Acer Revo RL80 or Build my own?

montana · 16 Apr 2013 at 10:22

Hi Guys

Im looking at getting/building a HTPC purely to be used with XBMC or Plex.

I have heard Acer Revo would do this nicely
http://www.acer.co.uk/ac/en/GB/content/model/DT.SMBEK.007

Or would I be better building one myself?

Looking for it to be small, silent and have low power usage so I can leave it on 24/7.

Any advise would be really great
Cheers

R088ieS86 · 16 Apr 2013 at 12:26

what are you going to be using it for? just movie playback?

montana · 16 Apr 2013 at 13:23

Yeah just movie downloading and playback/streaming.

nuzik · 16 Apr 2013 at 13:49

build your own i am.
i've managed with some negotiating get a
G550 2.4 Celeron - Akasa Low Profile fan
Akasa Crypto
60gb Kingston SSD
4gb kingtson Memory
Asus P8H61-I Mobo

cost me so far £200 inc postage. Gives me the option to upgrade where i want, going to add a bluray drive soon, will be running Ubunutu XBMC. No bloatware then and should run as quick as i like.

montana · 16 Apr 2013 at 13:58

looks like you would need a harddrive to store media on, which would work out more expensive than the Revo...

nuzik · 16 Apr 2013 at 14:28

its a streamer for the bedroom, i have a 3tb hard drive on the network. I could have however gone with a 500gb or 1tb 2.5" sata probably cheaper than the SSD but i only need to boot and hold a small amount of data. didnt want it to be bogged down with a large hard drive. It can take an extrernal or run from nas or network. 500gb hdd soon get filled up with some good bluray rips.

montana · 16 Apr 2013 at 14:48

And would this sort of setup be better than the acer?

nuzik · 16 Apr 2013 at 14:58

gives you options in order to change and add. the acer is an out of box product. doesnt give you any scope to do anything.
I like the idea of giving me the option to buy and sell bits and pieces for the box to tweak it as and when. Depends what you want long term. But custom boxes are always more fun

Incrauze · 17 Apr 2013 at 05:32

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI H61I-E35 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ITX Motherboard £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
1 x Intel Celeron G550 2.60GHz Socket LGA 1155 Processor - Retail £37.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34096M1600HC11DC) £23.99
Total : £203.90 (includes shipping : £10.00).

montana · 17 Apr 2013 at 08:49

Thanks. That looks pretty good. How quiet would that be, with 3 fans going?

nuzik · 17 Apr 2013 at 08:51

Try it and if its too load replace a fan or two

chippy08 · 17 Apr 2013 at 10:42

Look at a Fm2 setup

montana · 17 Apr 2013 at 10:53

FM2? someone spec me one of those?

Incrauze · 17 Apr 2013 at 11:15

montana said:
FM2? someone spec me one of those?

The RAM runs at 1866MHz but can be clocked to 2133MHz,

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £64.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G186C9K) £39.95
1 x AMD A4-5300 3.40GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD5300OKHJBOX) £39.95
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
Total : £236.82 (includes shipping : £10.00).

montana · 17 Apr 2013 at 11:18

That looks pretty good! Would that run all day/night without using too much power?

montana · 17 Apr 2013 at 11:52

Would this case fit?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-065-AK

nuzik · 17 Apr 2013 at 12:01

yes it woudl fit that. why would you want an AMD processor!!! stick with the celeron hands down better. i wouldnt touch an AMD unless i was given it.

Incrauze · 17 Apr 2013 at 12:35

montana said:
That looks pretty good! Would that run all day/night without using too much power?

Both of the build CPU only uses 65W, it won't use much power and will run day and night without any problems but I do prefer the Intel build than the AMD

montana said:
Would this case fit?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-065-AK

That case has a external 120W power supply and is fanless which might get hot if you're running the computer day and night, I currently have a HTPC in a Silverstone Milo ML03 case which is impressive and has 4x80mm fan slots which will keep the case cool

YOUR BASKET
1 x Silverstone Milo ML03 HTPC Case - Black (SST-ML03B) £56.99
1 x MSI H61I-E35 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ITX Motherboard £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Intel Celeron G550 2.60GHz Socket LGA 1155 Processor - Retail £31.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34096M1600HC11DC) £29.99
Total : £222.44 (includes shipping : £11.25).

montana · 17 Apr 2013 at 14:26

Thanks for all the help.

Im keen to go for the fanless one as its going in a bedroom so it needs to be silent.

Would that Silverstone be silent?

Cheers
Andy

Incrauze · 17 Apr 2013 at 15:56

montana said:
Thanks for all the help.

Im keen to go for the fanless one as its going in a bedroom so it needs to be silent.

Would that Silverstone be silent?

The Silverstone Milo ML03 case is silent, I haven't added any fans to the case except from the stock CPU cooler and the case doesn't get hot but that will depends on your room temperature, if the case gets hot then consider adding fans to the side of the case and also there's a blue LED light on the front of the case which flashes when the CPU or HDD is working so bare that in mind but probably can be switched off