HTPC Build, Recommendations

CoolHotCold

These threads seem popular and I've built several systems before and work in IT, but always happy for others to look and criticise/improve.

Looking to build a HTPC/Server

Came up with this so far

OCuk with 500w HTPC case £40

Intel E3400 Retail £36

Asus P5G41T-M LX G41 L775 DDR3 £35

OCZ 4GB DDR3 £28

Couple of 8cm Fans, £8

Samsung DVD+-RW £13

Thats really it, might stick a 1TB drive in there, so another £40 there.

OS doesn't matter nor does mouse/keyboard/LCD.

Any improvements or changes you would make?

spakkker

You may want a m/b with hdmi connection
Eg ddr2 - http://www.pcupgrade.co.uk/productdetails.asp?ProductID=5619&categoryid=260

or ddr3 - http://www.pcupgrade.co.uk/productdetails.asp?ProductID=5661&categoryid=260

Just examples I don't rate Asus stuff myself .

timbim_2

Make it silent! Certainly more expensive, but nothing sucks the moment out of a good bit of TV/film like fan noise in the background.

There are some very good quiet accessories here, I've used their fans and rubber fan mounts before, definitely make a difference. They've got a video on making a silent HTPC here, and there's an interesting report on building a silent MythTV system here

Tim

Aubs

Did you have much luck with yours?

I'm thinking of going with the following:

Any thoughts or better suggestions?


CASE - Antec NSK 2480 MATX Desktop Case (130945) £89.65
MOTHERBOARD - ASUS M4A785T-M 785G Socket AM3 MATX Motherboard (190087) [NO LONGER EXIST]
....replaced with : Asus M4A78LT-M LE AMD 760G Socket AM3 DVI VGA Out 8 Channel Audio mATX Motherboard (181968) £39.76
....or................ : Asus M4A88T-M 880G Socket AM3 Onboard Graphics 8 Channel Audio mATX Motherboard (220150) £56.98
PROCESSOR - AMD Athlon II X2 240e 2.8GHz Socket AM3 Processor (177049) [NO LONGER EXIST]
....replaced with : AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition 3.2GHz Socket AM3 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor (198349) £65.14
RAM - Extra Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz Memory Kit (192049) £28.53
HD - Western Digital WD15EARS 1.5TB Caviar Green Hard Drive (182437) £55.02
DVD - LG CH08LS10 8x Blu-Ray with DVDRW Drive (177383) [NO LONGER EXIST]
....replaced with : Samsung SH-B123L/BSBP 12x BD-ROM DVD±RW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATAII Optical Drive - OEM Black (242243) £47.99
TUNER - Kworld PE355-2T Dual DVB-T Tuner (177471) [NO LONGER EXIST]
....replaced with : Hauppauge WinTV Nova-S2 HD/PCI Satellite High Definition Tuner DVB-S2 and DVB-S card (140477) £82.86
....or................ : Hauppauge WinTV NOVA-HD-S2 DVB-S2 Digital Satellite Receiver PCI Card (129941) £84.14
....or................ : Hauppauge WinTV Nova-TD 500 Dual digital DVB-T PCI Freeview TV Tuner card (113946) £67.85
OS - NO OS (Windows 7 Pro)
KEYBOARD - KeySonic 2.4Ghz Wireless Keyboard with TouchPad (104608) £29.99






Total with the more expensive of each where more than one option is available = £456.16



ALTERNATIVES


HD
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/183971
Western Digital WD20EARS 2TB Hard Drive SATAII 64MB Cache - OEM Caviar Green
Now £54.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/222310

Seagate 500GB Momentus XT 2.5" Hybrid SSD/HDD SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM£78.99



CASE
http://www.dabs.com/products/antec-fusion-remote-black-home-theatre-pc-case-7377.html
Antec Fusion Remote Black Home Theatre PC Case£117.74 NOTE : No power supply



POSSIBLE COMPONENTS
http://www.dabs.com/articles/connectedhome/connected-home/media-players---windows-media-centre-9892.html

S0litaire

If it's just for movies and server then check out any of the Nvidia ION/ION2 boards /HTPC's

I've and ION motherboard and my machine is virtually silent! (only hum is the PSU fan but can't hear it when the volume is at normal levels!)

It play's back 1080p fine and can handle most games.

Check out the ZOTAC MAG Mini-PC

Also check what wattage your system will be pulling! you can get 170w(upto) micro-PSU's (They use a laptop power brick instead of the bulky PSU) they are 100% silent

My system pulls 110w under heavy load including Monitor and printer.

Aubs

S0litaire wrote: »

If it's just for movies and server then check out any of the Nvidia ION/ION2 boards /HTPC's

Thanks for your reply. I would want to be using it to store all music/video/photos (use as a multimedia player) but also watch and record from either freeview/freesat/sky in normal and/or HD, with probably a dual tuner in either case, so I imagine it would need a much greater spec than the ION.

S0litaire

Cool they also do ION boards with PCI-E slots so you can fit a dual head freesat card
and you can fit in any size HD / SSD you like ^_^