A spec me with requirements

Deep

Deep

Deep

Soldato
Joined
29 Jul 2004
Posts
6,629
Location
Esher
Hi Everybody,

I am going to sell my Acer Revo 3700 for hopefully £150 and with an upcoming tax rebate (huzzah) will have around £600 to spend.

I will be using Windows 7, so need to include that in the budget.

The HTPC will be used for Usenet (Grabit) downloading, will have my iTunes on it, and while I will be able to stream most of the videos from my Synology the 1080p videos I have there take ages to stream and keep buffering so will need to download them onto computer itself and then play them direct from there.

At the moment I wont be using it to watch Live TV but in the future I'd like the option available to me so 1 expansion slot would be good :)

Hard drive
I am not sure if I should get a SSD. I heard they have high failure rates.
If I got a SSD I would also need a 2tb 3.5" drive for data storage, but even so an SSD isn't essential.

Graphics Card
Just to make sure the HTPC is capable of all video types I would like a GFX card but the main stipulation is that the card is silent.

Cases
In regards to cases, I need to find the perfect one
Something like this would be good, but no expansion slot and only a 2.5" space.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-237-LL&utm_source=froogle

Processor/Motherboard/Memory
I don't know what is a good motherboard or anything. I know there is a new type of AMD coming out now, would that be better?

Optical Drive
DVD is needed, not really interest in blu ray at the moment, will wait till its cheaper to buy a drive. Have my PS3 if I need to watch any of my 3 blu rays :D

Sound
My Revo has an optical port at the back so I can connect it to an amplifier if needs be, is that still possible?

Power Supplies
I've heard about Pico PSUs and am extremely interested as they are silent.
I would very much like a silent PSU

I think thats everything I need

Thanks for reading I look forward to seeing some possibilities, I'll be updating this post to show what sort of cases. The look of the case is a massive factor for me
 
AMD E-350 seems the way to go for HTPC use at the moment. You wouldn't need a discrete graphics card then as the onboard graphics are excellent, I think most of them have at least Optical SPDIF output if not Coaxial as well so audio is covered there.. Easily powered off a Pico PSU too as they are crazy low powered systems. Cases wise I am really liking the look of a Wesena ITX for an HTPC. Memory-wise cant go far wrong with some Corsair XMS3, reliable and decently priced. Optical drive, just get whatever fits in the case (slimline/slot loading/regular 5.25") personally a Wesena case with a slot loader will be nice as slot loading drives are just so much more aesthetically pleasing IMHO.

Edit: Also Wesena also sell Pico PSUs and Slot Loading BR drives...you know for when you expand your collection ;)
 
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Thanks for the snappy response!

I was looking at a Wesena case a while back, and really like the ITX7-2. The E5 case is excellent as well, although definitely not worth twice the price.

The main problem with the Wesena is that you need to get a specific DVD writer.
Sony Optiarc AD-7670S DVD Reader/Writer (SATA) £55!
Have found one for £26 but unsure of the company selling them...

One other thing, sometimes I'd like to load into Windows but others I'd like to go into XBMC. Is there a way to choose at the BIOS screen which you'd like to load into, and if you don't select one it'd load into Windows automatically?

Doubt this is a big deal, but thought it'd be a nice touch.

I know you could add XBMC to load at start up, but I'd rather not load it then exit it.
 
Deep said:
Thanks for the snappy response!

I was looking at a Wesena case a while back, and really like the ITX7-2. The E5 case is excellent as well, although definitely not worth twice the price.

The main problem with the Wesena is that you need to get a specific DVD writer.
Sony Optiarc AD-7670S DVD Reader/Writer (SATA) £55!
Have found one for £26 but unsure of the company selling them...

One other thing, sometimes I'd like to load into Windows but others I'd like to go into XBMC. Is there a way to choose at the BIOS screen which you'd like to load into, and if you don't select one it'd load into Windows automatically?

Doubt this is a big deal, but thought it'd be a nice touch.

I know you could add XBMC to load at start up, but I'd rather not load it then exit it.
Click to expand...

Could you dual boot? Depends how you are running XBMC? I've only every used it on a Linux install so you could dual boot windows and Linux and then use the linux install purely for XBMC.
 
gropingmantis said:
Could you dual boot? Depends how you are running XBMC? I've only every used it on a Linux install so you could dual boot windows and Linux and then use the linux install purely for XBMC.
Click to expand...

I've been using XBMC on Linux at the moment.

Dual boot sounds like a lot of hassle to cover me being lazy :D.
I think booting into windows and then opening XBMC will be perfectly fine
 
Deep said:
I've been using XBMC on Linux at the moment.

Dual boot sounds like a lot of hassle to cover me being lazy :D.
I think booting into windows and then opening XBMC will be perfectly fine
Click to expand...

Nah dual boot is a piece of cake. Install windows first then use Wubi to install linux and it will do all the dual boot stuff automatically.
 
Will definitely look into that then.

I have decided to get a 2tb drive, another Samsung F4

The case will be a Wesena case, with corresponding Pico PSU. Just need a bit more research on the PSU itself.

So all that really remains is the processor, and whether Llano is going to be worth it
 
I would say that Llano is a bit ott for what you will be doing with it. the E-350 is pretty decent for all HTPC tasks its just when you want to run CPU intensive tasks it will be slow. Also Llano will be a bit more expensive and will run hotter too. Llano will be great for family PCs and such but definitely overkill for a pure HTPC build.

I think that AMD said that in Q4 this year there will be a refresh of the E-350 (Brazos?) chips and there will be a version with higher clocks (E-450?), will try to find some links. edit: nope I was wrong the update brings graphics core turbo function and 1600MHz RAM (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4407/the-brazos-update-amds-e450) the graphics chip and cpu remain the same spec, so not really worth waiting on.

Also that case you emailed me with is crazy. Its insane money for what you get!
 
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I will wait for the release of Llano, mainly to hope that it'll push prices of E-350 down a little.

That case seemed brilliant, not very user friendly in regards to usb ports, but loads of sound proofing and looks amazing.
 
Right my spec is sorted! (Apart from the Memory)

Case: LianLi PC-Q09FB Black Mini ITX HTPC Case with 150W flex PSU
HDD: 500GB Samsung HM500JI
Optical Drive: Samsung SN-S083F/BEBE
MB: Asus E35M1-I DELUXE
Windows 7: £115
RAM: £30

I have to wait for the MB to come into stock and just select some RAM

The total price is around £415 which I am very happy with!
Now just need to find the release date for the MB
 
Nice lian case, but can it take your 2Tb 3.5HDD ? The Wesena will
W7 shouldnt cost you £ 80
I prefer SB, G620 is great @£ 55 on Gigabyte H67 board
Kingston Hyper X RAM run at a lower voltage meaning a little less heat
 
timciren said:
Nice lian case, but can it take your 2Tb 3.5HDD ? The Wesena will
W7 shouldnt cost you £ 80
I prefer SB, G620 is great @£ 55 on Gigabyte H67 board
Kingston Hyper X RAM run at a lower voltage meaning a little less heat
Click to expand...

The Lian Li will take a 2.5" HDD, so I've decided to just jam in a 500GB one, and that will be all my normal data.

Any videos can go onto an external drive that I'll have connected.

I've heard a lot of positive things about the Zacate boards.
Thanks for the help on RAM, I'll just buy a pair of those!
 
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