU.

With something like Openelec as the OS, running XBMC, one 2GB ram stick would be plenty.

Of course all that changes if the machine is to be used for other purposes.
Then I suppose a full featured OS will be required, and the consequent hardware requirements.
In that case your build looks good ..... a general purpose, quiet PC, which will double as a HTPC.

How much RAM is to be fitted? (or maybe I missed that)


BTW for a remote control for it have a look at the FLIRC.

It is a programmable receiver .... which means you can use any remote you have to hand ...... use the set up app to arrange the button presses ...... even a full keyboard .... if you lose or break the remote you can programme a different one and use that.
Very flexible!

mraie

thanks Luck100, thought the case was the business, was going to get something like a wireless keypad, have a controller and IR receiver to go into the motherboard so will see.

mraie

thanks Johnboy1951 for the input, agree the SSD is a bit indulgent and will look at dropping it. I have used xbmc, freenas mediaportal and other free solutions in the past. I have found while they are good to use the problem arises when the my better half is trying to use them. Windows ticks so many boxes for an easier life. Was likely going to fit 4gbs of ram, need to have a good look for price. FLIRC looks interesting and will check it out as my control count is up to 6 at the moment.

Luck100

I'm interested to see how this turns out. I was thinking of doing something very similar so it would be great to get the benefit of your experience.