Advice: First Time HTPC Build - £300

Bitzal

Bitzal

Bitzal

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19 Aug 2010
Posts
6
Hello All,

Im finally gonna take the plunge and build myself a HTPC.

Can anyone recommend me a spec for one? Was looking to spend around the £300 budget. 1TB Drive Minimum. Have Student MSDN Windows 7 so OS sorted.

I already have a Sky HD+ box so I dont see the need for a TV Card? As I dive into the AV World more and more id wanna connect the HTPC to amp etc in future.

Used to play movies/stream media - no gaming. In terms of the case a black case to match the TV area. I was looking at lian li case earlier but my knowledge on this front isnt great!

No need for a blu ray player at the minute - most likely will upgrade it in future however.

Thanks for help
:)
 
How fussy are you in terms of looks? I'm presuming til this goes to an amp you're going to be connecting straight to a TV?
Edit: Remove the link to the disc, wouldn't want to get suspended. Not a bad price though, but for media I'd go for a 5400RPM (cooler, quieter, less power) disc with a smaller disc for OS (or a small SSD for speed/silence).
 
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Quick remove the links to competitors ;p But yes the F3 is going to be a safe bet for a 1TB, though I'm not sure how it'll hold up on the quiet side of things as my case fans deafen me.

I wouldn't bother with the TV card either and just use it for movie storage.
 
How about this:
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The Celeron's basically a slightly trimmed Core 2 so should provide a bit of nip incase it's needed. 2GB RAM should be enough for the basics and media viewing with Win7.
1TB 5400RPM Media drive, small laptop drive (and fixings) for the OS, whilst staying quiet. The case comes with a basic PSU which should be fine, and the graphics card can handle decoding, with enough room for a few filters of your choice via DXVA (although if you just want to play and dont care about anything else like upscaling, then you could go for a more basic card), and can handle HDMI output including audio.
Haven't added a DVDRW, as if you look around and have one you can install Windows via USB, and its one less part to generate noise etc.

The case is quite basic, but I'm wary that you have a relatively tight budget, you may need to spend a few quid extra on cables but that wont cost much.

5400RPM drives aren't as fast, and take slightly longer to access, but for a media machine, they make sense, as they're simply quieter, cooler and suck less juice.
 
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The case is a matter of personal preference but i also like the pro audio look. Some come with psus some dont so double check before you buy.

It would be worth considering a mobo with an IGP. I have the AMD 785 chipset (DDR2 version but DDR3 mobos are available) i paired it with the Phenom II 555BE (was lucky and able to unlock it to an X4). The mobo has DVI, D-sub aswell as HDMI and HD video playback is very good (yes bluray too).

Have a think and post what you are thinking of buying and we can help advise you further
 
I was looking at the following setup, I ended up accepting that the case was expensive and that Silver wouldnt look to bad!

I didnt really wanna buy another hard drive just for the OS. I dont really see the benefit in doing that for a HTPC?

AMD Athlon II X3 435 2.9GHz Socket AM3 1.5MB L2
Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H 785G Socket AM3 DVI VGA HDMI Out
Crucial 2GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL6
Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 5400rpm
KeySonic 2.4Ghz Wireless Keyboard with Integrated TouchPad
Antec Micro Fusion Remote VERIS Media Center Case - With 350W PSU and Media Remote Control

Could this handle 1080p and mkv files?

Also thanks for the advice everyone! :)
 
Can you post the prices?

I can't even see the X3 435 for sale here :s A dual core would be ok, my 555 had no probs even before I unlocked it to an X4.

The mobo is ok, i stayed clear of the GB ones as the sata ports would be blocked by a large gfx card. If you never intend to fit one it doesnt really matter in your case.

The only issue i can see is the RAM. The DDR2 800 is ok for your needs but another 2GBs wouldnt hurt, its only £20ish. You could start with 2GB then add more if the machine needs it i suppose.

You can buy spinpoint F3 1TB drives for around £40, lots of room and are a good speed drive. Mine isnt very noisy so there's no real need to opt for a 5400rpm drive.

Hope this helps, if you can post the prices and total we can see if we can improve the spec slightly

edit p.s im assuming you have a spare DVD drive as its not on the list
 
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Okay taken your advice and also decided that id increase my budget to £400 to get a good case.

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Dont need a DVD- was just gonna mount the OS by USB and install a blu ray at later date. Much similar to the ram issue. If I think its sluggish ill upgrade it. As you said its only £20-£30 for ram.

Need to double check everything is compatible.
 
No that's no good. The mobo is DDR3 and your going to buy DDR2.....it ain't gonna fit in the slots.

As the budget is tight it may be best to opt for a AM2+ mobo, they use DDR2 if you can't find DDR3 in budget
 
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Bitzal said:
I didnt really wanna buy another hard drive just for the OS. I dont really see the benefit in doing that for a HTPC?
Click to expand...

Yeah, its not strictly necessary, I tend to prefer to do it for this sort of machine though because it means means the files are seperate from your OS, meaning that if you swap the machine out, there's no complications in transfering your media, means you can use an SSD at a later date for the main OS drive, and also incase you need to reinstall the OS theres no chance of accidentally wiping your files unless you're really cack handed.

Just a personal preference :)
If you've upped your budget that gives you a bit more room in terms of a better case, and also a dedicated GPU to offload additional processing and filtering too, never a bad thing.
If you're struggling because of RAM costs, some boards (like the one I specced), can take both DDR2 and DDR3, via a set of DIMM sockets for both.

Oh so you're aware, the range on those keysonic boards is meant to be pretty pants. I went through a lot of the cheaper wireless keyboards about a year ago and tbh, most of em are pretty cack.

Shame you're not buying today or we could spec the processor on today only :p
If you were, here's an updated spec, with a stronger processor, the case you wanted and only one HDD. Despite initial description its a DDR2/DDR3 compatible mobo. I know it's a basic PSU, but it should be suitable for less demanding use like this (obviously I wouldn't stick one in a high end PC):
hrwo6e.jpg
 
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if you dont need much space on the HTPC, ie all your media is accessed remotly, then an SSD can be a good idea.

1. Its faster, so you can boot into your media center quickly so its ready for you when you need it
2. Silent, if you are running passive componants, then the hard drive will become the loudest part, using an SSD eliminates that
3. Produces less heat which can help in the really small HTPC cases, especially if your running passive with no fans.

obviously if you need the extra storage, then its unlikly u'll get more beneift from it other than the slightly better boot times.

keeping the OS system files from the rest of your data is a good idea thou, but that can be achived with a single hard drive, jsut create 2 partitions.

but with a small budget, an SSD wouldn't be of any use really
 
Cycrow said:
keeping the OS system files from the rest of your data is a good idea thou, but that can be achived with a single hard drive, jsut create 2 partitions.
Click to expand...
I know a few people who've set up 2 partitions and then have absentmindedly deleted both, partitioning does solve the issue of keeping your data seperate from the OS, I just prefer the extra level of seperation from 2 drives, plus when you stop using the media drive because you upgrade, you can lob it in an external casing :D
 
I just partiton the HDD into two. I do have a second HDD this is to backup my data. Not that i ever have but if the partitions were deleted or the HDD died i'd still have all my stuff
 
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