HTPC / Light Steam box build advice wanted £650

pr2thej

pr2thej

pr2thej

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Joined
14 Nov 2009
Posts
52
Hi folks,

Looking for some component advice, as I'm feeling a bit swamped by the available options!

Here's what I'm looking to replace:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-HT-E4500-Channel-Blu-ray-Cinema/dp/B007Q1ITFY

I expect ill get about £150 for it, and I have another £500ish to put towards it.

What I'm after is the following:

Slimline HTPC to fit under the telly, 5.1 speaker setup, HDMI 1.4 1080p playback and enough grunt for Steam big picture - nothing fancy just want to play some indies in big picture...things like Rogue Legacy, FTL, Magic 2014.
If it can run a low version of Skyrim then all the better but I know you cant have everything! Not sure whether to dual boot XBMC/ Win7 or to run XBMC through Win 7 (bearing in mind I want Steam access). Price has to include a good 1TB HDD.
I have pretty much every retro console going in the telly cabinet so smaller the better really. Happy with a cheapo set of Logitech 5.1 speakers for now as long as there is a decent amount of speaker wire.

Any advice appreciated! Thanks.
 
Just gonna throw some components around. Is relying on the HD4000 intergrated GPU a bit too cheap?
I feel too much money is in the mobo...it doesnt really need to do much. Also - too big on the PSU? Perhaps go smaller there and go with fanless cooling for GPU

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3225 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (55W) - Retail **High Performance IGP** £101.99
1 x Logitech Z506 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers - 75W RMS (980-000432) £79.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro4-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £77.99
1 x Silverstone Milo ML03 HTPC Case - Black (SST-ML03B) £55.99
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £47.99
1 x Crucial M4 32GB mSATA Solid State Drive - (CT032M4SSD3) £43.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 400W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £39.95
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £32.99
1 x Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp £25.99
1 x Gigabyte KM7580 Wireless 2.4GHz Keyboard & Mouse Set £19.99
1 x Akasa Low Profile Intel AK-CCE-7106HP CPU Cooler - 74mm £9.98
Total : £609.76 (includes shipping : £19.10).





edit:
Freddie1980 said:
Checknout linus tech tips on youtube he's leaving looked at a couple of itx cases juat recently which are perfect for your needs.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I will have a look later today.
 
Last edited:
Why not keep the current sound system and use an optical out from the motherboard to the optical in of the sound system?

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-6800K Black Edition 4.10GHz (Socket FM2) APU Richland Quad Core Processor (AD680KWOHLBOX) £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x Toshiba 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA200) HDD £59.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A88XM-D3H AMD A88X Chipset (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £59.99
1 x Silverstone Milo ML03 HTPC Case - Black (SST-ML03B) £55.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Seasonic G series 360w '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Zalman CNPS8900 Quiet Heatsink & Fan £29.99
Total : £523.02 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
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Thank you, but space is a big issue for me. I currently have setup under my telly the following:
N64, Dreamcast, Saturn, Gamecube, PS2, X360, Samsung player with a Mega Drive and SNES knocking around at the back.
They are all permanently plugged in and ready to go at the push of a button because i get through a lot of retro games.

I think the A-10 with fast RAM will fulfill my gaming requirements, I am now stuck on a case. I'm trying to find one currently that is slim, very much like the Milo ML03, but has a 2nd blanking plate at the front which I can pop an IR reciever into. If I can find something like that which can also take a decent soundcard then the rest should fit into place.



Edit:
The sound is becoming a royal pain for me. I am looking at a variety of solutions, and nothing seems to work out. I think perhaps powered speakers with a decent mobo might do for now but this is my living room sound so it cant be too low quality. I would love a receiver, but I cant work it into the budget/space. The Samsung absolutely has to go, I'm sick of it.
 
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Right I think I'm going to lay aside £200 for a cheap reciever and speakers 2nd hand off ebay (collection only lot or something) leaving me £450 to build a PC.

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-6800K Black Edition 4.10GHz (Socket FM2) APU Richland Quad Core Processor (AD680KWOHLBOX) £109.99
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £69.95
1 x Toshiba 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA200) HDD £59.99
1 x Corsair Force LS Series 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CSSD-F60GBLS) £54.95
1 x Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £49.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/4GX) £37.99
1 x Antec VP350P 350W '80 Plus' Continuous Power Supply £35.99
Total : £468.40 (includes shipping : £8.00).



I would like faster RAM, but id have to go mATX case, and theres just no room. Perhaps I can overclock the above RAM. Also not entirely sure if the case can hold SSD/HDD/Blu Ray drive. Could possibly xfire the A10 as the case has room for it, and supports ATX size PSUs so thats an option.
 
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