HTPC components assistance needed

L

lone wolf

Gawd
Joined
Feb 4, 2003
Messages
705
Hello Everyone!

I could really use some guidance on selecting the components for a new HTPC. While I do have some parts I do not know if reusing them is a good thing due to age:

What I have:
i7-3770
16gb 1333 DDR 3 or 8gb 2000 (oc)
2 - 3tb hard drives with movies and tv shows
ceton pcie 4 tuner tv card
1 1.5tb hard drive for recorded tv
OCZ Solid3 120gb SSD - it seems like this is starting to run slower, even though the health monitor says that the health is "good"


What I am wanting to accomplish is to have an "all in one" type system. I do not have the need for a server, I also use plex, it suits my needs for streaming in my home very well.

I also just picked up a 6tb Seagate drive to move all of my movies to this one drive, and keep the above mentioned 3tb drives as a backup so to speak

If I go with the i7 what would be a good motherboard for this?

I had a Silverstone HTPC case but the wife got mad at me and pretty much smashed it to bits, so I will need something else, might just get another like it. (Silverstone Tek LC13B-E)

would the i7 be enough to use as the main system and also stream out to other devices in my home? the roku, ipads etc. I just want everything to work when I need it to.

if you think that I would benefit from another CPU please let me know, I don't mind upgrading that

I really appreciate your input, thank you.
 
Your CPU is more than fine, if anything it's probably overkill. Read this. You could probably get about 5 1080p 10mbps streams out of that CPU, though I highly doubt your internet connection could handle the upload unless you have something special. If you're only "streaming" within your home you'll likely never be transcoding at all, it would just be a straight file read which requires extremely little CPU usage. Silverstone cases are great but if your wife is just going to smash it up you might want to go with something a bit more budget.

What's your internet connection upload speed and are you planning on watching media from your server while you're not at home?
 
overall looks pretty good to me. I just parted out a 3570k based htpc system that I was using integrated graphics and it worked fine. I'd say that picking out the right case is a little more crucial than usual but you have a good start.
 
My wife was upset because the case was just setting in the garage and I had moved it to her storage shelves. She had had enough when I told her that I would use it someday, I can not blame her.

all of my movies are already in MP4 format so I do not think I will be doing any transcoding, I may watch movies once in a blue moon away from home.

Those components are what I have on hand, I currently have a big corsair 690 II case sitting by the TV, I just want it to look a little more "cleaned up" looking in my living room.

I am just trying to find the best motherboard that I can for this, and something that can fit an SSD, and two HDDs, I looked at the fractual design case, and also the big Silverstone case,

decisions, decisions
 
Dude, stick to your build and part decisons and leave your home life out of it. IF you have a 3770 then you can either sell it or use it with a Z77 board. Not sure what's available right now. You can check used, I just sold a Z77 board last week.

I also sold a Silverstone GD08 case. That was a nice case. Wasn't easy to open to, say, switch a hard drive out but it did great for me. No regrets.
 
you are right, I will keep my home life out of it

Oh this is the cpu that I would be using:

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here is my current system:

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I have not built a computer in over 6 years, I was just looking for some guidance on picking out something that would work for an older processor.

thanks for the help
 
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