HTPC - The Dream!

T

tdktank59

Gawd
Joined
Jan 23, 2007
Messages
590
HTPC - This machine will be playing the movies, as well as gaming. It should have Blue Ray as well.
I will be dual booting with Windows 7 and some flavor of linux. so 2 hard drives will be necessary. (2 500GB im thinking)

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
HTPC, Gaming Think of it like an ultimate xBox for PC games
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
What ever it takes… Like to keep it under $2000
3) Where do you live?
95834
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything TV Tuner so I can watch and record live TV. I would like it to be able to record 2 channels at once
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None
6) Will you be overclocking?
Possible but most likely not [/COLOR
]7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
52+" LCD TV of some sort, not sure yet
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Sooner than later, (Month or so)
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Firewire would be nice, Ive been liking the new ATI cards so Crossfire would be good as well.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Will be getting Windows 7 for Gaming and some form of linux for the HTPC part

=========================

File Server - This machine will be a file server, Running on some flavor of linux.
It will need lots of storage. I want to start with at least 5TB maybe more.
All it will be doing is serving files and backing up DVDs. I want it to wake on lan as well. So it should only be on when its needed. (sleep mode works as well)

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
File Serving
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
What ever it takes… Like to keep it under $2000
3) Where do you live?
95834
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything, Onboard Graphics or a low end card dosnt matter. Keep it simple is key! I would like a beefier CPU since I might do some DVD backups and what not.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None
6) Will you be overclocking?
No need to [/COLOR
]7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Once it is setup I will be able to SSH into it so no need for a monitor.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Sooner than later, (Month or so)
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Firewire would be nice, on board graphics works.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Linux
 
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For the file server will you be using software or hardware RAID?
 
For the file server, something like this would be a good choice:
$120 - AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition CPU
$100 - ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
$86 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$32 - Samsung SH-S223L SATA DVD Burner
$120 - Corsair 750TX 750W PSU
$200 - 2 x SuperMicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI-Ex4 8 Port SATA Controller Card
$36 - 2 x 3ware SFF-8087 to Multi-lane SATA Forward Break-out Cable
$290 - NORCO RPC-4020 4U Rackmount Server Case
--------------
Total: $984 plus tax and shipping

Use the $1000 leftover on hard drives. The Two controller cards + the motherboard gives you 22 SATA ports. The case can hold up to 20 SATA hard drives in hot-swap bays plus one SATA hard drive for the OS.
 
Danny Bui said:
For the file server, something like this would be a good choice:
$120 - AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition CPU
$100 - ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
$86 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$32 - Samsung SH-S223L SATA DVD Burner
$120 - Corsair 750TX 750W PSU
$200 - 2 x SuperMicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI-Ex4 8 Port SATA Controller Card
$36 - 2 x 3ware SFF-8087 to Multi-lane SATA Forward Break-out Cable
$290 - NORCO RPC-4020 4U Rackmount Server Case
--------------
Total: $984 plus tax and shipping

Use the $1000 leftover on hard drives. The Two controller cards + the motherboard gives you 22 SATA ports. The case can hold up to 20 SATA hard drives in hot-swap bays plus one SATA hard drive for the OS.
Click to expand...

Any reason why you went AMD over Intel?
I havnt been following the Core i7/5 movement that closely.
 
For the HTPC system:

CPU: Intel Core i5-750 $200
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD4 $129 - $15 MIR
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $86
HSF: Corsair H50 $75 - $15 MIR
Case Fan: Scythe Kaze-Jyuni Slim Slip Stream 120mm x 12mm Fan $11
PSU: Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W
GPU: Sapphire 5870 - $425 Combo Price
BLURAY: LG CH08LS10K 8X SATA Blu-Ray Combo Black Drive $104 - $15 MIR
HD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB - $95
CASE: SILVERSTONE SG03-B - $120 - $20 MIR

Total: $1145 - $65 MIR + Tax & Shipping


The H50 will replace the top front case fan. The slimline Scythe will replace the bottom front case fan and provide the necessary clearance to fit the 5870. You can see a picture of a H50 mounted in a SG03 here. Although you can fit dual GPUs, I'd advise against it. The 5870 is gonna be more than enough for whatever you throw at it for quite some time.

Everything here is pretty much top of the line and you won't be able to pack more power into anything smaller than this. I only specced the 1TB HD since you can partition it. But you can mount a 2nd HD if you feel the need. The firewire header on the mobo can be hooked up to the front panel connector. If you want more ports, get a Firewire card. You can go with a faster CPU if you like, but it's not gonna make a difference to your gaming.

As for the tuner card, I would personally wait for the cablecard equipped tuner cards to hit the market.
 
Cases are subjective. Silverstone has some nice HTPC cases. Personally, I went with the Antec Fusion Remote Max because I don't like cramped cases. Its the same size as my A/V Receiver, so it looks fine under my TV. :p
 
tdktank59 said:
Thats what Ive been looking at as well
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129055
Click to expand...

Yah... here's a review:
http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3427

Danny Bui said:
For the file server, something like this would be a good choice:
$120 - AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition CPU
$100 - ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
$86 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
...
Click to expand...

Bit overkill for a fileserver, no? ... even for dvd backups, a dual core would be fine I'd think.

tdktank59 said:
Any reason why you went AMD over Intel?
I havnt been following the Core i7/5 movement that closely.
Click to expand...

Uhm... and thats major overkill for a fileserver. :p
 
I want my file server to be able to do some dvd ripping so a semi decent CPU should be in there... a E8400 maybe tops...

However im trying to get input on good things to use. Kinda lost my edge in the market with whats good once the intel i5/7 chips came out...
 
Still... you could save a whole lot of money by just getting a dual core (X2 245/550BE), which would still be fine for dvd ripping. In fact, you can simply rip with your main system and just store the result on the fileserver -- which would be more cost effective, IMO, since you can drop the specs even further. Serving files in a home environment doesn't take a whole lot of processing power. And if the only other task is DVD ripping, an E8400 still just doesn't make much sense when an X2 245 can handle the job for only $66.
 
If Antec Fusion Max fits your definition of sleek, by all means go for it. It's a much larger case so you'll have plenty more freedom in component selection. If you want to stay mATX and want something sleeker, you'll have to compromise on the vid card.


tdktank59 said:
Rather use these fans. Ill pay for the quietness...
http://www.svc.com/nf-s12b-uln.html
Click to expand...

The quietness is irrelevant in this case. Although the Scythe fan I linked is plenty quiet. The only factor that matters in that config is the 12mm thickness, since a 25mm thick fan wouldn't fit with the 5870.
 
enginurd said:
Bit overkill for a fileserver, no? ... even for dvd backups, a dual core would be fine I'd think.
Click to expand...

Just a bit overkill :).

But yeah Enginurd is right though. The $63 X2 240 will be more than enough. Also, as Enginurd said, a Core i5/i7 is total overkill for a file server (akin to using a nuke on an anthill). In addition, a C2D based setup is not very cost effective these days with the release of AMD's Phenom II based CPUs. So unless you want to waste money, don't bother with a C2D, Core i5, or Core i7 based setup for a simple file server doing DVD ripping.
 
Toaster Oven said:
If Antec Fusion Max fits your definition of sleek, by all means go for it. It's a much larger case so you'll have plenty more freedom in component selection. If you want to stay mATX and want something sleeker, you'll have to compromise on the vid card.
Click to expand...


The case can be what ever size it needs to be. I could care less about mATX... Im looking for functionality not size. Just has to look like it belongs under the TV I don't need to hide it...

As for the CPU stuff going on, The HTPC needs to have some kick behind it, As you said tho the file server dosn't. However I will be setting up a VPN tunnel between my house and my parents so there is a possibility of multiple transactions happening at any given time.
Internally everything will be Gigabit speeds however ill be limited to 25Mbps up/down outside my network.
 
tdktank59 said:
However I will be setting up a VPN tunnel between my house and my parents so there is a possibility of multiple transactions happening at any given time.
Internally everything will be Gigabit speeds however ill be limited to 25Mbps up/down outside my network.
Click to expand...
That's more of a network issue than a CPU issue. So again, the X2 240 will be more than enough for that kind of usage.
 
tdktank59 said:
The case can be what ever size it needs to be. I could care less about mATX... Im looking for functionality not size. Just has to look like it belongs under the TV I don't need to hide it....
Click to expand...

In that case there really doesn't have to be any special HTPC consideration in the build. Just look at all the general purpose gaming builds listed here, pick something you like, throw it all in the Antec Fusion Max, and voila you're set ;)
 
Well TV cards... I want it to do DVR stuff as well.
Don't want to buy and subscribe to TiVo...

(Ill be getting cable when I buy these things lol)
 
do you want to watch encrypted channels? if so, you'll need cablecard, since none of the basic tuners out there right now can decrypt the premium channels. check the silicondust site to see what you get over clearQAM
 
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