Advice on HTPC build

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janelled

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Aug 20, 2008
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I'm in the market for an HTPC. I have a 46" 1080p TV that I'll be running to the video to via HDMI.

I'd like to keep the price down where possible, but I want to get something that ought to last a while. Anything in the sub $600ish range should be fine, but that's flexible.

I absolutely need to keep the case smaller than 15 x 15 x 15" due to the shelving I'm working with. I like the cube-like Shuttle cases but I'm not remotely familiar with smaller form factors (Antec 1200 and 900 here...)

I only plan to use it for streaming Netflix / Hulu, playing downloaded stuff and playing Blu-Ray discs. No need for gaming or anything workstation-related.

Noise isn't terribly problematic but I would like it to not be much louder than my workstations. Lower power consumption would be cool, but I have never really cared about the electric bill.

I plan on building a NAS/Media Server thingy in the future, but this needs to stand alone until funding for the server is available.

Here are the parts I've been considering:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101117
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231421
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116394
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151222

I'd love a more experienced HTPC/SFF builder to look over the parts and make sure things are good to go. I'm a little unsure of how big the PSU needs to be.

Any thoughts, criticism, advice, etc. would be appreciated! Sorry for the wordy post and thanks for the help!
 
If you were going that small I would recommend an AMD mini-itx based solution for a couple of reasons.

1. You could save money and put it towards a tv tuner card
2. Using the built in Intel GPU means you would have to deal with the bug related to 23.976hz/24hz refresh rate. Not sure how much a deal breaker this is. A cheap video card will remedy this but put you closer to your $600 limit.

You could put a small single slot video card and a pcie tv tuner card in that shuttle you showed, but that tuner card might bake which might be a problem for certain models.

If your budget is flexible and you want to go with your current selection, I would recommend tacking on another $200 for a cheap video card, a tv tuner, and a remote.

Here is my AMD recommendation.

Case and PSU $105: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163149
Motherboard $106: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500060
Processor $60: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103903

Total that with your HDD, RAM, and optical drive selections mentioned in your post and the cost comes to $375.

With the basics taken care of, you could squeeze in a tv tuner and remote also for less money than the Intel setup you listed:
Tuner and MCE remote $130: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116036

or you could go all out and do cable card $300+...
Remote only:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116071
Tuner:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815706001&Tpk=ceton
 
Last edited:
My suggestion
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131659
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154091
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103933
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106325
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148193
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220030

1.) I've had a DVD burner in my HTPC for years and I've never used it to burn anything. Maybe you're different but mine is used for watching/consuming media; I've got regular desktops to do anything like media creation/ burning discs. Getting just a reader will save you a little cash.

2.) Again, my HTPC is used for only watching/ consuming media and with 7MC running I use about a gig/gig and a half (hardly happens) of memory for day to day tasks which is why I haven't seen any reason to move to 4 gigs of memory for my HTPC. This was also the case when I was dedicating 512megs to the onboard video (I'm using a 5450 now). Might as well save yourself some money on this but, if you need four gig of memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139285

3.) I have that mobo and that case (not as my HTPC) and love them. Check out more on that case here (along with a case fan mod to help cooling): http://www.silentpcreview.com/apex-mi008

4.) The included PSU is okay but I didn't trust it all that much. I replaced mine with a spare made by FSP whom I do trust: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104075

Others:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151063
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151089
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103075
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103074
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256063

I then later replaced it with a 150w Pico PSU and a taller heatsink (cooled passively by a side 120mm fan).

5.) There isn't much space for the stock AMD cooler but the one I linked is good, I used it in mine. If you underclock the CPU to 1.2Ghz you can lower the voltage a bit and get it to run even cooler. My HTPC is at 1.2Ghz (from 2.8Ghz) and it's voltage is 1.05 from 1.2. I'm sure I can go lower. It's run passive now in an Antec Fusion case.
 
I'd suggest a Zacate build, but not until the Silverlight/Netflix HD gpu accel issue is addressed.
All my builds currently have SSD boot drives . Even a cheapie 30gb last gen will fit Win7 and feel much snappier than a mechanical.
Agree on getting a regular BR reader.
 
Ruiner said:
I'd suggest a Zacate build, but not until the Silverlight/Netflix HD gpu accel issue is addressed.
Click to expand...
That's why I didn't suggest it.
All my builds currently have SSD boot drives . Even a cheapie 30gb last gen will fit Win7 and feel much snappier than a mechanical.
Click to expand...
I don't see the point when viewed as a price to performance ratio when applied to HTPCs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167046
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148591
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3734/seagates-momentus-xt-review-finally-a-good-hybrid-hdd

For the same amount of money I would rather get 12 times the storage with close too the same performance; faster then a regular HDD,not as fast as a full SSD but without the storage penalty of an SSD. I see more benefit for an HTPC with the Hybrid drive.
 
I've never used that Momentus, but see it as a niche product for single bay laptops. 1TB 'green' 3.5's go for $50 on sale and little SSDs for $70. A combo setup would only run ~20 more than that hybrid. I cheated since mine was a pull from another build.
 
CrimandEvil said:
That's why I didn't suggest it.

For the same amount of money I would rather get 12 times the storage with close too the same performance; faster then a regular HDD,not as fast as a full SSD but without the storage penalty of an SSD. I see more benefit for an HTPC with the Hybrid drive.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't even go that far. Hybrid SSD's or SSD's are just not needed for HTPC's until the price comes way down... way way down. The WD Blue's in 2.5 give you a TB of storage for relatively the same price. When you are dealing with HTPC's storage is king if you want to isolate your file server from your video and music. Once a HTPC is powered on, there's little use for the SSD. Maybe if you run forward or reverse at 32x....maybe. But even two mechanical in RAID can handle that. Go for the straight up mechanical you'll have more storage and you'll likely not have to revisit your setup for years instead of months.
 
Wow, I had completely forgotten AMD... didn't realize how much cheaper they were.

I don't think I'll need a TV tuner card. I haven't felt the need to spend the extra cash for TV through FIOS when most of what I watch can be streamed through netflix or hulu. If only they made an NHL/NFL/MLB streaming place I'd be set for a very long time.

I still like the idea of saving cash, if I can get a solid HTPC for the sub 400 range that would be excellent.

How many watts are enough in a PSU for an HTPC? I see mentions of 150w and 250w, is that going to be sufficient for non-gaming HTPC use?

Storage-wise I'm still not sure an SSD is worth the money. Is it that much snappier?

I appreciate the advice (especially over a holiday weekend). This is new territory to me so I don't want to mess it up.
 
kac77 said:
I wouldn't even go that far. Hybrid SSD's or SSD's are just not needed for HTPC's until the price comes way down... way way down. The WD Blue's in 2.5 give you a TB of storage for relatively the same price. When you are dealing with HTPC's storage is king if you want to isolate your file server from your video and music. Once a HTPC is powered on, there's little use for the SSD. Maybe if you run forward or reverse at 32x....maybe. But even two mechanical in RAID can handle that. Go for the straight up mechanical you'll have more storage and you'll likely not have to revisit your setup for years instead of months.
Click to expand...
I totally agree but there are some who are damn set on using an SSD for an HTPC. I don't see a reason to do so but I do have one in my desktop. The thing is is that my desktop benefits more from an SSD based purely on usage patterns. That's like dropping eight gigs of memory to just run 7MC.
 
janelled said:
Wow, I had completely forgotten AMD... didn't realize how much cheaper they were.

I don't think I'll need a TV tuner card. I haven't felt the need to spend the extra cash for TV through FIOS when most of what I watch can be streamed through netflix or hulu. If only they made an NHL/NFL/MLB streaming place I'd be set for a very long time.

I still like the idea of saving cash, if I can get a solid HTPC for the sub 400 range that would be excellent.

How many watts are enough in a PSU for an HTPC? I see mentions of 150w and 250w, is that going to be sufficient for non-gaming HTPC use?

Storage-wise I'm still not sure an SSD is worth the money. Is it that much snappier?

I appreciate the advice (especially over a holiday weekend). This is new territory to me so I don't want to mess it up.
Click to expand...
My HTPC uses a 150w Pico PSU with a 120w power brick. I ran it off of a 100w PSU for a while too. You don't need an SSD, It's fast but you're only using a handful of apps; Windows, 7MC, Media Browser, iTunes and My Remote are the only ones I use on mine. Yeah, sure those apps would load quicker but a second saved here and there isn't going to make much difference when I have to pay so much more then if I had gotten a fast 1tb drive. Storage is king for an HTPC.

For sports you might be able to use this: http://www.missingremote.com/review...broadcasts-your-hdtv-media-center-remote-kind
 
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