Feedback on my sub-$300 HTPC Build

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wklose99

n00b
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
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So the title is a bit misleading, the $300 does not include HDDs/SDs as I already have some on hand I will be using.

Anyways, I'm going to be watching on a 1920 X 1080 full HD 55" LCD TV. Will only be used for streaming HD movies and surfing.

The equipment is:

CPU: MD A6-5400K 3.6Ghz dual-core FM2 APU (Radeon HD745D) - $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16819113282

Mobo: MSI FM2-A55M-E33 FM2 AMD A55 MiniATX- $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813130661

RAM: 2x4GB GSkill 1866 PC3 DDR3 SDRAM - $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820231550

PSU: 430W rosewill - $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817182202

Case: MiniATX Rosewill - $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811147123

Wireless keyboard/mouse - $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16823334004

Any comments are much appreciated!
 
I personally would go with a quad core APU but other then that it looks solid.
 
Logitech K400 is a great keyboard+touchpad for sitting on the couch using a media pc.

I like it much better than using a mouse.
 
That looks like a very capible build. The logitech k400 is pretty good, as an alternative I have a dinovo mini which is also pretty nice especially back light when watching in the dark. Have you considered itx instead of matx? I have bothe the silverstone sg05 and coolermaster elite 120 and both fit in media cabinet pretty well.
 
Its perfect. I have 2x2 4Gb 1866 and a A8 5600K and I run out of memory from time to time. All you need is a good AVR
 
I didn't like the dinovo mini. It was nice for everything except mouse movement... was too jittery and not fluid enough. I've used some cheap wireless keyboards with touchpads and all of them had smoother mouse movement.

I mostly use a wireless mouse. Also have a wireless keyboard with a joystick/mouse on it. I have some software running to use our phones and tablets as well. In the process of testing Wii mote and Kinect to navigate Xbmc... :).

Always on the lookout for the next best thing...
 
If the purpose is only to watch movies and surf the internet, why would you need a quad core CPU and 8GB of RAM? Just about anything with a modern GPU can hardware decode 1080P video. And smartphone CPUs are fast enough to surf the web. I would think the focus should be to make the build as low cost, low power and quiet as possible.
 
Peteman100 said:
If the purpose is only to watch movies and surf the internet, why would you need a quad core CPU and 8GB of RAM? Just about anything with a modern GPU can hardware decode 1080P video. And smartphone CPUs are fast enough to surf the web. I would think the focus should be to make the build as low cost, low power and quiet as possible.
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this. Why not XBMC (openELEC) and the celeron NUC for $160+2GB SODIMM + 8GB USB thumbdrive?

This is really the small HTPC I've been waiting for. It's inexpensive, runs quietly, and yet runs XBMC in a spectacular fashion. I stream all of my local media from a Synology NAS so this simply acts as a media client using XBMC (running via OpenELEC)---which it does quite well.

All NUCs, even this Celeron 847 unit, support hardware decoding of H.264/VC1/MPEG2 video codecs and will bitstream HD Audio. As an example, during video playback the CPU cores never rise above 15% while streaming 1080p video with HD Audio to a Yamaha AVR. If I have the NUC decode the HD Audio and out multi-channel LPCM it can occasionally rise to 18%. I was worried about not getting the i3 NUC due to the faster processor (and faster GPU) but even the add-on Aeon Nox skin for XBMC runs very smoothly. For running a HTPC under Windows more horsepower may be desirable but this thing screams under OpenELEC.

Speaking of OpenELEC, without the overhead of Windows this unit runs XBMC just fine using a 2GB memory stick (Crucial 2GB Single DDR3 1333 MT/s (PC3-10600) CL9 SODIMM 204-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Notebook Memory Module CT25664BF1339) and a 8GB USB thumb drive (SanDisk Cruzer Fit SDCZ33-008G-B35 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive - Black) for the system.

OpenELEC is installed, and boots from, the USB thumb drive and I don't have (or need) a hard drive of any type although one could install OpenELEC (or Windows) on a mSATA SSD if desired. I also realized that I already had an identical stick of RAM so I installed both (4GB total) but it doesn't really have any advantage since the system reports >3GB of RAM available during HD streaming (and this is with the GPU assigned MAX MEMORY in BIOS). OpenELEC boots from the USB and resides in RAM but since the whole thing, including XBMC, is so small (<200MB) it really demonstrates how bloated many modern operating systems really are for a HTPC.

FWIW, I already had a HP Media Center IR receiver (HP Infrared Receiver for HP Media Center 5188-1667) and a Harmony 900 remote that both work automagically with OpenELEC. The key to setting up the Harmony is to select a device of "Media Center PC" ==> Microsoft ==> MCE-1039. This will map 99% of the buttons on the Harmony. I had to manually assign the skip button but the command was already in the Harmony database so it was a snap. Also, the Harmony will wake the unit and put it to sleep. Just make sure the XBMC power setting for "shutdown" is set to standby.

EDIT: I forgot to add---the NUC includes an external power supply but you must supply your own "mickey mouse" power cable for your own locality. I used a Belkin 6ft / 3 Prong Notebook Power Cord since I could get Amazon Prime shipping with the rest of my order but there are many choices on Amazon.

EDIT #2: I also hooked it up to a Kill-a-Watt device to check out the power consumption.

As baseline, the NUC had 4GB of RAM (2x2GB) installed with a 8GB thumb drive and an IR receiver installed in the rear USB ports. No mSATA drive was installed nor was a Wifi/Bluetooth module. OpenELEC was installed on the 8GB flash drive.

During playback of a 1080p MKV (H.264/DTS-HD) being streamed via a wired network the draw varied between 17.6W and 18.4W. In standby (S3) it draws a flat 1.0W. Lower power (S4/S5) standby are supported by the NUC but I am unable to use them with my remote to wake the device.
Click to expand...

I have been waiting many years for a box just like this to replace my aging single core HTPC. My HTPC plays an integral role in my household, so I needed a device that is easy enough to operate that grandma can use it and that it "just works" like a DVD player or TV. This is the second try at replacing my old system. The first try was purchasing a Pivos XIOS, however the XIOS was way underpowered for XBMC and I returned it. The Intel NUC stepped up to the plate and really hit a home run for me, although it is roughly double the cost. Much like another reviewer, i am running my setup off a 16gb USB thumb drive and 2gb of memory, which if you are running OpenELEC, is more than sufficient. I didn't bother purchasing a real solid state drive because i am streaming all my files from a Synology NAS via 100mb UTP. This box plays my largest mkv files in full 1080p without any stuttering what so ever, even on complex scenes. It also integrated seamlessly with my harmony remote, which I might add not only wakes the system up when you press the activity button, but also automatically puts it to sleep when you change activities back to normal TV watching. I'm not even sure how much that matters though because the device only uses between 10 and 13 watts when it's on and playing movies (less than 1 watt in standby), so you could in theory just leave it on all the time without much impact. Boot up time is equally impressive, typically being ready to use in about 10-15 seconds from the time you push the power button. I can't wait to buy another one of these for the car, as well as more for the kids rooms.
Click to expand...
 
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