New HTPC build

J

JimmyN

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 24, 2011
Messages
101
Hi guys.

Been looking out for a HTPC for quite some time now, and I've finally found a setup that looks quite appealing.

Asus F1A75-I Deluxe

AMD A8-3850 Llano

Antec ISK 300-150

Then getting 4-8gb of ram, probably start out with xbmc live from a USB flashdrive and then getting a small SSD and setting up win7+xbmc ontop of that.

How do you guys think this would handle playing 1080p material(streamed from another pc) and very light gaming(emulators, old school LAN games etc)?
Should I go for an i3 sandy bridge setup instead?
I'm very much digging the remote that comes with the motherboard.. looks to be the absolute best mb for a htpc atm.

So.. Any thoughts?
 
Tried to delete....

I think it will handle streaming blu-ray just fine.
 
That build would be just fine for what you want to do. If you do decide to go with Intel, this motherboard also has a remote.
 
demografik said:
why would you need more than 4gb ram?
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I really doubt I would.. but DDR3 is silly cheap atm, so why not?

One thing I'm worried about is heat in the case I've gone for, I plan on getting an extra 80mm fan, but I'm not sure if it'll be enough for the cpu, seeing as I'll probably use the stock AMD heatsink.

And will the 150W PSU be enough? Is there any chance that the system will pull more while gaming?
 
With as cheap ram is there isn't much reason not to go 8gb, its what, like $20 more?
 
CrimandEvil said:
He only needs 2 gig for an HTPC running Win 7.... :rolleyes:
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Yeah but for only $20 if you ever decide to reuse the pc in the future you have lots of ram for it. Right now yes it wouldn't do much for him but looking forward its better to buy it now.
 
CrimandEvil said:
He only needs 2 gig for an HTPC running Win 7.... :rolleyes:
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Ya, and he could still have a functional media center using XP MCE...let's all stay in the past and have PC specs from 2005.:rolleyes: Why not get 4GB when it is so cheap and let Win7 stretch its legs a bit with superfetch? Seriously, 4GB of RAM is only like $20 more than 2GB right now. If you are fretting over $20 difference in price, you have bigger problems in your life than trying to build an HTPC.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
Ya, and he could still have a functional media center using XP MCE...
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Uh, no you can't. For one thing Blu ray and most HD video playback now is tied into DVXA 2.0 and EVR which is only possible with Vista/Win 7. Hardware acceleration for playback has vasty improved since XP.

He could use XP MCE for an HTPC only if he was a moron. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

My point is is that 4 gigs is way overkill for him since he's using XBMC Live which uses a striped down version of Ubuntu. I doubt he'll need a gig of memory just for that (obviously he needs more since he's using the IGP).


And yeah, $20 is a big deal when it could be applied to something far more useful like a small SSD. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
I would go intel itx (intel H67 ITX board) for power/performance/cost ratio.

Why are you going AMD? It uses much more power.
 
Better graphics performance on the IGP.. and the MB I'm going for is loaded with HTPC features..
 
CrimandEvil said:
Uh, no you can't. For one thing Blu ray and most HD video playback now is tied into DVXA 2.0 and EVR which is only possible with Vista/Win 7. Hardware acceleration for playback has vasty improved since XP.

He could use XP MCE for an HTPC only if he was a moron. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

My point is is that 4 gigs is way overkill for him since he's using XBMC Live which uses a striped down version of Ubuntu. I doubt he'll need a gig of memory just for that (obviously he needs more since he's using the IGP).


And yeah, $20 is a big deal when it could be applied to something far more useful like a small SSD. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
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Apparently you missed the whole point of my post and decide to pick at semantics. I said "functional." Functional is relative, you don't have to have Blu Ray and HD to have a functional media center. The point of the statement and the rest of the post is limiting yourself to 2 gigs is like living in the past, just like using XP MCE.

And again I point out that if you are fretting about $20 and decide that it is better spent on a different piece of hardware, you have bigger problems in life. Who cares if it doesn't use all the memory? Its only $20 and it can be useful in the future.

Next thing you are going to recommend is everyone stick with slowly obsolescing 32bit operating systems because there is no possible scenario where an HTPC could possibly take advantage of a 64bit OS and more than 4GB of RAM.:rolleyes:
 
JimmyN said:
I really doubt I would.. but DDR3 is silly cheap atm, so why not?

One thing I'm worried about is heat in the case I've gone for, I plan on getting an extra 80mm fan, but I'm not sure if it'll be enough for the cpu, seeing as I'll probably use the stock AMD heatsink.

And will the 150W PSU be enough? Is there any chance that the system will pull more while gaming?
Click to expand...

Ok let's dive into this a little bit. Hopefully when I'm done I'll address the other conversation about how to spec memory for HTPC's. Typically you always want to spend more on the components that are hard to change (since the cases are small as crap). They would be your PSU, your Case and your MB. Everything else can easily be changed or swapped out. I'll order these in accordance to their importance.

CASE
Your case kind of determines everything. You will be limited (unless your deaf) by the size of the case and what it will take in order to cool the components inside of it. The more power you want to stuff into a case, the more fans it will take to cool it's innards. Therefore if you primarily want to game and/or want decent full spec tuners, you'll want a ATX case ( some mATX cases can work ) in order the cool what's inside. If you want to play more streamed content then you can go smaller. However, remember the case is the hardest thing to swap out so pick in accordance to what you think you need now and to what you want in the future.

MB
Your MB along with your case will dictate whether you're even going to be able to upgrade to a discrete or not or even what CPU you have. So pick in accordance with what you want. Want to record video? Then get something with more than one 1x PCI-E slot. Just use common sense here, which will allow you to upgrade most of your components if need be.

PSU
Your PSU just like the case should be spec'd in accordance to what you figure you would like to do now and in the future. A 150W PSU will allow you to run your system but it leaves NO room for upgrades. Unless you plan to follow AMD through it's die shrinks which will open up some headroom for upgrades (but not that much). If I were you I would go with something a little bit beefier.

GPU
If you didn't go for something like Llano and you are wondering about how to spec your GPU for HTPC use, then let me say this: Your GPU is THE NEXT MOST IMPORTANT PART OF A HTPC. Why people skimp on their GPU I'll never know but your GPU is far more efficient at decoding video than your CPU. A 35W GPU today is powerful enough to let users spec out Atoms, or even P4's as their CPU because it offloads that much in terms of video decoding. Building HTPC's isn't something new and it's been happening since P3's.

One thing that people overlook is post processing and skimpy GPU's SUCK at it. Post processing allows you to overlay color correction, noise reduction and more (which is important if you are recording video). Therefore, while you don't need a 570 or 6970 or even a 5770. Make sure your GPU is at least powerful enough to offer post processing over a variety of video content. Most 5570's (or whatever) or GT430's (my fav) offer more performance than IGP's and even allow you to game within reason at 1080. The GPU in the Llano you spec'd I believe is equivalent to a 5570 so it's nice to have and is justifiable.

CPU
You should always spec your CPU for it's intended use. You don't need the excess if you are not going to use it and most of the time in HTPC settings you are not. If all you are going to be doing is streaming, then E-350's are perfect (or Atoms + discrete) for streaming and local playback. If you think you might be encoding, ripping, or recording OTA 1080 then a budget dual core (i.e NOT a E-350) would be far more preferable. Quads are just not needed unless you've got more than 1 tuner and/or plan to seriously game on it, or the HTPC is going to be the same place you rip or encode. Otherwise any budget CPU (i3 / Athlon II) is MORE than enough for HTPC use if (and that's with extreme emphasis) your GPU is spec'ed right.

STORAGE
Again following with everything else your storage is next on the list of importance. If you want to hold tons of videos then spec accordingly. If you are streaming then go smaller. However, price, and heat can affect this. But if you've spec'd your stuff correctly your Case fans, GPU and CPU will in most cases be louder than your hard drive so just pick what you think is best here according to your budget.

MEMORY

Finally memory, I don't know how much people think they need for their HTPC's but unless you envision playing Crysis on it you'll likely get by with 2GB. 4GB is perfect to strike a balance between spending too much and having enough for extra launched services while keeping you away from swap. 8GB? LOL you must be playing Crysis on two distinct monitors, (with may be even 1 VM in toe) and if that's the case you screwed up on the case you need, the GPU you spec'd, the CPU you placed, and the storage you need.

Memory is the easiest to swap out. Go for what you need. Any argument persuading you on price will hold years from now. Unless there's an incoming apocalypse, memory will be cheap in relation to everything else you've spent thus far.

It's not about living in the past it's about saving money where needed for sensible upgrades later.
 
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So after trying out a similar setup I'm anything but impressed with these processors.. A bit too much of a jack of all trades, master of none-type deals.

Makes me want to go for an i3 2100 and a h67 motherboard.. Will be cheaper for me, even if I decide to get an ATI 5450 as well..

Anyways, thanks for the advices guys.. and the chat about ram. ;)
 
JimmyN said:
So after trying out a similar setup I'm anything but impressed with these processors.. A bit too much of a jack of all trades, master of none-type deals.
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Um, what exactly did you try out? If it was just a plain Atom system then yeah. Those suck terribly but they are in no way a reasonable for an E-350 or even an Atom + Ion system.

My HTPC is an old 45w Athlon X2 (an older BE serious chip) clocked at 1.2 Ghz (with a 5450) and it plains everything just fine. I've even had an older s939 single core 3500 clocked down to 1Ghz with a 5450 that played everything (HD stuff) just fine as well.
 
CrimandEvil said:
Um, what exactly did you try out? If it was just a plain Atom system then yeah. Those suck terribly but they are in no way a reasonable for an E-350 or even an Atom + Ion system.

My HTPC is an old 45w Athlon X2 (an older BE serious chip) clocked at 1.2 Ghz (with a 5450) and it plains everything just fine. I've even had an older s939 single core 3500 clocked down to 1Ghz with a 5450 that played everything (HD stuff) just fine as well.
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I didn't understand it either so I just left it alone. i3 $124 + 5450 $34 discrete is $158 the processor he was looking at before was $119. However, the GPU in Llano is WAAAAAAY more powerful than a 5450. Buying that as your discrete doesn't make much sense to me.
 
I'm not exactly shopping from Newegg or somewhere like that..

Where I live the Asus mb I was looking at is ~190$ while the processor is ~180$
vs a Gigabyte H67 mini itx at 140$ and an i3 2100 at 140$ as well, so the i3 setup for me would be alot cheaper and use less power.

If I'm not impressed enough with the i3/HD2000 at emulators/old games, I'll simply add a budget discrete gpu and still pay less than for the llano setup.
 
kac77 said:
Wow those prices are high. Is that Canadian?
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Tell me about it. :(

It's Icelandic.. and it's with a pretty hefty discount btw.. the only place I've found in my country that sells a Silverstone SG05-450 is an e-tailer that want's 305$ for it..

Trying to build a decent SFF system on an island in the middle of nowhere sucks ;/
 
kac77 said:
I didn't understand it either so I just left it alone. i3 $124 + 5450 $34 discrete is $158 the processor he was looking at before was $119. However, the GPU in Llano is WAAAAAAY more powerful than a 5450. Buying that as your discrete doesn't make much sense to me.
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Yes... but does Llano do proper 24p refresh rates?

I'm currently connected to my TV with a PC with GTX 580s, but I'll be moving and be putting the TV and main PC in different rooms.

I'm interested in building a Llano HTPC, but I can't find any definite information anywhere confirming whether or not Llano handles 24p (23.976Hz) refresh rates properly.
 
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