SFF HTPC for Mediabrowser (HD/SD) only

C

cocoDuck

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Messages
85
I want to build/buy a small form factor HTPC. Its only purpose will be to run Media Center (VMC/WIn7) with Mediabrowser and playback HD (mkv/wtv/dvr-ms) and SD (XviD/DivX). All files are being stored on my existing Windows Home Server.

I am after a solution that is cheap, silent, and small.

I am currently using a Popcorn Hour A110 withYAMJ. The interface is too slow. Period.
 
Last edited:
I'm using a PCH with YAMJ too, so I understand what you mean!

I'd suggest have a look at a Nvidia ION system, I know some former PCH users who switched to ION nettops and are happy with it.
 
Thank you tuxista.

There are many options on that site. Can anyone recommend a particular product that may suit my needs.
 
cocoDuck said:
Thank you tuxista.

There are many options on that site. Can anyone recommend a particular product that may suit my needs.
Click to expand...

The Asrock is the easiest and most popular option and would surely suit your needs, but you might be able to build a system yourself cheaper with the Zotac mobo .
Make sure you chose a system with a dual-core Atom (N330), rather than single core, as single core would be a bit limited with Windows (single core is more suited for Linux).
 
tuxista said:
The Asrock is the easiest and most popular option and would surely suit your needs, but you might be able to build a system yourself cheaper with the Zotac mobo .
Make sure you chose a system with a dual-core Atom (N330), rather than single core, as single core would be a bit limited with Windows (single core is more suited for Linux).
Click to expand...

If I went this way, I would need to add ram. How much is enough? Does it support windows 7? Could I skip the hardrive and run the system off a USB drive?
 
cocoDuck said:
If I went this way, I would need to add ram. How much is enough? Does it support windows 7? Could I skip the hardrive and run the system off a USB drive?
Click to expand...

The Asrock is a complete system, it has 2GB RAM which is fine with Windows7 for Mediacenter (this is what others on here say, I'm not a Windows guy).

If you build your own system with the Zotac mobo, I'd suggest 2GB of RAM too, and you can certainly use a USB stick instead of a hard drive (providing Windows supports that in general, as I said I don't use Windows).
 
No on the USB stick.. use a 2.5'' HDD/SSD. When installing W7 on a USB stick, for general use it will be ok.. but slow (or very slow depending on your USB stick speed). When playing HD media, it constantly caches about 8MB of the file, so with a USB stick you'll experience laggy playback. You see people running into this issue with ReadyBoost enabled on a USB stick under 7MC and VMC.
 
Ok, so no go on the USB. I am still not sold on the ASRock. Can anyone here share their experiences with Ion machines and media center?
 
cocoDuck said:
Ok, so no go on the USB. I am still not sold on the ASRock. Can anyone here share their experiences with Ion machines and media center?
Click to expand...
My buddy has an ION (dual core Zotac), and it doesn't want to scroll the coverflow art in MediaBrowser smoothly. There's some pretty severe lag. I suspect it has to do with the early driver versions not being fully optimized for Windows 7 and the ION platform. But when he plays back a 1080p movie, it works just fine.
 
w1retap said:
My buddy has an ION (dual core Zotac), and it doesn't want to scroll the coverflow art in MediaBrowser smoothly. There's some pretty severe lag. I suspect it has to do with the early driver versions not being fully optimized for Windows 7 and the ION platform. But when he plays back a 1080p movie, it works just fine.
Click to expand...

That's too bad. It kind of puts me back into the Popcorn Hour boat. The interface is slow, but playback is great.
 
Well if you would consider XBMC on Linux, that certainly works great on the ION, there are several people on the XBMC forum that use it and all comments I read were positive.
XBMC Live (Linux based) is easy to set up and it can be installed on a USB stick.

Otherwise you will have to get a proper Core2Duo or AMD based HTPC, but that will be bigger, harder to make quiet and possibly more expensive.
 
Last edited:
Better performance costs more of course. It's still what I consider cheap. I just built my friend one based off that Intel nvidia 9300 board for $360.
 
w1retap said:
Better performance costs more of course. It's still what I consider cheap. I just built my friend one based off that Intel nvidia 9300 board for $360.
Click to expand...

Nice, what hardware did you get (case, cpu, HDD, etc). Any HTPC I build comes out at around 400ish
 
Here's the build for my buddy I did.. the prices may have changed, but this was the breakdown:

Case: Rosewill RS-MI-01 BK - $39.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147131

CPU Cooler: Dynatron T191 - $21.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835114081

Motherboard: ZOTAC GF9300-D-E Mini-ITX - $119.99 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500022

CPU: Intel E5200 2.5GHz - $65.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072

Memory: OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800 - $45.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227199

Hard Drive: 80GB Western Digital Caviar Blue SATA2 - $35.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822135106

Total - $349.99 - $20.00 rebate = $329.99 + shipping

Plus I think I added a remote later on which brought it to ~$360.
 
In my opinion a better option is to wait just a litlle bit until AMD Athlon tris and quads hit they are launching in europe right now and the word is they are VERY good at prices.

And there is a 2.2ghz quad and tri at 45W And as these are deneb cores with just L3 cut (Has very little effect on HTPC tho it will had a tad bit more for gaming) they are going to be VERY VERY good CPUs in my opinion.

They arent going to hold it in europe for long. Matter of days to a week or two.
 
^^^nice little setup Why the Dynatron over the oem? Was it too big?

OP here's one I recently built:

Case: JETWAY JC-300-B Black W 60W PSU - $65 (6%CB = $61)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811120015

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 - $51 (sale $47)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

Mobo: ZOTAC GF8200-C-E $90 ($10 MIR & 20% CB = $62)
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-GF82-CE

CPU : AMD Sempron Processor 140 AM3 - $36 (20%cb = $29)
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=SDX140HBBX

HDD: Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD800BEVE 80GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" - $55 (10%CB = $50)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136129


Came out to $297 - $48 (rebates) = $249 + shipping
 
A Quad nor even a Tri isn't needed in an HTPC. At this point even a Dual is hardly needed now that 90% of the media out there is going to be hardware accelerated. :rolleyes:
Zachstar said:
In my opinion a better option is to wait just a litlle bit until AMD Athlon tris and quads hit they are launching in europe right now and the word is they are VERY good at prices.

And there is a 2.2ghz quad and tri at 45W And as these are deneb cores with just L3 cut (Has very little effect on HTPC tho it will had a tad bit more for gaming) they are going to be VERY VERY good CPUs in my opinion.

They arent going to hold it in europe for long. Matter of days to a week or two.
Click to expand...
 
How's the Sempron working out? I was pretty sure that it would be perfect in an HTPC. :)
no_control said:
^^^nice little setup Why the Dynatron over the oem? Was it too big?

OP here's one I recently built:

Case: JETWAY JC-300-B Black W 60W PSU - $65 (6%CB = $61)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811120015

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 - $51 (sale $47)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

Mobo: ZOTAC GF8200-C-E $90 ($10 MIR & 20% CB = $62)
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-GF82-CE

CPU : AMD Sempron Processor 140 AM3 - $36 (20%cb = $29)
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=SDX140HBBX

HDD: Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD800BEVE 80GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" - $55 (10%CB = $50)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136129


Came out to $297 - $48 (rebates) = $249 + shipping
Click to expand...
 
Reading usually helps everyone....:(

Zachstar said:
In my opinion a better option is to wait just a litlle bit until AMD Athlon tris and quads hit they are launching in europe right now and the word is they are VERY good at prices.

And there is a 2.2ghz quad and tri at 45W And as these are deneb cores with just L3 cut (Has very little effect on HTPC tho it will had a tad bit more for gaming) they are going to be VERY VERY good CPUs in my opinion.

They arent going to hold it in europe for long. Matter of days to a week or two.
Click to expand...

OP's Request:

Its only purpose will be to run Media Center (VMC/WIn7) with Mediabrowser and playback HD (mkv/wtv/dvr-ms) and SD (XviD/DivX)
Click to expand...

Don't see where he's asking for quad damage....:confused:
 
CrimandEvil said:
How's the Sempron working out? I was pretty sure that it would be perfect in an HTPC. :)
Click to expand...

For $30 you can't go wrong. It's pretty smooth in 7 with MB. Playback is flawless of course. This beat an atom setup as far as I'm concerned. :D
 
no_control said:
Reading usually helps everyone....:(



OP's Request:



Don't see where he's asking for quad damage....:confused:
Click to expand...

Um how about I am making my opinion known?

On top of that is there an AMD 45w dual I am missing? hmm? Seems the only way you can get a 45w right now is a single core.
 
no_control said:
^^^nice little setup Why the Dynatron over the oem? Was it too big?

OP here's one I recently built:

Case: JETWAY JC-300-B Black W 60W PSU - $65 (6%CB = $61)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811120015

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 - $51 (sale $47)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

Mobo: ZOTAC GF8200-C-E $90 ($10 MIR & 20% CB = $62)
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-GF82-CE

CPU : AMD Sempron Processor 140 AM3 - $36 (20%cb = $29)
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=SDX140HBBX

HDD: Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD800BEVE 80GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" - $55 (10%CB = $50)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136129


Came out to $297 - $48 (rebates) = $249 + shipping
Click to expand...



That is a neat build. Can you comment on the noise that is generated by the PSU, case fans, CPU cooler?

What is CB? Cash back? I don't see these great prices being offered anymore.
 
Last edited:
Psu is silent no fan. Case fan is pretty quiet for it's size. If you need it quieter after market fans are pretty cheap in this size. CPU Cooler is silent no fan. To be honest I still haven't had a chance to button it up yet and run it in it's natural environment, so there may be some thermal issues and will need to run another fan (CPU or Case) but again aftermarket stuff isn't too expensive.

CB = Bing Cashback

Prices quoted were current = $297
 
no_control said:
Psu is silent no fan. Case fan is pretty quiet for it's size. If you need it quieter after market fans are pretty cheap in this size. CPU Cooler is silent no fan. To be honest I still haven't had a chance to button it up yet and run it in it's natural environment, so there may be some thermal issues and will need to run another fan (CPU or Case) but again aftermarket stuff isn't too expensive.

CB = Bing Cashback

Prices quoted were current = $297
Click to expand...

Thanks No_Control. I think this is the system I will build. It is not much more expensive than a popcorn hour. Considering how much more powerful it is, its a no brainer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top