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MINI HTPC BUILD

H

HICKFARM

Gawd
Joined
Jun 18, 2008
Messages
547
Ok I am building an HTPC for my parents to watch netflix, and for me to copy shows and movies onto. My parents are almost PC illiterate so the cheaper the better.

Here are the parts I plan on ordering. Feel free to point out a cheaper alternative. Condsidering an ITX build as well. Going to hit up the Buy/sell/Trade section as well for some cheaper alternatives.

MSI A78M-E35
AMD A6-6400K
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB
hec Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC Steel

So I was just going to use the power supply provided with the case. If it fails I will just get a replacement. I still need WIFI. Will look for a mini card, but i could just use a USB dongle.
 
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I'd recommend to go with some cheap intel - quad core pentium or celeron rather than this setup because of power consuption and radeon drivers - srsly go for intel rather than radeon if its gonna be for PC illiterates.
 
HICKFARM said:
Ok I am building an HTPC for my parents to watch netflix, and for me to copy shows and movies onto. My parents are almost PC illiterate so the cheaper the better.

Here are the parts I plan on ordering. Feel free to point out a cheaper alternative. Condsidering an ITX build as well. Going to hit up the Buy/sell/Trade section as well for some cheaper alternatives.

MSI A78M-E35
AMD A6-6400K
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB
hec Black 0.7mm Thickness SECC Steel

So I was just going to use the power supply provided with the case. If it fails I will just get a replacement. I still need WIFI. Will look for a mini card, but i could just use a USB dongle.
Click to expand...

I would save myself some money and get a NUC or something similar. This comes out soon: http://liliputing.com/2014/09/asus-vivomini-is-a-149-barebones-pc.html
 
My experience is that building anything for pc illiterates is just a huge commitment in regards to support issues. I always recommend family and friends who don't care about computers to get a finished product which has a "pacage warranty". If they're not interested in the first place, they're not going to appreciate the benefits of a custom build, and they won't be able to deal with the extra issues of trobleshooting when something goes wrong.
 
Ya thinking about it more and more and you all are right. A good all in one system is the way to go, and will be cheaper. Any other ideas other then the Asus Vivomini? I still want it to be a PC so i can hook up an external hard drive or something full with movies and shows.

EDIT: Doing a little reading and a chromebox would actually work fine for my parents. It seems you can even access an external drive easily. Just would need to find the right player in Chrome to play .mkv formats and the like. Would be nice to find an app somewhat like plex to just browse media on an external HDD.

I will have to make myself another HTPC. My PC inside a PS3(signature) is getting lonely and my second TV in the basement needs a brain. I want to build something like this.
 
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Urelure said:
My experience is that building anything for pc illiterates is just a huge commitment in regards to support issues. I always recommend family and friends who don't care about computers to get a finished product which has a "pacage warranty". If they're not interested in the first place, they're not going to appreciate the benefits of a custom build, and they won't be able to deal with the extra issues of trobleshooting when something goes wrong.
Click to expand...

Very wise words, worth repeating.
 
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